Teacher Margaret's "View From My Window" - June 10th

I will live by the best I can discern today. Tomorrow I may find out I was wrong. Since I do not live by being right, I am not destroyed by being wrong - Verna Dozer

Summer is here. My children and I would celebrate the last day of school by stopping on the way home from school at the Dairy Queen stand that was open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. What are your traditions to mark the changing seasons in your family? 

Summer gives your children the opportunity to experience a bit of creative boredom, pursue an interest more deeply, and engage in camp or sports in a way not possible during the school year. I hope it gives each child a chance to stretch and try new things, sing new songs, and go to new places (a museum, a park, a library). 

Summer also presents us with the challenge of preventing children’s summer slide in math, writing, and reading skills.  Keeping your children sharp in these areas falls to parents, family, and friends. Children tend to lose ground the most in math. Next week, I will send home ideas and information for engaging your children in math activities. Math is everywhere, every day. Start your child’s summer by having them measure and map your yard, patio, or favorite playground. Get a child-focused cookbook like The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs. They will be planning, reading, measuring, and following directions in an activity that produces a meal for everyone!

I encourage you to set up a regular practice of reading together - alongside each other and to each other. My adult children still remember reading the Harry Potter books, several of Terry Pratchett’s books, biographies of sports figures (Andre Agassi and Kareem Abdul Jabbar), and a natural science book (Botany of Desire) aloud to each other in the summers they were in middle school and high school. A regular trip to the library is a fun way to get out of the heat, take a break from the pool, and discover new books. Libraries often have summer activities and reading challenges as well. 

Maybe you and your family commit to an everyday challenge of writing a poem every day, or writing a postcard, or an entry in a journal. For our youngest communicators, aim for a daily drawing or picture in a notepad. You could choose a scrapbook theme and take and print a picture a day, which you annotate with a short description. There are endless ideas; the point is that all children should continue to communicate their thoughts and ideas on paper throughout the summer months. If I receive a snail mail missive from your child, I promise to write back. 

Holding you in the Light all summer long,

Teacher Margaret

PS The latest issue of The Owl Observer predicts that I will be a professional reader when I grow up.

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Podcast and Blog Suggestions for the Summer

• Thee Quaker Podcast: This is a weekly podcast and includes a recent episode featuring Ethan Birchard WFS'91, Executive Director of Friends Fiduciary.
• Quakers Today: Exploring Quaker Faith in Contemporary Life
• The Growing Edge with Carrie Newcomer and Parker J. Palmer
• A Hundred Falling Veils: A poem a day by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Announcements:

• • Friday June 12th, Graduation
  • Monday, June 22nd, First Day of Summer Camp