PTSW: Crystal Stair

Friday will end another school year -- my twenty-seventh as a teacher. I suppose this poem by Langston Hughes can make a pretty good, if tough, valedictory message for my 94 fourth-graders as they move along to fifth.

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

by Langston Hughes

I join that mother and Hughes.

Some of you,
my students,
have encountered tacks and splinters all right,
and worse.

But most of you have had it
pretty easy,
really,
and would do well to realize
(realize, realize)
that the things for which you struggle
are most
precious.

Keep climbing, kids.
Keep turning corners.
Feel your way in the dark, if you have to.
Don't turn back.
Persevere.

And know,
whatever the the other kids tell you,
whatever Daddy tells you,
or Aunt Christine,
or the Big Test,
whatever the world tells you,
know,

know,

like those apples we sliced
sideways,
way back last August,
the first day of school,
the apple with spots,
the crooked one,
the one with the rotten spot
hidden
under the glossy skin,
the yellow one,
the small one,
the wrinkled one,
(no two alike, those apples):

There is a star in you, too.

Find that star,
and let it shine.

Make it shine.

-----------

The series of posts, A Poem to Start the Week, is my little anthology of poetry, many of which I have used with my students in elementary schools during 27 years of teaching.



Previous Poems to Start the Week:

Oh, Captain, My Captain!
Metaphor
Introducion to Poetry
Loveliest of Trees
Flax-Golden Tales
The Dinosaurs Are Not All Dead
Owl Pellets
Mummy Slept Late
Just My Size
The Kindest Things I Know
Miles to Go
Love that Brother
Oh, Frabjous Day!

Other Posts about Children's Literature:

The Lion's Paw top kid's OOP book!
Harry
Aslan is Dead!
Multiplying People, Rice, and Readers
A Teacher's Life

You can read some of my own efforts at poetry here.
And then there's Alien Invasion.

A weblog dedicated to Poetry for Children.
Watch Sonja Cole's reviews of children's books at Bookwink.com.

I'm Back

I Bought a New iMac

My iBook is dead. I'll save the gruesome details. It was five years old, sort of an antique, I guess, in computer time. So, I've been without access to my own computer for a while. I've fallen behind in my blogging.

But the good news is that now I have a new iMac -- what a spectacular technological achievement !! And it is even now in my home office. WOW. Now I just need to learn how to use it. I've bought two books. One book has great examples of how to use the iLife set of programs and even a DVD disc with sample data and examples. It looks great.

Hey. I'm all smiles.

Teaching Science This Week

This is Blazer. He emerged from the chrysalis that was attached to our playground ball. After holding him in our Butterfly Mansion for two days, we sent him on his way north yesterday afternoon.

Today I assigned each pair of students in my classes a base tree in the forest. They were to explore the area they could touch while holding the tree trunk and sketch/measure/describe four organisms they found. I assigned D.J. and Andrew a pine up the bank a ways. I was thrilled when they called me up to see the strange flower. It is an Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica).

Another thrill came when a mom, volunteering her time to work on the campus, found a big colony of native white milkweed (Asclepias variegata) in bloom! How have I missed it? Or did it just crop up this year? Our Monarch butterflies will have food!!

Update 5-25-07: Whoops! My bad! My friend Richard Ware tells me I fell for a common imposter. Though it has milky sap and leaves and flowers that resemble milkweed, the stuff all around our garden area is Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), an invasive, poisonous plant. Monarch Watch says Monarch caterpillars will occasionally taste it, but it will kill them. And the sap can cause blisters on the skin of humans. Arrgghhhh!

PTSW: O Captain! my Captain!

Facsimile of the Author's Proof

I have been a little wary of homeschooling, though one of my nephews seems to have benefitted from it and one of my closest friends successfully homeschooled his two young sons for a year or two. But I am a fan of one of the heroes of homeschooling, E.D. Hirsch, and of Hirsch's emphasis on "Cultural Literacy". I think many of the current generation of students have huge gaps in their "cultural literacy".

In February I like to recite this famous poem by Walt Whitman for my class. It mourns the loss of the Great Emancipator and was written very soon after Lincoln's assassination. It is definitely the exception to many of Whitman's rules. The regular rhythm and strict rhyme scheme is unusual for Whitman. They say he became so wearied of being asked to recite this poem that he expressed regret for ever having written it!

I.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring.
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red!
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

II.
O captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up! For you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills:
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores a-crowding:
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

III.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won!
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

-by Walt Whitman

I memorized "O Captain! my Captain!" when I was in fourth grade. I suppose Miss Brown required it, though I really don't remember that that was the case. My greatest heroes at the time were Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. I suppose my Confederate forebears were spinning. Come to think of it, I suppose those two old enemies are still in my top ten.

-----------

The series of posts, A Poem to Start the Week, is my little anthology of poetry, many of which I have used with my students in elementary schools during 27 years of teaching.

Previous Poems to Start the Week:
Metaphor
Introducion to Poetry
Loveliest of Trees
Flax-Golden Tales
The Dinosaurs Are Not All Dead
Owl Pellets
Mummy Slept Late
Just My Size
The Kindest Things I Know
Miles to Go
Love that Brother
Oh, Frabjous Day!

Other Posts about Children's Literature:

The Lion's Paw top kid's OOP book!
Harry
Aslan is Dead!
Multiplying People, Rice, and Readers
A Teacher's Life

You can read some of my own efforts at poetry here.
And then there's Alien Invasion.

A weblog dedicated to Poetry for Children.
Watch Sonja Cole's reviews of children's books at Bookwink.com.

Jamie Barton - Wow!

Photo Courtesy of Indiana University.
Copyright Holder: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

Jamie Barton, our Armuchee girl, has made it bigtime in opera this year. We have known Jamie since she was a young teen. She is one of the finest, most unassuming kids ever - unbelievable pipes but definitely not the stereotypical prima donna. Today NPR broadcast the finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Jamie's two arias were outstanding, as I knew they would be. She sang the witch's aria from Hansel und Gretel with great skill and humor. And our local kid was one of six Grand Prize winners! Congratulations, Jamie!

Here is her journal of the competition from the Indiana University website.
Here is the story of her win from the same website.

Time Machine: Environmental Quiz Bowl 2007

Pictures of the Armuchee Elementary Team and others at the "EQBowl" from 2007. I do not know the exact date. I posted these to Facebook on February 11, 2014.

Armuchee Elementary has won the CRBI Environmental Quiz Bowl three times so far. The first was in 2007. The team members were (L-R) ?, Garrison Lanham, Alex Castro, Kerri Rogers, Tripp Lanham, and Rachel Garland. (I am so sorry I can't think of the name for the fellow on the left!)

Garrison, Me, Tripp, Alex, Kerry, Rachel

Armuchee Elementary has won the CRBI Environmental Quiz Bowl three times so far. The first was in 2007. The team members were (L-R) ?, Garrison Lanham, Alex Castro, Kerri Rogers, Tripp Lanham, and Rachel Garland. (I am so sorry I can't think of the name for the fellow on the left!)

PTSW: Metaphor

Metaphor

Morning is
A new sheet of paper
For you to write on.

Whatever you want to say,
All day,
Until night
Folds it up
And files it away.

The bright words and the dark words
Are gone
Until dawn
And a new day
To write on.

by Eve Merriam

This extended metaphor is a good one for early in the year when we can talk about the magic of the school year - it ends: you get a fresh start each fall! And, in a way, a fresh start each grading period. And, yes, in a way, "... a new day to write on" every morning.

Click on the "PTSW" label to see previous posts in this series.

Learning in the Great Outdoors: Second Edition

Welcome to
A Nature Walk at School...
the second edition of
Learning in the Great Outdoors,
the carnival of environmental education.

It has been a busy month for your host here at the Limb. I completed a grant application for an Outdoor Education project at the elementary school where I teach and anxiously await news of its fate.

I have received several interesting submissions for this edition, despite the technical difficulty we experienced with the first edition. I apologize to all who found that post difficult to load. I still have no idea why it kept generating nonsense code. Evidently it was an issue with Blogger because the problem seems to have spontaneously disappeared. (If you should have any trouble loading this post please let me know at thelimb(at)mac(dot)com.)

Let start this month's nature walk in the Library.

Before our walk, a little research in the library...

Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect has written a wonderful three-part guide to Exploring the Natural World (one, two, three). While visiting with Miss Rumpius be sure to enjoy the poetry!

A few days ago I wrote a post about the need to get kids outdoors so that they can spend time exploring the natural world. I was an outdoor kid, so this comes naturally for me. I always took my kids (students) outside for study, and today I take my preservice teachers and the practicing teachers I work with out to consider all the ways the outdoors can enhance and expand their teaching. Even with structured guidance, I still have students who are reluctant about this approach because they aren't sure how to begin or what exactly to do once they go outside.

- Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect

Julie Dunlap celebrates the centennial of the birth of the author of Silent Spring with Bring Kids to Carson's Birthday Party posted at Pines Above Snow, saying, "Rachel Carson's 100th birthday will be celebrated May 27, 2007. Reading good books about her life devoted to nature is a good way to celebrate her Centennial with children."

Barb reviews a couple of great nature study books: The Heart of Harmony - Nature Study: Found Some Gems at the Library posted at The Heart of Harmony, saying, "We are encouraging a love of nature in our children through nature study, nature journaling, and sketching in the great outdoors. We love to share what we have found that enoucarges us."

See the Nature Journaling lesson plan link in the Botany section.

Out the garden door from the library...ah...choo!

Speaking of nature sketching, have a look at the sketches of Don West. He has a go a illustrating the stuff that's making us all Sneeze, Cough, Wheeze posted at Idle Minutes this spring.

This blogger found an old issue of Country Living magazine with an article about nature journals and posted Starting a Nature Journal at Ravenhill Cottage.

School at Home is blog of a homeschooling mom who often posts about her experiences teaching in and about nature. In 100 Kids and 4938 Years she talks of ancient trees.

Don't forget to look up at the birds. My wife and I have enjoyed watching the industrious, agile, and beautiful barn swallows and cliff swallows swooping up and down the levee, gobbling insects and building their mud houses on the undersides of Rome's many bridges. The Core Team at 10,000 Birds bemoans the slim pickings in April for birders, but still enjoy, as I do, the return of the gorgeous swallows.

I was so happy to see Tree Swallows back in their houses, the uncontested masters of a broad swathe of brown meadow. These agile birds, brilliant in a hundred hues of shimmering blue, are among the first species to arrive in spring. It’s fitting that they get the stage to themselves for a while, because they’ve got serious star power!

Another homeschool blog that posts about nature study is By Sun and Candlelight who hosted a Nature Study meeting for homeschoolers in her home.

Got some unwanted botany? Like poison ivy? Here's someone with an alternative to commercial herbicides: Vinegar for Poison Ivy.

So many species of trees! You can find something about most of them at the Festival of the Trees, a blog carnival dedicated to the giants of the botanical world.

Dadgum it! Look at that privet, poison ivy, -- and there's a Bradford Pear growing in the middle of our forest. Let's pull out the invasive species! John Peter Thompson of Invasive Notes considers the wicked inconvenience of tree-planting.

Granny J. of Walking Prescott points out the delicate spring tassels in an illustrated post called Dangles.

Here's a Nature Journaling lesson plan for elementary grades from PBS Kids.

Let's pick a mess of greens on the playground and by the stream...

Years ago your host enjoyed trying out Euell Gibbons wild things. Stephanie makes me want to try it again. She has been eating fiddleheads! Check it out! Wild Greens posted at Stop the Ride!.

Don't forget to take the camera along...

Terrell (your host) posted an account with pictures of his outdoor walk on the day of the Virginia Tech tragedy, At Peace While the Nation Mourns. And when Terrell visited the school during Spring Break he found the wild things enjoying the peace and quiet, The Wild Life, at Alone on a Limb.

Reigh Belisama at The Ribble Cycle Diaries has posted a gorgeous group of photos at Two Spring Evenings at Marshside. I have enjoyed keeping up with the Ribble since Reigh submitted an interesting post to our firt edition last month.

Then there's the 100 Acre Wood next door and a new foal to check out.

While you are visiting the neighbors stroll through Oekologie, another carnival focused on environmental science.

Back indoors, check out these websites for tools and ideas...

Ms. Newburn has a couple of great tools for environmental educators on her blog recently. Look for the teacher alternatative to YouTube: TeacherTube and Free Range Craphics.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Essay Contest for High School Students posted at SharpBrains, saying, "Let's spread the word of this Essay Contest on Learning the Brain for high-school students!"

And as long as you are already at the computer, send along a little something for the next episode of Learning in the Great Outdoors!

That concludes this edition. If this is your first visit please take a look at our first edition, as well.

As we struggle to become established as a clearinghouse for information, ideas, and inspiration for Learning in the Great Outdoors, we will continue to explore the internet for a few extra items that outdoor educators might find interesting. Please take a few minutes to let us know about websites and blogs that you have found helpful in any aspect of environmental education. And please submit your own posts when they might be of interest to outdoor educators, parents or children. I will also welcome guest hosts. If you would like to host Learning in the Great Outdoors on your site for an upcoming month please e-mail me at thelimb(at)mac(dot)com. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
learning in the great outdoors
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

learning in the great outdoors, blog carnival.

Desperate Caterpillar

Checking our classroom garden on Thurday afternoon I found our four little milkweeds completely denuded and even the stems partially consumed. I looked around to find the crysalis that I knew had to be suspended from some nearby object. It wasn't on the bottom of a bird feeder or the air conditioner or a plant hanger or the garden tools leaned against the wall.
"Oh well, I hope the fella found a decent spot", I thought.
Then I picked up the playground ball that had rested in an empty garden pot by the door for three days. It was past time for it to join its fellows in the big red tub inside the door. Then I saw the crysalis:

This Danaus plexippus, a wonderful Monarch Butterfly in its pupa stage, is the descendant of a mother who overwintered in the mountains of Mexico. In a few days, when he or she emerges from the crysalis, its cells will be completely reorganized. It will dry its wings in our big classroom butterfly hotel. My students and I will admire its miraculous transformation, determine its sex, probably give it a name, and, with great ceremony, release it to fly northward. If all goes well, somewhere north of us, it will find a mate and continue the cycle that will produce many generations this spring summer and fall before its descendants return to Mexico before the end of 2007 to rest up for the journeys of 2008. Life goes on.