Hey-O friends!
Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado. 8 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words for someone else to use in a post. All words must be used at least once. All posts will be different as each writer has received their own original set of words. No blogger knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until today.
My words are:
wind ~ profit ~ lady ~ base ~ older
They were submitted by Dawn@: https://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com
Thanks, Dawn!
Once in a while, when the wind blows just right, I remember how much I miss teaching. The ache for it happens much less now that I'm older and my energy isn't as high. Still, I stop and reminisce about how much joy I had telling stories, doing activities, and watching children's eyes glow in awe as they learned while having fun.
I'm not working for profit anymore. I'm no longer teaching a room full of young people. But something wonderful has taken up my free time. Grandkids! Like my own children, they won't stay young for long, so I am choosing to soak up every minute I get with them.
One of the perks of getting to watch my five-year-old grandson, S. three mornings a week, is getting to share with him some of the activities I once did with my students.
This past week, S. and I read four different versions of "The Gingerbread Man". I taught him a song and we acted out the story with little finger puppets. He was able to retell the saga to his grandpa and watch him laugh at S.'s storytelling.
On another day, we made paper gingerbread people and tried to come up with solutions on how to make sure the Gingerbread Man would stay in the oven until the old lady could take him out to decorate. (The old lady in the story, not me.)
S.'s solution was to tape the base of the cookie to the pan! Haha. We finished that morning decorating gingerbread people.
On the last day, we decorated a gingerbread house, discussing what rooms might be inside and which window the "real" gingerbread man might have jumped from.
S. was engrossed the whole time. You know it might be going well if your sugared-up little man keeps his attention focused for large chunks of time.
Some might say, "Big Deal, you had fun. It's just a little kid. What does that have to do with teaching?"
My answer is that the whole thing was teaching/learning. Without calling it what it was, S., age five, was learning:
*What a beginning, a middle, and an end are in a story."
*How to retell a story.
*How to talk about how four different stories of the same Gingerbread man can be different.
*Learning the words to, and reciting a song.
*small motor skills of decorating tiny ginger people cookie.
*small motor skills of cutting and gluing paper gingerbread guy. (and taping him to a pan!)
*Hypothesizing the ending of a 5th story based on the other versions of said story. (Using prior knowledge).
*Coming up with solutions to problems. (How would we keep him in the oven?)
*Spatial skills/Problem solving (Imagining where rooms are located in the Gingerbread house and knowing that the Gingerbread man escaped through a window, where the kitchen might be.
Once in a while, when the wind blows just right, I remember how much I miss teaching. The ache for it happens much less now that I'm older and my energy isn't as high. Still, I stop and reminisce about how much joy I had telling stories, doing activities, and watching children's eyes glow in awe as they learned while having fun.
I'm not working for profit anymore. I'm no longer teaching a room full of young people. But something wonderful has taken up my free time. Grandkids! Like my own children, they won't stay young for long, so I am choosing to soak up every minute I get with them.
One of the perks of getting to watch my five-year-old grandson, S. three mornings a week, is getting to share with him some of the activities I once did with my students.
This past week, S. and I read four different versions of "The Gingerbread Man". I taught him a song and we acted out the story with little finger puppets. He was able to retell the saga to his grandpa and watch him laugh at S.'s storytelling.
On another day, we made paper gingerbread people and tried to come up with solutions on how to make sure the Gingerbread Man would stay in the oven until the old lady could take him out to decorate. (The old lady in the story, not me.)
S.'s solution was to tape the base of the cookie to the pan! Haha. We finished that morning decorating gingerbread people.
decorating and tasting Gingerbread Men
Putting the Paper guy who's taped to the pan in the (turned off) oven,
On the last day, we decorated a gingerbread house, discussing what rooms might be inside and which window the "real" gingerbread man might have jumped from.
S. was engrossed the whole time. You know it might be going well if your sugared-up little man keeps his attention focused for large chunks of time.
I was in charge of the glue.
Some might say, "Big Deal, you had fun. It's just a little kid. What does that have to do with teaching?"
My answer is that the whole thing was teaching/learning. Without calling it what it was, S., age five, was learning:
*What a beginning, a middle, and an end are in a story."
*How to retell a story.
*How to talk about how four different stories of the same Gingerbread man can be different.
*Learning the words to, and reciting a song.
*small motor skills of decorating tiny ginger people cookie.
*small motor skills of cutting and gluing paper gingerbread guy. (and taping him to a pan!)
*Hypothesizing the ending of a 5th story based on the other versions of said story. (Using prior knowledge).
*Coming up with solutions to problems. (How would we keep him in the oven?)
*Spatial skills/Problem solving (Imagining where rooms are located in the Gingerbread house and knowing that the Gingerbread man escaped through a window, where the kitchen might be.
*Senses: How the cookies smelled, how the candies tasted sweet and sour, hearing and singing notes in a song, how cookies feel (HOT!) coming out of an oven, and how the house and cookies looked with different colored decorations.
*Sharing: retelling the story to Grandpa, and later, to sisters and brothers. S. took all the cookies home, so I'll assume he shared those cookies with family.
Those are some skills, man! Children are incredible.
What in the world does any of that matter? Sometimes we underestimate the capabilities and hands-on knowledge that little people gain, simply by playing/experimenting. No written tests needed. Just experiences.
Lord, I've missed it. Thank heavens for grandbabies. And for the simplest of stories.
Have a sweet weekend, friends.
-Michele
*Sharing: retelling the story to Grandpa, and later, to sisters and brothers. S. took all the cookies home, so I'll assume he shared those cookies with family.
Those are some skills, man! Children are incredible.
What in the world does any of that matter? Sometimes we underestimate the capabilities and hands-on knowledge that little people gain, simply by playing/experimenting. No written tests needed. Just experiences.
Ugh. Those sweet little hands.
Have a sweet weekend, friends.
-Michele
Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:
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