a four-legged horse
with a very flat back
carried cereal and milk
which Jack will attack
with his sword and a slurp
he’ll devour his prey
this banquet for kings
will return him to play
Home » Posts tagged 'Education' (Page 3)
Tag Archives: Education
My School, My Teacher
I hate it on the playground
when someone’s on the swing.
I wait and wait and wait my turn
but hear the lunch-bell ring.
I love it, though, in springtime
and my teacher I adore
when recess isn’t over
and she gives ten minutes more.
I hate it in the classroom
when we’re sitting down to write
and Rob blames me for punching Pete.
Teach’ knows I never fight.
I love ‘em, though, the stories
of future, present, past.
I wish those times of wonder
Could last and last and last
(Ending 1)
My school is like kitchen and
my teacher’s like a mother-
serving up the Lima beans
with cookies like no other.
(Ending 2)
My school is like a woodshop and
my teacher’s like a dad-
sanding imperfections of
rough edges that I had.
On the Threshold
From Beauty Is an Edge of Becoming by Krista Tippett and John O’Donohue:
“If you go back to the etymology of the word ‘threshold,’ it comes from ‘threshing,’ which is to separate the grain from the husk. So the threshold, in a way, is a place where you move into more critical and challenging and worthy fullness. There are huge thresholds in every life. You know that, for instance, if you are in the middle of your life in a busy evening, fifty things to do and you get a phone call that somebody you love is suddenly dying, it takes ten seconds to communicate that information. But when you put the phone down, you are already standing in a different world. Suddenly everything that seems so important before is all gone and now you are thinking of this. So the given world that we think is there and the solid ground we are on is so tentative. And a threshold is a line which separates two territories of spirit, and very often how we cross is the key thing.”
And where is beauty in that?
“Where beauty is — beauty isn’t all about just niceness, loveliness. Beauty is about more rounded substantial becoming. And when we cross a new threshold worthily, what we do is we heal the patterns of repetition that were in us that had us caught somewhere. So I think beauty in that sense is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.”
Beautiful!
For more, you can read Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue.
Ways to End an Opinion Paragraph
Now it is time for the first graders- How do you end an opinion paragraph? Here I offer three possibilities.
- Just Say It
Dogs are the best pet.
Vanilla is the tastiest flavor ever!
Minnesota will be the best state you ever visited! - Simple Summary Statement
That’s why dogs are the best pet.
Clearly vanilla is the tastiest flavor ever.
For these reasons, Minnesota is finest of all the 50 states. - Act! Do! Go! Try!
Go get a dog! You will see how great a pet they are!
So try vanilla ice cream and you will see that it is the best flavor you have ever tried!
Are you going to go to Minnesota? Yes! You will love the lakes and trees and snow.
Ways to Start a Story
One of my 4th graders asked me for ideas on how to start a story. We had a great conversation and looked at some wonderful examples. Here is what we ended up with:
Ways to Start a Story
- Traditional
Once upon a time there was…
- Dialogue (people talking)
“Mom! Help me! I can’t…” I shouted to my mom as I fell out of the tree.
———————-
“But you promised to take me to the movies today! You promised! You promised! You promised!” I started crying.
- Action (something is happening)
My brother slammed the door just as the rain started. This time he did not get caught in the rain. This time he did not get struck by the lightning.
———————-
I watched from behind the bookshelf as the thief snuck into the living room and opened the top drawer of the desk. He did not know I was there.
4a. Description (what does the setting look like? sound like?)
The spring flowers bloomed and the honeybees buzzed along the banks of the river. The sleepy town woke up to the sounds of the roaring river flowing down from the dark mountains. Something floated in the water, trapped by an old tree branch.
4b. Description (what does the character(s) look like?)
Jaime was only 4 feet, 2 inches tall but he was the best goalie the team had ever had. He could jump higher than kids who were 5 feet tall. But he never bragged about it. He did not have to.
Sounds in Silence
The house I moved into in Lima, Peru
Is not rather old nor is hardly that new.
The floors are of concrete, the walls made of brick,
New wall-to-wall windows that close with a click.
Yet still I hear sounds like an old wooden floor
When I rise from my bed and I head toward the door
of the bathroom to assure me that nothing is leaking.
I realize then ’tis my knees that are creaking.
Improvisational ESL
Recently, I was reminded of the power of theater in education. Thinking about students who are new to English… but not completely new… I have been looking at improvisational theater exercises to get students talking. This is not a strategy to teach new vocabulary but to build fluency, spontaneity and confidence while speaking.
Imagine having two students create a skit where someone is lost and the other has to help the first person find his or her way. Imagine adding a third person who says that the first person is wrong. What would you say? What would you do? Can they ask for an additional person to assist?
Make it a little bit harder and open ended: Imagine students creating a skit based off of three nouns- pencil, stove, rake. Throw in a verb and shake things up a bit.
There are a million scenes that you can have students improvise based on anything that students need to practice. Try it; see what happens!
What should I read?
Need ideas for books to read? Books for you or for someone you know? Try Booklist Online published by the ALA. As they say, “over 170,000 book reviews!” Try it! You’ll like it!
Speaking to My Children- What Language?
The short answer is: speak to your children in the language you know best. Oral language is the precursor to all literacy skills:
- What you can think, you can say;
- what you say you can write;
- what you can write you can read.
When parents ask me what language they should use with their children I consistently tell them to use the language they know best. Most of the time the parents are non-English speakers wondering if they should speak with their children using the little English they know. “No,” I tell them.
When children are offered rich language in extended discourse they develop amazing vocabularies and complex sentences. If their caregivers offer them limited vocabulary and limited discourse that is what the children will develop. Because literacy skills transfer, the extended discourse will transfer once the children have the necessary vocabulary in the new language… but they can’t transfer what they do not know.
- Speak to your children often and listen to their answers.
- Have them tell you stories and ask follow-up questions.
- Ask open ended questions (questions that require more than yes or no).
- Ask them to explain more or tell you what that means.
- Give them new vocabulary as you ask them questions and respond to their stories:
- Child: I used that thing to cut cheese.
- Adult: Oh, you used the cheese slicer.
- Child: Yes, I used the cheese slicer and I cut a lot of cheese.
- When you read with your children ask them questions such as:
- What do you think will happen next?
- Would you have done that?
- How would you solve the problem?
- Tell me the story
- Talk, talk, talk!
There is much research about the importance of oral language. Give your child the gift of language through conversation and story telling.
Literacy creates justice!
Read and Listen Online
I am collecting a list of online places to read and/ or listen to stories in English for elementary school students and families.
What great sites am I missing?
Please let me know and I will add them to my list!
Starfall: http://www.starfall.com/
Reading Bear http://www.readingbear.org/
Storyline http://www.storylineonline.net/
Storynory http://www.storynory.com/
Magic Keys http://www.magickeys.com/books/
Mrs. P http://mrsp.com/
Story Cove http://storycove.com/
Highlights https://www.highlightskids.com/stories
International Children’s Library http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
LibriVox https://librivox.org/
Loyal Books http://www.loyalbooks.com/genre/Children
A Story Before Bed http://www.astorybeforebed.com/storytime
TuneIn Radio http://tunein.com/radio/Childrens-Topics–Stories-g227/
Online Audio Stories
http://www.onlineaudiostories.com/category/all_stories/audio_stories/
S. T. Fleming 