Each of the children who were present today wrote a comment in response to the CHALLENGE, (see below), which means we still need LOTS of comments from YOU!
Please help deepen the connection to the story, Thank You Mr. Falker, and leave your comments!
Thank you,
The Children of Piazza Mannino
Add comment November 3, 2009
Click on Mr. Falker above or go to: www.patriciapolacco.com to visit the author’s site.
Yup, another old favorite! You just can’t beat Patricia Polacco’s inspirational stories for both children and adults. I went into the Media Center to pick up Thunder Cake, Meteor, and When Lightning Comes in a Jar to add a bit of literature to our Weather Study, (and The Bee Tree in ‘honor’ and hopeful appreciation of the bees that are constant guests in our piazza!), and thought, ‘Why not just do our new author study on Patricia Polacco since we really haven’t decided on anyone else yet!” – and after just one day, Patricia Polacco has already won her way into our hearts.
(We still whole-heartedly love you too, Tomie dePaola! Don’t worry! 
)
Patricia Polacco is an author/illustrator of MANY books, yet I love to read, Thank you , Mr. Falker to my children the most. Children of all ages can make connections to the powerful themes this story presents.
The autobiographical story is based on Patricia’s own struggle with learning how to read. She has learning disabilities, which were not diagnosed ‘back in the day’, which made her elementary years devastating because of her lack of being able to read nor do math. She was bullied and made fun of by children in her classes! Mr. Falker, her 5th grade teacher, recognized that she had great difficulties in seeing letters, numbers and words in the way that most people see them. It was he, along with a reading teacher, who helped Patricia with specific strategies that directly helped her finally learn how to read. She will always be grateful to him for teaching her how to read. Imagine! She who has had so many challenges with learning disabilities is now a highly celebrated AUTHOR of children’s books!
It was her drawings that saved her during those dark years. Even as a child, she was an exceptional artist and Mr. Falker also recognized this talent in her.
Today after reading the story, the children and I had a lively discussion about;
- bullies
- things we are good at
- things we aren’t so good at
After our session, each child began a writing piece about a personal connection they made to the story. Pretty powerful words are being expressed on paper! Who wants to share their connection?
Have you ever been bullied? Have you ever felt really ‘dumb’ at school like Patricia? What are you really good at? What are you not so good at?
I wonder if we can get 23 +23 responses? (46!)
26 comments November 2, 2009
Thank you Children of Piazza Mannino.
You made my day. No, you made my year. No, you validated my whole 19 year teaching career.
Marta Richardson, our lovely violin teacher who holds a very special place in my heart, brought my violinists back to our piazza from her class. As procedure has it, the children went directly to the meeting carpet while Marta and I held back and had a quick hug and a word that well, turned into many words. You see, just being a little school doesn’t necessarily mean that the staff communicates very often. All day long is a whirlwind. I see Marta very rarely and when we do find each other face-to-face we always squeeze in a fast and furious and often compassionate conversation.
In the meantime, my keyboarders found their way back into class too and managed to somehow walk invisibly past Marta and I without either of us blinking an eye. We continued our rambling and she turned on her heels to leave as quickly as she appeared -
I turned too, to meet the children at the carpet, but stopped dead in my tracks. I realized that all was silent- all except for the sound of Peyton’s matter-of-fact voice. My breath ceased, my heart skipped a beat and there in front of me I witnessed what I think all teachers silently dream about and strive to create – all children taking the initiative to be present, resourceful and responsible for their own learning in their classroom.
Peyton was sitting in my chair, her classmates all facing her in ’story position’ while she read a story! Every single child was FULLY engaged. Holding back a flood of tears, I pulled up a seat and listened too while she finished the story (and grabbed my camera along the way).
I then tried to compliment the children on how all 23 children had just accomplished something very, very important and amazing… but I was still so stunned and in awe that heard myself just babbling away trying to string words together! Realizing that my message was not getting through to most, I reverted to drama and picked up my schoolbag and headed towards the door saying that they just proved they no longer needed ME to inspire and motivate THEM, nor facilitate their learning; they were perfectly capable of initiating the joy of learning themselves. I would just be on my way to take care of things that DID need my attention!
They got it. They beamed, 
they grew a couple of inches while bursting with pride and I resisted leaving for the rest of the day. Instead, we all had a run around outside, taking in the breathtaking autumn scene that the season has graciously unfolded in front of our eyes in Greensboro.
Thank you children. You make me proud. You inspire me and teach me more than I could ever teach you day after day after day. Yes, you most definitely got it. Clearly.
One very proud child said as we were heading out the door, “And we even chose a book about weather!”.
5 comments October 30, 2009
What perfect timing for all our Weather Explorations! See Newsletter for more information on what’s been spinning around in Piazza Mannino!
Click on Newsletter once, then again. Enjoy!
Add comment October 27, 2009
What a whirlwind of a week we have had doing weather experiments. We found a really cool site online that has tons of age-appropriate explorations that second graders are really excited about:
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-experiments.htm
Check it out and try some at home!
Gabe’s mom came in and did a great experiment about air with small groups of children. The experiment focused on how air takes up space, even when we can’t see it. Even though the children knew what the results would be because we had read about the experiment beforehand, they were still quite shocked when they actually did the exploration and proved the theory. First hand experiences always make such an impact on everyone! The experiment also lead to children creating very scientific drawings and diagrams of the actual procedure and results of the experiment. We just LOVE our Science Notebooks! 
Thank you, Mrs. M.! You know we couldn’t have done it without you!
8 comments October 23, 2009
| From Movies |
We had a blast today! We discovered what we already know about thermometers, what we wonder about them and asked some questions about what we wanted to know the answers too. I was SO impressed with all the thinking going on! Such creative minds!
The children will just have to share some of their thoughts, observations and predictions of what they thought would happen when they finally got to dip their thermometers into the icy cold water. 
Curiosity, exploration and discovery took over and the children experimented in ways I never thought of, (OF COURSE!), and we all came away just a bit more excited about ‘inquiry’ and empowered with new knowledge… and a whole new set of questions! 
Unfortunately we never got the chance to record some of our discoveries/conclusions because we got run out of our classroom by several very annoying bees! At least we were able to share our experiences while sitting in a big group in the Media Center. We’ll just have to continue tomorrow and – well- who knows? The children might think of new explorations
to do with thermometers, or ice, or temperature! What a fun way to integrate math and science and formally begin our unit of study on Weather.
6 comments October 7, 2009
It’s time! Interim reports were sent home on Sept. 24th and I am still missing several cut-off responses. Parents should send these in as soon as possible. Also, appointments for our Parent Conference will be available to choose from in the Communication Logs tomorrow. Many appointments will be held on October 26th because this is a teacher workday. There are also choices for other days and times.
This will be a very important conference, as goals for the children will be set at this time. I look forward to meeting with everyone!
2 comments October 6, 2009
Click twice to open up Newsletter
Add comment October 4, 2009
Other than our slight schedule change, we are up and running with many daily procedures. Our lovely Ms. Lana, who is a former Peeler parent, will be returning as a volunteer beginning on Monday. Even though her daughter is now in middle school, she just can’t stay away from our little school! She will come in weekly to work with children on an individual basis. Glorious! Thank you, Lana!
We also have a parent volunteer who will be coming in once a week as well. How lucky are we?
There are MANY times throughout the week that volunteers are welcome and needed! Parents/Grandparents can work with individuals or small groups of children with guidance. There are also more clerical types of jobs that can be done right in the classroom if volunteers feel more comfortable with such activities.
In the past, we have also had some of our own parents come in to give a little presentation to our class. The children are thrilled when a family member comes and offers a bit of expertise! The children and I will be sending home a communication on this very topic to see if we can rally some of our parents into our classroom. We are also talking about field trips for the year and welcome any ideas our families might have to offer. More to come! 
Add comment October 4, 2009
Theme: Blix by Sebastian Schmieg. Hosted by Edublogs.
