Another Big Fat Study I liked

Plants on every table.  Water bottles everywhere.  Indirect lighting with limited florescents.  Brain gym.  Brain breaks.  Music.

These are additions to the classroom that you'd see in a Brain Compatible Classroom.  Here is a study that I liked from May 2007 entitled,

Which Brain Research

Can Educators Trust?

Neurological research has discovered much about how the brain works, Dr. Willis writes. But educators need to be cautious when applying this research to teaching. BY JUDY WILLIS, M.D.

Highlights include: 

 "Good-quality, peer-reviewed brain research can provide solid biological data and explanations, but educators need to be cautious about the claims that are said to be based on brain research."(p698)

Teaching strategies derived from well-controlled neuroimaging studies are at best compatible with the research about how the brain seems to respond preferentially to the presentation of sensory stimuli." (p699)

"It would be premature and against my training as a med- ical doctor to state that any of the strategies that claim to be brain-based are as yet firmly validated by the complete meshing of simultaneous cognitive studies, neuroimaging, and educational classroom research. For now, a combination of the art of teaching and the science of how the brain responds metabolically to stimuli will be the best guide for educators in their efforts to find the best neuro-logical ways to present information in ways that potentiate learning." (p699)

http://larrycuban.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/k0705wil-2.pdf

Disney Themed Classroom

I visited a first grade classroom whose physical environment was decorated entirely Disney.  I've heard a lot of student teachers over the years want to do their classroom that way.  Here are some quotes and ideas...

Mousketeer of the week given out the first week of school and highlighted throughout the year. 

A Good Book

If you haven't read this latest book of poems, you've been missing out.  It has been released by Silverstein's family. If you liked Silverstein's other books, such as Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends,you'll recognize poems — like "Frightened" — as vintage Shel:

"There are kids underneath my bed,"
Cried little baby monster Fred.
Momma monster smiled. "Oh, Fred,
There's no such things as kids," she said.

"Every Thing On It includes 145 poems in all. Silverstein eliminated many of them from his earlier books, not because he didn't like them, but because they just didn't happen to fit in the perfect order he was looking for in a given collection."

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140566486/shel-silversteins-poems-live-on-in-every-thing

Inspiring Rejection Letters

"Early-1976, aged 18 and still in high school, aspiring artist Tim Burton sent both a letter and copy of his illustrated children's book - The Giant Zlig - to Walt Disney Productions in the hope that they would publish it. Weeks later, he received a very polite rejection letter from an editor named T. Jeanette Kroger in which she outlined her impressions of his submitted work and offered predominantly positive feedback. Both letters can be seen below.

Transcripts

Tim Burton's letter:

Dear Sirs,

I am submitting this book in hopes that you might consider publishing it. The book has been layed out in rough form, and I would be glad to make any changes that you feel would be nessecary. I would hope to hear from you either way. Thankyou.

Sincerely

Tim Burton

Disney's polite rejection:

February 19, 1976

Dear Tim:

Here are some brief impressions of your book, The Giant Zlig.

STORY: The story is simple enough for a young audience (age 4-6), cute, and shows a grasp of the language much better than I would expect from one of today's high school students, despite occasional lapses in grammar and spelling. It may, however, be too derivative of the Seuss works to be marketable--I just don't know. But I definitely enjoyed reading it.

ART: Considering that you suffer from a lack of the proper tools and materials, the art is very good. The characters are charming and imaginative, and have sufficient variety to sustain interest. Your layout is also good--it shows good variety in point-of-view. Consequently, I not only enjoyed reading about the Giant Zlig, but I got a chuckle watching him, too.

I hope my comments please you. Thanks for the opportunity to readThe Giant Zlig; keep up the good work, and good luck.

Very truly yours,

(Signed, 'Jeanette')

T. Jeanette Kroger
Editor
Walt Disney Productions

Just three years after the knock-back Burton graduated from CalArts with a degree in character animation, at which point he was quickly hired by Walt Disney Animation Studios."



http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/02/giant-zlig.html

End of School for a Fourth Grader

Here are some favorites from my son's last day of school portfolio items.  His traced foot and hand,  and a string to show how tall he was from the first day of school to show how much he grew. As well as his goals for the year.