what children hear...

Was out shopping today at a gorgeous outdoor shopping center in California.

Was sitting on a bench that had two lovely trees as bookends.

"Look! This tree has an umbrella shaped top!" -- "What? We are going to Jamba Juice?"

Each tree had been specially trimmed to have its branches arranged in a flat top that fanned out, almost like a spider web design, and also was twisted with small lights which turn on at dusk.

As I was sitting having coffee, a mother with two young boys started walking by.

The mother stopped the boys right in front of me and said:

"Boys, look at the top of this tree. When the leaves come in it will look like an umbrella!"

The youngest boy spun around on one foot and looked all around.

The older boy, perhaps five years old, looked straight at his mother and replied:

"What did you say? We are going to Jamba Juice?"

[Jamba Juice is a well known chain of juice stores  - there is one in the background of the photo.]

The mother burst out laughing, as did I. 

The mother said, "No, I didn't say we were going to Jamba Juice. I said, look at this tree and see how it has an umbrella shape at the top."

"Oh," said the older boy. "So, we are not getting juice?"

"Come on, boys, time to keep walking..."

The mother and I smiled at each other.

Off they went.

I am still smiling.

How often do YOU have the experience of the "selective listening" or the "edit to one's advantage" kind of listening by your children or students? It does happen, I know it does.

4 truly loved valentine books

Last week I posted about how our class celebrates Valentines to connect family and school. You can read that post called 'Got Valentines?' by clicking here.

I realized I need  - truly that is the word NEED - to share my favorite and best loved Valentines books...

Here are my 4 Top Picks:

1. Frog in Love. by Max Velthuijs. Sadly, it is no longer in print so I suggest you search the amazon world for it because it is the most heart felt and sweet story of Frog who falls in love with Duck. The illustrations are tremendously lovely. Perhaps my favorite book on "love" :)

2. Franklin's Valentines. by Paulette Bourgeois & Brenda Clark. You know all about the Franklin series of books. The characters are so well done with Bear, Owl and all the friends. IN this Valentine adventure, Franklin has a little mishap with his special cards for his friends and -well - I won't tell you how it all gets resolved [but it does!].

3. The Day It Rained Hearts. [also know as Four Valentines in a Rainstorm]. by Felicia Bond (the 'If You Give a Mouse' author!). Such a simple, sweet story of one girl who makes extra special Valentines for her extra special friends. Super short story and young children love trying to guess which Valentine is for which kind of friend.

4. Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch. by Eileen Spinelli & Paul Yalowitz. Oh, how I do love this longer story of dear, quiet Mr. Hatch who [accidentally] gets a Valentine box of chocolates delivered to his house. The delivery makes him think someone Does love him and he begins to have confidence to talk to co-workers and become a bit more connected in his neighborhood. Oh, and how sad when the box is determined to not really be his - so sad for only a moment. Mr. Hatch's new friends let him know they Do love him :)



Do you have a favorite read for this time of year?

"then, somebody created sound"

Our 4-page movie story called "Ladybug on a Bike" - with flashlight and popcorn!

Project based work makes each school year unique and exciting.

One year, we went on a fabulous journey in our Movie Theatre Project.

Stage One:

Teachers and children identify a topic worth studying.

In this case, the children realized that two of our chapter book read-aloud books were also movies they knew about: Charlotte's Web & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This began our discussion around how books become movies and how movies can show you a story a bit different than a book.

Stage Two:

Collecting data.

We planned a visit to our local independent Theatre. The workers there were wonderful to allow us to come during a morning time when we could have the theatre to ourselves. We generated a list of questions that we would ask and brought our camera.

Here are some of the things we learned, via photos and children's memory drawings:

Stage 3:

Exploration and re-enactment.

We created our own Movie Theatre in our classroom, under our loft. We worked in groups to create large story pages and then made up our own story as a whole class. Our biggest hit was "Ladybug on a Bike" !

We studied newspapers to see how movies are promoted.

We made signage, collected items from home to create uniforms, snack area, and used time and money in our signs and announcement.

We invited other classes of students to visit our theatre, hear our movie which was told live by a student for each show, and popcorn was really "sold" to our guests.

Stage 4: Celebration.

We invited our families to come in and hear the process of our project, to "hear" our movie and to have a feast to celebrate the rich learning of the three-month Movie Theatre Project.

Don't you love how books become movies?