four&twenty

Practicing Gratitude

Hands down, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Once the festivities for Halloween have passed I am so excited to begin the journey towards that fourth Thursday in November. Thanksgiving just seems to embody all that is good in a holiday: great and abundant food, time with family and friends, a meaningful and profound history, and a freakishly enduring lack of materialism (not counting Black Friday). It doesn't carry the frenetic stress and pressure that Christmas often has, and who doesn't like a four day weekend?

Above all, Thanksgiving provides a reason to openly, regularly, and creatively practice gratitude. This is something so important to me as a person and as a mom, but if I'm honest it's not always the orientation of my heart and mind. At least for the month of November I'm reminded to focus on it and last year I had an impromptu idea to help me and my family make "giving thanks" a daily discipline. It came together so easily and beautifully. Here's what we did:

I pulled out some card stock and had my toddler paint one side with a burnt umber color we created by loosely mixing red, orange and brown paint. We used acrylics but tempura would work just fine, even watercolors could make a beautiful transparent and layered effect.

Once the paint dried, I simply started cutting out simple leaf shapes about four inches in length. Older kids could easily do this part too.

We cut out enough leaves so that each family member would have a good handful leading up to Thanksgiving. I put them in a wire basket with a pen and placed it on our dining room table. Almost every night, or when inspiration struck, we would take a minute to write something we were thankful for on a leaf and it would get placed back in the basket.

Our tradition on Thanksgiving morning is to share a special brunch together, just the four of us. We read and talk about the amazing history of the courageous pilgrims, we pray, we look through our Thanksgiving scrapbook and we reminisce about past family celebrations. Then we take time to read out loud all of the things we've written down over the course of the last few weeks.

There is something powerful about speaking these blessings out loud to one another, and having them written down to look back on. It's an amazing start to a full and fun day, and it helps us to grasp hold of the fact that life is filled with so many gifts, even in the midst of struggle, challenges and loss. Our attitude and perspectives are aligned with what we have, instead of what we're lacking or what we want. Quite simply, we feel content. I love Thanksgiving!

– Tracey

Poetry to Enliven Prose

Holding up a red box adorned with a red satin bow I remind my students, “Great writing is a gift.”

I’ve discovered that the Japanese form of poetry, haiku, is a perfect way to teach students that practicing poetry will improve their prose.

Any sentence can be transformed to a haiku:

Three lines, word picture in seventeen syllables, haiku are small poems.    

Three-lines, word picture 
in seventeen syllables,                                                            
haiku are small poems. 

5 syllables + 7 syllables + 5 syllables = 17 syllables

We begin our brainstorming:

“What do we see on the outside?”

red box
enormous satin bow
sunshine gleaming

“What do we imagine?”

something small inside
something special

I open the box to reveal a single folded piece of notebook paper. The students’ eyes are wide. I unfold the paper and show them the gift is a poem.

A Closer Look - Pt 2

Here is how to begin an Observation Journal:

Materials:

• A binder to collect completed observations
• Cardstock for drawing
• Lined paper for writing
• Pencil
• Colored Pencils
• Chalk Pastel
• Thick and thin waterproof markers
• Watercolor Pencils
• Watercolor
• Magnifying Glass

1. Look at the subject for a while.
Help your students to really look at what they are observing. Pick the object up, turn it around, use a magnifying glass to see texture and detail. Take your time and try to throw out any preconcieved notions about the subject.

2. Talk about what is seen.
Help students to investigate what they are looking at by engaging them in conversation about the details of the object being observed. 

3. Draw the object with realistic detail.
Encourage students to look at the lines, textures, and shapes. Have them think about proportions as they translate the three dimensional object to a 2-dimensional object on paper. When the drawing is complete, have them think about the color of the object and try to match the colors as close to the real thing as possible.

4. Read about the object.
Find a book or internet article to find facts about the object being observed. Depending on the student's age, have them take notes on a topic wheel.

5. Explore the object's potential.
What did you learn? What importance does the object hold in our world?

6. Write about the object.
Combine and convey information gained through direct observation and research.

It's as simple as that. The secret is that the framework of the activity allows for the glorious spontaneity that makes education rich. Observations range from a weed picked from the garden to vegetable plants grown specifically to be harvested for observation to insects to kitchen utensils to light bulbs to shoes. The possibilities are endless!

Making Our Teepee

Since my daughter was a wee one, we've always made a summer wishlist—places to visit, things to make, people to see. Every idea gets put down on paper to hold us accountable to some good memory-making and to have a go-to list when boredom creeps in. At each summer’s end, the truth is that we would usually only have accomplished a small handful of things on the list and I’d feel kind of guilty and dissapointed in myself for not following through. As I get older and wiser however, each end of summer comes with less guilt—we'll do what we can and enjoy it fully...but no regrets allowed for what is not done. Certain items are simply forgotten forever and some get moved to next summer’s list for another chance at life.

Making a teepee is one thing that’s been on the list for about five years now. My daughter REALLY, REALLY wanted one, and so did I actually. Teepees are cool, plain and simple! As this past June rolled around, I came to the sobering realization that it was Cloe’s second to last summer before graduating from high school. In the words of David Byrne, "How did I get here?" OK MOM...TIME TO MAKE THIS THING A REALITY!

I love the internet. I simply Googled "DIY Teepee" and within seconds I had a list of approaches and step-by-step instructions on how to make our Arapaho dreams come true. I took "Home Ec" in junior high and I have a pretty crafty mom so I can find my way around a sewing machine. Straight lines are my specialty but beyond that, sewing isn't really my thing and I knew in my gut that I didn't want to pull it out for this project. I wanted to take a more resourceful approach and less of a perfectionistic approach—more intuition, less precision! I also made it a personal challenge to build our teepee using supplies I already had lying around, supplies long-ago abandoned and intended for projects that never got done. I wanted to get in touch with my inner Sacagawea and use what I had and what I knew to build something.

After studying a handful of tutorials and formulating a loose plan in my head, I set to work, feeling excited but a little nervous. After about two hours, we literally had an awesome teepee standing before us and my daughter and I were inside, sitting indian-style (of course) sipping iced tea and reading magazines. It was great fun and many hours have been enjoyed inside by all this summer. Although for us the goal of this project was a simple summer backyard dwelling, you could easily incorporate it into your study of Native Americans, architecture, science or handwork. It really is a fun and doable project (which I should have done years ago)!

Crossing this one off the list!!!!

Here’s how it all came together:

1. Most tutorials recommended eight to ten, 12-foot poles. Panic! I only had six, 8-foot bamboo poles. I reminded myself that Sacagawea did not have a Home Depot down the street to bail her out so I determined to just press on and make it work.

2. For the cover I used a large canvas painter's drop cloth that had been collecting dust, unused for five years in our shed. The material was perfect and the size eliminated the need for sewing panels together to make a piece large enough to cover our poles. Bonus!

3. I folded the dropcloth in half and used a pencil/string device to outline a half circle. I cut out the semi-circles and ripped the cloth in half which gave me a nice rough edge.

4. Cable ties are one of the handiest inventions ever and I had about 30 leftover from some other who-knows-what. I laid three poles on the ground and used one to hold them together at the top. I set up those three poles, and then positioned the other three in between each wedge. It was working! Our teepee was starting to look totally legit! I ripped a strip of canvas from the scraps and tied all six poles together for added stability and frontier charm.

5. I then took one semicircle and draped it over the poles. I was delighted to find that the length was perfect in proportion to the poles! The craft fairies were on my side for once! I thought for sure that I'd have to pull out the dreaded sewing machine for this part but then I stumbled upon a box of colorful metal brads I had bought in a weak moment eight years ago at the scrapbooking store. These will work, I know it!

6. I used the brads to attach my two semi-circles together to create the conical shape that the cover needed to fit properly around the poles. The weave on my canvas was course enough that I could just manually push the brads through the two layers of fabric and it was thick enough to hold together without ripping. I trimmed the extra canvas with scissors to tidy up the inside seam.

7. Lastly, I decided to use the cable ties again to hold the cover in place to each pole and create a cleaner, tighter shape. I simply poked two slits in the canvas with an exacto knife at each place I wanted a cable tie and then I fastened the cover to the poles.

8. Lastly, I adjusted the poles a little so that the teepee was as stable as possible and pulled a small quilt from the linen closet to cover the grass. Mission accomplished!