e.e. cummings and the Pen Ceremony

When I was in the second grade I was a shy kid with ponytails that sat in the back of the room. My second grade teacher was Mrs. Gilmore.  I was very quiet, very unsure of myself, but Mrs. Gilmore would  come by my desk often, lean close and whisper in my ear, "You can do this.  You just have to believe in yourself."

Mrs. Gilmore introduced my class that year to American poet e.e. cummings. He was famous because of his use of inventive punctuation and the lack of capital letters in traditional places.  Mrs. Gilmore's love for his poetry was contagious and so all of my classmates began to use Mr. Cummings as our writing mentor and adopted his style by writing our names in lowercase letters. During that year, under Mrs. Gilmore's tutelage, my self confidence grew as did my love for Mrs. Gilmore.  I began to believe in myself.

As we graduated to third grade, my friends reverted to writing their names in the traditional way but I continued to write my name in the top right hand corner with lowercase letters just to remind myself of Mrs. Gilmore's words.  Every time I wrote my name, I could feel her gentle hand on my shoulder and the whisper of her soft voice in my head encouraging me to believe in myself. When I went on to college I continued with lowercase letters because I had decided that I wanted to be a teacher, just like Mrs. Gilmore.  As my teaching career gathered in years, I continued writing my name in lowercase letters as a tribute to the dedicated teachers who mentored me and changed me along the way. Today... all these years later...  I still write my name in lowercase letters because I want to be a teacher like Mrs. Gilmore.  I want to inspire students like she once inspired me.  It reminds me that one teacher can change a child's life... because it happened to me.

Over the years I have told this story often when people have asked me why I sign my name in lowercase letters, so many of my colleagues know the story.  Today, much to my surprise, I walked into my last Chets Creek Book-of-the-Month and saw this beautiful painting by talented CCE artist Karen Willett of an e.e. cummings' quote. Our Principal, Susan Phillips, had chosen this month's book selection, Enourmous Smallness, by Matthew Burgess which is the story of e.e.cummings!  Karen's painting is taken from one of the book's illustrations.  The book is the story of Cumming's life from a small child into adulthood.   The book is filled with Cummings' unique poetry.  As Susan, the great storyteller, read the book to the assembled teachers, memories of Mrs. Gilmore reading poetry to us in second grade flooded my mind.  I was touched beyond belief.

When she finished, she laid two pens in front of me, a Chets Creek pen and a Chets Creek Church pen tied together with her trademark Clemson orange ribbon, representing a partnership that has meant so much to me over the years. It was then that I tearfully realized that this was a penning ceremony.   The Pen Ceremony is a fictitious ceremony created for the movie "A Beautiful Mind."  Historically university professors  have used pens to communicate their ideas to others. The giving of one's pen is a symbolic gift to the person being honored for recognition of their wisdom and contribution.  The only other time we have done a Pen Ceremony was when founding Principal Dr. Terri Stahlman left Chets Creek.

The faculty lined up silently and each presented me with a pen.  The pens were as varied and as significant as the teachers presenting them.  From the pen that screams "NO!" that I am suppose to use any time Susan calls to the beautiful engraved Waterford pen from KK Cherney (who couldn't even be there because her husband was having surgery) and the engraved pen from Suzanne Shall who came after everyone else had left (she is the Principal of her own school) with an engraved pen with my signature closing of "With great expectations."  Each and every pen will be cherished because of its significance and people that they represent.  To top it all off the gorgeous box that they gave me to keep the pens in is the very same box fashioned by master craftsman Doug Morgan (Deanna's husband) that we have used to hold all of our prayer requests and celebrations each week during our Monday Morning Prayer Group.  To say the tears flowed like a waterfall is an understatement.  I am not sure anyone ever deserves this kind of honor.

It is truly humbling for me to think that I have effected anyone else's life and believe it or not, it is difficult for me to stand in this type of limelight.  But former Alimacani Principal, Donna Hulsey, once said to me, "Get over yourself.  This is about so much more than you.  When a single teacher is honored, it honors all teachers and the entire teaching profession."  It reminds teachers of why they come to school everyday and why they give so much to so many.  It reminds each of us of the difference that one teacher can make in a child's life.

Today... I think Mrs. Gilmore would be pleased...    

Making a Difference through Book-of-the-Month

Mrs. Phillips reads the
book-of-the-month to the faculty.

When people ask about why Chets Creek is what it is, I know that it is our school culture and results that they are asking about.  Building culture was by intentional  design from the very first vision of the school.  It was the starting point for everything that followed and is partially responsible for the incredible results we have gotten over the years.  Part of that culture building included the design for professional development.  Over the years professional development has taken many different forms.  Some designs have endured over time and continue to bring us together for collegial work.  Those are the ones I am highlighting through this series of blogs about professional development that makes a difference.

Teachers follow along as Principal Phillips

reads the book-of-the-month.

Book-of-the-Month -  The idea for Book-of-the-Month was to choose one children's book every month that could be shared with the faculty who would then share it with the students in their classrooms so that the entire school had a common text for discourse.  This sets the Principal up as the instructional leader for the school.  The Principal introduced the book to the faculty (and nobody can read a children's book better than Susan Phillips!) and then each teacher introduced it to her children.  This practice of introducing monthly books has been continuous through the past fifteen years at Chets Creek,  although it has taken many different forms.

Working in small groups

In the beginning, I think the principal chose books just because they were good books for children, and she was somehow drawn to each of them on a personal level. She chose the very first books to "motivate, encourage and inspire."  They were culture building books. Eventually part of the Principal's presentation each month was a "point paper" that included why she selected the book and ideas for how the book could be used.  Some years the books-of-the-month emphasized vocabulary strategies, writing and reading strategies.  These presentations of strategy work always included an activity to first demonstrate and then practice the strategy so that we felt like the students in the Principal's class.   Even in years when the emphasis has had more of a language arts slant, the Principal has tried to demonstrate principles that could be used across disciplines and across grade levels with the goal of engaging all teachers in the conversation.

Teachers working with book-of-the-month with Principal Phillips.

In the first years, the books were given to the teacher and they belonged to her but it didn't take many years for us to realize that as those books left the building with teachers that left, that we probably weren't being the best steward of our very limited resources.  Now the books go to each classroom and they remain in that classroom, which has helped to build a strong library in each room of good books that can be used as touchstone text. You can imagine how the libraries have built up over time with six to nine quality books added each year for 15 years!  These are books that the teacher knows well because she has studied them as books-of-the-month and that students know because they hear them and see them through the years.  It's easy for a teacher to pick up a BOM to make a point without having to read the entire book because the students are familiar with it.

It has not always been easy for the school to afford to buy books-of-the-month.  The fact that there have always been books each year, even though funds have been so limited, is a testament to the tenacity and creativity of Chets Creek Principals!  In fact, in years where there wasn't a book every month, it is most often due to cost.

Not only have the books been the linchpin for teaching many different strategies and ideas over the years, they have provided us with common ideas that have led to conversation across grade levels and across disciplines that strengthen our relationships which effects our results. It's all woven together.

I could talk about so many of the books that have made a deep and lasting impression on me but I will stick to just three examples so you can see the impact, at least  through my eyes.  I am sure, if asked, each teacher would have her own stories of favorite BOMs and books that have made a difference in her life and in her classroom.

One of our earliest Books-of-the-Month was  Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archembault.  This was not a book that was entirely new to me but not one that I had studied with much depth either. However, it was to become a book that would change many of my assumptions about studying books together with my peers.  Before presenting this book to the faculty, Dr. Stahlman asked the Leadership Team to read the book with the idea that we would discuss it at our following meeting,  (sort of a preview to the faculty presentation) so... I read this picture book about a small Native American boy and his grandfather.  I do not remember the specifics of our book talk at that next meeting but I will never forget the electricity in the room as we discussed what we had read and our interpretations.  I realized that I had missed much of the story including that one of the main characters was blind- which is a major point to understanding the text.  It was the first time that I really truly understood the power of a book talk and how conversations with my peers could change and deepen the way that I interpreted text.  That book talk changed the way that I taught and what I did with book talks in my classroom from that day on.

Several years later, Knots on a Counting Rope was integrated into the kindergarten homework during the month of November when kindergartners celebrate Pow Wow.  The young Native American boy was an Iroquois, one of the tribes that we study.  Teachers read the story aloud several times during the month (now that everyone had the book because it had been a Book-of-the-Month!) and explained to the children that the grandfather in the story had a rope and that he tired a knot in the rope each time he told the young boy a story. The rope represented time. Kinder teachers then sent home a length of rope with each child with information for the parents of how to find a reading of the book on-line. They asked the parents to tie a knot in their child's rope each time they told their own child a story about their family.  The children returned the lengths of rope at the end of the week and shared some of their family stories with each other and with the class. The fact that the work that was born out of this book has endured for 16 years is a testament to its original power as a book-of-the-month!

America's White Table by Margot Theis Raven is another book that made a lasting impression, not just on me but on an entire faculty and an entire school of children.  "America’s White Table is the story of a little known tradition outside the military of setting a remembrance table to honor the brave men and women who have served in our nation’s armed forces.  The white table has served as a solitary and solemn reminder of the sacrifices made to ensure our freedoms.  On Veteran’s Day Katie and her sisters are asked to set this special white table in honor of her uncle who served in the Vietnam War.  As the girls set the table their Mama explains the significance of each of the items and shares the story of their uncle’s captivity and escape."

As we walked into the presentation for America's White Table on Veteran's Day, the Media Center was completely dark except for a single spotlight in the ceiling that shone down on a small table with a white table cloth.  The ambiance completely quieted the teachers as they took seats in this theatre in the round.  As Principal Susan Phillips began to read this solemn story,  Media Specialist KK Cherney, dressed in black, began to add the symbols to the table.  As Susan closed the story and a bugle began to play Taps, I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. We are a school with many military families with many moms and dads and husbands deployed at any given time, but more than that we are patriots who understand sacrifice.  The faculty was so moved by this book that they asked Mrs. Phillips to present it to every grade level... and she did - to all 1300 students! In the years since that first reading in the week leading up to Veteran's Day the table is set in our lobby and on Veteran's Day Mrs. Phillips repeats the reading of this patriotic BOM for new teachers or anyone that would like to attend. As many times as I have heard this book and seen this powerful demonstration, it still brings tears to my eyes. What are we teaching?  We are teaching patriotism but we are also teaching the power of words to create emotion.

The final book is one of our newest books this year, Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis that goes with our circus theme.  While I cannot know if it will have the staying power that other favorites have had, it made an explosive impact immediately on our work. With this book came the new strategy of sketch noting.  Sketch noting is an individualized visual technique for taking notes that brings a new meaning to "stop and jot" or "stop and sketch" or just general note taking and writing about reading. It requires you to synthesize so that you can represent an idea. We probably all do it when we take notes ourselves with arrows and asterisks and boxes around important information, but sketch noting encourages those types of organizational sketches and more that brings meaning to text and to our notes.  Many of the reading teachers were first introduced to sketch noting through Reading Council with a demonstration by Reading Coach Melanie Holtsman.  Their reaction was, "Why can't we teach content teachers to do this too. so we are all working together on this idea together?"  Thus was born a strategy that crossed grade levels and content areas and was the perfect BOM strategy.

Karen Meissner's first grade bulletin board featuring sketch noting to a readaloud.

As teachers bought into the idea of how sketch noting could help students organize and remember information, we saw blogs, and standard-based bulletin boards (like the kindergarten board above) and examples of student work shared all over the building such as the second grade examples below.

Second grade examples of sketch noting

This is the impact that so many strategies that have been demonstrated with books-of-the month have had on our work.

Sometimes the books-of-the-month make us feel - laugh or cry.  Sometimes the books help us understand a new concept or strategy through demonstration and practice, but always they give us a common vocabulary and text to discuss our thoughts and reflections.  Books-of-the-month as professional development lifts the level of our work and brings us together. How fortunate I have been to spend the last couple of decades learning with children's literature as the focus!

Dave the Potter: Book-of-the-Month February 2015

Book of the Month is a long time Chets Creek tradition.  Each month the Principal introduces a new book to the faculty as part of our on-going professional development.  Each year the books are picked specifically with goals in mind.  Some years they have been about school culture.  Other years they have been about vocabulary strategies or good read aloud strategies.  This year the emphasis has been on deepening comprehension to ready our students for the rigor that is expected with the implementation of  the Common Core Standards.

Today we were treated to the new Book of the Month. The mood was set as we walked into a darkened Media Center with a center spotlight on a potter's wheel.

You could hear the steady hum of the wheel as Chet's artist Karen Willet shaped a pot while we watched in total fascination. Soon Principal Susan Phillips began to read with dignity and grace ...  We followed along as she read the beautifully illustrated Caldecott Honor book, Dave the Potter, the story of a prolific South Carolina slave whose talent and strength shown through the great pots that he created.

After the reading we were challenged to use a  close reading lens (illustration, word choice, history, what was not stated...)  with small groups to discuss and come up with the central message of the book. This inspiring story captures the human spirit, overcoming all obstacles and flourishing.  What a treat this professional development was!

Read for the Record

On October 3 we joined classrooms across the country to Read for the Record.  The program identifies a book each year and then asks teachers all across the country to read the book on the very same day.
This year's book, Otis, was special for many reasons.  First of all, it has been a Chets Creek Book of the Month - one of the very special books that our Principal chooses and reads with us.  However, this year's kindergartners have not heard the book because they are new to our school this year, so it was a very special treat to be reading a book that teachers already love.

The other reason that this book is special is because Duval County dedicated the reading of this book this year to Lisa Wells.  Lisa passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly.  She was a beautiful blond who was walking sunshine.  I met her as a District Reading Specialist and she was always the person I called when I had a question or something just didn't seem right.  She knew more about literacy and early childhood education than anyone I have worked with in the county.  Lisa had that rare blend of humor and caring.  She could laugh about the absurdities and she cared about children in a genuine, heartfelt way.  I knew I would always get perspective from Lisa.  For many years Lisa would come to Chets Creek during Read for the Record day because she knew we would be doing something fun.  When The Very Hungry Caterpillar was the book of choice, she loaned me her very used caterpillar so I could make patterns for all of our kindergarten teachers. She had recently returned to the classroom to teach first grade.  I remember when she e-mailed me about her decision, all I could think about was how fortunate that group of students would be and what a grave loss it would be to the district.  As I watched the children listen to this endearing story this week, I couldn't help but think Lisa's presence filled our room, as it must have for so many classrooms on that day.  I could see her dancing and laughing and telling us the funniest stories.  She was a blessing in my life.  Her love of literacy was her legacy to me and to so many others.  We miss you, Lisa...

It's going to be a WILD ride!

Our first day back was full of all the fun and excitement that is the cornerstone of the Chets philosophy.  We are living our theme by taking a walk on the WILD side!

We walk into a lobby this morning, which is amazing.  It even has a real water feature and offers the perfect photo op!

The first activity, as we begin to assemble, is a fun game and... there's always a prize to the winning grade level!

Next it was into the Dining Room where the Principal had assembled the cutest theme-related lunchbox of gifts.

Grade level skits are always one of the highlights if the day.  I won't give away the theme of the skits because "what happens at the Creek, stay at the Creek!"  I will say however, that our group won the prize for the third year in a row!  Woo hoo!

After such hilarious fun, the Principal goes over our scores from last year's assessments and gives us her goals for this coming year.  She reminds us of why we are teachers and what makes the Creek so special.  We each take a personality survey - so that we can get to know our teammates better - and find out if we are eagles, doves, peacocks or owls.  That information will help us all year as we work together.  Then.. it's off to the zoo!  We're off on a scavenger hunt.  One of the things that makes this year's team building different is that technology has become an integral part.  As we find things on the list we have to send a picture to the Principal with our iphones!  The picture below is my team with a zoo keeper - one of many pictures we sent.

We had lunch at the zoo.  Below is one of my new teammates facetiming to her boyfriend in...Afghanistan!



 

Then it is time for hazing the new teachers at the Creek.  First the Principal gives them a task and they have to entertain us with a chant/song with motions.  They have about eight minutes to get together and decide what to do and then it's performance time.

Finally, the newbies have to take the Chets Creek pledge.

 

We end the day with the Principal reading our first book of the month for this year, Wild About Books.  What a fantastic day!

As the day ends, I am tired, but leaving with a smile on my face because I am so excited about the new year to come!  That's what the first day back should be -a big family reunion celebrating our love for each other - and total inspiration!

Author Visit: Carmen Agra Deedy

One of most special traditions at Chets Creek is Media Specialist's KK Cherney's commitment to bring a children's author or illustrator to our campus each year.  This year the children and staff had the opportunity to hear the delightful children's author, Carmen Agra Deedy.  The children were captivated by her stories.  She was born in Cuba and came to the United States when she was three years old.  She told the primary students about leaving Cuba and about her first year in school in Decatur, GA as a first grader and as a second language learner, and about finding common ground in baseball and the peanut man.  Not only was her story heart-wrenching but it was so funny!  She had the children in the palm of her hand!  She told other stories to the assemblies of older students and even met with a group of second language learners during lunch.

Principal Susan Phillips used one of Carmen's books in the morning to provide monthly professional development for the teachers around her book-of-the-month.  This month the teachers walked in to find the Cuban folktale, Martina,The Beautiful Cockroach as their selected book for the month. The table was set up with Cuban coffee ( which was wonderful!) and Cuban bread!   However, the beautiful book was written totally in Spanish!   The Principal asked the teachers in groups of three to read the book and figure out what the story was about as the author watched from the back of the room! 

It was quite interesting to watch the teachers - responses mirrored what we see from our second language students on a daily basis, from those that simply gave up because it was too hard, to those that tried to figure out the story from the few words that they knew (often incorrectly), to those that used other strategies such as looking at the pictures to figure out the story.  The point was to put teachers in the place of a second language student... and it worked quite well.  Principal Phillips then gave the teachers a list of researched based strategies for teaching second language students and asked each group of teachers to write ways that they would use the book to reinforce one of the strategies.  Those teacher-generated ideas will be housed on the school's book-of-the-month wiki so that teachers can return to and use this book, that is now part of their classroom library, each year.

Carmen Agra Deedy with
my kindergarten granddaughter

Students were allowed the opportunity to order one of the author's books before the holiday, so after lunch each of those children was invited to the Media Center to meet with the author and have the book signed.  What a thrill it is for these young students to actually meet a published author!  I loved hearing some of the older students talk about how they have a signed book from each year they have been at Chets Creek!  What a treasured gift of memories.

It was such a special day for the teachers and the children, especially some of our second language learners.  Many of our students heard books by Carmen Agra Deedy for the first time and others revisited books they have loved and had been hearing for the weeks leading up to her visit.  For many this will be a day that is pressed into  their  memories for a long time to come and it will help them realize that authors are real people and help them visualize the possibility of becoming an author themselves! For some of our second language learners who are struggling each day to comprehend what is going on around them, I think this visit must have renewed hope as they look at how well things turned out for Carmen.  Amazing day!

Check out this delightful retelling done by a Cuban-American (former teacher) mom with  a kindergartner in Mrs. Mallon and Mrs. Dillard's class!  People just wouldn't believe what happens at our school!

Pow Wow 2011

Today was the culmination of our month long study of the great Native American Nations.  When Chets Creek opened, Chief Jumping Frog was a Kindergarten teacher and she brought the tradition of a Native American Powwow around the Thanksgiving holiday with her from another local elementary school.  Today Chief Jumping Frog Principal Susan Phillips and that tradition have evolved from one of teaching our children that Native Americans use bows and arrows to hunt buffalo and all live in tepees to an in-depth study of First Americantribes across this country.  As the years passed we became dissatisfied with our simple ceremony and began to delve into all of the differences among the First Americans that inhabited our land.  We learned that the Sioux really did live in tepees but the the great Iroquois Nation were people of the longhouses and the peaceful Lenape built wigwams and Inuits actually lived in igloos...  As each tribe researched the clothes that their tribes wore they found that many of the Natives used the skins and feathers of the animals that they hunted in their area and that the Seminoles of our native Florida used shells which were abundant along the shore and that each tribe had different traditional garb so the costumes of the Powwow took on different colors and shapes.

It was not long before we knew that we wanted to involve parents more heavily into our study so homework for the month became family projects.  Families were asked to tell their children stories of their own childhood and their child's early days and to make knots in a counting rope as they told each story just like the beautiful Iroquois story of a Grandfather who tells the story of the birth and childhood to his blind grandson in the beautifully written and former Book-of-the-Month Knots on a Counting Rope. Children bring their ropes back to school and share one of their favorite stories with the class. 

A cardboard gingerbread shape is sent home and families are asked to decorate the native child after researching how their child's tribe might dress.  These colorful First Americans hang in our hallways.

Parents are invited in Tuesday before Powwow for a night of fun as each tribe gathers their families to make replicas of the types of houses that their tribe might have lived in and then these are also displayed in the hallways.  You can walk through the halls and see Seminole  chickees,  Hopi adobe homes, and plank houses with totem poles from the Nootkas...

Several years ago we decided to keep all the information together on a Native American wiki.  Not only is there space for each of the tribes to upload information but on the home page there is a copy of every letter sent to parents, lists of materials to gather for the many projects, invitation sent to first graders, and a million of the other little details that help to keep us all organized!  What a gift each year as we recreate this tradition at our school.  This is a HUGE project and is only accomplished because the work stands on the shoulders of the teachers who came before.

It wasn't long before we began to worry that we were sending our children from Chets Creek with many stereotypes about Native Americans because we were only talking about how Native Americans used to be, but we knew that our five years olds were too young to take on the rich, but sometimes difficult histories, of our tribes, so we decided to bring the tribes alive again in Social Studies in fifth grade.  Our older students do projects that include "compare and contrast" and then do models and PowerPoint's and include many different kinds of technology.  They join us on the night that we have kindergarten parents in for "Make 'n' Take" and make their presentations to the kindergarten children and their families.  Each child gets a "passport" at the beginning of the night and has it stamped at each stop.  When they fill their passport, they can collect a Native American bracelet from Chief Jumping Frog as they leave for the night.  This addition to our curriculum brings our study full circle.

Today was the great Powwow celebration.  Fifth graders joined us by helping to give out programs, holding authentic Native American flags, dressing with colorful tribe-related sashes and roping off the Powwow area and performing a million different chores.  Kindergartners performed Native dances and songs in Native tongues, dressed in their Native costumes.  Chief Chets Creek performed a traditional grass dance that is actually performed to stomp the grass flat before a Powwow.  He had researched, not only the dance and specific dance steps, but the costume, which was replicated by a parent. Parents and children enjoyed the entire Powwow presentation, led by Chief Jumping Frog, of course, and snapped a gazillion pictures.

But that is just the start of the day.  The kindergarten children visit centers throughout the day, led by our Resource Team and each one teaches something important about the tribes.  A real tepee is erected around the flagpole (amazing to behold).  The children enter in disbelief and look up at the beautiful paintings on the inside wall of the tepee.  This is one of the most anticipated and meaningful stops of the day.   Peaceful Waters (Media Specialist KK Cherney) tells stories about the "three sisters."  Each child leaves with seeds of corn, beans, and squash to plant at home.  As she tells the stories Drawing Hands paints a picture.  Peaceful Waters then tells of the native tradition of a talking stick and as she passes the stick to each child and adult, she asks them to tell of one thing they are thankful.  Many of the children are thankful for family and friends - Daddy coming home from Iraq, a grandmother that has been sick, a new baby brother.  A few are thankful for their teachers (thank goodness) and a few are also thankful for dinosaurs and videogames and toys!  The adults always seemed surprised when Peaceful Waters asks each of them to name the thing they are most thankful, but it is not unusual to sometimes see grown men cry.

Next the children visit Colorful Wind (Art Teacher Jen Snead) and she teaches them about the natural dyes used to paint and communicate.  Children are surprised to learn that the Native Americans so long ago could not run to Walmart for paint and brushes!  Then the children experiment by painting with such things as beets and blueberries and spices.  At another art center the children mold clay into balls and then discs and use shapes of native designs to make a keepsake that will be fired and returned. Some of these will be used on necklaces and some will find their way onto Christmas trees commemorating the child's first Powwow.  At that same center each child is given a piece of animal hide (or crumpled brown paper bag) and encouraged to use some of the Native American designs from a chart to write a story. 

Chief Sing um Song invited the children in and taught them a Native song.  They got to beat the steady beat on drums and then used paddles pretending to row boats to the beat of the paddle song.  Today my class visited this center as the last one of the day and Music teacher, DeeDee Tamburrino, was just as upbeat and excited to teach this last group as she had been to teach that first group so much earlier in the day. 

The children always need a break to run and play so the PE teachers divide the tribe into groups and let them compete, much like the Native American kids did.  They have a list of things that they can find in the elements on a picture list and have to find each of the items in the wooded area of our property.  Some of the items are planted such as bird eggs and nests and animal fur and others are found in the natural surroundings such as rocks, sticks, bark, and pine cones.  As they come with their treasures, the teachers discuss how the Native American's used each of these items from their environment. Today, because it was a little blustery, the children gathered around the natural fire heat, much like children must have done in days gone by.

The tasting center is always a fun break.  The children get to taste carrots, dried fruit and apple slices.  They enjoy corn muffins and popcorn and even a taste of beef jerky.  Our Speech Teacher, Moe Dygan, a true hunter, also prepares venison from one of his catches, pork from a wild bore and turkey.  Many of the children make their first connections to the game that the Natives hunted and our own food supply.  Moe also brings in many artifacts of his hunting days for the children to see.  He shows the children real horns and hooves, reinforcing vocabulary we learned during The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The children, and parents, sit spell bound as he speaks.

I don't even know how to explain how I feel about this day or this entire unit.  It has evolved over time, but there is just so much to be proud of as we complete this unit.  I am so proud of my colleagues and our parents who give and give and give - all who really put out the extra effort to make it such a rich learning experience for our children. Am I tired? EXHAUSTED!  But it is so worth it... The learning, the fun, the collegiality...  It just makes me proud to be a Creeker!

P.S-  Oh, and did I mention that my daughter-in-law helped lead the great Iroquois Nation and my granddaughter was with the peaceful Lenape tribe?  Yes, Kallyn I know that is is Lena-PAY and not Lena-PEE!  So-o-o-o proud to be a Creeker and have the opportunity to watch this tradition pass through the generations of my own family!

The Curious Garden: Book-of-the-Month May 2011

April's Chets Creek Book-of-the-month was The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. The strategy that we worked through was asking deeper questions with medium and high cognitive complexity. We met in small groups and then came together with our grade level to write questions for each page of the book. Today Mrs. Ruark read the book to the students, asking them the more complex questions that we had discussed as a group. The idea is that children have to comprehend text by talking about the ideas before they are able to do the work independently on a comprehension assessment. This is a really great book that tells the story of a garden that grows from a railway that is no longer used. The text and illustrations challenge the children to draw inferences and think deeply about the message in the book.

After reading the delightful story and asking questions throughout the text, Tracy showed the children an article that she had read in National Geographic that is based on the real story of an abandoned rail line called the High Line in Manhattan. The city turned this abandoned rail into a walking park with chairs to sit and read, an amphitheatre, and a leisurely strolling path filled with greenery right in the middle of the city. This additional piece gave the children an opportunity to draw conclusions between the two pieces of literature and worked well with the idea that we are working with in writing - that children can use real experiences to base their fictional writing. While we could have pulled one of our laptops to the document camera to share the on-line magazine article, instead Tracy used her personal ipad to quickly pull the story up for the children to see. The site even included a video in elapsed time of someone walking the path! Using the ipad was quick and convenient. We first tried just holding the ipad and showing it like we would a book but quickly realized that the pictures and video showed very well through the document camera! How exciting it would be to have an ipad at our disposal. It was so quick - so convenient! I can see how we would use the Internet so much more often in our lessons and with such great ease! Anyone know where we can find the money for ipads?!

Douglas Wood, Children's Author

One the best traditions at Chets Creek is the Author Visit each spring. I don't know where our Media Specialist KK Cherney finds the funds and the authors, but she always manages to bring the faculty and children a most awesome adventure. How fortunate are the children at Chets Creek to be able to meet an author/ illustrator each year? Douglas Wood is an author with 40 books and also a songwriter. The day started with the faculty meeting for the Principal's Book-of-the-Month. I would think it would be a little intimidating for a principal to read a book in front of the author, but Susan Phillips is a master at reading aloud. I'm sure Douglas Wood enjoyed every moment of hearing someone else read his book! She chose the beautiful The Secret of Saying Thanks. The lyrical text and imagery are a perfect blend for appreciating our beautiful world. This is a book the children will love hearing.

Douglas Wood then entertained each grade level. He told first graders the story of The Rabbit and the Moon which is Native American (Cree) folklore. It will be such a great addition to our Kindergarten Native American collection of books. It's one thing to hear a teacher read a book, but it's something very special to hear an author tell his own story. I once heard Bill Martin, Jr. tell The Ghost-Eye Tree and I will never forget the impression that it made- much like the impression Douglas Wood left on me on Friday! Being a song writer he then taught the children two different songs and answered so many of their questions.

He also told us that he had ADHD and that it was hard for him to think of just one thing at a time. As a result he had ten new books in his mind all the time! He talked about how difficult it was for him to learn to read. Finally a second grade teacher helped him to understand that the squiggles and blots on the page really held a message. He said he didn't learn to read immediately - it took some time - but that teacher made the difference. He wrote that story in Miss Little's Gift.

Douglas Wood's first book was Old Turtle. The books has sold a million copies and won many awards. Douglas Wood told the students that they too, are authors and encouraged them to dream big. He left us with the message that it's good to have dreams, to never give up and to not be afraid to ask for help. What an inspiration!