Mercy of Zambia

The first thing that I noticed about Mercy was her beautiful smile.
The second thing I noticed was the colorful band over her forehead.
Then I heard her speak in rapid English and I could not understand anything she said.

  "You were not raised in America," I said.   She said no, that   she was born in Zambia. As time went by I learned much about her country and about her.  When she first came to America, she was around 12 and weighed 99 pounds. 

 My " goodness" I exclaimed?  "What did you eat in Zambia"?
 I learned that they eat lots of vegetables, which they grow themselves, so they eat a healthy diet with very little meat.  All of her grandparents had large farms and raised all kinds of vegetables which we also grow here.
only they eat them fresh from the garden.  

Mercy is 19 now, and after eating the diet that most American have eaten for years she has put on a few pounds and is working to lose some of it.  She has been eating less, and more healthful foods. She is also doing kick boxing.
I met Mercy when I needed some help and I got in touch with Visiting Angels.  Some of the things I wanted her to do were foreign to her, so I did a lot of explaining.  The first morning she came I asked her to make a poached egg.  She had never done that before so I told her what to do.  In a few minutes she came into the dining room with a pan in her hand with about 2 tablespoon of water in it and asked if this was what I wanted.  I told her I would stand in the doorway and tell her step by step.  I could not go into the kitchen because I use oxygen and the gas stove would cause a bad problem; so I stood in the doorway and walked her through it.  When I saw her try to break an egg on the side of the pan I was really feeling sorry about it all, as I could see it was all very strange to her, but she soldiered on and finished it all up.  Her efforts inspired me to write a poem for this young lady who tried so hard to please me and was a bit frustrated by it all.  I called the poem "The Learning Curve"

                                   Learning Curve

Everything is all so new,
You hardly know  just what to do.
You flounder and you fidget,
To get through every minute.
You're full of fright,
To know what is right.
But on the second time around,
You soon will be on firmer ground.
You soon will see a glimmer of hope,
See, you are really not a dope.
For who can always do some task,
The first time they are asked?
Be patient with yourself and do not despair,
You'll soon move with aplomb and flair,
And realize you have made it there!

Mercy has now mastered the art of a perfect poached egg! Mercy had expressed a desire to have something colorful to put on a wall in her apartment.  We talked about some different option and I suggested she make a quilted wall hanging.  She was all for it, but did  not know how to proceed, so with little cut squares she began to hand sew them together in a pattern pleasing to her.  She worked hard in her spare time but has not yet finished.  
I had been busy removing  some paintings from my house and remembered an oil still life that my sister had painted in 1969 and signed with her name "Katrine"  I described it and asked her if she would like to have it.  She was very excited  about the prospect of a picture to hang.
In the picture above  you can see the painting and Mercy.  You can see her beautiful smile and perhaps some of her enthusiasm.  I hope to have a long and happy relationship with this young lady and learn more about the country of her origin half way across the world.

More Classroom Activities

Some interesting things can happen when you allow nature to come into your classroom.  One example is about a little boy bringing a tadpole to school in a jar. This was in a school in the mountains of Kentucky, many years ago.  A fish bowl was found and more creek water was added to give the tadpole more room in which to develop.  We watched the transition from tadpole to frog.  We were all delighted when one day we found that the tadpole had become a green tree frog, complete with adhesive discs on his toes.  This was a revelation to us all as we learned that they lived in a tree..  None of us had seen one before and it was a new experience.  Here was an exciting event and we were motivated  to tell about it in writing, labeling and sharing the story with other classrooms.  At the end of the day we took him back to where he was found and released him, thanking him for coming to our school.

A similar experience occurred in a different classroom, only we had a cocoon to  watch.  The cocoon looked like a cigar only shorter.  I mistakenly thought it might be a butterfly, so we all had to wait and see just what would emerge.  The wire cage I had built for the cocoon was put on our science table and after some time it was placed up on a high shelf and we all forgot about it.  One day an excited child called out for us all to look at our cage.  We saw a large luna moth  (Tropaca luna), described as crescent-marked, pastel-green wings, the hind pair of which end in elongated tails. It was indeed a vision of beauty and a joy for each of us.  We found information about it in one of my books on insects from my encyclopedia of animals. We found many ways to share information about it with other children, through writing and language.  And we all learned some interesting facts about one of nature's unique creatures.

In the years around 1949, teachers did not had less  restrictions  on what they did in the classroom as they do today.  Also the curriculum was different.  We had a unit on  pets.  As part of  our program we learned about what kind of pets the children had and how they cared for them.  We decided to have a pet show and each child was to bring in his pet on a specified day.  We made charts and posters and advertised that we were having this event and the entire school was invited to come and vote for their favorite pet.  The vote was cast as a penny, to be placed in a box on each child's desk beside the pet - on the desk also. All of the school came filing in, by classroom.  We actually collected twenty dollars.  I am not sure what the value of that twenty would be today, but we decided to use it for supplies  in our classroom.. You may be wondering about the winner, so I will tell you the pet with the most votes was a hen named Betty.  It may be that a grandmother stuffed the ballot!  I was not about to question who voted how, as it was a secret ballot, or as secret as it could be in our circumstance. Teachers were not supplied with any extras in the classroom, We  were only given text books which we had to take very good care of,  so they could be saved for the next year students to use.  In a sense this was a lesson in civics as when the children would hear about an election coming up and hear talk about voting, they would have had some voting experience.

These activities all helped each of us to learn something new and enjoy doing so.

Fun Activities For Young Learners

Through-out the year in a classroom, opportunities come along when various activities can be used to reinforce skills being taught and are fun for the learners.  A good one for October is to  bring in a big, orange, flat pumpkin.  Early in the month introduce an art activity which can be expanded on to incorporate language skills.  Allow each student to have a turn to draw a face on the pumpkin, using a special pen.  After the face is drawn take a picture of the student with his creation and have him make a statement about it.  Save the statement.  At the mid point in the day, the face can be erased and another child can draw his own face.  Be sure that you use a pen which can be wiped off.  I used one called vis-a-vis.  After everyone has had his drawing  on for a half day, another child has his turn.  Leave them on for half a day,then make a book using the pictures and the statements made about the picture.  Even early readers will remember what they said and the book can be placed in the class library. The books can be checked out over the week-end allowing the children another opportunity for successful reading.

When introducing telling time on a face or digital clock, make a sundial using cardboard or other suitable material.  Explain that one can tell the time by watching the shadow cast on the face of the sundial.  The shadow is cast from the gnomon in the center.  The sundial is marked by one hour intervals.  On any sunny day take the class out and set the sundial in a clear sunny spot where it will not be in shadows.  Go out at a specific time early in the day, on the hour, such as 8:00.Take a marking pen and note where the shadow line is on the face of the sundial.  Mark the line and write the time. Explain that we will come back out in one hour to see how far the line has moved.  Mark the new shadow line and write the time.  Do this throughout the day allowing different children to serve as the marker.  This activity helps children to understand the passage of time.  The activity can be extended over several days to let all of the children participate.  To build on the idea go outdoors on a sunny day and look for posts or poles to use as natural sundials. You may find ways to use this activity in a science lesson. Encourage the children to build a sun dial at home and even send home an explanation for making one so their parents can reinforce the activity at home.

To help children grasp the concept of place value, pass out to each child a handful of objects such as pencils or crayons.  Tell them to count out ten and bundle them together with a small piece of masking tape, which you supply.  Then have them count how many they have left after bundling ten.  Have them count how many they have in all, including the ones left over from the ten in the bundle. Let them in turn, write their number on the board.  In this way they can compare how many objects each has and compare more and less.  Have this activity for several days using different objects. Extend the idea by looking for other groups of things seen in the classroom or around the school, in the hallway, and outdoors. When doing this activity walk around the room to see who is understanding.  The reinforcing can continue with paper work.  For some children it may take more guidance so be alert just who is having trouble and quietly assist them as needed.  As homework they can look for things at home to bundle and count and report to the class.

A little tip for teaching self control and maintaining decorum in the classroom,  is to begin early on to show the class how to line up in order by the first letter in each first name. Every child by first grade can say the letters of the alphabet.  At any time the class is leaving one place to go to another and they know exactly where their place is in line by  alphabetical order the transition from one place to another will be smoother as no one is scrambling to be first, last, etc.  By establishing this pattern you are setting up cooperation and polite behavior and the children will monitor their group behavior without any help from the teacher.  There will be many opportunities through the year to use this skill.

If your school has trees outside in a convenient place where the children can go visit them here is a plan the children will enjoy. Allow them to go out to the trees and adopt one of their choosing. There may not be enough for each child to have a tree to himself, so some can share a tree. Help them to identify the tree and learn something about it, what the leaves look like and the seeds and other facts which they may gather from different sources.  The space under and around the base of the tree can serve as a great spot to go for silent reading, or to do school work.  If you are lucky enough to  have a Ginkgo tree on the grounds, it is a wonderful way to show how the Ginkgo leaf is unique in nature.  Also in the fall they can watch for leaf change and how that happens.  The children will find lots to tell about their tree in independent writing as the year progresses.  The children take pride in their tree area and it gives them a sense of ownership so they are more likely to take better care of their school in general.

If you are a teacher of young children I hope you have seen some ideas here that you can incorporate into your teaching plans.  I would be happy to hear from you if you have something to share. One more thing, I taught first grade for twenty one years and may revisit this subject at another time.  Good luck with your young learners and enjoy them.

Harvesting a Small Garden

Harvesting a small garden should be a simple task, however doing it from the distance of  a hospital bed is the tricky part.  Mostly it was done by my neighbor who offered to water my plants. I eagerly took her up on her proposal and in exchange she got to enjoy the tomatoes and green peppers, but alas, the eggplant did not grow and produce.  I thought about the situation for a solution.  I think I came up with the reason for slow growth and spindly plants.  I knew the soil was good as my helper had hauled in three loads of top soil and all was going well at first, but as the plants grew and demanded more water, the hose watering I had been doing could not keep up with the demands of the thirsty plants.  I noticed one day that the Leyland cypress planted behind the rock wall had grown out so far that they were completely  shading the garden  where my plants were struggling to survive.  No wonder they were not thriving, they were suffering from lack of moisture.  The only way to remedy the situation would be to cut away the branches of the trees, not a good idea.  I could go back  to the hose but modify it with a drip line and run the water for long periods to soak the ground.  That may be an option for next year.

The blueberries however were outdoing themselves.  There were more berries than ever before and they were larger than ever before.  I attribute the size to the high percentage of rainfall this summer.  I was not there to enjoy the blueberries  but I invited my friends and neighbors to pick all they wanted.

I did not expect kiwi as I had all of the vines cut back to the ground and had a wooden trellis  built for them to grow on when they did begin to grow.  My faithful helper, Jacob, with my guidance began a system of training the vines up and over the shoulders where I want the fruit to grown next year.  It does require some advance planning to grow kiwi.

The many grape vines are ripening and as with the other fruit, I have invited my friends and neighbors to help themselves, but with the admonition that  am not responsible if they should receive any injuries while on the property.  I usually have some men who want to try their hand at wine making and housewives who want to make grape juice to put up for the winter.

One of the greatest joys of gardening is the sharing of the harvest.  Even if you do have to pull up  roots and leave the harvesting to someone else it is still very satisfying to have grown them in the first place.