A Bradley Breakfast

Of course I had to forget my camera on the day that Bradley cooked us all breakfast, so pardon the grainy images as I took them with my laptop. The breakfast treat started because his reading homework just happened to be a book about how to make pancakes. So Bradley thought it'd be great to go ahead and practice! We wholeheartedly agreed.

The pancakes were awesome, replete with syrup and fresh strawberries.
Mr. Finn suggested that Bradley's book for tonight be How to Make Pizza.

Still Life with Watercolor

As we have grown as artists this year and last, I'm seeing a lot more attention to detail from the students. We've learned that good art takes time, so the rush to just 'get it done' is not prevalent anymore. Kids who didn't see themselves as artists are now gaining confidence and producing beautiful works.
The idea with this lesson that I found on my favorite art website is to use just one color, with differing gradations of saturation, avoiding the same tone next to each other.
Another difference that I've noticed is that the kids are more independent in their choices. It used to be that they would choose the same colors as their friends, or be highly influenced by someone in class that they admired. Now they seem comfortable being individuals as evidenced by the boys at this table who all chose different colors: Elijah with red, Dylan with green, Cody with traditional blue, and Brody with turquoise blue. The end results were beautiful and I've got to get a picture of them!

Polycom

Since we only have three ferries a week in the winter, it's difficult for our guidance counselor, Ursula to visit, so she set up times to check in with the kids over Polycom. She goes to the high school and uses their system to connect to us. She did a talk on bullying, showed some videos and the kids did research on their own laptops then shared out what they discovered. Did you know that up to 25% of school students report being bullied with frequency? And that as many as 160,000 students may skip school on any given day because they're being bullied? Most schools have a zero tolerance policy for physical violence, but often verbal bullying is left to run rampant. Our kids talked about ways to avoid being bullied, to identify instances when they themselves might have bullied and statistics about the long term repercussions for people who have been bullied as well as the bullies themselves. Thanks to Ursula for sharing her expertise and being willing to work around our strange ferry schedule!

Just Had to Share

My happy thought for the day.

Gearing Up

I'm not the only person who thinks Frenchboro is a really special place. An anonymous donor gifted the students of Frenchboro money to buy sports equipment. Being able to have the kids decked out in proper hockey gear is a dream come true.
The kids were seriously psyched. They couldn't wait to put the pads and helmets on. Here's Saylor...making pink look tough.
Dylan and Myron: Show us your game face, boys!
Along with the protective gear, there was enough left over for sticks, goals and skates. The ice was beautiful just before winter break and we were out playing hockey every day...sometimes playing once during school and then down again for more hockey after school. Unfortunately, we lost the good ice for a while due to a thaw, but now it's refrozen-a little bumpy, but we're going out today for gym class for our first game of the new year!

Pen Pal

We have a pen pal. Her name is Carol and she lives in Australia. Carol has always had a special place in her heart for Maine, and she happened to catch the Oprah episode about Frenchboro, so she decided to write a letter to us. Around Christmas time, she sent us a couple packages with special gifts like an Australian flag, stickers, even a calendar. When she writes to us, she always includes interesting details about her country, and since we are practicing our mapping skills in Social Studies, all the information is very helpful. It just so happens that I have a special place in my heart for Australia as well since I lived there for six months as an exchange student. I hope the kids in Frenchboro School take advantage of any opportunites they have to travel the world as it's incredible experience to learn about different places and cultures. Hi Carol! Thanks!

Happy New Year

Every time I log on to this site, I smile. It's that photo of all the kids standing on the porch. I marvel at how they've changed in the course of the year and a half that I've been privileged to know them. And they're so darned cute, aren't they? All those unique personalities. Sometimes I hear their voices in my head, usually a funny comment that they've shared or that I've overheard. I'll be minding my own business, working on something, maybe reading a book and in will pop things like, "Look at me! I'm a crazy elf!" or "Oh. Poo." Kids are just so hilarious, much more so than adults...maybe it's the spontaneity, or what goes for a normal conversation between five year olds. Our neice is that kind of kid. She was outside playing with her mom and they found a toad. She came racing in to exclaim to her brother, "Ben, Ben! We found a turd!!" I mean. How can you not fall over laughing at that? I hear her voice, too, for sure. Here's to all the little people, may we appreciate them for all their special gifts...and their unique command of the English language.