Turkey Haze
What a fun morning. Both ends. Dave and Kalon, and young Cullen visited this weekend to help Kate move. She'll be heading over to Toronto, though she and Jim may move to BC at some point. I arranged the piano move, since I was bequeathed with a baby grand piano. Now I can take my step sister's upright piano to her the next time I go to Bellingham and there is decent weather. They now have room and I have an extra piano. Luckily I can move that one by myself, as I can back my truck right up to the basement door. I may have to lift one end of the piano for a bit, but the doorway is only a few inches different from the tailgate height, and lifting an half an upright piano a foot or less is pretty easy.
Anyway back to today's mornings. Dave and I watched an action flick (Basic) Saturday evening, and he sacked out a bit early last night. So Kalon and I chatted until about 2am! I've two friendships where I'm close to both partners in a marriage, and feel blessed. In both cases, I don't foresee problems, but if there were I can't imagine not remaining close friends with both. We talked about sexual politics through the ages -- from the beginnings of farming to high tech. That was just for starters. A great talk, then I got up at 7:30am for my second morning experience of the day to prepare for reading to the kids.
The first book was an autobiography by an author of children's books. It was pretty short and we briefly talked about how some things interest us, and others don't. It fit in perfectly, as about a third of the kids found a part of the story boring, though they all liked some of the silly bits. The author (Helen Lester) talked of being a "mirror writer" and writing backwards when she first learned to write, and how the teacher had to hold her papers in a mirror to read them. That caught pretty much everybody's attention.
Then I read some Shel Silverstein poems. When we have extra time, I read from Where The Sidewalk Ends. The kids love it, and so do I. I read requests from it a couple years ago, but had only read a quarter or so of the poems. I decided to do something this year that has worked out nicely. Start at the beginning and read every one in order.
One of the things I like most is when I start a poem that some of the kids know, but think boring. You can see them prepare to gut it out until a 'fun' one comes along, or whisper the bad news to a friend. Thank you ETI for the classical training last year. The language itself is usually fun, and Silverstein was a modern linguistic genius. Hitting the right words because of structure and such is natural, and having fun with it works great. The kids who prepared to be bored seem the most delighted. There's a little surprise they didn't expect. It's a huge boost for my ego, to be able to do that for them, as well has hearing the teachers chuckle from the other side of the room. They generally work on something while I'm reading to the kids, seeming satisfied with the balance I'm working for letting the kids cut loose a little, and quieting down for each other or the reading.
I'm having a ball. Kids don't care if your dialect isn't spot on or even close, so long as they make the character more distinct, identifiable, and fun. I like surprising them, and making them laugh at things they thought would be boring.
I read to both fourth grade classes. The second class is preparing a presentation for the other class on Wednesday. After we were done with the books, they wanted to ask me questions about acting. Quite flattering as their teacher is a Cornish grad from the acting program, and I'm sure put them up to it. I stayed an extra 15 minutes answering questions and telling short stories about stage fright, forgetting lines, etc. I enjoyed that immensely, and if I helped just one of them deal with or getting through nerves I'll be delighted.
Then, they had something for me. Kids from both classes had made Thanksgiving cards for me, and I was handed a large Manila envelope. It was most of the kids in one classroom, and one of the working 'teams' in the other. I looked at two cards this afternoon, and am saving the rest for the next few days when I get home. They are wonderful, and totally unexpected. I asked them if I could show the cards to my friends and they all answered with a big "Yes!"
For you US readers, have a great Thanksgiving. For you others, I pray w will be so busy manufacturing photo ops that he'll forget about his delusions of subjugating the rest of the world for a few days.
Anyway back to today's mornings. Dave and I watched an action flick (Basic) Saturday evening, and he sacked out a bit early last night. So Kalon and I chatted until about 2am! I've two friendships where I'm close to both partners in a marriage, and feel blessed. In both cases, I don't foresee problems, but if there were I can't imagine not remaining close friends with both. We talked about sexual politics through the ages -- from the beginnings of farming to high tech. That was just for starters. A great talk, then I got up at 7:30am for my second morning experience of the day to prepare for reading to the kids.
The first book was an autobiography by an author of children's books. It was pretty short and we briefly talked about how some things interest us, and others don't. It fit in perfectly, as about a third of the kids found a part of the story boring, though they all liked some of the silly bits. The author (Helen Lester) talked of being a "mirror writer" and writing backwards when she first learned to write, and how the teacher had to hold her papers in a mirror to read them. That caught pretty much everybody's attention.
Then I read some Shel Silverstein poems. When we have extra time, I read from Where The Sidewalk Ends. The kids love it, and so do I. I read requests from it a couple years ago, but had only read a quarter or so of the poems. I decided to do something this year that has worked out nicely. Start at the beginning and read every one in order.
One of the things I like most is when I start a poem that some of the kids know, but think boring. You can see them prepare to gut it out until a 'fun' one comes along, or whisper the bad news to a friend. Thank you ETI for the classical training last year. The language itself is usually fun, and Silverstein was a modern linguistic genius. Hitting the right words because of structure and such is natural, and having fun with it works great. The kids who prepared to be bored seem the most delighted. There's a little surprise they didn't expect. It's a huge boost for my ego, to be able to do that for them, as well has hearing the teachers chuckle from the other side of the room. They generally work on something while I'm reading to the kids, seeming satisfied with the balance I'm working for letting the kids cut loose a little, and quieting down for each other or the reading.
I'm having a ball. Kids don't care if your dialect isn't spot on or even close, so long as they make the character more distinct, identifiable, and fun. I like surprising them, and making them laugh at things they thought would be boring.
I read to both fourth grade classes. The second class is preparing a presentation for the other class on Wednesday. After we were done with the books, they wanted to ask me questions about acting. Quite flattering as their teacher is a Cornish grad from the acting program, and I'm sure put them up to it. I stayed an extra 15 minutes answering questions and telling short stories about stage fright, forgetting lines, etc. I enjoyed that immensely, and if I helped just one of them deal with or getting through nerves I'll be delighted.
Then, they had something for me. Kids from both classes had made Thanksgiving cards for me, and I was handed a large Manila envelope. It was most of the kids in one classroom, and one of the working 'teams' in the other. I looked at two cards this afternoon, and am saving the rest for the next few days when I get home. They are wonderful, and totally unexpected. I asked them if I could show the cards to my friends and they all answered with a big "Yes!"
For you US readers, have a great Thanksgiving. For you others, I pray w will be so busy manufacturing photo ops that he'll forget about his delusions of subjugating the rest of the world for a few days.
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