Behind the Beauty

My last entry talked about the beauty of a couple of spider webs in the fog and dew. Well.... sometimes the real deal isn't so mystical and lovely up close. Case in point? This tarantula on Lisa and Jessie's front porch yesterday!

My heart is still thumping hard!!

Fall in Indiana

Several things will clue you in that it is Fall in Indiana. One is ripening apples, which means it's time to can, freeze, and dehydrate them!

A big pot of Cortlands, ready to cook and mill into applesauce.

 My Kitchenaide set up with the grinder and milling attachments, and some apples already turned into sauce.

 These apples are just about ready to scooped up and put through the mill.

 A close-up of apples ready to go into the processor. Net result? Fourteen quarts of applesauce!

Another "Fall in Indiana" is that we often have foggy days due to a combination of humidity and temperature. This past week not only did I get a two hour school delay due to the dense fog, but I was privileged to see some spiderwebs covered in dew and sparkling in the early morning mist!

 A very large one next to my wind chimes and hummingbird feeder. I'd never noticed it until it was covered in dew!

A much smaller one up on the drain pipe near the kitchen windows.

Things that make you grateful you had a chance to slow down and see them!

Labor Day Weekend - In-Depth

Since I have been so busy, I really never recounted what we did for Labor Day weekend when Jessica, Lisa, Sarah, Todd, JC, Trinity, Cole, Emily and Andrew came for a visit. Jessica sparked the family get together by visiting and bringing along Andrew Mitchell, the man she has been dating for a while. Of course, then everyone tried to make arrangements to be here and meet him, and with the exception of Kyle, Ashley, Braden, and Addie, they made it! (Kyle was unable to get off work.)

Poor , overwhelmed Andrew?? Nope! He fit right in with our big, loving (if noisy) clan!  We loved him right back!

Jess, Lisa, and Andrew arrived Friday afternoon. Knowing that Craig and I follow the West Side football team, they asked to go to the game with us. It was a perfect evening for football, although the temps were in the 90s.

 Curt and Vanessa were able to join us!

 Getting the game underway. West Side played Delphi at West Side.

 I love this picture of Curt and Vanessa against the twilight sky.

 Jessica and Andrew go get snacks.

Love this picture of Jessica and Andrew.

Lisa has the most beautiful smile.

See that gray haired man in the background? That's Pat Beck, my 4th grade "boyfriend." I hadn't seen him, well, since grade school! I remember how giggly I felt in 4th grade when he moved his seat so we would be sitting next to each other in class.

Gordon Straley was Craig's high school football coach. Craig made the 100 year team a few years ago. He was also Craig's dad's football coach!

Happy to be back home again in Indiana.

Saturday we went to the Purdue vs. Middle Tennessee State football game. (Cole is going to MTSU.) It was HOT - nearly 100 degrees! I made it to the 3rd quarter, but then Lisa, Craig and I called it quits. There's an earlier blog post about that.

 Sunday evening we celebrated Curt and Pooma's birthdays. Trinity played the "Happy Birthday" roll on the player piano while Vanessa and Carla danced with the sleigh bells.

A shot of the family.

We pass birthday cards around for all to read. I guess Lisa didn't like that one!!

Cole and Emily, Todd and Bailey.

All in all, it was a great time having so many of our kids and their families here.

Classic Literature

When I told my class earlier this fall that we were going to discuss the Classics project they would be required to do, the 5th graders cheered. The 4th graders looked at them as though they were NUTS. (Which made some of the 5th graders laugh and tell their classmates to just wait and they would understand why the others had cheered.)

Those cheers put a smile on my face, too! I write all my own curriculum (except for Math), and this is a program I created because I had a problem. I had children who could read and comprehend on a high school level and beyond, but the books at those levels were not appropriate for their maturity level. And, the students were missing wonderful books such as Charlotte's Web because they were "below" those high reading levels.

Every kid (and adult) in my opinion should read Charlotte's Web! And The One Hundred and One Dalmatians! And The Secret Garden! Jules Verne! Robert Louis Stevenson! And more.

So, I created the Classics Project as part of my curriculum. Students read one classic per semester, write a paper on it, and do a project. Fridays are set aside for presentations, and they are our absolute favorite day of the week (and not because the weekend is looming!) The success of the project can be measured in many ways, but one of my favorites is when a child comes up to me, clutching their classic, and says as A did about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which he read in just two days), "Mrs. I., this is the BEST BOOK EVER." I love my job!

 The children have expanded the project beyond the original parameters. They began clipping out comics, ads, editorial cartoons, etc. that had classic connections and excitedly bringing them in to show me. I ended up creating a bulletin board (above, in August) to display all their clippings. By the end of the year, it will be full. An outgrowth of this is that they now are seeing classics reflected in our culture in ways they had not noticed before. They even find references to them in other books, including some classic books, and have coined the term "a classic within a classic."

 I tore apart an old classics calendar and hung its pictures in the corkboard around the classroom.

 We have a corner of the room where we keep our classic books. This, too, has expanded. Not shown is the second shelf where I have had to begin keeping sequels to the classics - the kids kept asking me if I had them, so I began stocking those, too.

 Howard Dyson, a dear elderly friend from Illinois, made our family two Tinmans as a gift. I have hung one in the classroom next to the classics shelves.

 This past week, Niccole Caan from Channel 18 News came for a visit. I'd noticed that her online bio said she'd loved the classics, so I emailed her, told her about our own love of classics, and invited her for a visit. She came and spent two hours with us! The children were fascinated to learn that, because of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, she learned to scuba dive so she could "see that big octopus, or what was down there." She further stated that she became a journalist because she loved the story that words could tell and wanted to do the same.

 Niccole gave the kids a clever project - take a classic character, insert him or her into a different classic story, and write a little bit about what happens. (She got some excited gasps over that one!) She told me she was amazed at how they all got to work immediately, and stayed on task. She said she'd never seen kids do that. (Hey, her idea was terrific, the kids loved it, and they went to town with it! Of course they were on task!)

To my surprise, I got an email later in the day. Niccole had been so impressed with the children, she sent the following email to Dr. Hanback, our superintendent. It was forwarded on to me and I shared it the next day with the children:

I got to speak at and hang out with the 4/5 gifted language class at Hershey today. I was very impressed! They were asking me about books I haven't read. I have a whole new reading list now.

Later, she emailed me and said: 

I showed my husband my reading list and he said no way 4-5 graders were reading those books. I said yes they were and I was just as impressed.

Niccole is coming back on a Friday in November to see some classics presentations. She may also visit us for our "Happy New Year, Mr. Scrooge" party in December.

Needless to say, I am delighted that some curriculum I wrote to solve a problem has turned out to be such a positive learning experience for my students. And like the children, I have grown to love the classics even more than before, in part because I will always have lovely memories of children discovering wonderful literature and then taking that love above and beyond anything I ever dreamed of.

Indianapolis Temple Update

MY temple!! The church has posted an artist's rendering of the temple site. Here it is:

Reminds me a bit of the Louisville temple with the meetinghouse nearby.

A Parent Email Makes My Day

I got an email last night that made my day. Not only does it catch me up a bit about a former student, but it lets me know that something that is an aspect of my classroom really has helped a student in the long run. This parent was nice enough to send me a note about it.

Mrs. I,

If I had a dollar for every time I told a friend of mine your advice several years ago about being hands off with B’s homework (except for special occasions) and allowing him to fail while he was still with teachers who cared about him - - I would be rich! Best advice ever. Thank you.  Now that he is in 7^th grade, I am seeing the results of allowing him to be responsible for his own homework and studying.  He is self disciplined (as much as a 7^th grader can be) and as a mom, it is nice not to have to police his school work or feel responsible for his grades. 

Just one of the many reasons we are so glad that you are training S the same way.  I knew that this class would be a bit more of a challenge for her, but I also knew that it would prepare her for middle school and beyond.

I know that there are students who do need their parents to be more hands on, but I think that more parents would do well to step back a bit and allow their kids to do their own personal best without parents being overly involved in their school work.

We appreciate you!

A

Happy Birthday, Braden!

Happy birthday to my cherry pie lovin' grandson, Braden, who turns 4 today. Your Grammy loves you!!

(Photo taken during the annual Groompa Camp marshmallow shootout with Boompa.)

Labor Day Weekend Fun

For Labor Day weekend, Jessica brought Andrew Mitchell, the man she has been dating since last Thanksgiving, home to meet us. (We love him!) While here, Jessica and Lisa treated Craig and me to tickets to the Purdue/Middle Tennessee State football game. (Cole goes to MTSU.)

The heat was around 95-100 degrees, and so Craig, Lisa, and I only made it to the middle of the 3rd quarter before we wilted and came home.

Vanessa took this picture of us all enjoying the game! (Probably the ONLY time you will see me in a Purdue shirt!)

Back: Andrew, Jessica, Jenny, me. Front row: Curt, Lisa.

Happy Birthday, Curt!!

Happy 26th birthday to my wonderful son, Curt! So glad you live close and that we get to see you frequently.

(Hundred dollar bill courtesy of Vanessa.)

Could You Sue Your Grandma?

I've said it many times: JC is a really sweet guy. Today was a case in point. He and I were playing the game of Life on the iPad, and the roll he got said he had to sue me for something. JC was not happy with that directive.

"Aw, Grammy, you know I would NEVER sue you. Even in real life. If someone else were playing, I would sue them, not you. I would never sue you! I'm only doing it because I have to."

My heart just melted at his distress. Fortunately, Lisa came downstairs and asked if she could join, so JC decided to start a new game. Solved THAT problem! (And watch out, Lisa! Guess who might get sued!)