tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87289091462751579012024-03-13T10:48:12.635-07:00Weeds in the GardenKindergarten Teacher thinking out loud. Watch out. It is messy . .Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-57981353392973479072014-03-23T08:09:00.000-07:002014-03-23T08:09:09.583-07:00The Dreaded Research Project, Kid styleI miss this blog : ) <br />
<br />
I am kinda blogged out as I am writing blogs in prep for a Masters, and writing blogs (sporadically) for an iPad project. <br />
<br />
But this goes here. A bit of what we have been doing. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyo-C_rjbt0PduWcn4KJ2voexFlNC5DmoAjI3KPWqWwpKfnXS73L3D2akkAnyF1KSCn9sykoEXbvse58vNE3g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-13560988096289195842013-10-18T17:36:00.001-07:002013-10-18T17:39:53.078-07:0021st Century Learning - Rocketships and piggies <br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Some days it just all comes together. And apart. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0px;">An aside, to </span><span style="font-family: Chalkboard;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">start with. I am blogging for a course right now. I usually post them on a made-for-that blog. But of course, you can't put everything in a tidy box. Things spill out. So this post, though it comes from the reflection of grown-up conversations, belongs here. </span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have to say, I am struggling. I am finding that as I get grey, and crotchety, and well, old, I am less likely to be impressed with things, and more likely to question them. I have a lot of world’s crashing together, and powerful voices feeding this feeling of frenzy that is unsettling. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I think I am a global learner. I am all techie, and connected and PLNy. My ks have access to all the shiny brilliance I can focus my fractured brain upon. 21st Century Learning and all that. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I wonder if there is a Honeymoon Period to this brave “opening the world to all”. I wonder if there is a seven year itch. Of course, we are an easily distracted culture, and I am a “LOOK SQUIRRELL” kinda gal, so my itch is coming after only a few years into this blast-to-my-brain mountain of possibility and wonder that is the newly dubbed, but surprisingly familiar, 21st Century Learning. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And then, some days, it all comes together. Take today. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As any day in Kindergarten, it ran the gambit from pull out your hair, giggle, heart pounding, stomach dropping, stitches, homesick, happy, frustrated, exasperated, screaming, cheering, oh wait nose bleeding normalcy. In all that mess, some things work. Some do not. But what always fills my heart with weary wonder is the sheer volume and variety of expression and voice in a room full of five year old brains. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It was Fairy Tale Friday. Three little pigs this time. We played Guess That Fairy Tale on our Family Facebook, giving clues for families to guess. So all day, families posted back into facebook. Quite surprising how many options “It has a Wolf in it” has :) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The iPads were busy too of course. Some puppet show thing, for one, but finally, after a few days of invitation and provocation, Make a Movie took off. Director, Storyteller, all that. We made tactile storybords, build naturey loose bit houses on bricks, ran like banshees outside in one of our Knooks, retelling the timeless story. Made a movie of that and shared it on Family FaceBook. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Very 21st Century learning, yes? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yet it is a very “old school” moment that sticks in my head. Makes me smile in spite of the blur that can be my day. Tristan. Flying a puppet wolf around the room in a made by him rocketship. With three little pigs in tow. He now owns that story. He made it his own. His choice. His voice. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And it made me really look around the room. Not that skim past, no-one is bleeding, arrrg! look, but a slow motion whoa. Because at the end of the day, every kid, at a free-choice-pick-what-ya-wanna play time, was engaged in making an Old Favourite Fairy Tale their own. Their choice. Their voice. Even that kid who was way-to-much-gluing popsicle sticks. “He won’t blow this down”, he muttered. All loosey-goosey and jittery and real. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sometimes I worry for the world, in this 21st century. I really do. But maybe now, when I do, I will close my eyes, and see Tristan’s Rocketship, and know, that come hell or high water, a 21st century classroom is actually very simple. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Choice. Voice. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Time. </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-89092142602094651242013-08-08T10:37:00.000-07:002013-08-08T10:39:22.405-07:00Taking a swing at 100 day<br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I didn’t plan to write this blog. I was responding to a comment posted in something I wrote a year ago, <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2012/08/rethinking-calendar-routines-is-it-time.html" target="_blank"> Rethinking Calendar</a>. It occurred to me that the response was really an entire post, like it or not. <a href="http://foreverin1st.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Tammy</a> asked what the stickers on my Year Long Calendar were. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On the Twitter, people are passionate. Right now, lots of debate around Classroom Behavior Systems. About calendar and all its inherent evil. About technology from the git go. So I thought I might take a swing at 100 day : ) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I drop 100 balloons on my ks every year. They go batcrap crazy. You know that you can hit as hard as you want with a balloon, right? That your teacher’s hair will stand straight up. That you can actually giggle until you pee a little bit. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Getting ready for 100 day looks pretty standard. Number lines, popsicle sticks (those make me cranky, so never used ‘em), collections of 10s. Everyday, at calendar time. I’ve used stones, unifix cubes. Stickers on calendars. Always comforting the ks who worry that there is no 101 day. Or that they will be shipped off to Grade One. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then one year I forgot to keep track. Opps. In December I was pondering my options. By January I knew I had better do something. The sacredness of counting everyday we were in school was in jeopardy. And seriously, you cannot fake a daily routine into a 5 year old world. They are gonna notice. Why yes Ks, that 75 piece caterpillar just magically appeared on the weekend : ) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So that year, we pulled apart an old calendar. It was the beginning of my exploration in using a <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2012/08/rethinking-calendar-routines-is-it-time.html" target="_blank">full year calendar</a> rather than one month. We figured out how many days we had been in school. Messy, mistakes, and even then we double checked with another class and we were still wrong. It didn’t matter. We were on track. 100 Day was saved. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But it helped me to see that counting each day, on the day, was routine, but not real. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Last few years we didn't keep track at all. One year we were doing a <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2011_12_01_archive.html" target="_blank">Paper Chain Investigation</a> for the Big Kids when it came up. Another year a big buddy mentioned it. I’ve come to see the Grade Ones are really the focus for 100 Day in my mind, so last year they came in and showed off every time they reached a milestone to 100. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We did get into a big discussion about when Half Way Day was. Not halfway to 100 easypeasy™, but half way through our year together, thanks to a twitter conversation with <a href="https://twitter.com/happycampergirl" target="_blank">@happycampergirl</a>. We folded our year long calendar. We used cubes. We were down the long hall breaking counters into halves. We had the discussion about if the weekends count. No matter what way we did it, we missed the latest possible Half Way Day by 4 days : ) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. I still drop 100 balloons on the ks heads. They still bring in a collection of 100 things. I always ask how they gathered it. One k informed me that her collection must be magic because it just showed up on her table that morning. But 100 Day is for our Grade One classes. It is their baby. I am happy to let it go for my <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2011/03/hmm.html" target="_blank">weeds</a>. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am not one to dole out advice. I still think of myself as a newbie, 26 years in. But I am not. I have had years of reflection and mistakes. Of trial and error. Of thought and sweat and <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2011/08/blog-challenge-5.html" target="_blank">monumental screw-ups</a>. Of blindly going where no one else would go. I come to many of the things that I do with the weight of experience behind me, sometimes blinding me. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. As you read the 101 blogs pulling in 102 directions. As you ponder the Behavior System, What?!! No Calendar, Dump 100 Day, Cute vs No Cute, please remember. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It takes time. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Time to find yourself in the children that you teach. Some things can wait. You will find the thing that cannot wait. Do that. Because there will be a child, a moment, a conversation, that creates a shift in your thinking. There is power in that. But it takes time. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">More than 100 days sometimes : ) </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-54677401393391763272013-08-04T13:59:00.000-07:002013-08-04T13:59:11.745-07:00Voice. <br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I like to <i>brag</i> that I am a life long learner. Quick brain, voracious reader, lover of tangents and pushing the edges. Absorbing, reflecting, re-thinking. I am all about that, baby. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I <i>confess</i>, it may very well be because I have allowed my profession to consume me. I can say it is my passion, and my calling. It would be true, but what if. What if I am just so immersed in my little world I fail to see outside it? What if by immersing oneself in a singular, though multi-faceted, passion is a tiny bit of a cop out. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Because I <i>fear</i> that I hit the wall this summer. I was put into a very simple setting where my Arrogance tip-toed up, and whispered in my ear, “Gonna mess with you a little bit : )” </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It <i>changed</i> the way that I look at things. It is easy to be a life long learner if you follow paths that feel unwalked, but that are really just tangents down Comfortzone Lane. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. A <i>dream</i>? To face facts. To be a real learner. Face the mess, and disappointment, and failure, and find the path back in spite and because of it. 'Cause I can preach it all I like, but in my arrogance, I saw the “easy peasy™, my brain like it stuff” as learning. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Learning is like being in a room where you don’t speak the language. You compensate, you concentrate, you try, you fake it, you get blank looks and helpful feedback. Arrogance winks at you and says “Give up yet?” And you do. Because this is actually hard. And really, when was the last time you learned something hard? Why can’t everyone just speak my language? What do you do when you have lost your voice?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. A few years ago choosing a guiding word for your school year was a thing. It still is. It is a good thing. I chose words like Trust. Relationships. Listen. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This year my word was going to be Arrogance. It has smiled at me a few too many times in the past few months to ignore. But maybe my word is Language. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Language connects and divides. It enlightens and excludes. It can be confusing and delightful. Language can take your voice and give it back. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My littlest life-long learners are coming to a time in their lives where the big people are speaking a different language. School. Oh, we all speak English, but I can imagine there is a Charlie Brown “Mmwaa Mwaaa” going on for sure. I can’t dummy it down. Speaking slowly will not help. It won’t magically make sense if everyone just tries hard enough. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. Time to honour the language of children. So that they never lose their voice. Because if someone is not speaking my language, it is time I learned theirs. </span></div>
Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-49568273727538720562013-06-09T18:04:00.000-07:002013-06-09T18:49:48.915-07:00Fairy Godmothers <br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Warning: This post is unlikely to make sense to anyone but me : ) </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I have had an amazing week last week.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I spent it in Twitter DMs</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">and real time conversation with a #rockstar.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.ooeygooey.com/" target="_blank">Lisa Murphy</a>, AKA @ooeygooylady. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We were organizing a Campfire Chat about Play. Looking to set up that free flowing, feet up by a fire, drink in hand, conversation. Surrounded by friends. Asking hard questions. Rethinking, reflecting. The actual chat was all of that for me. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Through the course of it, I referred to Lisa as The Fairy Godmother of Play. I had a feeling of “Hmmm, THAT fits her”. A tiny pull of something bigger. And shrugged it off. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Lisa did not. She reminded why it was such an honor. Why it is such an important thing to be. <a href="http://msooey.tumblr.com/post/52510978658/a-childs-work-the-importance-of-fantasy-play" target="_blank">A FairyGodmother. </a> Which got me to thinking. And reading. And to re-reading. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I do love my tangents. Bear with me. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I got into this twitter thing mid in 2010. Found my people quickly. Found <a href="http://www.kinderchat123.net/p/big-picture.html" target="_blank">#kinderchat</a>. Reveled in the crazy, committed, fierce family that understood, articulated, and breathed new life into my own commitment to Play. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next year, at NAEYC, the first Kinderchat tweetup had me crazy jealous and inspired from the sidelines as they met, played, learned, raged face to face. Had real campfire chats with s’mores. And had the honour of attending the keynote that year. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.naeyc.org/content/conversation-vivian-gussin-paley" target="_blank">Vivian Paley</a>. Lovingly referred to as the Fairy Godmother of Kindergarten. I inhaled her book, <u><i>A Child’s Work</i></u>. Because, full disclosure, I had not read her work before. Her stories, children’s stories, all written in a prose that speaks to the initiated. That speaks directly to the hearts of the fierce and crazy ones that daily try to work the magic that is Play into what they do. She floated into my world and waved her wand. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">During the next year I started following Lisa on Twitter. Lurking, and learning, and leaning into her energy. Then meeting her. For realsies : ) Not “pretend I met Lisa and we all talked about play” but Really. Talking. I inhaled her book, <u><i>Play</i></u>. Her stories, children’s stories, all written with humour and conviction and a call for ACTION that speaks directly to the hearts of the fierce and crazy ones that daily try to work the magic that is Play into what they do. </span>She stomped into my world and poked her wand in my face. </div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Fairy Godmothers swoop in and work their magic. It looks so easy. But check out the three in Sleeping Beauty. And the grandmotherly one in Cinderella. They know it is not as easy as it looks. That thought and preparation, conviction and crossed fingers, imagination and making do, listening and adjusting, advocating and stomping, are all a part of what makes the magic work. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. Here is to my Fairy Godmothers. I imagine that you have a few of your own. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am inspired by them. Maybe, just maybe, I am one. I do know that I will continue to wave my own frazzled wand over the magical kingdom that is my classroom. I will provide for the play, and let the story go where the children take it. </span></div>
Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-89121940289750764542013-05-21T12:59:00.001-07:002013-05-21T13:03:50.700-07:00KNooks - A Kindergarten Care ProjectMy K's helped me with a <a href="http://geniushour.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">#genuishour</a> and <a href="http://www.angelamaiers.com/blog" target="_blank">Angela Maiers</a> inspired Passion Project : A Documentary, Kindergarten Style : <br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/66662129" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/66662129">Documentary</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user16575147">Mardelle</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
So. A goal this year was to spend a third of the day outside. It has led to deeply connected and powerfully rich experiences, both for myself and my students. A long lost blog ( I so wish that I could find it ) mentioned the power of naming the spaces that you go to. So I started with the idea of a nook - I had many as a kid - and added the K for fun. KNooks (nooks ) was born. <br />
<br />
The simple act of naming places has transformed the way we think about our community. When we go out, k's are constantly defining, shaping, personalizing, owning, caring for and committing to the knooks around us. Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-23856671745452275842013-02-09T18:24:00.000-08:002013-02-09T18:25:18.636-08:00Choices and Carpet. Who knew? <br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Wow. Been away from writing here for a bit. It happens I suppose. I tend to write when worlds smash into each other, as they are prone to do on twitter. I could write about a million things my <a href="http://www.kinderchat123.net/p/big-picture.html"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">#kinderchat</span></a> family has inspired, which is probably why I have written about none. But <a href="https://twitter.com/MmeKathleen"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">@MmeKathleen</span></a> wrote about choices today. You should <a href="http://mrssilkycactus.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/choices-do-you-use-them-or-not/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">read it</span></a>, it is awesome. And two things stuck with me. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. My last post about rethinking calendar was written in August. During that shiny brilliant time a few days before school starts and you can do anything! Before you get in the class and discover this or that, or somebody or something. This year it was a new smartboard that kiboshed everything. My lovely, engaging year long calendar struggles to find its place as I struggle to make this expensive piece of technology fit into my Kinder’s world, a world that I fill with tangents. I am getting there. But slowly. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I do not intend to write about the SmartBoard. That would be a tangent : ) I intend to write about carpet. Not carpet time, not morning meeting, not circle time. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Carpet. I said you should read </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MmeKathleen" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">@MmeKathleen</span></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> post. #kinderchat often speaks of Reggio inspired spaces, and I have spent a couple of years toning my room to cork, browns, tans, wood. It is not easy. Seems every I-can-afford-it storage system, cupboard, shelf shouts color. But I try. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The one piece in my room that most frustrated me was the carpet I have had for 3 years in my room. We call it the colorful carpet. For obvious reasons. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffptm_Lt8qheegnK4CmDjZumUJWIiXGxHpI2NV-rdsHT_TWFlKAWNRzTPluzQTwBYXmheU4dONegtmmqiHVonHSg8a0xp_MZjDMbLeg3c1s83S5hL6MFhxIZ4ANUkXeCYScxwTfJe77Y/s1600/IMG_0744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffptm_Lt8qheegnK4CmDjZumUJWIiXGxHpI2NV-rdsHT_TWFlKAWNRzTPluzQTwBYXmheU4dONegtmmqiHVonHSg8a0xp_MZjDMbLeg3c1s83S5hL6MFhxIZ4ANUkXeCYScxwTfJe77Y/s200/IMG_0744.jpg" width="149" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There is no discernible pattern, it is busy for your eyes, and of course, it has been thrown up on. #pukealert indeed #kinderchat. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But it has become one of the richest tools for learning my classroom can offer. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sitting on the Fat Black line allows my k’s to be a part of a community where everyone can see everything. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-HVHqY8y9tgLLLIOb3Kh3vtCGxH-5GI9HBEFM8ern851NYkw0edRYwYCZyYOYC5jAnTAssAJCYgRCH4bPjDEYWb8c6E_OgVanUQPDMY_E9Hg0mikGtKTjS_maqqZsYp2oX1EFITJ_dc/s1600/IMG_0647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-HVHqY8y9tgLLLIOb3Kh3vtCGxH-5GI9HBEFM8ern851NYkw0edRYwYCZyYOYC5jAnTAssAJCYgRCH4bPjDEYWb8c6E_OgVanUQPDMY_E9Hg0mikGtKTjS_maqqZsYp2oX1EFITJ_dc/s200/IMG_0647.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We use a bigger frame to see who is here and who is not. We know the full array of 4 4’s means that stupid flu bug didn't get one of us today. We build 5 and 10 frames, and we subitize and visualize what is missing. We use it as author’s row, and YIKES, stay back! Be safe! spots. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And the small squares. OH the tedious busy small squares? They are magic : ) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We finger draw in a box and the carpet makes our fingers tingle. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We measure ourselves to see if we were smaller than a Santa Elf. Or bigger than a Snowman’s Nose.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We explore capacity - fill it full, count it, compare it. We compare apples to apples and eagle’s wings to hand spans. It is not always magical. Sometimes it is just a carpet. A soft place to Read to Stuffie in your PJs. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXG9BnZJRgV6Y67xkN2vJORj_PcRKTsprbsvCbopuyRXtYT9C401tYVGzOsc6afAVbIXtPPdOJOdVsGenPyrKxggo2-w7hta3B5S_IDOelh242QTs8k_TiQKiL6Q8ivB4kuIaXSlMosI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-09+at+7.10.38+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXG9BnZJRgV6Y67xkN2vJORj_PcRKTsprbsvCbopuyRXtYT9C401tYVGzOsc6afAVbIXtPPdOJOdVsGenPyrKxggo2-w7hta3B5S_IDOelh242QTs8k_TiQKiL6Q8ivB4kuIaXSlMosI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-09+at+7.10.38+PM.png" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. It will always be a part of my class. Puke or glitter, busy or not, it stays. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I guess it is good when something sticks it’s ugly mug in your face and says “Deal with me.” I guess some obstacles make us think, rethink, explore. See things in a new way. If we choose to. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Choices and Carpet. Who knew? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Crap. Does that mean I need to rethink my Smartboard? Heavy Sigh. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Bring it on : ) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Chalkboard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-88102604695121190482012-08-13T14:23:00.000-07:002012-08-13T14:47:29.131-07:00Rethinking Calendar Routines. Is it Time? Yep.<br />
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Great Calendar Debate </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ok. I have a few Calendar Routine issues. I can get a little cranky when the conversation rolls around to this topic. For years I have railed against the calendar in ANY classroom being only filled up until today’s date. A calendar is a tool. Used to help you organize what is coming up more than it is as a record of what is past. You can argue against any of the points I may raise later, but in this case, if you do nothing else this year, fill in the rest of your calendar. Please. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT54BMlE0fqh3BH6JQDwXf9qxZYhpRSvjIifGxR7NG8H1Dh5dsJ1tsJgGgSIFqd3vOeSjRrMgalbh5xaSVdECpT1XJEO9hxwr_6PrJKMJ8uD5sFbb68SXnq-ghyphenhyphenFk0tkCqruJzn-4wWUo/s1600/104_0996.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT54BMlE0fqh3BH6JQDwXf9qxZYhpRSvjIifGxR7NG8H1Dh5dsJ1tsJgGgSIFqd3vOeSjRrMgalbh5xaSVdECpT1XJEO9hxwr_6PrJKMJ8uD5sFbb68SXnq-ghyphenhyphenFk0tkCqruJzn-4wWUo/s320/104_0996.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That being said, an amazing conversation sprung up on <a href="http://www.kinderchat123.net/p/the-chat.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">#Kinderchat</span></a> over a year ago, debating the usefulness of a traditional calendar routine, and instead trying to think of the calendar as a tool, not a routine. Of course, kindred spirits were discovered in <a href="https://twitter.com/@kassiaowedekind"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Kassia</span></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/@happycampergirl"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Amy</span></a>, links to NAEYC articles <a href="http://maccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/file/view/Calendar+Time+In+K.pdf"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Days to My Birthday</span></a> and <a href="http://Good%20Intentions%20Gone%20Awry/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Good Intentions Gone Awry</span></a> to mull over, excerpts from Jessica Shumway’s book <a href="http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9336&r="><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Number Sense Routines</span></a> and Kassia’s <a href="http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9509"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Math Exchanges</span></a> to read, and best of all, last summer, building a year long calendar to try out for real. One huge long, linear, write-on-it continuous one-day-leads-into-the-next calendar. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The boring part of this post - the building of it, is not important. I taped them all together, cutting and pasting so that there were never any empty days at the end of one month. I fussed about linear over vertical, permanently on the wall as Amy did, or mounted on a Science Backboard to fold away as Kassia contemplated, or just leaving it as a calendar to flip though as <a href="https://twitter.com/@tori1074"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Patty</span></a> did. How you do it is not as important as just doing it. I ended up choosing what was just right for me. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vTcAG6JRihX1lIVdwGqCKa1YO-b8KUI7ASOeJZUPZo96cZgQUlNi1O_wnbzaNvLos0iRMXyGO9hj1ZPef1piseiYmgHbOttatITiekodirH9j9ujdtcp6tW8zNr41MXS3l-ioQLLCLI/s1600/100_0958.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vTcAG6JRihX1lIVdwGqCKa1YO-b8KUI7ASOeJZUPZo96cZgQUlNi1O_wnbzaNvLos0iRMXyGO9hj1ZPef1piseiYmgHbOttatITiekodirH9j9ujdtcp6tW8zNr41MXS3l-ioQLLCLI/s320/100_0958.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb5pjXPkY_6kOrt5znMQnnbyjcHn4xciJoPv7-BK6krb_SjIvo5DMEDg_pHi9W8Mxj7RZXjKNaYedf-h6AFKkLqmebC6WB6iPNuhTwHoWpqxSjp6yO9I_WEL2n5tPFklghpFHFt2idA0/s1600/100_0959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb5pjXPkY_6kOrt5znMQnnbyjcHn4xciJoPv7-BK6krb_SjIvo5DMEDg_pHi9W8Mxj7RZXjKNaYedf-h6AFKkLqmebC6WB6iPNuhTwHoWpqxSjp6yO9I_WEL2n5tPFklghpFHFt2idA0/s320/100_0959.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So, September last year. Just to make sure I was really ready, we started the year with the usual month calendar. And used the yearly calendar whenever we could. How Big is a Kindergarten Year? was our question. We built a song around it, focused on birthdays. Because every conversation about time came down to a conversation about birthdays. Kids wrote on the calendar, putting in important dates. We held up the big calendar and counted the months. Over, and over and over. Never assuming that there are 12 of them. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">September was a flurry of recording big events (ok, just birthdays. I told you. Mom’s birthdays, pet’s birthdays, do bug's have birthdays? You name it. ) A clear understanding of what is important to a five year old emerges. One K mentions Halloween. No one cares about the calendar. They don’t care WHEN Halloween is, they just know it is amazing - what will you wear, what candy is best - it takes time for the conversation to float to the when of it. But then, ready for them is a visual idea of just how soon it is!! It is right near the beginning of our Kindergarten year!!! </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Boom. The conversation explodes into Traditional Holidays, something I do very little of : ) So Christmas is here? Because of the picture? Hey look at the pictures at the top!! Easter is kinda a long way off . . . My birthday is before that. Hey, what about Valentines? Oh, I said. It is close to 100 Day (Psssst. Nobody cared about 100 Day. Till Later. Till it was relevant). My birthday is in the winter. How many months until???? becomes the most important question we have. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And on other days? Nothing. Everyday is not a treasure chest of rich discussion. But a year long calendar invites it. Is waiting for that moment. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We dump the monthly calendar and we build a this week pocket collection of stuff, because it seemed like some things repeated on a certain day in school. School lends itself to a rhythm of routine that is cosy, comforting, and predictable. The morning announcements has lots of information to be recorded. Let’s compare to what we did last week, will it happen next week? Is it a once a year thing? What season did it happen in? When was that again? Hey wait, I know it was a Wednesday, will it be on Wednesday again? Can we leave this up for next week?</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRf87j_rNAMyNjrFLXw52Zjvx7i0fumCBAVT-az_dekChl4alqtrXGP46GygyXzxunWittfEbSYC3kO5we2gBy1RiAaIfmkFYBOwEn2bm9hcJ8Het6TdcUcWiphf6ejl4jnkLMGcgskk/s1600/IMG_0489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRf87j_rNAMyNjrFLXw52Zjvx7i0fumCBAVT-az_dekChl4alqtrXGP46GygyXzxunWittfEbSYC3kO5we2gBy1RiAaIfmkFYBOwEn2bm9hcJ8Het6TdcUcWiphf6ejl4jnkLMGcgskk/s320/IMG_0489.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Did we sing Days of the Week songs? Sometimes. It worked for some that were wondering. Plus some taught the others the song from PreSchool. But better was asking the kids who already knew the days of the week. How do you know it is a Monday? “Because of the M. But Tuesday is tough - I mix it up with the other one.” Did we sing Months of the Year? Nope. We talked more about the seasons - we live in Canada after all, weather matters here : ) </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Year Long Calendar becomes a living document. It is unfolded, folded like an accordion, stapled to the wall, pulled down, flopped over the big table to check for stuff. Color coded stickers are used to record Days in School, but not until some k’s big sister mentioned 100 day. We go back and figure it out. We cut it into seasons and tape it back together. It lays forgotten, then is reborn when a K remembers, oh the Calendar is a great tool for figuring THAT out. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is a tool. It is not a routine, or a chant. It is not a set amount of time spent everyday settling the class into the routine of the day. It matters. Because it is relevant to the kids when they need it. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. I am hooked. While I believe in the pedagogy, the research, and my own belief in the developmentally appropriate power of this, it is not for those reasons that I am currently building my new Year Long Calendar for my new crew. Or that the extensions for it are huge in my head right now, like the concept of visual timeline that we build through the year - maybe wrapping around the room.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is because my old one ended up tattered, worn and loved. At the end of the year, kids could pick a something from the room to keep. The Calendar was the first thing to get picked. Over the glitter markers I never used. Over the giant cardboard truck, over the big books we had made. And there was a sigh from many that they could not have it. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is because the little <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2011/03/hmm.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">weed</span></a> who got it looked at me and whispered, “It is like I get to keep Kindergarten!” </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A calendar routine that can do that? Yep. </span></div>
Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-1589686387842723172012-08-10T16:07:00.000-07:002012-08-10T16:07:28.867-07:00#PB10for10<br />
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Picture Book 10 for 10 challenge</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="color: #333233; font: 14.0px Georgia; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“This post is for #PB10for10 which was started by @mandyrobek and @CathyMere three years ago to share picture book resources.”</span></div>
<div style="color: #333233; font: 14.0px Georgia; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I thought that this year I would give this a go. Thanks to <a href="http://fixyourfaceg.blogspot.ca/2012/08/pb10for10.html?spref=tw"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Patty</span></a>, who set up a blog for this sole purpose : ) Easier said than done. I have 10 for when my growns were littles. I have 10 that touch me as a grown up, and 10 that send 5 year olds into conniptions. I have 10 for older kids, and ten for my grandkids, when they come. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have over 2000 children’s books in my library. And I know that there are books in that collection that will move me, delight me, teach me, and calm me when I am 90 years old. As they have always done. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So for this moment in time? #Pb10for10</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Frog-Belly-Bone/dp/0763613827"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Frog belly Rat Bone</span></a>, by Timothy Basil Ering</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A one of a kind story about the earth, bad guys who see the light, the power of teamwork, and the wonder of treasure in a bleak world.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Bike-Lesson-Stan-Berenstain/dp/0394800362"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">The Bike Lesson</span></a>, by Stan Berenstain</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is for nostalgia, but kids still love it. I remember reading it as a child - I still have the very much worse-for-wear copy. Papa Bear just keeps on showing Brother Bear how it is done - such a great lesson in the Art of Butting Out and Letting Kids Shine : ) </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Toad-Ruth-Brown/dp/0525457577"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Toad</span></a>, by Ruth Brown </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Gritty, mucky, sloppy, gloomy with prose to die for and a sunshine moment like no other. Read it. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jamberry-Bruce-Degen/dp/0694006513"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Jamberry</span></a>, By Bruce Degen</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“One Berry, Two Berry, Pick me a Blueberry</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hat berry, Shoe Berry in my Canoe Berry” </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My family can recite this book years later. We all have our own copy. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5a. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Granny-Darling-Kady-MacDonald-Denton/dp/0689504527"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Granny is a Darling</span></a> and 5.b <a href="http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Picnic.html?id=ZW3PaIhY2QgC&redir_esc=y"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">The PIcnic</span></a>, by Kady MacDonald Denton</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ok, Of course I am cheating by putting in two. But seriously. The Picnic follows two children who want to picnic with their respective parents but they are too busy. As children cannot cross the street on their own, they devise a way to do just that : ) This is now out of print, but Granny is another gem by an author who I was lucky enough to meet when she flew into our remote school 25 years ago for her first Author’s Visit to a school. As she is also the illustrator, we saw the paint process from idea to published format. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1022a3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">6. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/King-Bidgoods-Bathtub-Audrey-Wood/dp/0152427309" style="color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">King Bidgood's in the Bathtub</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1022a3;">, by Audrey Wood.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Stunningly detailed illustrations with a very playful text absolutely entice kids to look at this book over and over and over. And the king’s face is priceless. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1022a3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">7. <a href="http://Naked%20Mole%20Rat%20Gets%20Dressed/" style="color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1022a3;">, by Mo Willems</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ok. We all love Mo Willems, but this book is fantastic on so many levels. Besides, it has the word ‘naked’ right in it : ) Plus, the message is powerful. And simple. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
8. <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Big-Pumpkin-Erica-Silverman/dp/0689801297" style="text-decoration: underline;">Big Pumpkin</a>, by Erica Silverman</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I hate to but in a theme one - this is Halloween, but my kids loved it, my students love it, and I love it. We actually had this on tape years ago, and chunks of the book are sung, so now it is my go-to, sing it, do the voices, love it story. Plus we make a wicked story bag to take home instead of junky candy, so it is all good, baby. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With that quote I should mention the Pete the Cat books. But I won’t : ) (pssssssst! they are STUPID awesome! You should get all of them right now.) </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
9. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harvey-Potters-Balloon-Jerdine-Nolen/dp/0688078877" style="text-decoration: underline;">Balloon Farm</a>, by Jerdine Nolen</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I read this many times to my own children, but rarely to my own students. I need to fix that. I once found myself in a library with very young ‘uns draped on me when one brought this book over. I knew it well, and was surprised it got picked. We had very little time, so I just flipped pages and we talked through it. The librarian later said that book got signed out to tatters : )** Bah. I just see now that it has been made into a movie. Full disclosure - haven’t seen it, might be good, but I tend to get a little cranky when books are movietized. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1022a3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">10. <a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MgPI4ARGL._SL500_.jpg" style="color: #1022a3; text-decoration: underline;">Wizard McBean and His Flying Machine </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1022a3;">, by Dennis Nolan</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This one just bumped a bunch of contenders as the last pick in as it popped into my head. An other oldie. Another no-longer-in-print paperback that I originally found in a gonna toss it bin. Beautiful rhyme, a lesson in persistence, imagination, and wonder. I love it for lots of reasons, but I love it best as it brings me to the memory of a moment curled up on a sofa whispering it to a boy feeling left out in a world of cousins, family, and crazy. In a top ten of Picture books, this time, the words were enough. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. I could have picked 10 others. Another day I might have. But as I look this over, I am happy. It helps me to see that it is not the book but the relationship we have with it. And for some books, it is Love at First Sight. Others grow on you. And others sneak up and poke at you till you notice them. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Chalkboard; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I might still be reading this week’s top novel when I am 90. I might still be reading magazines, tweets, or articles. I might still be reading non-fiction. I might be teleporting in a hovercar to the latest author’s opening. I might be doing that. But what I know for sure is that I will be looking at my Picture Books. I will not be dusting them off. They will have worn pages and loved bindings. Because powerful writing, deep themes, and complex ideas are found in a great Picture Book. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px 'Century Gothic'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-65291920013242570502012-07-30T16:59:00.000-07:002012-07-30T17:05:08.169-07:00Photo Blog Challenge<br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="color: #222222; font: normal normal normal 22px/normal Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; position: relative;">
<a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.ca/2012/07/kinderblog2012-question-numero-cinq.html" style="color: #2187bb; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">#Kinderblog2012: Question numero cinq!</span></a></h3>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Choose 5 objects from around your <b>home</b> (NOT your classroom!) that tell us something about you: as a teacher or as a person. Take pictures of the objects and post them with captions. The real challenge here: the captions should be no longer than a regular tweet-- that is, 140 characters.</span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ok. This I can do. I have missed most of the challenge questions. </span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But this I can do. Except the 140 character thing. </span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Seriously Amy. You have met me. </span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 570px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 570px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10omIp6MeDLwpwxfINZqDOejMUxQa-0AQPDnm13iZFAbYXITTSjpFhRm8fs_l5c3qs5LNg7c95jbF2sBdm6OelT_uyTNHiNMkir-5gyR06pULShZxbXWHtoZXBsCjLYAqlIXop5Ekyrs/s1600/IMG_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10omIp6MeDLwpwxfINZqDOejMUxQa-0AQPDnm13iZFAbYXITTSjpFhRm8fs_l5c3qs5LNg7c95jbF2sBdm6OelT_uyTNHiNMkir-5gyR06pULShZxbXWHtoZXBsCjLYAqlIXop5Ekyrs/s400/IMG_2014.jpg" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My Great Great Grandparents chose to leave the security of their </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">home in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">late 1800's to strike out for a new life with their clan. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He was 95. She was 101. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All that I am comes from pioneers like these. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hunter, Graham, Walker, Wise. My family. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTQE5c2dl_1l239esVU1Zkr5r6_DYQG0Hy6wQt4izuCdztIS_xBTMHTTt-C2ItINC7bKQzozI177jqAGZ9ozDhXOoafrzIgvLQ7qUxB0dnU5OMMetQ6-4VUUO5uSRKBcQoFYe9CNtO7s/s1600/IMG_2015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTQE5c2dl_1l239esVU1Zkr5r6_DYQG0Hy6wQt4izuCdztIS_xBTMHTTt-C2ItINC7bKQzozI177jqAGZ9ozDhXOoafrzIgvLQ7qUxB0dnU5OMMetQ6-4VUUO5uSRKBcQoFYe9CNtO7s/s640/IMG_2015.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Looks like history matters to me. Almost as much as reading. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My old books are all from my family. Open an old book? </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The smell, the texture, the beautiful text and covers. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Two of these were presented to my </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Great Aunt Annie in 1897 for "verses memorized". </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdAkoJcaYBHRXgnhxKYPMh8h1u5zispaGdVTN6AxPqzUqxPOO5NFoxbzE9f_Yx4k7fykLYb58B-0-pCoEsUmEfy0lay2UWC0F6oKUW8sAUrMj2mkcY_27CFj0IxH-d2yIs13KZUIiweA/s1600/IMG_2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdAkoJcaYBHRXgnhxKYPMh8h1u5zispaGdVTN6AxPqzUqxPOO5NFoxbzE9f_Yx4k7fykLYb58B-0-pCoEsUmEfy0lay2UWC0F6oKUW8sAUrMj2mkcY_27CFj0IxH-d2yIs13KZUIiweA/s640/IMG_2017.jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ah. Collections of random stuff. But significant to me. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">These were collected over the year after my Dad passed. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have this kind of thing everywhere.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Little collections of specific times in my life. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1Oa5-67bKn-zxi-F0igyxdCBYNFGHJvT6c9U1y5GKBFTX9MdTH3ns21LjmFt0zD5qv88qszxHD2KaZbveqb7hZ6xusREr2GIynaOcg5cY474nbQkSpvcsJjVAlBR9_iwHfl4RVTd5Eg/s1600/IMG_0848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1Oa5-67bKn-zxi-F0igyxdCBYNFGHJvT6c9U1y5GKBFTX9MdTH3ns21LjmFt0zD5qv88qszxHD2KaZbveqb7hZ6xusREr2GIynaOcg5cY474nbQkSpvcsJjVAlBR9_iwHfl4RVTd5Eg/s640/IMG_0848.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My back yard and <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2011/03/hmm.html" target="_blank">garden</a> is a haven and a spot to help me recreate (in a tiny way) for my kinders what I had as a kid - a huge farm, a constant invitation to play. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Makeshift, found stuff, forts and figure it out. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The bracelet came from a kinder last summer, and it symbolizes why </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">working with young children is the only way I plan to spend my life : ) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> A bit of a cheat here - this photo comes from </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">one of <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2011/07/nope.html" target="_blank">last year's blog challenge questions. </a></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdHasyVviu2erhHGDH5LeeksF7sZKuJZ0CW-wAbXdbbrpa3fR4yhB9_Ffl64clcgUzSh8U42X63_04_bg-w1hXD2Wjd2fJR_ktZxorqwXS81B8FMask85hZmy0in6VfF3C_BAFxAW5LE/s1600/IMG_2023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdHasyVviu2erhHGDH5LeeksF7sZKuJZ0CW-wAbXdbbrpa3fR4yhB9_Ffl64clcgUzSh8U42X63_04_bg-w1hXD2Wjd2fJR_ktZxorqwXS81B8FMask85hZmy0in6VfF3C_BAFxAW5LE/s640/IMG_2023.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6481426813814670246" itemprop="articleBody" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 570px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finally. The photo that says it all. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A glittery Ukulele ready to play on a piano </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that has been in my family since 1916. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This represents all the crazy assed, half baked ideas </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that constantly bubble out of my brain that </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NEVER come to fruition : ) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I do not play it. It is unlikely that I ever will. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But, I might : ) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So. Here is to all the things in your world </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that have been, are, and may still be. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-15242561891380196092012-07-13T13:08:00.002-07:002012-07-13T13:09:44.588-07:00The Rock Stars of Play<br />
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So. Edcampkinder reflections. Meeting some of the <a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.ca/p/big-picture.html" target="_blank">#kinderchat </a>dream team face to face in Vegas of all places. I told an absent <a href="https://twitter.com/tori1074" target="_blank">Patty</a>: Don’t worry - it will feel like you are there! I lied. Wireless headaches aside, it can’t feel like you are there. She was right to start a counter #edcampkinder movement called #grouchycamp. It affects you deeply. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I told Patty that it was weird. I stand by that. It is not the right word to describe it, but it is weird. Like Alice through the Looking Glass weird. And unsettling. And butterflies in the tummy. Because it is a huge deal. These are minds you have lurked, retweeted, engaged with, DMed, snarked with, collaborated with, shared Twitter and Skype and Facebook and Google hangouts with. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But let’s face it. Seriously. Face to Face it. There they are in real life, sitting across from you. Each bringing a uniquely rich and diverse personality to the table. Joking, sharing, connecting, gesturing wildly, intense, passionate, reflective, #CanyouSingitSister/BrotherAMEN!</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And you lean back and think - these people are Rock Stars to me. And I get to PD in the pool with them. I get to dump an expensive conference session because I don’t want to miss a thing. I get to lament the fact that I did not spend nearly enough time with each and every one of them. I get to wish more could have come. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> I get to feel like I am namedropping when I mention them to others. I get to smile when amazing Principal <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/chriswejr" target="_blank">@ChrisWejr</a> </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">want to be our #kinderchat principal. I get to meet THE </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ooeygooey.com/" target="_blank">Lisa Murphy AKA @OoeyGooeyLady</a> because I think she sees this #Kinderchat PLN as Rock Stars too. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And yet, we are not. We are Educators. From small towns, cities, quiet schools, massive districts. Engaged in the task of advocating for Play. Many operating covertly like 007. Over and over, at the conference, in side conversation, I heard the educator’s lament “I feel so alone where I am. No-one knows that I think this way. Thank heavens there are others who think this way.” </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So, my take-away? Another Just for Me Epiphany? Time to get fierce people. Time to stop saying “I’m alone” and start shouting “Here I AM! We Play in MY room!” </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And so, if you are lurking - step out, step in, get fierce. You are definitely not alone. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So to all of the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.ca/p/big-picture.html" target="_blank">#kinderchat</a> PLN, t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hanks is too small a word. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">To #edcampkinder Protector of Play Rock Stars @hechternacht @LirenmanLearns @MauiMickey @Garrioch @Matt_Gomez @happycampergirl @tashacowdy @Havalah @Mr_Fines </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">To our Virtual #edcampKinder crew - it was messy and hectic and amazing to bring you in via Skype and Facetime : ) @mrsmelva @pattymcn @erocklewitz @tori1074 @jasongraham99 @soltauheller Sorry that we missed connecting with everyone who wanted to. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">PS Can I trademark the word fierce? </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-16144631675537203992012-06-30T15:37:00.001-07:002012-06-30T15:38:58.237-07:00The Learning Curve. Letting the World In.<br />
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">#Kinderblog2012: Question numero un! Details <a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">here</a></span></h4>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What did you learn this past (or, for our southern hemisphere friends, what ARE you learning this current) school year that you couldn't have learned any other year, from any other students or colleagues or administrators or parents? What lessons did this particular year, this particular setting, these particular children bring into your life?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">So. Back at the blog challenge. I love how this pushes me to think. Thanks Amy. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">A funny thing happened to my t’other on a dog walk. He ran into a friend walking his puppy. They chatted about the trials and tribulations of puppies, and as they parted, the man reflected that his puppy was on a learning curb. Mine smiled, and walking away, shook his head. Learning Curb. Ha. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">I love the new saying. We use it often now in our household. But as I reflect on this blog question, it occurs to me that as shiny brilliant a teacher as I might have imagined I was, I have been on a learning curb for a few years now. Sitting there, happily plunked down, still playing in the dirt, but not looking around me. Just sitting still. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">This particular year has been like no other. This year took me off the curb and onto the curve. A troubled, complicated, figure it out, fly by the seat of your pants, fail, rethink, honest learning curve. Like the one our kids are on. Everyday. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">I let the <a href="http://theglobalclassroomproject.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">world</a> in this year. Into my <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.ca/2012/02/world-of-play-literally.html" target="_blank">classroom</a>, into my <a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.ca/p/big-picture.html" target="_blank">friendships</a>, into my thinking. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">And it shifted things for me. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">It gave me perspective as I railed against the idiocy of my current government, then calmed me as I chatted with <a href="http://www.openworldcause.com/?page_id=200" target="_blank">somebody</a> a world away, passionate and committed to providing for children what we have at our fingertips. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">It showed me that my passion for play had been diluted by other’s indifference, a passion now re-ignited into a fierceness. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It allowed me to revisit that clueless, do-whatever younger me, as a still no wiser, </span>older me. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">As always, writing clarifies things for me. I have been struggling to loop my thinking back to my kindergarten students. How all this is reflected back to them. As it always has. My students have been the driving force, barometer, guiding light every year of my 25 years as an educator. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">But this year was for me. That is my lesson, my take-away. My little just-for-me epiphany. I stepped up off the curb, stretched, shook some sillies out, and got on my learning curve. Not for my students, but for me. And it changed their worlds because it changed mine. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 13.0px Papyrus; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Thank you for being there, dusting me off, and pushing me on my way. </span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-20282661846374442002012-02-25T11:59:00.000-08:002012-03-15T18:02:28.823-07:00The World of Play. Literally.<br />
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
As a kindergarten teacher, I am on a constant quest to find authentic, engaging avenues for Play to bring to my current group of kinders. I am a little crazy about it, truth be told. I have exhausted the patience of the colleagues I work with, facing glassy eyed “She is talking Play again” looks. So imagine my excitement when I discovered the world of Twitter, and a Personal Learning Network (PLN) that is as intensely taken with the importance of Play as I am? </div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Enter <a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.com/p/big-picture.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">#Kinderchat</span></a>, my 27/7 PLN. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There are endless ways to Play, and that is at the heart of the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/kinderchatplayproject/project-leaders"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">#Kinderchat PlayProjects</span></a>. Connecting young children to a world of play has never been easier. Twitter, Family Facebook, GoogleEarth, Voicethread, GoogleDoc Storytelling, SkypePlay - the world is at your fingertips, inviting you to connect in a way that is just right for the children in your care.</span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I currently find myself the curator of a Play Project that is just right for me - SkypePlay.</span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">If you are new to Skype, it is an online, visual telephone call. Teachers use it to connect their children to experts, authors, and to other classes. In Kindergarten, I found that the large group gathering was nice every now and then, but that children just wanted to come on up and have a face to face chat, connecting through conversation, and exploring a curiosity about who that other kid is, and what are they doing where they are. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In a nutshell, <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/kinderchatplayproject/project-leaders/show-n-tell"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Skypeplay</span></a> gives children a peer to peer audience for their play that provides immediate interaction, collaboration, and conversation. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And so, a network of Kindergarten classes are connecting, building relationships, exploring geography, and discovering that while everyone might have their own place in the world, we all love to play. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Why on earth (no pun intended) would you need to play with children via a screen when you have kids right there in your room to play with? </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Well, why not? That is my short answer. But I get it. We need to ensure that the world of Social Media is not just a gimmicky thing we throw at kids because we think it is cool. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So. Here is a story from my room. Three boys started building a 3D structure. As it grew, and design ideas were tried, discarded and refined, their excitement grew. Other kids in the class came over, said “cool” but got back to their own play as fast as they could. Then our Skype Phone rang, and a brand-new-to-us class wanted to play. When our new friends came online, they were overwhelmed with excitement - “WOOOOOOAH!! What is THAT!!!” My boys beamed, and strutted with pride, and then spent their time explaining the structure, the components, the time frame (“We have been building for two days, but expect it to take 90” ) while the other kids questioned, listened, and planned for themselves. How many curriculum outcomes do you see there? </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Teachers in the project have facilitated discussions about tornados, snow and no snow, gardens, worms, mountains, oceans, islands. We have giggled over “Giant Face Boy!!” and wondered if we are in the future because it is after lunch here, and before lunch there. I have seen a boy make eye contact with a child a world away when he has struggled to do that with the child beside him. We have talked Skype manners and internet safety. We have classes plotted on a <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/kinderchatplayproject/project-leaders/show-n-tell/the-people">flat map</a>, on a globe, and we have soared over towns and cities via Google Earth. We have been Alice in Wonderland, stepping through the Looking Glass. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And it has opened up a world of play. Literally. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<br /></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-51796458215692047532011-12-11T19:47:00.001-08:002011-12-12T14:37:25.816-08:00Paper Chains. Connecting Kids.<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am a kinder teacher that thinks glitter is evil. In a playful, not for me kinda way. I am also a kindergarten teacher who thinks the same of Paper Chains. You know them. Strips of paper mucked together with too much or too little tape, staples, or the dreaded glue sticks that are dollar store designed to come unstuck after a time lapse of anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am thrilled this year to have two amazing K teachers to share my school with. One of whom managed to have her kinders build gorgeous, stayed stuck, patterned paper chains to celebrate 24 days till Christmas. Hmmm. Maybe we could muster 10? </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Then a couple of my <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.com/2011/03/hmm.html">weeds</a> attach theirs together. And of course, more join in. “AHHHHH It is SOOOOO big. It it TOOOOOO heavy!!” as they drag it around the room. </div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“I wonder,” says I. “Could it reach . . . the office?” And we smile. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Over two days, teams build. Individuals set up work crews. Fine motor fingers pinch and glue. Bossy, Bold and ToldYouSo figure it out. Songs of triumph and pride are sung. Dances are danced around the growing pile. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcVM78u65YO5sPOuwzAEQ2cuGgi6ZU1FYKEPvLcJuU_4KO_UQSUxFDlIy0Jil9nmCpgvsLlsY9kQSQCOnsdtf78qtd4nXMGueJ_wxQ1sUuWfzMMWsoQPEb1nhN-e2mOOVmHB7hBseEX4/s1600/IMG_0191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcVM78u65YO5sPOuwzAEQ2cuGgi6ZU1FYKEPvLcJuU_4KO_UQSUxFDlIy0Jil9nmCpgvsLlsY9kQSQCOnsdtf78qtd4nXMGueJ_wxQ1sUuWfzMMWsoQPEb1nhN-e2mOOVmHB7hBseEX4/s320/IMG_0191.jpg" width="239" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We hang the first chain in the Primary hallway. Hmmm - only half way there. . .</span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Some bigkids are looking. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“How many?” a grade 3er asks. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“Well. If this is ten, how many do you think?” </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I leave some stickies on the hall wall for guesses. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Meanwhile, a kinder wonders, “It is A LOT of chains. Like maybe ahunfrendthree a thousand?” </span>So we build and count and make 10s and build 100. And hang it and OHHHHHH look, we make it! <br />
And we smile. </div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4SPhodvNOa2NN9oOUNTqjC2YsspWMxswsAPxPJ6bD_3ohVEtBQ7Q6F1MW40oZ7agZ3QMnC2rO8RXD9luXD0wdOzOMSQ6s9o0JLA-oz2dEoqAwIOJtjIRFT0nPC5tV709bfPChe-JAww/s1600/100_1392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4SPhodvNOa2NN9oOUNTqjC2YsspWMxswsAPxPJ6bD_3ohVEtBQ7Q6F1MW40oZ7agZ3QMnC2rO8RXD9luXD0wdOzOMSQ6s9o0JLA-oz2dEoqAwIOJtjIRFT0nPC5tV709bfPChe-JAww/s320/100_1392.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Bigkids are MORE curious. So we make signs. We set up a guess board. We make cookies for the kid that guesses the closest. We say, “If this is 100, how many do you think?” </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And they do. Think. Estimate. Plan. Argue. Prove. Rethink. Record.</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And the kinders look at the bigkids, who are looking at them. "Cool chain," says a bigkid. "You guys rock." And we smile. </span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I guess now I like paper chains. But never glitter : ) </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6evTornThgk27RCQ_uw9Lc-fs_bXxnYpPudiN3PhqQRk7obDhNlckTCTiwVwrteXOZH0wAf7-6pjybGEtAe_JGJxhJYOntyvEJUTXw4SQLgbXnu1_2HgBpCwrCVZbbCc14mw1JkeaKY/s1600/IMG_0203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6evTornThgk27RCQ_uw9Lc-fs_bXxnYpPudiN3PhqQRk7obDhNlckTCTiwVwrteXOZH0wAf7-6pjybGEtAe_JGJxhJYOntyvEJUTXw4SQLgbXnu1_2HgBpCwrCVZbbCc14mw1JkeaKY/s320/IMG_0203.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAqULEIOml_2X0iaRgbjzKrb8sps14FUiDzjxBQKhhmkqPhIPsHJNiQT-nSegTAvzyoJdxvElEuGmlOX2lbIkqc2kba0AyOVpkIfstGxKhtMLLroHceE8mGjVcBVPjWk20rDWZJS2lEuE/s1600/IMG_0204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAqULEIOml_2X0iaRgbjzKrb8sps14FUiDzjxBQKhhmkqPhIPsHJNiQT-nSegTAvzyoJdxvElEuGmlOX2lbIkqc2kba0AyOVpkIfstGxKhtMLLroHceE8mGjVcBVPjWk20rDWZJS2lEuE/s320/IMG_0204.jpg" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolAqztYOFqFmQUAzdwlUxaJmegzjGE08IyVrkzWI2ua0hqXmRyg5piQqLROwy13lio-LEKF5heJdL91mfEZRegtsN67wJl7OjTO6TrbMTV9W-tSxTCPPqOonckVpZe84hWy5wKpvNG9k/s1600/IMG_0115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolAqztYOFqFmQUAzdwlUxaJmegzjGE08IyVrkzWI2ua0hqXmRyg5piQqLROwy13lio-LEKF5heJdL91mfEZRegtsN67wJl7OjTO6TrbMTV9W-tSxTCPPqOonckVpZe84hWy5wKpvNG9k/s320/IMG_0115.jpg" width="239" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDbVDXrBIt56Nx_tlma-X-tEMIbfJeNjUUKObpeupL-V4BRS3dc1fmFBEVieXAA4K312aWOd3a3hNsIk34curxtXrM80Bs6B1N-gCvt7P-sXWVRovjChfKwtCiiiexz57KRxa9g3Cjvw/s1600/100_1417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDbVDXrBIt56Nx_tlma-X-tEMIbfJeNjUUKObpeupL-V4BRS3dc1fmFBEVieXAA4K312aWOd3a3hNsIk34curxtXrM80Bs6B1N-gCvt7P-sXWVRovjChfKwtCiiiexz57KRxa9g3Cjvw/s320/100_1417.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG83AXpcqGuZQuqfC1tktWV__In1Hn3O-9aL9btTUH1BX92CMAD5DqIPikgyNXiPece_YjtKpAOu5Kv3KBrPGZr5FPlJGGEQWCClAyJ_t_MFiW25ivHTGuYLyo2ErI50vfXGFfPPDQF_Q/s1600/IMG_0205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG83AXpcqGuZQuqfC1tktWV__In1Hn3O-9aL9btTUH1BX92CMAD5DqIPikgyNXiPece_YjtKpAOu5Kv3KBrPGZr5FPlJGGEQWCClAyJ_t_MFiW25ivHTGuYLyo2ErI50vfXGFfPPDQF_Q/s320/IMG_0205.JPG" width="320" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8qh10x2nrn9EJDr4rEZnSS1oIrXw_NxneA4wuClp9hZ_u8L277ygAP27I_pPUPehbVNIh0iov8b5ACvaMBFbZEzLk2Jm4VcBZ2N-VBK3BiqwyK_TFbBaAe3_skoM8ROmOp3TVbe_rfg/s1600/IMG_0201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8qh10x2nrn9EJDr4rEZnSS1oIrXw_NxneA4wuClp9hZ_u8L277ygAP27I_pPUPehbVNIh0iov8b5ACvaMBFbZEzLk2Jm4VcBZ2N-VBK3BiqwyK_TFbBaAe3_skoM8ROmOp3TVbe_rfg/s320/IMG_0201.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQWH7__tpKdZUPWctdfFoGybqHKlAUT2nMO-wZry8SxAnGaXUZrckKVstb2kS3JhO5CLSomNqjx-F95qiU7J81II6iDmqhKtVqTc3xINu79ur6YbcCIvySF5Ln9WGYXIQRiziZdjMA9w/s1600/IMG_0202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQWH7__tpKdZUPWctdfFoGybqHKlAUT2nMO-wZry8SxAnGaXUZrckKVstb2kS3JhO5CLSomNqjx-F95qiU7J81II6iDmqhKtVqTc3xINu79ur6YbcCIvySF5Ln9WGYXIQRiziZdjMA9w/s320/IMG_0202.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-19010011378538774002011-11-19T11:19:00.000-08:002011-11-19T11:19:53.517-08:00Finger Knitting to Self Regulation to Cultural Chaos<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are going to start finger knitting in Kindergarten soon. I thought it was a great way to practice fine motor skills. Tactile, beautiful, creative as well. I was wrong. It is apparently a commentary on all that is wrong with our Culture : ) Bear with me. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Finger knitting is also an opportunity for me to help children self regulate, apparently something great learners need. Brain guys say that self regulation comes from repeated, rhythmic, soothing actions like chanting, drumming, rocking, knitting, weaving. Engaging the brain stem and all that stuff. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sounds like your house any given day right? Sounds like the kind of stuff we do all the time in our Culture. Peaceful, rhythmic, repeated, time consuming stuff. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We get into these trends of what is important for kids to be globally successful. To be successful 21st century learners. What if what is stopping us is our own Culture? What is it to be Culturally successful? Gross overstatement alert here, but many world Cultures are self regulated and sustainable. Why in our Culture do we have to “teach” self regulation instead of it being embedded?</span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. Finger knitting : ) Your brain cannot find the path to quiet reflection, to self regulation, without having been there first, on its own terms. We ask kids to be quiet and listen. We tell kids to reflect now, please. Have you ever seen a group of people knitting? Quilting? Conversation, reflection, a lull in conversation that is golden. Or someone working at a loom, a puzzle, weaving, or kneading bread. What we lightly refer to as hobbies, or schedule into a busy day as Me Time, or dismiss in another Culture as backward, are an essential chunk of what helps children to cope with a Culture that might be stripping us of that. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Technology allows us to visit other Cultures, to explore and reflect and compare. It allows us to share our Culture through stories and images and voices. It even creates some of that Culture. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As long as we value and explore the rhythmic, repetitive chant that is a Culture at its quietist. At its most reflective. At its most powerful. </span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-80063419429969620642011-08-11T21:53:00.000-07:002011-08-11T22:02:11.734-07:00The undone classroom<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Lots of buzz out there about the undone classroom. Bare walls. Clean slate. Children will fill the walls with authentic learning. Tossing the desk. I agree, to a degree. I certainly have not had a desk since my first class set a beaver tail and feet on it over 20 years ago. Had a piano for a while and loved it. Played the <a href="http://weedsareplantstoo.blogspot.com/2011/03/hmm.html">weeds</a> in, set stuff on it. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Still no desk, but a Kinder room is different. Ask any <a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.com/p/chat.html">#kinderchat</a> teacher. The environment is the third teacher. Contemplating the set-up, ebb and flow, potential for play, discovery, learning consumes me like no day-planner ever has. I gut my room over and over through-out the year. Re-imagine it. Fellow teachers are often confused and unsure as to why I would do that. On purpose. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">My classroom is </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"> a mirror, </div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a portal, </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a reflection </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a diving board. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It is haven and harbour. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It provides calm and chaos. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It hides treasures and hollers “Look at me!” </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So. My day-planner remains empty. That is for my weeds to fill, once I get to know them. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But my room? A new weed yelped at me in the grocery store the other day. “HEY!!! You get to be in my classroom!!!” I have to agree. I get to be. It had better be ready for her. While her classroom does not boast fancy bulletin boards and borders, it will be ready. Waiting, expecting, and as curious about her as she is about it. Because when a weed walks through my door, it is not me who first holds her attention. It is the room. Her room. His room. Our room. </span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-12786492741406920852011-08-04T14:22:00.000-07:002011-08-04T14:22:44.718-07:00Blog Challenge 5<div style="font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tell us about your greatest classroom disaster. The biggest mess, the lamest lesson, the most snooze-worthy circle time. Hopefully, even if you couldn't laugh about it at the time, you can laugh about it now.</span></div><div style="font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 13.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ok, back to fun font for this one. I know I asked for some levity, but this one is a little tough! I certainly have had my share of lame, ill conceived lessons whose sheer boredom factor could have me up for child abuse, but all kind of hazy in detail. As I have mentioned, I do tend to misremember things, always for the better. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While I have mellowed over time, my early years of teaching were marked with flashes of brilliance, coupled with a complete disregard for consequences. As a child, I could always count on an older family member to bail me out, so really I thought that anything was possible, and at the very least, should be attempted. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Add to that I am the queen of connected tangents, and you have my recipe for disaster. A lesson that was brilliant and engaging. I could not fathom why no one had done it before. If twitter existed, I probably would have been #lookatme!! all over it. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I was teaching in a modular school, separate from the main school by the playground, and a million miles. There were 4 of us out there - kind of our own club. I was teaching a grade 2/3 combined class, and loving it. We were looking at Air, Flight, and 3D solids. We were focused on cause and effect, and diagramming was (is) a huge part of my world . And of course I was (and am) all about kids having first hand experiences. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Demonstrations? PPHAA! </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Videos?? Naaaaaa</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Taking turns? Rubbish. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This idea was built for partners. Built for collaboration, observation, consultation. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So: Air. Flight. Geometric solids. Cause and effect. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What if 28 seven and eight year olds determined which geometric solid was most aerodynamic? What if, with a partner, one blew through a straw, on the face of a solid, and the other determined where the air was directed? What if we diagrammed the air flow we felt? </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What if the main indicator of success was blowing out the candle flame so carefully positioned on the other side of the solid. Yes, fellow traveller’s - the lit candle. Not one candle managed in a class demonstration. Not a video clip of a candle. 14 groups, 14 candles stuck in 14 places with plasticine, being lit (over and over) by your’s truly. On purpose. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We recently wrote a blog challenge about our school parents finding our blog. I hoped that mine would. If they are reading this, I want you to know that I am older and wiser. That while I still have flashes of brilliance, it is rarely accompanied by actual flames. That this lesson went with out a hitch. That kids were focused and careful, connected and safe the whole time. That I miss, sometimes, the complete freedom that comes with youth, enthusiasm, and the conviction that anything is possible, and at the very least, should be attempted. </span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-34315501263091015762011-07-27T21:52:00.000-07:002011-07-31T16:27:29.559-07:00<div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Nope. Can’t. Not right now. Thoughts as I read this week's blog challenge. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 13.0px Arial; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Tell the story of one specific child, who walked into your life and changed everything.</span></div><div style="font: 13.0px Arial; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In a week of midnight accidents, ambulances, trauma, hospitals, and decisions. In a week of support, sounding board, stress and release. This is something I could let go of. Brain too busy. Heart too heavy. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But then I sat, down time, at MacD’s, writing in longhand no less. Cathartic in itself. Because of that idea of changing everything, and how tiny that can be. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I also had chosen not to write because I couldn’t focus on “the one” without another “one” creeping in. I couldn’t write about “the child”, but today, I can write about <i>this </i>child. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Unknown to me, a little weed from my class saw me go into the same grocery/pharmacy store that she was in. While I was preoccupied with prescriptions and consults, messages of medical jargon, she bided her time, poking down aisles, peeking. When she saw me - a long run, a huge hug, and a made-for-me bracelet fashioned from her pocket of craft bits she always seems to have. Dangling as well, a green grocery bread tag. More hugs, giggles, I miss you’s, a chat with mom, and off she went. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">She left me able to breath. Able to think. Able to continue to do those grown-up things that need to get done. Because now I look at my pink plastic loop with Betty Boop and a bread tag and I smile. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">No other job on the planet matches mine. Take my work home? Sure. Homesick for work? Yep. Because my work hugs me in a grocery store and changes everything. </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5sS1lA2HuDbyAdqdyGS-hNNoHb_WUQ6kn0bt-0Xvp6SSJsNUBjp-wkbcHpjchgt1QgBMNYGzas_oXI8u_ZXA1MVddeCQPbnJ-0uiVrY8JBusuRxcD0sXRN_lFWp48MjHt0M6esPQU_0U/s1600/IMG_0848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5sS1lA2HuDbyAdqdyGS-hNNoHb_WUQ6kn0bt-0Xvp6SSJsNUBjp-wkbcHpjchgt1QgBMNYGzas_oXI8u_ZXA1MVddeCQPbnJ-0uiVrY8JBusuRxcD0sXRN_lFWp48MjHt0M6esPQU_0U/s320/IMG_0848.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-61103351596514822482011-07-20T20:48:00.000-07:002011-07-20T20:48:17.662-07:00Hey, It's Me!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Blog Challenge 3</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Imagine that a parent of one of your students, stumbling around the internet, happened to land on your blog. Not your class blog with your cute photos of all your munchkins and their amazing brilliant work. Your personal teacher-reflection blog, the one where your intended audience is mostly other teachers. Pretend that parent managed to figure out exactly who you were, and that you were their child's teacher. What would you want that parent to know? What would you say to that parent? Write the letter that you would want that parent to read.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I guess I would say, Hello. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I take what I do seriously. It is important. It matters. People are sometimes surprised by the passion and intensity with which I approach the education of young children. That can irritate me. Parents appreciate that bit of crazy. Because it is not just about any child. It is about their child. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So if a parent found my blog? I would say read on. Read the old posts, read the new posts. The kinders are always so thrilled to see me out of the school. In real life. This is no different. This is me. Thinking out loud. It can get messy : ) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-39797010787767701042011-07-15T10:38:00.000-07:002011-07-15T10:39:55.550-07:00Blog Challenge 2 Training Pants<div style="font: 17.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Tell us about the teacher preparation you attended. (You don't have to name the school if you don't want to.) Did you love it at the time? Did it prepare you adequately for teaching? How did you feel about it as you were in it? Does it look different now, looking back? Would you change it if you could? What did get out of it? What did you not get that you needed?</i></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am starting to love writing. Blogging is the first writing I have done. I have always preferred story telling. But writing expects reflection, invites connection. Tangents. So. Thinking back to last week’s topic of being a “teacher”, I have wrestled with my career long reluctance to be called a teacher. Now I see why. I was never trained to be a teacher. I went in blind and young. I went in with a suitcase of life experiences from a childhood of freedom, expectation, imagination, and self reliance, given to me by my parents, my family, and the farm. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I was woefully unprepared to teach actual children. My major was Shakespeare, and my minor was Urban Geography. Education focused courses were in my last year only. The science guy taught us how to fold paper to easily cut out letters for bulletin boards. Our language lady was reported to be excellent, but that year she was writing a book. The class was run by us - groups of 4 students took on what felt like a random topic and presented it. We had to take a media course. Nope - longer ago than that. I was taught how to run a mimeo, filmstrip projector, opaque projector, and the dreaded Film projector. Gimme an “oh ya Baby” if you can still hear the thwoop thwoop of the film end, or smell the burning of improperly fed film . . . The math sessions were gold. I inhaled her way of thinking, her approach, her philosophy, but I only appreciated a tiny bit of her at the time, in the moment. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Thank heaven for the student teaching program at this university. My first teacher was a Grade 4 sweetie who wore his heart on his sleeve, and was a Town Crier (in full costume) on his weekends. He was accessible, caring, firm, and adored by those kids. And me. He read the BFG out loud, and read to himself during the daily school reading time, wagging a finger at anyone who interrupted something as important as reading. I was only in his room for half a day a week, half the year. What a treat. He taught me more in a quick aside on the way to the gym than any university course ever had. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And then I got to do my first 8 week practicum. Miss Swann. Grade One. It was her first year teaching. She was told when she was hired that she would be a Cooperating Teacher. That 16 weeks would be given over to Student Teachers. She was brilliant. Quiet, serene, she looked into a child’s face, and they believed in her. Trusted in her. Like Santa and the Tooth Fairy. Regardless of the swirl of responsibility and chaos that had to be a part of her life, she put the kids, then me, first. My first on-my-own-evaluated-by-a-bigwig lesson started beautifully, and then workers came and began removing the massive windows that filled one wall of the classroom. From the back of the room she at me like she looked at her children. She smiled, shrugged, and raised one eye brow (I am not making this up!) She leaned in and her whole body said “What will you do?” with utter confidence that I would figure it out. I have no memory of what I did. It is on some University form somewhere. Doesn’t matter. Someone believed that I could, so I did. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">My final practicum had it’s own hard lessons. Grade 5. All the stereotypes - inner school, 19 boys, 5 girls, disengaged teacher who introduced me the first day and left the room. I tend to “misremember” things. I know I went into high gear. I know we did tonnes of hands on, build it, create it, model it stuff, and I found myself in it. I know that I heard Barbara Coloroso speak, and adopted her say it-mean it mannerism, combined with what I had learned from Miss Swann. I know I looked like a 12 year old and bought “teacher” clothes. I know my cooperating teacher liked what I did, but could only stay for evaluations because he found noise distressing. I know that I got reprimanded for not spending enough time in the staffroom : ) I know that I learned a lot. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Teachers trained me, not the university. Good or bad. Teachers continue to train me. It always comes down to the relationship an adult has with children. Always. The trust that children, reluctantly or willingly, place into your hands. Santa and the Tooth fairy. And Miss Swann. And me. </span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 17.0px Arial; line-height: 23.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And you. </span></div><br />
<div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-60983294272991490752011-07-08T06:41:00.000-07:002011-07-08T06:41:30.895-07:00Blog Challenge<div style="font: 13.0px Arial; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"></div><div style="font: 13.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When Amy thunk this up, I was excited! Once a week writing? Never done it. Reflection matters. Mostly just to your own self, but it matters. So Blog Challenge Begins!</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div><br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Arial; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tell us the story of the first group of children for whom you were "Teacher." Maybe it was at a school, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was a childcare centre, or a daycamp, or a swimming pool or a dance studio or a hockey rink. Maybe it was in your own home, or their home. Who were they? Who were you? What did it FEEL like? Maybe it was amazing. Maybe it was terrible. Either way, there is a story there. Tell it.</span></div><div style="font: 13.0px Arial; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I roll the children, classes, schools, situations thru my head and wonder, have I ever been the “teacher” . . . really? I am big on “moments.” Those times that define you and chart your course. But I do not have a “teaching” moment.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Decades ago, I was a horrible babysitter. Disengaged, routined, hohummity. One would not have pegged me as a teacher in training. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">During University summers, I ran the 5 to 12 yr old day camp in my home town - focused, committed, “fun” but again, disengaged. Too busy, too committed to the next moment to watch kids enjoy that moment. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My first teaching job was unique and wonderful, frightening and freeing. A fly-in reserve in Manitoba. I think of those kids so often. I was given beaver feet and tail in a plastic bag my first day with the Grade 4’s. The tail was so heavy, solid, unlike anything I had ever seen. Like teaching can be. But unyielding, as my teaching was. Certainly, I taught at children rather than to them and yet, they taught me to look at them - Craig, Amy, Wade, John. Years later I can name that entire class, see them in my mind’s eye. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When I moved to the grade 2 class, meeting curriculum challenges was low on the list. Letting Terrence sleep in the big chair dressed in his favourite dressup reindeer costume after spending the night sleeping in a truck seemed more important than curriculum outcome 1.2.5. I told him a story as his eyes drooped closed, and he taught me the power of dressups in a difficult world.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Moving thru settings, schools, wrestling with philosophies and pedagogy, the kids never change. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Allison, when asked to create a math problem about santa peered thru translucent pattern blocks and said matter-of -fact “What if he doesn’t come? That’s a problem. ” She taught me to look deeper and think harder. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Goeffry, who saw math as we dream kids could now. Intuitive, reflective, connected, beyond me. I said “show me what you know” and he taught me how to leap - eyes wide open - into the unknown. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Jacob, a grade seven student who taught me that small moments add up and matter. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These moments, these aha-slam-into-you moments, happen over and over, year after year. Ryan and Natasha, Nicole. Reid. Caleb and Mike - figuring it out for themselves. The fierce look of pride and triumph that flashes across a child’s face. None of them feel like teaching moments. They feel like learning. My learning. So. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now what? Re-reading this at a reasonable hour after a decent nights sleep, I realize that I once again took a tangent. No one asked me for that moment when I felt like a teacher - just that first experience. The queen of tangents would like to say it is all connected. That every class feels like a first class. I would like to believe that in all that learning, perhaps there was some teaching going on. But really, who am I </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">kidding : ) I have had the privilege of being schooled by amazing children for many years, and I hope no one comes calling for back pay! </span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-1062509124534312662011-04-25T08:50:00.000-07:002011-04-25T08:56:01.343-07:00Storyboards: The Power of Props*<div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">(*There are photos of kid's stuff this time - you can skip my blah blah and jump to paragraph 4 : )</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So. I started a blog with no real plan. I do want to ramp things up next year, when I have full day Kinder and more time (haha). I guess I wanted to see if I would actually stick to it. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I see two sides to blogs. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Reflective. Yep, doing that. And man, has it focused my thinking during a very fuzzy time for me. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Celebratory. That #iamburstingtoshowyouwhattheydidtoday! </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I want parents to see the process, not just the scrapbook of stuff. We do student-led conferences, portfolios, newsletters, emails, parent visits, videos, but parents miss moments. Moments that matter. The mess and play and discovery that teachers so want kids to be able to share with the people important to them - their families. In as “real time” as possible. I am kinda limited because of privacy concerns right now, but I am working on it. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So. A huge thanks to twitterfriends who post these amazing moments. Who inspire others to post the same. This post inspiration comes from a link to storyboards - my very favorite kindergarten thing! Please let me know about your inspired, made from stuff around the room, masterpieces! </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We work on storyboards all year - creating props for favourite stories to encourage retelling, reinventing, blending stories into our own. We use a Flip for a center called “Make a Movie” so that we can record our masterpieces. Right now, we are building a story board for <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Story-Frog-Belly-Rat-Bone/dp/0763613827">Frog Belly Rat Bone</a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> A brilliant story of treasure, specks, friends, thieves, teamwork, and the power of good old mother earth. </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Before the specks . . . </div></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHEwNVF5YrqbplFo8clM88MTndhEE-nZwiPWhRU91atzXD67QvRUCa2UumjLYIIe3T0gDnMcQbrRDROYGFUpQnFBYNOlolY9KU5CsCJRoPkRlCIO-yl7ifUpdf0fsPCeZqYiRfNre3HY/s1600/100_0585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHEwNVF5YrqbplFo8clM88MTndhEE-nZwiPWhRU91atzXD67QvRUCa2UumjLYIIe3T0gDnMcQbrRDROYGFUpQnFBYNOlolY9KU5CsCJRoPkRlCIO-yl7ifUpdf0fsPCeZqYiRfNre3HY/s320/100_0585.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">After the specks . . . </div><div><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizb4ni7InDGnds2npcIibQbRCJ9I0ZAXgF_bUDElnOeM8Ixj56ifbmyIIqfPWg6PV3VUUMOnbUI1EOA0kCJNbSRnr0NeuGVgUlo5pRYIuW9izzdl-2OAnQ0XPCjWNvoBB9yF909A_1i4U/s1600/100_0584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizb4ni7InDGnds2npcIibQbRCJ9I0ZAXgF_bUDElnOeM8Ixj56ifbmyIIqfPWg6PV3VUUMOnbUI1EOA0kCJNbSRnr0NeuGVgUlo5pRYIuW9izzdl-2OAnQ0XPCjWNvoBB9yF909A_1i4U/s320/100_0584.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Individual Story Boards</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2y5SDUPVM11658-eaSHo2juT9J5Dy_K7WydQsxBx6YdjcaYO6kt-7CirvkwUGb_TTEj6ooCPF86ygQmkYEREjgZJjECDGsL5ZvPGAu8In4ckoGKtQwOZov8FLY9QqbvoLO1ZX1huSrBY/s1600/104_0434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2y5SDUPVM11658-eaSHo2juT9J5Dy_K7WydQsxBx6YdjcaYO6kt-7CirvkwUGb_TTEj6ooCPF86ygQmkYEREjgZJjECDGsL5ZvPGAu8In4ckoGKtQwOZov8FLY9QqbvoLO1ZX1huSrBY/s320/104_0434.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We have quite a few now, but these are the go to favourites - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/There-Cold-Lady-Swallowed-Some/dp/0439895561/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2">There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow</a> creating a class story board</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD8A-3XHIeWNOruTP6wRz4UD7dds7ala-9Aus2jfbb3QzdxV3ICbgT_fJGnVDBobkLeJqkrBj6xLjKPGqP7uszjVyGPu75Vx8AJ0onRJTNo2bKyB6KQwbODPlDHb8Dmz4zNLBuXjigVSc/s1600/102_0036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD8A-3XHIeWNOruTP6wRz4UD7dds7ala-9Aus2jfbb3QzdxV3ICbgT_fJGnVDBobkLeJqkrBj6xLjKPGqP7uszjVyGPu75Vx8AJ0onRJTNo2bKyB6KQwbODPlDHb8Dmz4zNLBuXjigVSc/s320/102_0036.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHyEm3E4R8emNy0FneRvTxwVh_g3zn2GphLEDNyoEVdCP6Nu6r02LeuHc6_xsl7bq3wEX_sILErb-zf92dm-DHpW7JEmHpAbghf1fQC7HWokegUps5Ts6w1sOSmU_ltU-IOP1TBekPT0/s1600/102_0827.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHyEm3E4R8emNy0FneRvTxwVh_g3zn2GphLEDNyoEVdCP6Nu6r02LeuHc6_xsl7bq3wEX_sILErb-zf92dm-DHpW7JEmHpAbghf1fQC7HWokegUps5Ts6w1sOSmU_ltU-IOP1TBekPT0/s320/102_0827.JPG" width="309" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Go-Away-Big-Green-Monster/dp/0316236535">GO AWAY BIG GREEN MONSTER </a> with removable parts </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fCIb6KTQWulEKrTcwk-SlRIMyBwc08hDn51oFaxGCAZmWHVOprZvVIPfCsIhmrLZQTxk4y91Ib6WCJ5jL3OWI-14bsnrzfIM0Zn46fBvzDTPbvjyLwso5rEIhiQrmz3A_kPw5x9aVNc/s1600/100_1052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fCIb6KTQWulEKrTcwk-SlRIMyBwc08hDn51oFaxGCAZmWHVOprZvVIPfCsIhmrLZQTxk4y91Ib6WCJ5jL3OWI-14bsnrzfIM0Zn46fBvzDTPbvjyLwso5rEIhiQrmz3A_kPw5x9aVNc/s320/100_1052.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And a beginning to end of year fav story based on a book, but i didn’t have the props, so i changed it story board The Snake and the Frogs, based on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Count-Ellen-Stoll-Walsh/dp/0152002669">Mouse Count</a></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gXfz5-L_Q1XyiNeC7Emd2T8rchyphenhyphenhtKoyGZxDXLnfGoy0v6hlvEk9bH55nFYCFW2JUEdrVIpZzcmLeehsSl2mxpjFN6sXibrbedLAUPOeyizv1eJcuJf-sRWorBQakvUNXcflB2i5jOQ/s1600/102_0038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gXfz5-L_Q1XyiNeC7Emd2T8rchyphenhyphenhtKoyGZxDXLnfGoy0v6hlvEk9bH55nFYCFW2JUEdrVIpZzcmLeehsSl2mxpjFN6sXibrbedLAUPOeyizv1eJcuJf-sRWorBQakvUNXcflB2i5jOQ/s320/102_0038.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">If you made it this far, I feel that upon reflection, my celebratory post seems a little LOOK AT ME rather than look at my little weeds . . . . Maybe blogging is triangular, or better still, and irregular polygon - many sided : )</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-76003445096688675652011-04-22T12:09:00.000-07:002011-04-22T12:09:49.548-07:00Boys will be boys.<div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Cliche, but on my mind often. #Kinderchat topic a few weeks ago evolved into this discussion about boys and rough housing. Boys and guns. And continues to come up through figuring out violence in kinder writing. Weeds in the Kindergarten. #kinderchat is buzzing right now with ideas. </div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But the niggling thought comes back to me - Why Not? Ever read the original version of Red Riding Hood? Russel Hoban’s book Monsters? Watched Bugs Bunny for the zillienth time and still laugh out loud? </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kids are surrounded by more violence than ever before. And not cartoon violence, or storybook violence. Visual screen violence that research indicates affects the brain the same way that real violence does. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kids live with violence in their homes, on their streets. Shouldn’t we give them the opportunity to explore, discuss, dispute, refute, re-evaluate, re-educate? That is what we do. That is the basis of learning. We know kindergarten is not all butterflies and sharing. It is messy, and mean. We get mad. Mistakes are made and feelings are hurt. Not everything gets fixed right away. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don’t know. I wish I did. I know I want boys to be boys. Snails and puppy-dog tails. (Tangent - were those tails CUT OFF??!!) Anyway. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">More questions than answers. But a growing thought that a bit of this and that with discussion and acceptance and exploration can go a long way for a little weed. To make sense of this dichotomy of violence in a little weed's world. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I might be wrong. It happens. </span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-13283536505667122062011-04-17T11:39:00.000-07:002011-04-17T11:39:23.791-07:00“They are acting like kindergarteners”<div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Heavy sigh. It is election time in the great white north, and this comment has come up more than once to describe our political culture - yelling, stomping, tantrums, a refusal to listen, bullying, fingers in the ears blah blah blah. </div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am a patient woman, but if ANYONE refers to this type of behavior as “kindergarten” again, I will lose it all over them. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You WISH our governments acted like kinders. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You WISH our corporations acted like kinders. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You WISH our adults acted like kinders. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kinders are curious and openminded.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">KInders learn from mistakes, and unexpected consequences, and failure.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kinders watch, and listen, and reflect, and try again.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ever seen a kinder negotiate for a prized toy? </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ever seen a kinder bounce back from disappointment and frustration? </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ever seen a kinder look at another and say “I can help you with that”</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ever seen an idea bounce from one kinder brain to another and another to create greatness? </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Without the argument that “My brilliance is shinier and better than yours! “ </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have. Kinder teachers know. We are there, modeling, coaching, engaging, expecting, celebrating. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Maybe we need kindergarten kids and their teachers in parliaments and board rooms. Not elected or as CEOs, good heaven’s no. As facilitators, mentors, reminders. That what we teach our youngest should matter. It should be reflected in the society that they are RIGHT NOW looking up to. Time for you to stop acting like adults, and start acting like KIndergarteners . </span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728909146275157901.post-90693873531094888402011-04-16T07:41:00.000-07:002011-04-18T20:03:57.238-07:00Tickles or Bonks<div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Special thanks to <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Mr_Fines">@Mr_Fines</a>, @<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/LAMHRainbow">lamhrainbow</a> , <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/ryflinn">@ryflinn</a>. <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Matt_Gomez">@Matt_Gomez</a> Daddy Ducks one and all.</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I recently attended a conference with a keynote from <a href="http://www.gordonneufeld.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dr Newfeld</span></a>. The twitter version of it is #kidswilllearniftheyformanattatchmenttoyou. That is what children are hardwired to do. Follow their Mother Duck, because they trust, believe, accept, care, respect. Hardwired to balk at following some random duck just cause they were told to. That all the pedagogy, and technology, and time matters for naught if kids are not attached to you. That for some kids that means physical contact. Hmmm. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Years ago, when I first started all this that we called “school”, this ability to form a connection with the kids in my care came very naturally - hugs, hands, head pats, were a regular part of the day. I did stop wearing skirts though. Kinders have a weird affection for ankles encased in pantihose! As I taught older children, the level of connection didn’t change, just the way we showed it. Tickles, Bonks, or a Wink on the way out the door was a great favourite - most picked getting bonked with a long wrapping paper roll, and nothing is as much fun as trying to wink. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A combination of settings and circumstances have slowly discouraged me from being that type of Mother Duck. I have over the years slowly stepped back from the deep and often demonstrative world that is connecting and caring for children. I have heard myself say “Hugs are for at home sweetie - can I have a handshake?” Political correctness, and all that. There are, of course, more professional and less personal ways to show kids they matter. I know, I still have managed to connect with kid anyway. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Except.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Except for three little ducklings in my care this year. Of course, handshakes are not enough. They push past the hand and into a hug. They tug my hand and twirl into a better hug. They know. They know it matters. They know I have missed it. They know it makes me better. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Cherry Cream Soda'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So. I am leaping back in. Quack! Quack! Tickles, bonks, hugs, hands, winks - bring it on. Because connection brings caring, and caring brings respect, and when a duckling looks at you with care and respect, you can help them do anything. </span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>Mardelle Sauerbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03269624228963152222noreply@blogger.com0