Baker’s Dozen Plus 3

The circus is a hard act to follow! I hope your children told you lots about the experience. Please check out their responses on the social studies page. As you know, we took this opportunity to delve into the Chinese New Celebration as we were acrobats from China. We gave these paragraphs to Master Kevin before he left. He was over the moon with the children’s gifts of words.

This week we jumped back into the books. Your student should be studying his or her spelling words that are focused on two generalizations. The first, “when a word ends with a vowel sound, it probably is represented by /y/ or a vowel and /y/. The examples are reply and play. Secondly, “sometimes vowel letters make a pattern in which one vowel is long and one is silent, as in railroad and teacher”.  Test is Friday.

This morning we met about Valentine’s Day celebration and I learned that some children were making valentines and some were not.  The group agreed that they would all like to exchange cards so we decided to open cards on Monday.  Then after talking with Elizabeth this afternoon I realized where the confusion stemmed from.  When I wrote about the Chinese New Year party replacing the typical Valentine’s Day party, I meant with regard to food snacks.  So, tomorrow we will partake in a lovely Chinese New Year meal and on Monday we will exchange Valentines.

Directly below, please find a few entries out of order. I just checked my blog posting list and realized a couple of entries never showed up. I added them now because I want this blog to be a true representation of our experiences this year. Thank you. As always, be sure to read a few entries below in case I entered more than one on a particular day.  Including this entry, there were four today.

Ms. Peterson provided the link to Reading Rainbow’s annual writing contest. The students and I looked at some of the past winners this week and began getting very excited about participating in the contest. I told the children that it would be very difficult for me to oversee 16 individual projects as a part of the class work. So, we began thinking about a class project, but unfortunately this particular contest specifically states “only one entry per child” and “only single author stories”. I encourage each family to check this site out and embark on a project at home with your child.

The Circus is Coming to Town on January 26th for a two-week residency. The theme of the residency is Youth Circuses Around the World. Our class’ focus is China. I will be tying Chinese New Year into our work with Circus Minimus. On Thursday, February 5th, in the evening, there will be a community extravaganza. This residency is made possible by the funds raised by the PTA at the annual WES Ski & Skate sale. Thank you to all the folks who participated in that function.

I have had a few conversations with parents and the children about the differing times we are faced throughout a given year. During a residency, (Circus Minimus, two weeks) it is important to embrace the experience and create learning opportunities that relate to it, which is what I have done over these past two weeks. Homework generally is a result of a more traditional style of learning where the child is expected to practice the skills learned during the day. Some parents and students have a difficult time realizing that even though the children are not using the math, reading, and or spelling “program” they are engrossed in a intense study that is equal in value to the traditional learning I mentioned above.  As of Monday, we will be back to the more routine work, but always with a flair of creativity.  I can’t teach any other way.

Pat Folsom, Valley Bird Lady, called to tell me that there was an exciting siting of a few species on the Loop Road this week.  She saw Bohemian Waxwings, Cedar Waxwings, Robins, and Grosbeaks across from the yellow farmhouse.  If you have some time, take a walk with your child to witness these birds feasting on the rotten apples hanging from the trees!

The circus is coming to a close this Thursday with an extraordinary program celebrating the children’s work that night.  Please come and see the tons of artwork in the hall and in the classroom.  Mrs. Kingsbury and I arranged for each class to present a piece of their work on a hall gallery just across from the gym.  Look for China’s exhibit to see what each of our acts are called.  Master Kevin and the children came up with names relevant to China and descriptive of the pose or acts.  It was a wonderful way to learn information about the country.

Next Friday is February 13th.  We will be having a Chinese Celebration for our Valentine’s Day party.  Chatham will be in touch with some of you to ask for a contribution.  I will be speaking with her about what we will need in the next couple of days, so look to hear from her towards the weekend.

This was an exciting week for everyone at the Waitsfield Elementary School.  Master Kevin of Circus Minimus has kept us moving non-stop; twisting, turning, bending forwards, bending backwards, pretzel turns, and as human carousals.  It is amazing to see what he is able to teach us to do.  Honestly, I think Barnum & Bailey need to step aside after our second week of training.  I am even in the show participating in a death-defying act with Izzy as my partner.  You won’t want to miss it. 

Master Kevin has prepared a different country theme for each group.  Our country of focus is China, which is why Master Kevin has asked us to dress in orange, yellow, or red or any combination of those colors. I do not want anyone to go to any expense outfitting his or her child.  Borrow clothing if need be from parents, siblings, friends, or neighbors.  I am asking that the articles of clothing be solid colors, as bright as possible, and have no writing on them. 

In class we are celebrating Chinese New Year learning about the origins of the celebration, creating artwork, writing and reading about the holiday, and just having fun with the topic.  We read a story about a Chinese family preparing for the New Year in which the grandmother in the tale tells the girl child about the ever important dragon. We made dragons with a combination of metallic crayon designs, metallic paper, and construction paper.  According to Chinese legend, “the Dragon is not a horrible monster but rather a protector against evil spirits.  He is a symbol of goodness and strength.  Typically a New Year’s Dragon is made of silk and paper and brightly painted.  The head is a large mask, made of papier-mache and bamboo.  The men of the town put on the Dragon costume and weave up and down the street, puffing smoke as spectators light firecrackers”.  I am in hopes of having a New Year’s Dragon parade this coming week.

The kitchen gods done at home this week were fantastic.  I was really proud of each person’s work and thought that went into what he or she designed as his or her own Kitchen God.  Each person applied his/her learning through the story read in class and applied it to his or her interpretation.  Legend says, “At this time of year, special attention is paid to the Kitchen God, whose picture hangs in the kitchen.  All year the Kitchen God watches over the household like a hawk, carefully taking notes.  Traditionally an altar for offerings is placed in front of him.  To keep him happy he is given the plumpest and most delicious morsels of food and sweets before each meal.  Then just before the New Year holiday, families, generously slather his lips with honey so that only sweet words will come out of his mouth.  He travels to heaven to make his report to the Jade Emperor, ruler of the world.  The Kitchen God’s words decide the fate of every family, but the legend tells how each family can determine its own fate.” 

We also made lanterns out of paper to hang with the Kitchen Gods.  Upon the lanterns are adjectives describing each person’s Kitchen God.  Each person was given a base shape to work with and then given colorful papers to embellish his or her own lantern using a collage method with scissors and glue. 

Friday morning, the A.M. kindergarten class shared in our joyful creations.  They made the dragons and lanterns with us and also left with an explosion of fireworks made from red, blue, silver, gold, and pink glitter and glue on black construction paper.  Beth Libby oversaw that table which was delightful as I listened in to my kids expressing encouragement and delight to the kindergartners they were helping. 

As an aside, there is a simple beauty watching the interactions of various age groups whether it be kindergarteners and third graders or babies and adults.  I believe those interactions are the truest moments of simple and profound learning.  Every one of my children thought of the kindergartners first.  They watched and encouraged the tiniest participants perform tasks they couldn’t wait to perform themselves, but they remained patient.  Some forewent completion of work to assist the young ones in being successful.  It was a tremendously active, enjoyable, and rewarding morning.  I told the children there are so many days when I begin daydreaming about our day before it happens with anticipation and excitement and that morning lived up to all my dreams of my purpose as a teacher/facilitator and promise of the youngsters we love.

Thursday night is the BIG TOP will be up and welcoming everyone to the Waitsfield Circus.  The show will begin at 6:30 p.m.  The children should arrive in costume at around 6:10 and meet me in the classroom.  I hope this will allow each of you time to look at our classroom displays.  All are welcome to attend.