The annual Field of Readers took place last night at the MISD Multipurpose Stadium; marvelous stories, books, and fun were enJOYed by all!  Special thanks goes out to all the MISD Library Media Specialists (especially our own Melissa Bolgiano) and the Instructional Technology Director, Nancy Bergvall.  Football players, band members, PALs, Ready-Set-Teach interns, teachers, instructional aides, parents, and countless volunteers manned the Book Fair, face-painting, and author station.  Speaking of the author, our fourth and fifth graders thoroughly enJOYed the visiting author, P. W. Catanese, yesterday during his highly engaging and informative writer’s session!  He graciously signed copies of his book, Happenstance Found, for those who purchased it last night.  Thanks, Mr. Catanese!

One of the highlights for our readers was the “panther tunnel.”  Readers lined up with great enthusiasm to run through the giant panther with their football heroes (who have been our reading partners this season each Friday!).  One young friend stopped me to say, “It’s dark in there but we followed the smoke!”  Thanks, Panther Football Boosters, for giving your time to bring great laughs and fun to our readers last night!

We are blessed to have so many reading models in our lives everyday here at Miller.  With the holidays approaching, here’s hoping you take a few moments to cuddle and enJOY a great book together!  Happy Reading!  🙂

You’ve heard of the three R’s of education:  reading, writing, and arithmetic.  There are four R’s we typically focus on daily here at Miller:  relationships, relevance, rigor, and results.  The original three R’s are rolled into all areas (along with a wealth of required state-mandated TEKS, student expectations, and rules).  I’m instantly reminded of a conversation with a student not long ago on this topic:

Me:  So how are things going with you in your class so far this year?  Are you comfortable in your class?
Student:  You know, I have to trust my teacher and she must trust me.  My class works as a team through games and “talk time.”  Our parents help us and we ask them questions on our blog everyday.
Me:  It’s sounds like you are building relationships with each other pretty well.  What about the things your teacher does to relate your work to your life?
Student:  She tells me she creates our lessons to meet our needs.  She makes certain she designs our work to mean something to each of us.
Me:  Is your work hard for you?  What does your teacher do to help you understand?
Student:  I see us repeating some things or adding to them each time we visit them again.  It’s hard work being a student, Mrs. Van!  🙂
Me:  How do you know you’re doing well?  What does your teacher do to show you your success?
Student:  She grades our work, talks about our work with us, shows us good work samples, and really makes us think about our work.  Sometimes, I wish she would just let it be . . .”  🙂

This brief conversation into the learner’s insight, perception, and reality of daily work–the relationship, the relevance, the rigor, and the final results–is a powerful reflection indeed!  Does everyone feel this way . . . no . . . but we can push ourselves to “R4 is the score!”

Note:  We are moving ahead this evening with the fifth annual Field of Readers Event at the Multipurpose Stadium from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.  We hope to see you there!

A learner shared with me today, “Mrs. Van, time is sure flying this year!  Did you know we only have 53 more days until 2012?”  🙂  I was shocked, so we did the math together and then I noted:  “Good golly; where does the time go?”  The child smiled, “We can’t live backwards, so look ahead and get ready!” 🙂   I was stunned into complete silence . . . .

Especially during the school calendar year, learners live in chunks of time–from the first early release day, to Fair Day, to Thanksgiving break, to winter break, and so forth.  These comforting time chunks provide routine, expectations, and predictable procedures.  Think about it; your daily routines at home revolve around the larger chunks of time at school, time in activities outside of school, and then time for weekend activities.  We tend to categorize our time into groups (and in my older years, I tend to want to spend more time on activities I truly enJOY versus those I do not).

Talk about time flying . . . we have much to accomplish in 2011 yet.  We look forward to several extraordinary events here at Miller before we tell 2011 goodbye.  As my little friend remarked, “You got an extra hour this weekend, Mrs. Van, so hopefully this will help.”  🙂 Here’s hoping we all put that “extra hour” to great use in the remaining 53 days of 2011!

Greetings from the University of Oklahoma today . . . Boomer Sooner!  It’s Parent Weekend and I spent the day with my youngest daughter who attends OU.  I’m grateful to our assistant principal, Mrs. Bass, who capably takes the helm in my absence.  She reported the day went well on campus, but that she wasn’t writing my blog post for me.  While I missed my time at LME, it was refreshing to experience academics in a different setting today; thus, this post will be a true personal reflection of sorts.

As I took a crisp walk across the campus to meet my daughter for lunch after her morning classes, this image of a glorious maple tree in full fall foliage appeared.  There are definite seasons in Norman and here was a perfect example!  I kept thinking, “WOW, sure wish I had a classroom of Miller learners to share this with me; they would have much to say about these ‘real’ trees” (not to mention all the statues, the numbers of students walking all over the campus, the variety of backpacks . . . ).  🙂

I’m blessed to have the opportunity to spend quality time with my daughter and her friends this weekend.  I’m also grateful for an extraordinary staff of classroom and building leaders who move forward in my absence.  Here’s hoping you always make (and take) time to treasure quality time with those you hold dear, most definitely your precious Miller learner!

I love Autumn…my favorite time of year with my favorite holiday.  While checking in with one of my young friends the other day, this child asked me about my favorite holiday.  There was no hesitation on my part…”It’s Thanksgiving!”  Giving thanks for our blessings, focusing on the extraordinary in the ordinary, and having attitudes of gratitude should be daily practice in all our lives. 

As a special writing challenge this month, the child’s teacher is spending the month of November actively demonstrating thankfulness by having learners write a daily entry into a “Thankful Journal.”  Each child  spends a few moments writing about one thankful thing in his or her life–30 entries in all.  The teacher then shares a personal thought at the end of the day after the children have written their own entries.  My little friend was amazed to hear the ideas from the teacher and noted, “Mrs. Van, you should do this too…oh wait…you do this on morning announcements, don’t you?”  🙂 The child then challenged me to follow along with the class this month by writing my own thought each day instead of just “saying them on the announcements.”  Consider it done, little one!   🙂

Since I believe strongly in “paying it forward,” I now challenge you to join us by taking a moment during each day this month to write your own blessings and gratitudes.  Have conversation at home while brushing teeth, folding clothes, riding in the car, cleaning up the kitchen, taking a walk, or just sitting together at bedtime to share your thoughts with your learner.  Children model the words and actions of the important adults in their lives. Take time to actively plant those seeds of gratefulness now; you’ll reap extraordinary blessings throughout the journey!

Do you prefer cake or pie, and why?  This was a question posed during my campus walk-about today.  It all started as a prewriting activity in a workstation (during guided reading and literacy time) and blossomed into so much more!  A graph was created by the first group to survey the class; they then left the survey for others to complete.  The second group polled for favorite types of cakes or pies–what a list!  A third group researched recipes for the top five picks in both categories to study ingredients and measurements for baking.   The fourth group culminated the results of each group’s work to share out at the end of literacy centers (which later turned into math centers as well).  This group also assigned the class’ homework for tonight…to poll their own family for preferences and favorite recipes.  I left class very hungry for cake, pie, and time in my kitchen today!  I look forward to revisiting soon for their results.

I sincerely enJOY watching the thought processes of our learners and how enthusiastically they tackle engaging subjects.  A simple question starts the ball (or dough, in this case) rolling:  “Cake or pie and why?”  Their questioning, critical thinking, ideas, input, teamwork, and implementation of a plan involving everyone in the class demonstrates great problem solving on their part.  It also shows wonderful leadership in their classroom.  Learners need protection from consequences during the learning process in order to take learning risks; these learners are given few boundaries and succeed in extraordinary ways (and not a worksheet was in sight!).  So . . . are you Team Cake or Team Pie and why?

Life is good . . . so goes the phrase and hopefully how we approach our work each day at Miller Elementary.  I became involved with the Life Is Good mantra during cancer treatments years ago.  It’s actually a Boston-based company now, but it started with two brothers, a van, some cool t-shirts, and a positive message (with Jake and his dog, Rocket—both “icons of optimism”) several years ago.  I like their products, but especially adore the message (plus, they support children facing unfair challenges).  You can visit the website at: www.lifeisgood.com for the rest of their story.

Anyway, the simple messages are powerfully shared on their products:  Celebrate; face the bumps in life with a smile; create balance; do what you like and like what you do . . . the list is endless.  I own more shirts than I can wear in a week and give them to everyone as gifts.  Yes, they are comfortable, sturdy shirts, but it’s the message I cherish the most.  You can see my favorite shirt here (“Van Go.” packed for a road trip).  🙂

It’s crucial that we, as the adult role models, share our approach to life through our actions everyday.  In spite of challenges (and there are many each day), we have to create balance . . . after all, balance is the art of holding on and letting go all at the same time.

If we never did silly or fun things, then nothing intelligent would ever get accomplished.  Here’s hoping we help each other to live and spread the message:  Life is Good!