Thankful Traditions

As I watched the colorful kindergartners dressed in Native American attire parade into Pow Wow with their tribes, I was overwhelmed with the rainbow of colors, happy faces and memories.   One of the things I have always loved about the Creek is the way tradition and family weave into the tapestry of a Creeker's life.

Chief Spotted Horse and Chief Jumping Frog

As I looked to the podium, there stood JJ Brown in her first year as our Chets Creek Vice Principal.  She has been a longtime kindergarten teacher at the Creek, so she has led many of her own tribes through the Pow Wow tradition and both of her own older girls. Today, however, she looked at Pow Wow through new eyes, those of an administrator, and took her place beside Chief Jumping Frog (Principal Susan Phillips) as Chief Spotted Horse.  JJ's mom, Beverly Jackson, retired teacher and guidance counselor stood quietly behind JJ.  Beverly was just named Chets Creek's Senior Volunteer of the Year. Not surprising, she worked with the Resource teachers today to provide one of the storytelling stations after the big Pow Wow event. When you work at Chets Creek, it's literally all about family and it's not unusual for generations of families to be involved.

Beverly Jackson, JJ's mom and CC Volunteer of the Year

Susan Phillips, Tanner Stahlman,  JJ Brown

Another example of continued family commitment was evident with the Stahlman family. Dr. Terri Stahlman, the founding principal of Chets, known as Chief Soaring Eagle to kindergartners, presided over the inaugural Chets Creek Pow Wow. Before she left Chets Creek, her son, Tanner, entered kindergarten at the Creek, celebrating his first Pow Wow with his mom as  part of the mighty Nootka tribe.  Today, Tanner who is employed in our Extended Day program while he attends college, was in full Native American garb, ready to welcome families to this 17th annual Pow Wow.  Wonder if he was thinking what so many of us were thinking - from a tiny Nootka to a full fledged Chief right before our eyes!

Chip Boyd honoring his father

And still another emotional family connection... JB Boyd was a beloved volunteer at Chets Creek from the moment the doors opened.  He stayed on even after his children left elementary school, which is not unusual.  JB could do anything and for years he was here every day working with KK Cherney in the Media Center.  Three years ago he lost his fight for life, but his hand is on so many of the things that we love about Chets Creek.  When KK dreamed about a full sized tepee in the middle of our kindergarten playground to represent all of the different original native homes that we studied, JB sewed all the pieces and rigged a design to make it come to life.  Chris Phillips, husband of current Principal Susan Phillips, designed the metal piece that intertwines all the pieces of rope and canvas for erecting the tepee.  On the morning of Pow Wow each year the tepee goes up and then comes down at the end of the day.  What happens inside that tepee is sheer "KK" magic.  JB also played the part of Chief Chets Creek for many years dancing through the kindergarten tribes at the Pow Wow celebration.  Today, his very talented son, Chip Boyd,who  is a professional dancer, flew in so he could help erect the tepee in his Dad's memory and then donned his Daddy's Native American costume.  He followed in his father's footsteps as he danced the steps that his father had once danced through this new generation of kinders. Brought tears to the eyes of so many as they realized the significance and history of that dance and dancer.

Chip Boyd dances in the footprints of his father, JB Boyd.

This entire tradition of honoring First Americans at Thanksgiving is so full of history. At Chets Creek we have tried to look authentically at that history.  Although our presentation may not be perfect, our effort to honor those First Americans that first inhabited our land is heartfelt... as are the memories that we offer our children through this process.   May the traditions continue through the generations... with deep thanksgiving...

Pow Wow Memories

Preschooler Courtney Timmons (Bogard)

My very first Pow Wow was with my daughter, Courtney, when she was a preschooler.  She and her sweet little friends sang songs around a paper campfire about "Indians" and prayed with thanksgiving for all their blessings. Parents were invited to join them for a feast that included a paper bag folded into the shape of a turkey.  When it was "carved," the children were delighted to see that it was stuffed with popcorn!

Preschoolers at Alimacni Elementary School

The very next year, in the inaugural year of Alimacani Elementary School, Courtney danced into the courtyard with her kindergarten tribe (led by Linda Zeiler) as  I led my own tribe of preschoolers to celebrate the first Alimacani Pow Wow. As I recall we honored Chief Alimacani at that celebration and each Pow Wow afterwards, as he had once walked on the very ground where the school and children  now stood.   I continued to celebrate Pow Wow with my preschoolers each year as Courtney marched through her years of elementary life.  She graduated to middle school and after a total of ten years, and ten memorable Pow Wows, I moved to Chets Creek... and so did the Pow Wow!

Pow Wow came to Chets Creek with that cute and perky Kindergarten Lead Teacher (surplussed from Alimacani to Chets Creek) Susan Phillips. Susan, Chief Jumping Frog (named after her collection of frogs during the Alimacani multi-track years when her kindergarten class "jumped" from class to class every three weeks!) now leads Chets Creek as its Principal. She brought Pow Wow with her to this new school of Creekers and thus began one of our most endearing traditions.

Chief Jumping Frog and Peaceful Waters

Of course, Creeker teachers weren't satisfied with the traditional generic Pow Wow and so at the insistence of a music teacher, Dan Smith, they began to research and develop more authentic tribes and attire, songs and dances.  In the midst of all that authenticity two of my favorite Native Americans emerged, my daughter-in-law and kindergarten teacher Randi Timmons of the Mighty Iroquois Nation and my sweet granddaughter, Kallyn, of the peaceful Lenape tribe. That's a very special memory!

Randi Timmons and Kallyn

Our beloved JB getting ready to raise the tepee.

What has evolved over the years is a crowning traditional event at Chets Creek that includes a study of traditional music and foods and even a tepee that rises like a phoenix on the eve of Pow Wow thanks to the genius of our beloved James Boyd and KK Cherney and all of her tribe of workers.  Each kinder tribe has the opportunity during the Pow Wow day to spend some time in the tepee with the master storyteller, Peaceful Waters (aka "Miss KK") as she weaves her story of the Three Sisters.  She then passes the "talking stick" and gives each child and adult the opportunity to tell the group why they are thankful.  There are always tears and it's usually an adult who is hit by the pure innocence and raw honesty of the children. One of the most special times for me is the opportunity at the end of the day for the Leadership Team to lay under the tepee and think about our own blessings - and they are many.

Leadership Team counting their blessings inside the tepee.

This year I will be watching Pow Wow with fifth graders who will have their own memories of being a kindergarten Native American to fill their minds as they hear the music and watch the excitement... and as they realize that this is the last Pow Wow that they will experience at Chets Creek.  Last year's K-1 class was my final year with a tribe of kindergarten First Americans - Wise Woman of the Mighty Iroquois Nation,

The Mighty Iroquois Nation

but the snapshots of Pow Wows will live with me forever in my memory.  And each year as we approach Thanksgiving, not only will I be counting my blessings but I will be thinking of the new crop of little kindergartners who will have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  After all that is what the Chets Creek experience is all about.

Positive Postcards

Since Dr. Stahlman's first year at Chets Creek, positive postcards have been a part of our practice.  A postcard, "News from School," is placed in your school mailbox on Wednesday morning.  You choose something incredible that has happened during the week, write a short note to a student, and then drop the postcard in the Principal's box sometime during the day. I think the Principal has always enjoyed reading the cards (it keeps her up on things that are going on in the building)  and she adds the stamp.  Of course, recognizing that each of us has a different style and pace, I'm sure the Principal knew that all of the postcards wouldn't all appear in her box by the end of the day!  For those of us that were slow to get postcards written, at the mid-term she would usually send a friendly reminder that you owed her some postcards and that this would be a good time to catch up.  She sent another reminder at the end of the year and sometimes highlighted a list of teachers who were keeping up with their postcards or occasionally highlighted well-written postcards in her weekly Memo.  Although the expectation was that teachers would write the postcards, there has never really been a penalty for non-compliance.

The idea originally was that over the year you would send at least one positive postcard to every child in your class.  A few teachers made once-a-year labels for their entire class that were a "you're gonna do great on the big test" booster that they sent right before testing time that met the expectation but certainly not the spirit of the practice.  Over the years, teachers also began to send cards to parents and to their colleagues.  I know I was always delighted to get a postcard at home and both the children and parents at school would remark how excited they were for their child to get a postcard. It was just such a small, but effective way, to highlight individual successes and to promote positive communication.

As luck would have it, last year the Union negotiated a paperwork reduction and like lots of other good and bad practices, positive postcards came under fire.  Principals were no longer able to "require" teachers to write positive postcards.  So the idea came to our Shared Decision Making Group to decide if this was a practice that was worth continuing or one to let go.  I'd like to say that the group decided that it was such a worthwhile practice that we unanimously decided that we couldn't possibly live without it.  But...that's not what happened...  While some teachers hardily endorsed the practice and gave many examples of how postcards boosted self-esteem with individual students and positively affected communication, some teachers just didn't see the value added for the time they required.  The decision was made that the postcards would continue to be placed in every box and then put in the Principal's box to read and stamp but that she wouldn't hold teachers accountable.

The Principal has often remarked that the teachers that are diligent about postcards and communication in general, are the ones most likely NOT to have problems with parents!  But it's more than that.  Can you imagine the household pride when a postcard arrives in the mailbox?  I can just imagine the child's chest swelling with pride and parents who show off the card to each other and anyone else that will listen.  I have had parents come back years later and tell me that their child kept a postcard that I wrote for years tucked in the mirror in their bedroom or put it in a picture book to keep for always.  I know I have kept every single postcard that I have ever received in a bowl with other "feel good" notes from parents and children, and when I'm feeling particularly down, I go through and read every note and card. It's an immediate "pick me up" and reminds me why I do what I do.

I guess I'm writing this blog to the teachers who don't write post cards to their students and colleagues because I want them to carefully reconsider this practice as one of those "tried and true" activities that is well worth the effort. I know that not every teacher is a writer and they would argue that they do other things to boost self-esteem and to work on relationships, and I am sure that is true. But I would also like to think that there are many other teachers and administrators who have written notes and cards to their students and colleagues on a regular basis and see the immediate benefits and also see the benefit for years to come. Would love to know if you have ever tried this practice and if it's made a difference for you!

A New Year Begins - 2015!

The circus is in town! This is just a sampling of the "big top" atmosphere as you walk through the downstairs hall. Free admission to all who dare to dream. It really is the greatest show on earth!

 

Each year Chets Creek transforms itself yet again into something new and exciting!  Teachers work so hard to make the outside and inside of their rooms inviting.  They wouldn't have to go to so much trouble.  Many of them come in during the summer and lots of them work the entire week before teachers return.  It would be much easier to just spruce up last year's décor a little and bounce in the week that you are actually paid to be there.  So why do teachers do it?  I think they do it because they care so much.  At Chets Creek, it's really not a competitive thing.  It's more like you are lifting up each other and the new décor just says, this group of children is so special.  I love what I am doing and I want the children to be as excited as I am.  Whatever the reasons, it really does put a smile on your face as you walk down the hall!

Sleepover, 2015

One of the things I love the most about our annual First Grade Sleepover is the way that family's get involved in the event.  This year our theme is "...lions and tiger and bears. Oh my!" to go with our Wizard of Oz school theme.  One of the things that families are asked to do with their child is to make a lion, tiger or bear - stuffed animal for Sleepover.  The directions are emphatic that you don't have to sew and that the idea is simply to have fun with your child.  The week before they are due, we make stuffed animals/pillows with the children that come from the large mobile home community.  These children are mostly second language students and so we incorporate making the animals/ pillows during the day that we tutor after school in their community.  Parents are invited in to help stuff and make the creations but we supply all the "stuff."   The picture on the right below with the big bear show the pillows that the students made together after school at the MARC. 

A parent in the classroom volunteered to make four extra pillows, just in case another student showed up without one, and of course, they did, but for the parents that are actually able to work with their children to make something special, this becomes  a wonderful shared experience.  The pillows and animals come in the week before the event to they can be displayed in the lobby on the evening of Parent's Night.

On Parent's Night students come with their family to make a keepsake pillowcase.  Each student sends in a pillowcase (and we ask that parents that are able, to please send in an extra), so that we make sure to have a pillowcase for every student that shows up.  We had over 100 children show up with their families to make pillowcases!   The first grade teachers have plenty of stamps set out with acrylic paint so each child can work with his family to make a pillowcase.  As they leave, the students are given a little bag of Teddy Grahams.

It's just such a nice tradition!  Teachers who now have grown children talk about still having the pillowcase that their child made in first grade.

The actual day of Sleepover began with a parade filled with first graders in pajamas, dark halls, flashlights and glow-in-the-dark bracelets.  The students ended in the Dinning Room watching and meeting the Wizard of OZ characters while they ate breakfast and the Principal (in her red sock puppet pajamas... with footies!) lead a dance party where first grade teachers danced on the stage and students danced to all the popular kid songs.  

Then it's off to Center about literature run by the Resource Team.  The music teacher reads a children book about a party under the moon that includes singing and dancing, of course.

Coach provides an active outside game that included a read aloud!

Art read the popular Paddington Bear that ended with a painting art project.

And Mrs, KK, our Media Specialist ended our day with a shadow puppet show of one of our favorite books, Ira Sleeps Over complete with popcorn and dancing with a disco ball!

What an amazing day!

Book Exchange

There are some things that even a picture can't do justice and our annual Holiday Book Exchange is one of those things.  It's simple, really.  Everybody that wants to participate comes with a children's holiday book in a bag to the Mallard's room (which is a treat itself because it is already festive and full of little holiday touches that just make me smile).  Teachers don't follow instructions very well so even though the instructions are to put your book in a bag, about a fourth of them come wrapped. When you walk in - 20 minutes before the school day starts- you get a number and breakfast furnished by Reading Council (which means I had to get up at 6:15 to heat ham biscuits and talk my husband into helping me).  There is a little time for fellowship... and then it starts.  Led by that wacky Principal Grinch, the haggling and stealing begins... and oh my, it is so much fun!

During a season when it's just too easy to get stressed, this moment of fun and laughter is a welcome respite.  And, did I mention that you also have to wear a tracky sweater?  Now, I have a closet full of tacky sweaters that were once a most important part of my teacher wardrobe, but these folks take this tacky sweater thing seriously as evidenced by delightful little Sarah in her adorable "stockings by the fire".  The outfit also comes with a frame around her head. 

It's really not work when you enjoy your job this much!

Cart Girl Rides Again!

I am sure all schools have traditions that make them special, but one of my favorite traditions at the Creek is "cart girl."  Cart  Girl is usually the Principal or Vice Principal and sometimes a Coach who takes a grocery cart of snacks to each room during Teacher Planning at the most frantic time - for us, that's Thursday afternoon/ night - right before Friday Orientation for Parents and Students.  You're tired and hot.  You're frantic to get everything finished and in walks someone just to cheer you up. 

I will never forget my first experience at the Creek with someone actually bringing me a snack and asking how it was going and what I needed when I was just about to the point of exhaustion getting my room ready.  I remember thinking - Oh my gosh!  This school really cares about ME!

I know what it is like in the Front Office this week.  Parents are enrolling.  Most have just gotten their class assignments and all those that want a class change are calling.  There are hundreds of decisions to be made.  It is a madhouse up there! No Administrator has time to stop and check on how everyone is doing, but that is exactly what happens. I really do work in a magical place! 

There's no place like Chets!

So... today we followed the yellow brick road to the Land of Chets, walking into the Emerald City by way of a hot air balloon, with the forest and Cowardly Lion on one side and Munchkinville on the other. I am continually amazed at the time and talent in our school.  KK Cherney, our Media Speicalist, with her sidekicks Karen Willet and Nikki Williams, spent weeks in the front Lobby preparing for our return (I might add that this is unpaid labor!)... and it was awesome!  There's something special about knowing that your colleagues care so much that they are willing to put so much of their heart into making the school such a special place for children and teachers.

We walked into the Dining Room with it's hot air balloons and rainbow balloon arches to find gifts of theme-related fun "stuff" - water and snacks, but also a calendar, a lanyard, a themed clipboard lovingly made by a retired employee, right out of Toto's basket.

Grade level skits always begin the day.  It's a chance for grade levels to show their creativity and fun.  My team presented a video this year - all recorded on an iphone!- all about "staying calm and clicking your heels."  It wasn't the video that was so special but the fun we had together making the video. That's what this first day is really about - getting to know each other.  Below is  my awesome 1st grade team - some of the most  talented and passionate teachers that I have ever known. Some of us have been together for years.  Some are new to our team and one is new to our school, but together we will do "oz-some" work this year!  So stay tuned...

First Grade Team

New teachers have a special place in our first day with a simple "hazing" activity where they have to create a poem, song, cheer in about 10 minutes time.  It's always fun to watch the newbies as they quickly bond with each other and always come up with something cute!  They end by repeating a pledge promising to have a sensational, fun-filled year!

Finally, there is always professional development and today it had to do with mission and leadership.  We divided into smaller groups and worked collaboratively - a message as to the kind of learning that should be going on in our classrooms.

Then we enjoyed a potluck lunch to remind us that this is a homecoming, a family reunion - a time for us to come together and remember all the reasons that we care about each other.

There is no place like Chets!