Creating a Mosaic and Finding Patterns

I shouldn't make promises I can't keep.  In the last blog I wrote, I had said that the next day I'd share another blog about a book Gordon Lee and I were reading and a water activity that we did.  Well, Gordon Lee was having mood swings the "next day," and we didn't get much accomplished.  We did learn about how rain that has fallen turns into water vapor and returns to the sky to form clouds.  Gordon Lee made an observation on a poster that showed the cycle, and he has been paying closer attention to the clouds in the sky.  Other than that, he was just oppositional to anything and everything for the day.  I wasn't about to plan any activities with him or they'd probably get thrown all over the floor in a fit of rage.

Today was much better.  So, we accomplished a mosaic activity, which is very simple. I just cut several squares from two different shades of blue construction paper.  I gave Gordon Lee a sheet of white construction paper.  And I told him to create any kind of water that he wanted to. 
I put both colored squares in a cup together.

I gave Gordon Lee a glue stick, a blank sheet of paper, and let his imagination take over.  He said he was making "An ocean with a waterfall" (interesting concept!).
At first, he seemed to be placing squares randomly on the paper.

I left him to his own devices while I got a few other things done (in the end he ended up spending at least 30 minutes gluing and sticking).  I came to check on him after a few minutes, and I saw that he was starting to create his own shape (a circle appeared to be forming).

I checked on him again several minutes later and indeed a circle was forming.  He also appeared to be filling it in.

All of this took him a good 30 minutes.  After awhile, any child will get tired.  Plus, we did this right before his nap time.  After taking his nap, the first thing he said when he woke up was, "I want to finish my picture, Mommy!" He returned to it to add some more squares.  He took another break.  He came back to it later in the evening when he made his announcement that he was "all done." 

This is the final product of "Ocean with a Waterfall" by Gordon Lee

Overall: 

1.) This is an easy art activity (that creates very little mess..just a little bit of glue on the fingers).

2.) It kept Gordon Lee busy and engaged in something meaningful for him.

3.) He was extremely pleased with this own masterpiece.

Funny thing--we wouldn't have been able to accomplish this yesterday. Those squares would have been all over the floor.  Regardless of what we are doing with him, no child is perfect.  No day is perfect. Sometimes, you plan things and just have to wait to do them.  Interesting how something that is a success in one day may not have been for another day. 

Now onto the book.  One of the books that we have been reading was one that I put on the list because I was having a hard time finding enough fictional books (and I wanted one on rain).  

Two people judged it by its cover.

Me: I thought "This book just looks boring.  It looks like it might be about a baboon named rain!"

Gordon Lee: "I want to read this one! There's a monkey on the cover!"

It's called Rain by Manya Stojic, and it is an adorable story with a lot of elements for building early literacy.

One element is a pattern of prediction.  Gordon Lee quickly and easily picked up on the fact that the animals were each using one of the 5 senses to detect rain.  Then, each animal tells another animal about the rain.  So, he started predicting what was going to happen next (a very important skill for active, engaged readers).  It all starts early!

Another element is the pattern of rain.  The soil is dry and cracked at the beginning of the story.  

Then the story starts with a porcupine sensing the rain solely through smell.

The chain begins.  Each sense used detects the rain as it gets closer and closer.  Each page builds on the previous ones.  Reminding the reader of the pattern.

The last animal to detect the rain is a lion who tastes it on his tongue.  Then, the rain pours down.  The book shows how it has impacted the scenery.  Gordon Lee likes to point out two things on this page every time, "There's a grasshopper in this book! This is a buggy book too!" and "Somebody colored on this page.  They shouldn't do that to a library book!" (There is a brown crayon scribble.  I am not sure how well it shows up in this picture).

After this point, the animals use their senses again "To feel the squishy mud, to taste water that has pooled, to enjoy the shade of the leaves, etc."  The book is cyclical and comes back to the point it started where the porcupine announces she knows the rain will return again.

Gordon Lee "read" this book to his Nana R on the phone tonight and he actually recited 1-2 sentences verbatim from each page.  It's amazing how much a child absorbs.  

I'd highly recommend this book.  It is cute and educational (in so many ways) at the same time!

Learning by Exploring

Since I will be staying home with Gordon Lee again for the next several months, I have felt the need to enrich himself and myself in this time.  I feel like I just can't stay away from teaching, and I also want to make sure that Gordon Lee is engaged in something that is going to expand his thinking.  So, an idea formed.  I can't take complete credit, so I will explain the process of this idea.

1.) The local library where my mother lives started creating backpacks of books on various topics.  She had checked one out on digging in the dirt.  It came complete with a small shovel, magnifying glass, and other dirt-exploring fun. There was a nice variety of books to help a child understand soil better (The beginning of my idea).

2.) While I worked with preschoolers, I was introduced to the Creative Curriculum.  The approach of the creative curriculum is to encourage children to explore through their own natural curiosities, to enhance those curiosities, and to consequently provide the most enriching educational experience for a child.  When I first saw it, I was skeptical.  It seemed so empty (unlike some other curriculums that had a specific structure in each unit).  The approach is to take a unit of study and spend 3-4 weeks exploring the topic in every possible way. From my personal experience with 3-year-olds, I found that the only downside to the curriculum was the amount of time spent on one topic.  They could only sustain a heightened interest in the topic for about 2 weeks before it became too repetitive for them.  Ultimately, it sort of backfired on itself because they wouldn't want to talk about the topic at all anymore after the last week.  So, I thought, good idea.  I like the exploration approach.  Let the child ask questions.  Help the child make observations.  Link understanding to early literacy and reading (which is what the curriculum is rooted in).  Just shorten it so they don't get exhausted by it.

3.) Here's the result.  Create our own "book bag" on a topic (especially since our library here doesn't have them).  Then, incorporate the Creative Curriculum approach into our study.  I choose one topic for us to explore.  I look up 10 books to put on hold at the library (making sure they are children's books).  I try to keep a good variety of fiction and nonfiction.  Then, we take our bag to the library and we fill it up.  Gordon Lee loves putting the old books in the return slot.

We basically do anything and everything with the topics.  We are on our second week.  The first week, we explored bugs.  This week, we are learning all about water.  Next week we are going to discover reptiles (and I am particularly excited about this one since Gordon Lee asked me for an iguana at Petco the other day).  

You start finding that you don't have to go out and spend a bunch of money to provide a very meaningful experience for a child.  Just a trip to the pet store can show them so much.  Even this week with water, God helped us out by giving us rain for 4 days.  So, Gordon Lee and I stood outside of the YMCA one day watching rainwater wash down a pipe and into the parking lot.  He observed how the hill helped the water run away from the building, and then realized that the giant puddles he liked jumping in formed because the parking lot was a flat base where the water could pool.  Now he is constantly finding drains and looking to see where the water is going.

And while we've moved onto a new topic, he is still excited about last week's topic and still expanding his knowledge.  He found a dead Japanese beetle, picked it up and discovered why a beetle is a beetle (due to the wing covers).  This is my child who would freak out at the sight of any bug before this.  He started learning about them and understanding that not all bugs bite or sting.  Yesterday, he became extremely excited at the sight of a grasshopper. He wanted to see how the grasshopper moved and how it could fly.

We also did a lot of art during our bug week.  Here are just a few samples.  Gordon Lee wanted to draw, paint, color, or make every bug.

(bumblebee with wax paper wings)

(spider in a web made with the palm of his hand, his 4 fingers, and just free-handing the head)

(butterfly--of course..I did draw those antennae.  He did the rest)

I could go on and on about how excited he is, how much I am learning, how much he is learning, and how readily books are expanding his observations around him.  However, I will stop here. I will start sharing one fun thing we did each day plus sharing one book I particularly like from the selection we're reading.

For the bug unit, here are some of the books Gordon Lee loved.

The Little Squeegy Bug by Bill Martin Jr.

This is a cute fictional story about a bug that has no identity. So, they all call it a little squeegy bug.  He just wants to feel special and fly in the sky.  Ultimately, a magic spider turns him into the firefly.

Bug Safari by Bob Barner

This is a story about a child who follows an army of ants to an unknown destination.  Meanwhile on their journey, he learns about all of the struggles a tiny ant faces in the big world of bugs.  Gordon Lee requested this one every single day.

This is just a sample of the nonfiction bug books we got.  We had 5 of them.  They are from a series called "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!" by Margaret Hall.  We had grasshoppers, fireflies, beetles, bees, and centipedes.  These were extremely educational, and even I learned things I didn't know.

As for water, we are not doing as much art, we are doing more experiments and observations. Tomorrow, I will share one of my favorite (and Gordon Lee's favorite) books on water.  Admittedly, I judged this book by its cover and didn't want to read it, but then I loved it.  And I will share one of our water activites.

Testing

It's funny how we are tested shortly after we feel we have an understanding of something.  My last blog was on loving others, blessing others, and doing good to them regardless of how they are.  It was also on having faith in things unseen. I waited to post on it because I don't want to be someone who says one thing and does another.

Yet, I find myself tested lately--tested for what feels like no reason.  But I know there is a reason.  The reason is to be lost to self more and more.  C.S. Lewis said, "There must be a real giving up of the self.  You must throw it away 'blindly' so to speak...The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether." What a difficult--no impossible--concept.  One cannot forget oneself through human effort. The only way is to focus on someone greater than ourselves who will do it for us.  In the season of lent, we spend 40 days giving up a luxury we are accustomed to.  One of the reasons that lent is 40 days is because Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, was tempted, and overcame temptation. When I think of this, I think of the fact that I rely on Jesus for my strength.  That is how to forget self altogether.  Then, as the tests come (and they will come), we will find ourselves resilient.

Jesus says we are blessed when we are persecuted without cause.  But I don't feel very blessed. That is probably why he made a point to say that.  Remember that you are blessed.  Remember that this isn't for nothing.  Remember that when people insult you without cause it's another chance to forget yourself and focus on loving that person.

I read an interesting perspective on the movie Frozen this morning, and I really liked it.  The author said that, regardless of what other messages people feel are coming across through the movie, there is one prominent message.  The main character cannot live until she performs an act of true love.  While the rest of the characters believe this to be a kiss, ultimately it is self-sacrifice--complete denial of herself for someone who hasn't shown her any love at all.  It shouldn't matter if people like us or don't like us.  Sometimes we make mistakes and people give us mercy.  Sometimes we make mistakes and people are unnecessarily harsh. Oh to just love regardless of what others do and to continue to grow in love through every trial and test that comes.

Beneath the Surface

Many times in the past, I have written a blog on something as soon as the thought crossed my mind.  This time, I have taken a thought that began its work in me a few weeks ago and waited on it before writing.  At this point, I feel this has been so eye-opening that I hope it can bless others in the way it has blessed me.  I have seen a change in my heart and my understanding.

I spent a lot of time praying for something over and over again.  I saw no results.  I was following the popular acronym of "push" (pray until something happens) feeling as though I just needed to keep praying to see my prayers "answered." In the middle of this, God brought something even more significant to my attention. Often, we pray for what we want to see.  In my case, what I was praying for was aligned with the Bible.  I wasn't praying immediately for some selfish desire. What I was missing was that I was not having faith.  I kept praying for the same thing because I did not SEE the change happening and therefore I did not BELIEVE that God was working. While the Bible talks about the fact that faith is believing in an unseen God, I think it applies here too because we have to believe that God knows what is best and is working even when we don't see it.  Often we act out of a lack of faith.

I continued praying because I wasn't having faith--not because I was truly longing for what was good. Likewise, I was getting frustrated.  Why isn't God doing anything? What more do I need to do? C'mon God do something! There's the problem.  Everything is on my terms, my way.  There is a time when God wants us to act, and then there is a time when God wants us to believe.

We need to believe that God hears our prayers and knows what is best.  We need to believe that when we see something wrong in the world and we have done our part on it, the rest is up to God to deal with. When we continue on and on trying to "fix" problems, we take our trust away from God and basically call him a liar. We act as though we are the ones who need to do God's work for him because truly in our hearts we don't believe he is doing it because we don't SEE it.

The thing about faith is that it is unseen.  We must believe that if we did our small part of planting the seed, that God will make it grow if the time is right and if God wills it to grow.  We must believe that there is something happening for the best even if we see no evidence.  How long does it take a seed to grow? Shall we water it over and over and over again like an impatient child because we don't see it growing?

I distinctly remember a time when I was a little girl looking at an unopened flower on a plant.  I wanted the flower to open up so that I could see what it looked like.  My mother told me to leave it alone because it would bloom on its own at the right time.  Not wanting to wait for time to pass, I grabbed the flower myself and peeled back the petals.  Much to my disappointment, there was no beauty to be seen from my intervention--only a wilted mess. And this is what happens when we take our good intentions and do not leave the rest to God.  This is what happens when we want to see what we want to see right now because we are being proud believing we know when things need to happen.  God asks us to do certain things, but God also wants us to do everything in faith. 

As soon as I realized that I was not praying out of faith, I asked God to forgive me for it. "When the time is right," is the answer I heard, "For now, you do what you know is right and leave the rest to me." Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord desires of you: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Love, forgive, be kind to all, bless those who are cruel to you--these are the things that most please the Lord.

Rate that Writing!! (Input Wanted)

Over the past week while snowed in, I have been spending time trying to develop ways to increase student performance, participation, and engagement in one particular class of mine.  Overall, it should help all classes, but I have one class that is concerning me. Sometimes snow days can be so helpful because they slow down the pace and give us the time that we need to develop ideas. While thinking on this, I remembered a strategy I used several years ago that was competition-based.  It seems even the least motivated students become motivated by competition--especially if they feel they have a chance at winning.

My idea seems to be coming together, but I always feel that ideas are better with input.  Here's what I have thought of: A game or competition called "Rate that Writing!" I have been going through the 6 traits of writing with my students.  Each week, we are covering a different trait.  So far, since the snow, I have only had time to cover the ideas trait, and I am preparing to cover the organization trait.  I plan on having a "Rate that Writing" challenge for the students.  They are given a goal to write toward.  The first one will be based on the ideas trait.  They need to write a paragraph with one main solid idea and relevant supporting details.

After this, I will collect their paragraphs and place them in a shoebox.  The next day (I am planning to have this on a Friday), I will select 3 paragraphs at random to be entered into the "Rate that Writing!" competition.  Their paragraphs will be anonymously judged by another class using a judging criteria card (I want this portion to have a sort of game-show feel). The card will tell the students what would give the paragraph a 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1.  The students then give it a score.  The highest scoring paragraph wins a "gold medal" and a place on a "gold medal writing" bulletin board.  At that point, the student may wish to reveal his or her name or remain anonymous.

I am having students rate another class's writing for a few reasons.
1.) No student will rate his or her own writing
2.) Nobody in the class will try to figure out whose it is
3.) The students will not know if their paragraphs were chosen--only the winner will find out if he or she won.  I feel this might help some of my students struggling with confidence to not feel bad if someone else won.

I am also choosing 3 paragraphs at random for a couple of reasons.
1.) The excitement of not knowing if yours is going to be chosen
2.) Trying your hardest because your paragraph will only be up against 2 others and it gives you a chance of winning as long as you do your best.
3.) The students can also know I am not picking one person's writing in particular.  I am choosing whatever comes out of the box.

Anyway, if anyone feels like reading this and has any input or ideas to contribute, I'd greatly appreciate it.  

Potty Training Progress

To spare those on Facebook from hearing about Gordon Lee's latest adventures in pottying, I decided to come here to share his success.  I know that I find myself searching out blogs, Facebook posts, articles, etc. on the road to potty training as we go through it here.  So, I felt I would share my own experience for that same reason.

When Gordon Lee was almost 2 years old, it appeared that he was almost potty trained.  Our method then had been to take him to the potty at set times until he became accustomed to learning when he had to go on his own.  He was doing very well until he simply decided one day that he did not want anything to do with it anymore.  At the time, he had not been telling us when he needed to go, we were just taking him as a preventative measure.  So, I took the advice of many who have done this before me and I left him alone so as not to stress him out.

After leaving him alone, he started slowly showing signs of readiness again.  About 2 weeks ago, he started rebelling against diapers.  Getting one on him was a battle, and I told him that if he didn't want to wear a diaper, he would have to wear underwear and go potty.  I waited until last weekend when I felt I really had time to dedicate to getting him potty trained.  I simply switched him straight to underwear.  A friend of mine gave me a tip that she used with her son.  She gave him a temporary tattoo when he went potty (as a physical reminder on him that he did a good job), but when he didn't go on the potty, she would take it off.  Well, taking the tattoo off didn't work with Gordon Lee.  He didn't care.  He did, however, enjoy having the tattoo put on.  So, every time he went, we gave him a temporary tattoo.  He was very excited about this and started showing off his tattoos.

  The first day, he had about 2 accidents.  However, those were only because he did not catch it in enough time to get on the potty, but he had tried.  The second day was better with only 1 small accident.  My memory is getting a bit fuzzy after that, but I am pretty sure day 3 was completely accident-free.  Since then, he has not had 1 single accident and tells us every single time he has to go. 

Today, in fact (one week after the start of this), he had several firsts! 
1.) First time holding his pee until the morning! Stating over the monitor "I have to pee!" I took him to the potty and he went!
2.) I took his special superhero potty seat out with us today when we went shopping (after having him go before we left the house).  At two places we visited, he said he had to go potty, but when I took him in the bathroom, he became afraid of the toilet--even with his own potty seat on it.  I tried to show him it wasn't scary by allowing him to flush it, but he wasn't convinced.  Finally, we were about 5 minutes away from home when he exclaimed he had to pee.  We went into Taco Bell. I took him in the bathroom, but he was still scared.  I decided to ignore his fears and plop him on his potty seat on the toilet and then say, "See? It's not scary at all!" I think, due to the fact that he had to go so much, he went with it.  Then, after getting off of the potty, he said, "That not scary at all!" while walking tall and proud as if he was never afraid. I gave him the biggest tattoo we had for being a "big boy" and going on a "big potty." He was extremely excited about this!
3.) He did his first #2 on the toilet today! This one has been an ordeal for awhile as he has been afraid of it.  Yet, he conquered his fears once again and found himself much happier than going in a diaper.

I am so proud of him and I would highly recommend temporary tattoos as a potty training tool.  It really has worked for Gordon Lee!  In fact, he is at the point now where he doesn't want one every time he goes.  He just goes because he has to go.

Looking Inwardly

Sometimes we do the worst things with the best of intentions. When I say this, I don't mean "they" or "those people." I mean "we." I mean LOOK inwardly. And it will quiet us instantly. It's not as fun as pointing the finger at others, but it is what is right.

It is so easy to do wrong in the name of what we feel is right.  I see it in myself far too often. Growing up, whenever I wanted to say something bad about somebody else, my father would always stop me. He would remind me that all of those things I see in the other person were, to some extent, true of me.  What he meant was that when we see others doing things we don't like, we should realize we are no picture of perfection ourselves. Thinking that way really shuts you up.

And I didn't like that.  I wanted to talk about this other person.  I wanted to focus on everything that was wrong with this other person.  And why? Because of the one truth that is common to most of us. We would rather feel better about ourselves by tearing apart, criticizing, and focusing on all of those who are "much worse off" than we are.  This is why reality shows that magnify that faults of all of the "screwed up" people are so popular. 

Several years ago, I was wronged very badly by some people.  My entire reputation, personal sense of pride, and security were all being mercilessly attacked over a lie. The other people were wrong. They were wronging me. Why? I am not entirely sure. I believe I may have upset them by doing something that I felt was right and they did not like it.  

However, I was humiliated. I wanted to PROVE myself.  I wanted so badly to prove I had done nothing wrong and that these were bad people.  I wanted everyone to know how bad these people were.  I wanted to prove how wrong they were. I wanted them to face the consequences for what they had done wrong.  But none of that happened.

As I continued to  try to save my reputation, I only made matters worse.  And  I was faced with the truth that I needed to LET GO of my pride and quietly move on with life.  If I was doing right and I KNEW I was doing right, what did it matter what others said of me and what case they tried to prove about me? It didn't. It was only my pride I was desperately trying to scramble back together.  And God didn't want my pride in tact.  He wanted me to embrace my hardship quietly and confidently.

Keep your mouth closed.  Don't worry about what others think of you. And continue to do what is right KNOWING and TRUSTING that you have someone much greater to vouch for you--Jesus Christ. 

Humiliation is a part of life.  I believe we are all humiliated at some point in our lives.  The difference is in how we handle it.  I think of how Christ handled humiliation at the cross when insults were slung at him.

He said nothing even when the worst people were publicly humiliating him-- KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED

He continued to carry the cross-- DO WHAT IS RIGHT 

And he quietly and confidently defeated sin and death to rise victorious.

I think that having faith that I have someone else to be my mouthpiece makes it easier to look inwardly.  I think it helps me to admit I am a sinner.  I do wrong.  And I am beyond thankful that I have Jesus Christ to forgive me for when I am wrong and give me grace and power to become less of myself and more of who he is. Even today, I was thinking about some things I had done wrong, and I had done them so quickly with no thought initially that they were wrong. It was only later when I reflected that I realized I owed somebody a sincere apology from the heart. 

So often, we just point the finger at what is wrong with everyone else going on about how we know what is right when we really just need to be quiet and in awe that God has given us so much grace and love.  And simply be thankful.