The Blue Willow Journal

Summer and School

I am an advocate of year-round schooling. The idea of school being held throughout the calendar year with several multi-week breaks makes a lot of sense to me.

Why?

There's an enormous amount of "gearing up" and "winding down" time in the present September to June schedule. Teachers and parents spend September and October acclimating their students and children, once again, to the world of school - getting them to bed early and on time to school in the morning, sustaining attention and productivity during the school day, doing homework and reviewing content material and study habits forgotten over the summer months.
As soon as warm weather arrives in April teachers and parents face an often losing battle keeping children on track and achieving as dreams of the complete freedom to come in June takes over. And let's not forget the holiday period from Thanksgiving through Christmas vacation when distractions from, and interruptions to, the curriculum are many. This all adds up to only a fraction of the September to June school year being the full learning experience it should be.

If school was a consistent part of kids' and families' lives rather than the stop-and-start schedule it is now I think it would be much more beneficial to all involved. It's almost as if school and teachers are the "bad cops" in the lives of children and families. With three months of complete freedom from a rigid bedtime and morning schedule, daily sustained attention and cooperation as a member of a group and the responsibility of homework, it's easy to see that when school rolls around it can be viewed as "no fun" and the culprit in robbing families of a much easier life-style.

Does everyone need a break from the school scene? Of course they do - and teachers are at the top of that list, believe me. If school were year-round that could still be achieved, and in a fashion that I think would be much more sensible. How about four significant breaks during a calendar year - say two 3 week breaks, one in the summer and another during the holidays. In addition, schedule two 2 week breaks somewhere in the period of January to June. The amount of time away from school would be the same as one long summer vacation but would be spaced to allow for refreshing breaks rather than a complete cessation of learning and family schedules for a whole summer. Teachers could stop spending two months of the school year reviewing and procede with no interruption in the curriculum and they could sustain progress and learning in warm weather without losing their classes to daydreaming about getting out of "prison" (school)!

I live in New England and people here are very devoted to their summers, so I imagine my views don't stand much of a chance being implemented any time soon. So here's my 2 cents on what kids should be doing over our long American summer vacations:

1. Read consistently, and make most of those books sufficiently challenging and of fine caliber. Have the child keep a dictionary nearby and look up unfamiliar vocabulary as they read. Draw or write about what they've read or discuss their books with others.

2. Review last year's math skills and be sure there are no problem areas - if there are, remedy them. Use math skills in everyday situations such as cooking, map reading, planning a party or working on a project. Be sure math facts appropriate to the upcoming grade are solid.

3. Read the newspaper or find something online or on TV that peaks an interest. Follow up on it and learn more about it. Write about it in a journal or letter to a relative.

4. Two weeks before school starts begin having children go to bed at their school-night bedtime and in the morning getting them up at their school-day time.

5. Day One of the new school year - SMILE - and remember that children are going to be working with a new teacher as a member of a group - a group that can achieve great things if everyone in the class has a positive, cooperative attitude.

Presidential Parenting

Throughout the presidential campaign and during the brief time they have occupied the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama have made comments about their views on raising kids. I have been at rapt attention whenever they are on this topic because I can't believe what I am hearing - and it's all been right down my alley.

So far this is what I've heard:

1. Parents need to shut off the TV and video games and see that homework is done.
2. They have informed the White House staff not to make their daughters' beds - the staff can make their bed but not the girls'.
3. Parents should be instilling in their children that their schoolwork is most important, not how popular they are or how well they do in sports.
4. They feel their daughters are respectful at present but want this to continue as they grow up and they will monitor this closely.
5. The President described how after their first visit to the White House last fall their elder daughter Malia wanted to sit in the Lincoln bedroom and get some inspiration for a "paper" she had to write. She is in 5th grade.

And we have the President's remarks on Washington, D.C. closing school last week over a little snow......

It's been a long time since I've heard talk like this, let alone from White House occupants. Sounds good to me.

Cutting Skills

I am putting away the last of the Christmas items and also looking out at our third major snowstorm this season (picture below of our last one). While re-looking at this year's Christmas cards I was reminded of a great idea a friend of mind passed on to me last year - making gift tags out of Christmas cards which normally would be thrown away. This is a winner of a project from every perspective: it reuses and recycles something, it produces something useful, it can be worked on whenever someone has time to do it (including kids), it's a relaxing indoor activity AND it can even become a family tradition.

Putting children in charge of this project would reap even more benefits. Deciding which part of the Christmas card could be fashioned into a gift tag requires independent thinking, creativity and good fine-motor skills - all highly desirable attributes that kids should be developing. Then there's the contribution the child is making to the family's yearly holiday celebration - "priceless"!

Excellent Journey

By happenstance a few years ago I discovered the most wonderful online educational resource called Journey North. It is designed for teachers and their K-12 students but anyone would enjoy participating in its many interesting projects.

Here is their own description of what they offer:

"Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles - and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. Widely considered a best practices model for education, Journey North is the nation's premiere "citizen science" project for children. The general public is welcome to participate."

For the last few weeks I have been working with a local second grade class on the Journey North project called "Symbolic Monarch Butterfly Migration". The kids designed and colored paper butterflies and we put labels on the back of each one with the child's name, school information and the following greeting: "gracias por cuidar a las mariposas monarcas este invierno, de parte de sus vecinos del norte", which means "thank you for taking care of the monarchs this winter, from your northern neighbors". These were packaged up and sent off, eventually to reside in a Mexican classroom located close to one of the  winter monarch butterfly sanctuaries. In the spring this Rhode Island second grade will receive paper butterflies back from Mexican children. In the meantime they can read weekly updates on monarch migration and see the butterflies' progress on an online map and on another map look at all the classrooms in the U.S. and Canada (including themselves) that have sent symbolic butterflies to Mexico.

I can't recommend Journey North highly enough -it's one of the best educational initiatives I have ever seen.

Here are the Rhode Island butterflies and a booklet in Spanish which we printed out on the Journey North website as a gift to the Mexican class receiving our butterflies. 

 

Bring Back the Nature Table

Yesterday the No Child Left Inside Act was approved by the US House of Representatives. Our great Rhode Island senator, Jack Reed, was instrumental in introducing this legislation. This vote brings the hope that effective environmental education for US children can be a reality. Nice news in the midst of all the other depressing goings on of late.

Worries about kids not connecting with nature are not unique to our country.This past summer I was reading the July issue of Country Living:British Edition magazine and found an article about the importance of not only seeing that children spend time in the natural world but also letting them get their hands dirty by doing things like building forts, making daisy chains and following animal tracks. The magazine was encouraging readers to join in its campaign to "Bring Back the Nature Table", a reference to a British standard feature in classrooms of times past.

Fall is the perfect time to encourage some nature exploration - so find yourself a young person and get out there!

 

 

 

Back to School

Within the next week Rhode Island children will be starting another school year. Any family with school-age children feels the excitement and curiosity of their kids entering new grades and meeting new teachers and yet also understandable anxiety about how it's all going to go and the sobering realization that the family schedule is now back on "school mode".

As a teacher, one of the most important considerations always for me is being proactive.....set the day for success, plan ahead, anticipate what will happen and what I will need to have it all go smoothly. Approaching each day in this fashion maximizes the chances that good things are going to happen in the classroom and steady progress will be made in learning.

Getting the family in tune to a smoothly running school/work week can be achieved using some of the same concepts that work in the classroom:

1. Establish a routine schedule for each part of the day and stick to it. Be sure the kids get to school on time.

2. Check to see all materials/ belongings needed for the next day are packed and ready to go before bedtime. If the kids do the packing they are taking responsibility for their own successful day tomorrow.

3. Let teachers know anything they need to know to give your child the best day they can. Take the time to write that note.  

Happy school everybody!

Raising Global Citizens

Recently, I opened my mail to find an issue of my college (Washington College in lovely and historic Chestertown, Maryland) alumni magazine. As a matter of fact both my husband, Steve, and I graduated from there. The issue was titled "Spanning the Globe" and was filled with accounts of the experiences of present and former students abroad, the college's initiatives to improve and increase opportunities for students to live and study in another country and even an article about two '95 grads who, since marrying in 1997, and now the parents of three little boys, have lived and worked abroad for most of that time.

Good show, Washington College! I have been working on the other end of the education continuum - elementary school - for most of my career and I believe instilling in kids the idea that there is a whole world out there besides the United States is a fundamentally important concept that cannot be underscored too many times.

Below are some global-citizens-in-training from the school that I taught at for 21 years. We are in the midst of Geography Awareness Week (also known as Geography Action!) activities here in the photo.  By happenstance, later this month I will be at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. for four days being trained to work with Rhode Island teachers on this year's Geography Action! theme: Mapping the Americas. Can't wait!