More for the 5/6 Social Studies Project

I'm not usually a big reader of historical fiction, but my bookclub chose The Physik Book of Deliverance Dame (about Salem and witches and mothers and daughters) and it was perfect for me, as the prelude to the 5/6 social studies project.  I find questions about memory, about storytelling, and about the historical canon fascinating.  I think Grace does too, but of course her sense of "history" is just emerging, which is fascinating in and of itself.

November 27th has been deemed the National Day of Listening by StoryCorp and NPR - an opportunity to record some of the unique stories that emerge from the 5/6 social studies project... and if all this piques curiosity enough, PBS has an interesting site about American Families including an online family tree that allows relatives to all contribute to a shared site. 

I just read a review of Patricia Reilly Giff's new book The Storyteller, and immediately interlibrary loaned it for Grace.  It seems right up the ally of the 5/6 social studies project and I know she has enjoyed other books by Giff.  Here is a review from the 4th Musketeer blog (which has other reviews of historical literature for kids, as well), and from RandomHouse's web page: 

View the Teachers Guide! Buy this book online.

Storyteller Juvenile Fiction - Social Situations - Friendship Wendy Lamb Books | Hardcover | September 2010 | $ 15.99 | 978-0-375-83888-0 (0-375-83888-0) About the Book A story of the American Revolution from two-time Newbery Honor–winning author Patricia Reilly Giff. While staying with her aunt, Elizabeth finds something remarkable: a drawing. It hangs on the wall, a portrait of her ancestor, Eliza, known as Zee. She looks like Elizabeth. The girls’ lives intertwine as Elizabeth’s present-day story alternates with Zee’s, which takes place during the American Revolution. Zee is dreamy, and hopeful for the future—until the Revolution tears apart her family and her community in upstate New York. Left on her own, she struggles to survive and to follow her father and brother into battle. Zee’s story has been waiting to be rediscovered by the right person. As Elizabeth learns about Zee, and walks where Zee once walked and battles raged, the past becomes as vivid and real as the present. In this beautifully crafted, affecting novel from beloved author Patricia Reilly Giff, the lives of two girls reflect one another as each finds her own inner strengths.  What books get you thinking about the connection between family and history?

Outing Club Dinner

The Outing Club is hosting a fundraiser Soup Dinner on October 22  -- see Nicole for suggestions about who's selling tickets...  Should be fun and FSP families have a good reputation for yummy food. 

Harvest Dinner 

Friday, Oct. 22nd 6:00- 8:00pm

F.S.P. Carter Hall

Please bring your own dishes and silverware!

Local Food/Music/Support the Outing Club!

$15.00 adult / $5.00 child 

Wolf Pine Winter Share

In case you missed it in the e-bulletin, Wolf Pine is offering a winter share and there is the possibility of using FSP as a pick-up spot... email Jessica if you're interested!

Fwd: DailyGood: Doing Silence

I love these daily/weekly emails from Charity Focus but this one seemed particularly useful for our FSP community... Our kids get the "gift of Doing Silence" -- so simple, so profound.

Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance. --Morgan Freeman Tip of the Day: Allan Hall was seeking still moments. Somehow, he found himself at a London boys' school, where Headmaster David Boddy leads a period of quiet time at the start of each day. For ten minutes, three hundred boys sit in silence. Many close their eyes. All fidgeting ceases. It made Hall think. What do we get from stillness - those moments of reverie, of daydreaming, in an ever more noisy, busy, and stimulating world? "In the midst of the 10 minutes, you may get a couple of minutes of absolute inner quiet but the rest is sort of getting there," Boddy offers. With moments of stillness come opportunities for reflection, random association and creativity. The gift of "Doing Silence," as one author calls it, may just be the gift of tapping into and understanding ourselves. [ more ] Be The Change: Make time throughout the day to be still. [ more ]

International Peace Day

Today, students and staff at the Friends School will celebrate International Peace Day by creating "Pinwheels for Peace" with the Baxter School and Real School. However, what it means to truly engage in peacemaking is elusive and complicated and requires reflection and commitment.  In the past, I've shared a lot of links about various organizations that work with children and communities to develop peacemaking skills.  Today, I'm stuck in a place of query : how do we move beyond wishing for peace to actually creating it, and is nonviolent social protest the same as peaceful social change?

Raffi has a call for putting the world's children at the center of our shared decisions in Yes Magazine.  He writes:

As individuals, we’re accustomed to putting the needs of children first. It comes naturally to us; we intuitively understand our deep responsibility to the very young. At the societal level, though, we often fail to take their rights and needs (including future ones) into account. Imagine what would happen if we did—if compassion and consideration for children’s well-being became the basis of our collective decisions.

 And this rings true to me --the labor of meeting the perceived needs of our own individual children can edge out time and energy to develop social policies and shared resources that meet the needs of our whole community, including our families.  The pace of our own treadmill picks up, leaving us without the space to imagine more shared responsibilities and the potential joy of some interdependence.

I'd love a parent-discussion about how we enact peace making in our own lives, families and communities and the complexities that that brings up... any interest?

Book News

As some of you know, in addition to my work at FSP as teacher and marketing coordinator, I'm also a writer and illustrator and an MFA candidate in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. My work and learning require me to be involved in the children's book industry and the kidlitosphere online. Therefore, when Kim sent me an invitation to post on the Friends School Blog I thought that I could write an occasional post about books for kids and how you can find great books for your children. For this blog, I'll be giving you some links to other bloggers and online resources for books that are new and newsworthy. Curious City Books: Close to home, in Portland Kirsten Cappy helps market great authors and illustrators around New England and around the country. See what events she's planning... Not Your Mothers Bookclub: If you have a teen and you don't know your Mocking bird from your Mockingjay you need to visit this site. Young Adult Books Central: View book trailers, book reviews, and book giveaways. Click on the "Children's Book Reviews" for info on more middle grade appropriate books. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Do you have a kiddo who can't go to bed without a picture book? These bloggers introduce you to great PB's with a special emphasis on illustration. Here's a specific link to a day where they featured Mainer Melissa Sweet. The CYBILS: The CYBILS are an award given out by bloggers in the kidlitosphere. The nomination process is open to all and the judges are authors, illustrators, industry members, and friends. The nomination lists are a great place to look for good books, and the winners aren't to shabby either. Mitali Perkins' Blog: Mitali provides "a safe place to chat about books between cultures." Uma Krishnaswami: Uma is an amazing writer and a student of the picture book and all it has to teach us. She is thoughtful and brilliant. Read Roger: Roger Sutton is the long time editor of the Horn Book. He is opinionated but his opinion are based on a lifetime of love for children's literature. You can also choose to receive the Horn Book Newsletter which is a GREAT resource. Publishers Weekly "Children's": If you want to know the books featured in the upcoming publishing catalogs you should subscribe to the PW's Children's RSS. Okay. That's it for now. Comment if you have another great place to find info about kids and books! Comment if you followed any of these links! Share the post on facebook if you like what you see!

Calling FSP boy-writers!

 Boys to Men, publishes a quarterly themed newsletter.  This fall, they’re looking for submissions from boys and men about their experiences in the outdoors.  This experience could be with a father or an adult mentor, life lessons learned, and/or wisdom gained.  Poems, essays, journal entries, or another format that conveys your experience in about 250-350 words are welcomed, as are pictures.  They’ll pay $25 to the first 5 submissions from boys, and their deadline is September 22^nd.  For more information, please call the Boys to Men office at (207) 774-9994.

Moon Watchers, today, 4:30 USM and Inspiration from the 5/6 social studies program

The 5/6 class is studying American History in the coolest way.  Instead of taking a linear path through the "big events" (aka wars) of American History, they are beginning with themselves, their families and the questions that emerge as they consider the experiences of generations that preceded them.  Each of our personal histories differ, yet we are also linked.  I am curious to learn what they learn, about themselves and about others. Questions about immigration are central to contemporary political discourse and worthy of family conversation. 

Today's Moon Watcher's event at USM with Reza Jalali and Annie Sibley O'Brien provides families with the opportunity to learn about  Ramadan, Iran, and "home" in a unique way.  

If it all gets you curious: 

  The Talking Walls books explore these questions from children's points of view. 

Talking Walls was turned into an exhibit at the Children's Museum a few years ago and is now somewhat institutionalized in their upstairs exhibit about family heritages.  Annie Sibley O'Brien is one of my very favorite author illustrators, too, and she has other great books that also explore heritage, identity and place.  The Many Voices program of the Maine Humanities Foundation provides further training and book lists for adults who want to use picture books to open up conversations about identity, belonging, change, and social justice.  

 

Adults and older kids might be interested in the book New Mainers : Portraits of Our Immigrant Neighbors, with a forward also written by Jalali.  The Telling Room features writing by young adults, including four online stories from the Coming to America Story House Project. 

The American Library Association "Becoming American" program offers booklists (albeit from 2004) for children, young adults, and adults. Parent's Choice offers a few more recent titles, including Julia Avarez's new book Return To Sender,  which Grace and Craig found to be incredibly moving and disturbing (the book tells the story of a Mexican family faced split up by deportation and the challenges of the agricultural economy) -- there are more suggestions for resources on Alvarez's page.

For adults (or to find more resources for kids), two MA-based organizations do amazing work: 

Facing History and Ourselves offers incredible resources for educators, including workshops and online resources; Primary Source offers amazing resources for teaching about the world, but also has resources for teaching about immigration and migration to and from the U.S. 

 

What Adults Can Learn From Kids

Katie S. is pulling together a service club (or 2 or 3) and there is still plenty of opportunity to get involved.  I see it as a way for me to spend time with my kids, in community -- something I wish for, for all of 3 of us.  It sounds like there will be coordinated opportunities for kids to engage in problem identification and solving, and to engage in service on and off the island.  Kids and adults working together will only enrich the experience... so if you have any time and ummph, please consider signing up!

For inspiration, check out this TED video : What Adults Can Learn From Kids

Outdoor music & apples

The 14th annual bluegrass gathering is coming up Saturday, September 25th, from 11 to 5 at Apple Acres Farm in South Hiram. It's the same day as the Cornish Apple Festival (you go through Cornish just before you get to Apple Acres). There will be apple picking, cider, cider donuts, a farm store with more apple products, and a chicken BBQ at noon. An exciting feature at Apple Acres is the apple blaster, which is essentially a giant slingshot with which one can 'blast' rotten/windfall apples across the farm pond to a target. It's incredibly addictive. Entrance to the bluegrass gathering is $7 for adults, free for kids under 16. We won't be able to go this year, but used to when the kids were small, and always had a fun time. BYO chairs and blankets.