Category: Habits of Being

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Always Be Prepared!

It all began with Little House in the Big Woods. Published in 1932. This book is the first in the series of her memories growing up in the American MidWest during the last quarter of the 19th century. While these books are fictionalized, they are considered by most historians to be primary sources from this period of American History.

I read each and every book in the series back when I was in middle school back in the 70s. About the same time, the TV show was released. I imagine Laura Ingalls Wilder never imagined her stories would impact so many humans in the 20th century and beyond. Even though she lived a long life, she died in 1957, long before the television show.

My two favorite books are The Long Winter and Farmer Boy (in that order). The Long Winter is the tale of how the Ingalls family survived the brutal winter storms in Dakota Territory during 1890. Let me tell you, it is a page turner! Discovering the “twisting of hay” technique alone is worth the read! But Farmer Boy is unique, a stand alone, being the story of Almanzo Wilder’s childhood—the man who Laura later married.

Two of my now adult children adored Farmer Boy as did countless of my students! The standout, of course was the description of food, especially the “stacked pancakes” Almanzo adored. That boy couls EAT!

 

So what has this got to do with being PREPARED?

Absolutely everything!

Here, at the dawn of July, Think forward. Read the books (or listen on Audible) you have chosen to explore this coming year. As you read, listen for words that strike your fancy, sentences and passages that underline. Use sticky tabs to mark words, sentences, and passages you want to share. Flip through your student’s workboos to see what will be expected. Calendar out your schedule. Use the Parent/Teacher button dropdown on the orange bar at the top of our home page. Here you will find suggested Lesson plans for every single one of our ELA unit types. You will also, in this area, find our Answer Keys. Head over to Print Shop and scroll down to find FREE Writer’s Checklists, Character Trait Cards, and a wonderful spelling program.

Be Prepared for Section 5!

earlybird fall bundle

If you and your student are working through the Earlybird Fall unit, please bake some mini apple pies. If you aren’t, find a reason to bake some pies! This is still a a happy fall tradition in our home.

Checkout our Student Project Gallery for inspiration. Every single CORE selection has a Section 5 Project Week. Don’t skip this culminating activity.

Make plans now!

Be Prepared!

 

~Kimberly






DON’T FORGET TO PLAY BINGO!

Download your Summer Bingo for free on Printshop HERE and submit a picture of your completed bingo sheet below to enter the raffles. Bingo will run June 1st through August 31st—so print out your bingo sheet and get to crossing off squares!


Summer Bingo!

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A Writer’s Magnum Opus

As the school year has only just ended, now is the perfect time to ask a beautiful question or two! As a writer, what has my student gleaned? What is the best lesson I passed on? What is my student’s magnum opus? And, as a teacher, what is mine?

So what exactly is a magnum opus? E.B. White demonstrates this beautifully. Charlotte’s Web begins with the tension of an ax. Life on the farm causes Fern to face life and death, “‘I don’t see why he needs an ax,’ continued Fern, who was only eight. ‘Well,” said her mother, ‘one of the pigs is a runt. It’s very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.'” Of course, we know how the story goes. Fern rescues the runt and sets the action into motion.

But, let’s get back to the matter at hand, the concept of magnum opus. Toward the end of the story, in chapter 19, Charlotte refers to her egg sac as her magnum opus. But when Wilber thinks the peach colored cotton-candy like thing is a toy, Charlotte sets him straight. And in the process of setting Wilbur straight, Charlotte unpacks the term for us, “It is my egg sac, my magnum opus. Latin for great work. This egg sac is my great work—the finest thing I have ever made.” Charlotte’s sac, containing 514 eggs becomes a powerful representation of her legacy.

 

Later, in Chapter 22, almost at the very end of the book, E.B. White crafts a sentence so perfect, that I would deem it a magnum opus:

“It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything.” ~E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

Our Blackbird & Company students are continually constructing ideas—words to phrases, to sentences, to paragraphs, to essays. Now is the perfect time as summer saunters in, to look back on your student’s body of writing from the past year in search of a magnum opus! I’m certain you will be  able to pull a singular sentence from your student’s body of writing. One sentence that stand’s above the rest. Post the sentence up on the refrigerator, read it often. In so doing you are encouraging the student’s important work, but you are also reminding yourself that a significant part of being a teacher is inspiring, applauding, marveling in the work of the student!

 

~Kimberly

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What is a Habit of Being?

Students engaging in their important work is simply delightful. Back in 2011, I collected my observations into a little memoir. My goal was simple, demonstrate that at the heart of learning is caring—actually caring about the task at hand. When students care, they become cognitively present. They become active participants, engaging curiosity, creativity, and ultimately, building confidence.

What do students who care gain? Habits. They gain habits of being.

This summer, my personal project will be to edit my little book and set a second edition in print by fall to support the launch of our introductory neuroscience unit for upper elementary and middle school students.

Looking back, the skill of observation is where it all began. With my own children, and all of my students over the years, observation activities anchored the development of healthy habits—habits of being. To observe and then to document the observation with a lifelike drawing and well constructed words, requires slowing down, taking information in via the senses, doing a bit of research, and looking some more. Ultimately, over the years, my experience is that Da Vinci was right:

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.”

And this brings me back to summer. Now’s the time to develop a habit of being.

The habit of observing is habit worth developing—a habit of being.

Observation of simple objects is the best way to begin your Observation Journal—think shell, spoon, marshmallow,  apple. Begin this activity in kindergarten and continue through 12th grade! Create an annual binder of student observations—The Observation Journal. These will become terrific keepsakes.

And getting started is easy as 1, 2, 3…

One.

Trace the edges with your pencil follow along with your eyes.

Two.

Begin your sketch, following the outline edges (very  s l o w l y). Let your hand “see” all the curves and bumps that your eye sees as you look back and forth from your drawing to the apple. Don’t rush. Making a connection between the eyes and the hand is a slow motion exercise.

Three.

Simple observational drawings can be embellished with a wash of watercolor.  Always paint from a puddle, never directly from the pigment tiles. When creating a wash of color for a red apple, Sara reminds us that the red is not the red directly from the tile. “Red in nature is complex. Make a puddle of red and add a tiny drop of green.” It’s the same process for an orange pumpkin, add drops of the complimentary color of the object into the prominent color—a splash of blue— to achieve the natural complexity of the object’s color. Here is an advanced observation where the pinecone color is actually a blend of yellow with a touch of purple:

A good way to get your students ready for a complex observation like this pinecone, is to engage them with simple hand held objects from the kitchen to the natural world. It is also a good idea to engage students with already flattened objects as demonstrated in the photos below:

 

Once the observational drawing is complete, encourage your students to do some research on the object that was observed, date the entry and add it to the Observation Journal.

As students  complete observations, encourage them to engage in clean-up—putting away materials and washing brushes and paint trays. Encourage them to reflect on what was gleaned. It’s likely that what was gained is far more than art, far more than science.

Developing the skill of observing is a habit of being that invites us to imagine possibility. Click through to learn about our Observation Journal: Leonardo da Vinci kit. Pick one up and let the observing begin.

 

~Kimberly


During the month of May we will hosting another Giveaway! A wonderful set of Just Right Readers by Kate di Camillo. Enter below daily to increase your chances of winning!


Just Right Readers Giveaway

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Write a Letter to Your Future Self

We’ve worked hard for a long time—a whole school year, in fact. Work and perseverance and learning changes a person, which is why I’m guessing that who you are now is a little different than you were last May. And the person you will be next May is different from the self reading this blog right now. 

So let’s take a moment to think about where we’re going. In fact, let’s write a letter to our self of the future (of May 2027, perhaps). Write your letter, seal it in an envelope, and then a year from now, open it up and see how you’ve grown. This would be a wonderful activity to do side by side with your students. Set the example of self-reflection!

Your letter can take any shape—you’re both the author and the audience, after all. But here are some ideas to get your thoughts flowing:

  • What are you most proud of at this point in your life?
  • What do you think you will be most proud of next year?
  • How would you describe your progress as a writer at this point?
  • How would you like to change as a writer?
  • What is your current favorite book?
  • List three goals you would like to accomplish by this time next year. What specific steps can you take to accomplish these goals?

Set a reminder on your calendar or phone to remind you to open this letter. Let’s get writing!

Dear future self…

 

~Claire S.

During the month of May we will hosting another Giveaway! A wonderful set of Just Right Readers by Kate di Camillo. Enter below daily to increase your chances of winning!


Just Right Readers Giveaway

 

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What is the Role of Reflective Learning?

“One of the key practical lessons of modern neuroscience is that the power to direct our attention has within it the power to shape our brain’s firing patterns, as well as the power to shape the architecture of the brain itself.” ~Dan Siegel

As a sneak peak into our Introduction to Neuroscience unit, we will be focussing our attention this spring and into the summer on contemplative activities. Reflective learning is a terrific place to start!

Oftentimes throughout the school year, we rush rush rush to cover subjects—essays and grammar and poetry and literature and comprehension…and breathe a sigh of relief when we make it to summer. But the last thing we want after the school year wanes is to let our hard-won knowledge evaporate in the leisure and freedom of summer. So that’s why I hold up to you: reflective learning.

Reflective learning deepens learning by giving students a moment to pause and think about their experiences. They get a chance to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and goals for themselves, as well as situate their new knowledge amidst their overall understanding of the world. Reflective learning gives meaning to one’s studies—and making knowledge meaningful is a recipe for retaining that learning. 

I’ll give you some background on one of the main theories of reflective learning. This model of reflective learning originated in 1988 with Professor Graham Gibbs, published in his book Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. This book outlines the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, which is meant to be used after a learning experience. The six steps of this cycle are: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. 

Here’s an example of how you might use this reflective learning strategy:

Eighth-grade student Timothy just finished the guide for Essay Volume 3: The Literary Essay. In this ten-week unit, he wrote five literary essays, a form he had no prior experience with. While he started out struggling to follow the essay form and would drop in quotes at random, by the fifth essay he was writing structured eight-sentence paragraphs and embedding quotes seamlessly. Timothy is growing as a writer!

As Timothy’s teacher, I would assign a reflection based on the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle to give him a chance to cement his learning and recognize his growth. The activity would contain these six elements: 

  • Description. Describe your experience in Essay Volume 3.
  • Feelings. How did you feel throughout this unit? What kinds of thoughts arose?
  • Evaluation. Evaluate the best part of this experience and the worst part of this experience. 
  • Analysis. Analyze the situation. Why did some things go well and others go poorly?
  • Conclusion. What did you learn overall? What might you have done differently?
  • Action plan. Going forward, how will you approach similar situations?

My hope is that by reflecting on his growth over the past ten weeks, Timothy would retain his learning and internalize his success. His writing accomplishments are a big deal!

Reflective learning isn’t fancy. It doesn’t have to take long—but it sure pays off in the long run.

During the month of May we will hosting another Giveaway! A wonderful set of Just Right Readers by Kate di Camillo. Enter below daily to increase your chances of winning!

 



Just Right Readers Giveaway

 

~Clare S.

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Stitching Picasso

Stitchery builds cognitive plasticity.

Embroidery is a practice that will empower students to be aware of fine motor potential, overcome the short attention span, and to have a growth mindset. The nervous system controls all of the body functions. But it is a complicated system with diverse potential. by tapping into all potential and possibilities while learning, students will develop diverse thinking skills.

Enhanced performance of the brain ensures that all of the other body systems perform accordingly. Metabolism, for example, is a complex task that makes sure the body has minerals when needed and ensures that toxic waste is extracted from the body. Creative endeavors help the brain to engage in focused, relaxed work, improving nervous system performance. Embroidery is good for the brain. And this is good for learning.

Here’s a thought… Stitch a Picasso!

For this project we began by observing Picasso’s Owl:

Next, students made original drawings inspired by Picasso’s drawing. After each child had a drawing they were settled with, the drawing was transferred to the burlap flap. We used the running stitch since these were made by 1st and 2nd graders. But running stitch is great place to start with all ages.

One hint: Have two needles threaded for your student, “unthreading” is common with new stitchers!

Embroidery is academic. So put down the pencil, pick up a needle and thread. Next time its time for pencil work, the hand-eye connection will be much stronger!

While stitching, think interdisciplinary: Read a book about owls! Write an owl poem.

 

~Kimberly

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On Looking Closely…

The habit of observing is habit worth developing—a habit of being.

Observation of simple objects is the best way to begin your Observation Journal—think shell, spoon, marshmallow,  apple. Begin this activity in kindergarten and continue through 12th grade! Create an annual binder of student observations—The Observation Journal. These will become terrific keepsakes.

And getting started is easy as 1, 2, 3…

One.

Trace the edges with your pencil follow along with your eyes.

Two.

Begin your sketch, following the outline edges (very  s l o w l y). Let your hand “see” all the curves and bumps that your eye sees as you look back and forth from your drawing to the apple. Don’t rush. Making a connection between the eyes and the hand is a slow motion exercise.

Three.

Simple observational drawings can be embellished with a wash of watercolor.  Always paint from a puddle, never directly from the pigment tiles. When creating a wash of color for a red apple, Sara reminds us that the red is not the red directly from the tile. “Red in nature is complex. Make a puddle of red and add a tiny drop of green.” It’s the same process for an orange pumpkin, add drops of the complimentary color of the object into the prominent color—a splash of blue— to achieve the natural complexity of the object’s color. Here is an advanced observation where the pinecone color is actually a blend of yellow with a touch of purple!:

A good way to get your students ready for a complex observation like this pinecone, is to engage them with simple hand held objects from the kitchen to the natural world. It is also a good idea to engage students with already flattened objects as demonstrated in the photos below:

Furthermore, have students copy drawings of artist’s. This activity helps them develop observational skills and while learning how great artists use lines.

Once the observational drawing is complete, encourage your students to do some research on the object that was observed, date the entry and add it to the Observation Journal.

As students  complete observations, encourage them to engage in clean-up—putting away materials and washing brushes and paint trays. Encourage them to reflect on what was gleaned. It’s likely that what was gained is far more than art, far more than science.

Developing the skill of observing is a habit of being that invites us to imagine possibility.

 

~Kimberly & Sara

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Stitch / Strengthen

Hands, fingers, eyes, oh my! When it comes to writing an idea, students are often thwarted by the complex activity of coordinating the minute muscle movements of the hands and fingers holding a pencil, with the sight of the eyes and the idea stirring in the mind’s eye!

Stitching is a wonderful way to switch it up, setting the pencil aside (temporarily) to strengthen small motor ability.  Not only does sewing by hand require the pincher grasp that requires coordinating the thumb and pointer, but it requires coordinating the eyes in the process. Stitching by hand is a quiet, slow activity that requires patience.

Stitching leaves strengthen’s fine motor skills.

Many years ago I cut some very simple pinnately parallel, leaf-like shapes in calico fabrics. I popped the raw “leaves” into  a little basket with pre-threaded (with embroidery floss) needles and carved out time during fall for leaf stitching—half an hour would easily stretch to an hour with my little ones contentedly choosing two leaf shapes and stitching them together tenaciously. This seasonal tradition began with me teaching the running stitch, re-threading all the needles and moving quickly to my children confidently whip stitching and blanket stitching, even threading their own needles!

And guess what? Writing an idea became less painful. Skills gained during sewing transfers directly to the stitching of ideas crafted with pencil on paper.

Check out our brand FREE new Letter Forms worksheet!

 

~Kimberly

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Around the Campfire: Kitchen Tales

Let’s talk kitchen literacy.

That’s right.

Think recipe for fun and for learning!

In the kitchen, reading and writing and thinking is delicious!

Once upon a time we had a little wooden step stool in our kitchen that my four would climb up to help me stir up whatever was cooking. In the kitchen, everything your little ones are learning is applied—counting, fractions, addition, subtraction, reading, writing, sequential thinking and so much more. In the kitchen, children experience the complexities of chemistry. They will witness right before their eyes the difference between a mixture and a compound. They will watch matter change right before their very eyes! Like magic, chemical reactions lead to yummy treats!

Let’s talk kitchen words: measure, cup, spoon, knife, pan, water, sugar, butter. Encountering words in the realm that they belong is an excellent opportunity for students to put their language arts skills to task. I used to make moveable labels on 3 x 5 index cards and place them on kitchen nouns. After cooking (and clean up!) I would have them draw pictures on the back of the cards so they could have fun reading and spelling words using the moveable alphabet. The kitchen list of words is endless and will provide your little ones hours of academic fun. One word that is very important in the kitchen is dozen. This wonderful word is also an important mathematical concept  introduced in kindergarten.

About a dozen years ago, Sara wrote her first post. She imagined cooking from scratch akin to educating a child. This brilliant extended metaphor rings true all these years later:

I believe every child is like a blank recipe card and that our job as educators is to teach them how to bring their unique spice to a bland world. Each child possesses a unique cabinet brimming with flavor. One might be like chili powder (which you really need to make a good pot of chili), another cinnamon mixed with sugar, yet another oregano (which gives a great background flavor to many dishes).

And she left us with a brilliant question:

What if our job is to challenge our children to explore the potential of their flavor? Let’s help our children develop their unique recipe for life. 

So this winter, let’s get cooking!

~Kimberly & Sara

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Around the Campfire: Slide of Imagination

The phrase “summer slide” is one of my pet peeves. This phrase (used for as long as I remember) describes the essential skills that are supposedly lost over the summer when children are out of school.

Summer is the time for hands in the sand, hikes on the mountains, digging into a city garden, swimming in the community pool, trips to the library. Summer is an extended time of experiential learning. And these experiences will provide fodder for learning all year long. These experiences will pay richly into your child’s fund of knowledge, the knowledge that sparks ideas. Think of summer as an opportunity to mostly unplug from electronics, to engage with nature, family, friends, community, and books!

Let’s talk learning loss. Being deprived of something is loss. When it comes to language arts, I’ve sadly crossed paths with scores of children struggling to write who have simply been deprived of the opportunity to imagine their ideas. Is summer the culprit? I think not!

Review Tip Number 2.

What is your BIG idea?

When it comes to writing: Form always follows function.

When learning an art form—and writing is an art form—the rule to follow is: form follows function. This means that language arts should not be approached or taught the same way that we teach math. We can not simply give our children a mountain of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization rules and expect them to compose their ideas eloquently. In this case we are giving children “form” (building blocks) without any concept of “function” (purpose). Function is key to using form effectively.

Without ideas, writing becomes a meaningless chore.

Before the pandemic, literacy levels were in decline. But global shutdowns  pushed close to 1.5 billion students out of school. And these disruptions gave us all an opportunity to see that perhaps our approach to teaching language arts is broken. It gave us an opportunity to make a change. Truth is, on average nationwide, 66% of 4th grade children in the U.S. could not read proficiently in 2013, seven years before the pandemic! And children who do not read proficiently, do not write effectively!

Lacking basic reading and writing skills is a tremendous disadvantage. But lacking the ability to value ideas, well, that is tragic.

Literacy not only enriches an individual’s life, it creates opportunities for people to develop skills that will help them provide for themselves, their families, and humanity at large. Literacy is the ability to read, write, and think in ways that enable us humans to communicate effectively and authentically. Literacy helps us make sense of the world.

Tip Number 3.

Slide of Imagination

If we are to use an education phrase, let it NOT be the “summer slide” or the “COVID slide”.

Please let it be the: Slide of Imagination!

When children engage with ongoing spelling lists, endless grammar exercises, and cookie-cutter writing exercises, they will become exhausted and disheartened climbing an endless ladder.

When it comes to writing an idea, at first, children (even adults!) might see the blank page and feel a little frightened, like getting on a two-wheeler for the first time. But with a bit of encouragement: “You can do this!” the pencil in hand will begin to fill the page. The climb up will always be UP, but the slide of imagination will never disappoint.

Try this writing exercise (yes, you):

Look at the photo above. What did the little girl think climbing the ladder to the top of the slide? What did she think when she reached the top and looked down? What was going through her head when the photo was snapped?

You are seeing blank lined-paper, right?  It’s not easy to begin, right? Is your imagination holding its breath?

  1. Sometimes, in this moment, I give my students permission to pretend!
  2. If I were in the room, teaching you, I might encourage you to dictate your idea so that your first draft would simply involve copy work. For reluctant writers, dictation is akin to training wheels.
  3. When students are really intimidated by the page,  I might offer a few “hooks” and let them choose how to begin. Here are some examples: At the top of the slide, she was so delighted by her favorite color that she burst into laughter.  Arms up, feet down, head back, big smile, you go girl!  She’s committed now! 
  4. Sometimes all it takes is getting a first sentence on board for the idea to flow.

Now it’s your turn. Write your idea. Write through all the stages: Idea brainstorming, first drafting, re-reading, editing, polished copy. And once you’ve completed this exercise, teach someone to write through the prompt. You can do it! You be a writing coach!

Encouraging your students to write their ideas is inviting them to climb the ladder into their imagination and slide into the art of writing joyfully.

Instead of worrying about catching up this winter, think about gathering around-the-campfire.  Around the campfire we warm up, roast marshmallows, make s’mores, sing songs, and best of all, we share stories.

 

~Kimberly

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