Reading "Little House in the Big Woods" has been a good experience for the kids, one filled with rich vocabulary words to learn and life lessons to speak of. Just this past week, we read the chapter about when Laura goes to town for the very first time in her life and how she feels about it. It was hard for the kids to imagine that in the time little Laura lived, going to town was a very special experience for a child growing up in the woods of Wisconsin in the 1860's. I've read that book to children more times than I can even remember in the past 37 years and even though I know already how the story ends, it's still fun to watch the faces of the kids I read it to.
They have learned so many lessons from the book, ones from the chapter that might well have been called "Life". Laura gets in trouble for doing naughty things, just like we all have. She and her sister Mary do not always get along with one another. The Ingalls children, just like all of the rest of us, from time to time must do without something special. Students always like it when I read the parts where Pa (Laura's father) gets in trouble for disobeying his own father when he was little. The part where a pig hops onto the sled of 3 little boys coasting downhill on a Sunday afternoon when they were really supposed to be inside studying their Catechisms always brings a smile to their face. As Laura hears her Pa tell that particular story, she learns that even her own grandfather was naughty as a little boy. I have always felt that kids need to know that we all make mistakes and that is why they call us "human". Great books that teach an even greater lesson are well worth the time and effort it takes to read them.
Item #54 on my list of 60 things to do before I turn 60 admonishes me to continue to teach and make a difference somewhere along the way. You know, I have thought a lot about that particular item, especially in the couple of weeks that have just passed by. It's been a very busy first 6 weeks of school and when the day is done, I sometimes think about all we've done for that day and hope that the kids "got" all the lessons that I taught. It is my sincere desire for them to become great readers and mathematicians. I want them to be able to write sentences that make sense and are properly written. When our first grade year is through, I want to send them on to second grade classrooms, ready to do their best. I don't want anyone to fail. Not even one of them.
But even having said all of that, I will always maintain that some of the greatest lessons to be taught to children have nothing to do with being a great reader or the kid who knows all of their math facts first. Even as much as I love to promote the idea of being good writers, it's not that one either. The greatest lesson I think that children need to learn today is how to be a good person, on the inside where it counts. They really do need to learn lessons of "the heart", ones that teach us to be compassionate and kind, to have empathy and understanding for others. It's an ongoing thing, one that won't be brought to its complete fruition in the first grade classroom but in my opinion it's as good a place as any to start. My personal conviction to that will always stand firm.
It's morning time here along the Western Slopes and the rain that was promised us is falling steadily down. The sky is still dark, partly because it's only 6 a.m. but mostly because the skies are shrouded in clouds. The weather app on my phone says that it will be around all day long so good thing we did the laundry yesterday and got it on the clothesline in time. Venturing out to do so today would not have worked out so well. Already the first week of autumn has been completed and soon the calendar will be turned to the sweet month of October. Wherever you may be this day, I wish for you my friends and family a day filled with goodness and peace. And by the way, I could never say it enough. Thank you for being my friends and for caring about what happens to me in this life. Where would I be without you? In a big world of "hurt" that's where :)
The Beltz sisters~Miss Carrie and Miss Esther
Two women who had a profound influence on the lives of the little people that they once taught in the "land of long ago and far, far away". You were one lucky kid if they were your first or second grade teacher. They wrote the book on teaching lessons that refined a child's character. I strive to be just like them.
Item #54 on my list of 60 things to do before I turn 60 admonishes me to continue to teach and make a difference somewhere along the way. You know, I have thought a lot about that particular item, especially in the couple of weeks that have just passed by. It's been a very busy first 6 weeks of school and when the day is done, I sometimes think about all we've done for that day and hope that the kids "got" all the lessons that I taught. It is my sincere desire for them to become great readers and mathematicians. I want them to be able to write sentences that make sense and are properly written. When our first grade year is through, I want to send them on to second grade classrooms, ready to do their best. I don't want anyone to fail. Not even one of them.
But even having said all of that, I will always maintain that some of the greatest lessons to be taught to children have nothing to do with being a great reader or the kid who knows all of their math facts first. Even as much as I love to promote the idea of being good writers, it's not that one either. The greatest lesson I think that children need to learn today is how to be a good person, on the inside where it counts. They really do need to learn lessons of "the heart", ones that teach us to be compassionate and kind, to have empathy and understanding for others. It's an ongoing thing, one that won't be brought to its complete fruition in the first grade classroom but in my opinion it's as good a place as any to start. My personal conviction to that will always stand firm.
It's morning time here along the Western Slopes and the rain that was promised us is falling steadily down. The sky is still dark, partly because it's only 6 a.m. but mostly because the skies are shrouded in clouds. The weather app on my phone says that it will be around all day long so good thing we did the laundry yesterday and got it on the clothesline in time. Venturing out to do so today would not have worked out so well. Already the first week of autumn has been completed and soon the calendar will be turned to the sweet month of October. Wherever you may be this day, I wish for you my friends and family a day filled with goodness and peace. And by the way, I could never say it enough. Thank you for being my friends and for caring about what happens to me in this life. Where would I be without you? In a big world of "hurt" that's where :)
The Beltz sisters~Miss Carrie and Miss Esther
Two women who had a profound influence on the lives of the little people that they once taught in the "land of long ago and far, far away". You were one lucky kid if they were your first or second grade teacher. They wrote the book on teaching lessons that refined a child's character. I strive to be just like them.
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