I was committed to writing every day and I haven't done it. I am learning every day ... truly, but I am the curious explorer type so that isn't particularly new. Tuesday I spent the day at the library at Little Harbor School learning about searching and cataloging and the changes that take place. AUTOCAT a catalogers listserve out of Syracuse University has opens one's eyes to the vagaries and details of catalogers issues. There is a whole group of people who spend eons of time to classifying books to put on the shelf in a way that you the library patron, can find them. Since I am taking library courses I am in the thick of it. I also met with our new superintendent yesterday and found him friendly and open. Wanting inside information on the history of my school's problems and successes. It wasn't too productive other than getting a sense of what he is like and how he communicates. I go back to school in August. I have no idea where I will be assigned, must continue to follow the path that life is an adventure. Who knows. So today I am preparing for a cross country ski weekend that is supposed to be quite cold. We are going to Crawford Notch and staying at the Applachian Trail lodge there with a group of friends to ski and snow shoe. I have to interrupt it with my cataloging course on Saturday in Concord. I am keeping up with my pledge to remove one box, at least, a day from the basement which is being cleared out for items in a paid storage unit in Exeter. We are trying to empty that and save some $$$. In the end it will be 1-800-got junk. Exploring the basement and learning all the time. Off to the gym to exercise following the Wall Street Journal's strong researched advice about exercise keeping away illness, depression and disease.

North Carolina Friends School

Another deep clean breath of fresh air. I could simply feel the respect and genuine learning taking place here. The pictures alone show what fun they have here while they learn. A Vietnamese Pig rescue pen for pigs that have been let go in the wilds of North Carolina. An hand elevator for books up to the loft in the library. A row of boots for all students to wear when exploring in the bog. I had a wonderful conversation with Frances, the biology teacher about the wonderful relationships formed between students and the teachers, students and the school, students and administrators. Everyone seems to actually listen to one another and respond - a hallmark of Friends Schools.

Exploring & Learning Today in North Carolina

The fun things I've done this week with my 18 month grandson (a challenging age for hands on projects) (while his parents are taking exams as first year MBA students) has been making pinecone bird feeders, baking cookie cutter sugar cookies, making sheet forts and pillow castles, doing acrobatics like flying angels and flips together, and making play dough. He's great because he never puts stuff in his mouth. He never does projects like these so it's been great fun. He's loved it. One activity he was too young for was the visit to the library where he jumped on the couch, ran into walls of book shelves, and hated, hated waiting in line 15 minutes to check out the 10 truck books I got. He loves the books however. He'll learn. Today I explored Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina shops trying to buy netting to cover the crib because my large 18 month grandson (looks like a 3 year old) is climbing out of his crib. These nets seem to be common for many parents these days on the standard crib. Why don't I remember using anything to keep my children in their crib through the night? Did we not need them because there were no real "safety standards" on the cribs then? Can anyone enlighten me on this minor problem. Ultimately there were no nets in any of the stores. It's evidently an online item only. We took the crib turned it around so the higher side that had been against the wall is in front and we shoved it into a corner for the back and side wall. I used a child door safety gate between the wall and a part of the crib for the fourth wall. Interesting. So that's what I explored and learned today. Problem solved until the net comes. Also as I took my grandson for a walk Bartlett Tree workers warned me of a bee hive that had been sawed down during their work and was now on the ground. They couldn't touch it because it was their understanding that bees are protected from being destroyed right now. Any insight on that issue? Explore, teach, Explore, learn, teach.

It;s National Play outside Day!

Let children explore themselves outside. Teachers assign daily homework with an outside component. Set up your sundial outside with the 12 pointing north. Try jump roping 10 times or more. Come in with your record of how many times you could jump in a row. Think of an assignment for the class to do outside. I went to an MIT social where a gentleman spoke about efficiency in businesses started by Demming. a leader in talking about ways to get quality and still be efficient. He was instrumental in getting Toyota to become the world's greatest car maker beginning in the 50s. What I learned today: There are nine frogs indigenous to New Hampshire. The peeper differs from the tree frog because it has an x on its back. There is a leaopard and jaguar frogs with spots. Leopards have square spots. Questing is a fun way to explore: SEE valleyquest.org, Letterboxing.org or orienteering or using a GPS in geocaching.org Lots of fun ways to go outside and find treasure boxes all over the world. Check it out. In future posts expect lots more websites that will be helpful in exploring.

Going to NH Children in Nature Conference "Building Nature Based Communities" October 1, 2009, 8:30-3:00 at Camp Yavneh in Northwood

Thursday I go to CHILDREN IN NATURE CONFERENCE in Northwood, NH. So nature deficit in children is a growing concern. Kids don't play outside after school unless it is organized and supervised. I ask kids, "So who has made a fort in the woods or built a treehouse or even climbed trees?" Three hands go up. Okay we'll do it as field trips in school around forest ecology. ways to get around things so kids can experience what will help them grow and become aware of more than a screen picture of the forest. We go to the Urban forestry Center for our September summer field trip and kids LOVE it. Is is organized? yes Is it supervised? Yes. But maybe they will go on their own on this walk near their homes one mile from the classroom. Most of the students have never been here. The woods. We looked and touched bark, We sketched, we studied biotic and abiotic factors, we used our sense to just hear, smell, feel the herbs at the nature center garden. We cupped our ears to see that bigger ears that can turn hear more - so big eared animals survived better than small eared ones - thus large eared rabbits and deer whose ears turn 360 degrees reproduced and evolved. We study the sky and learn how to determine a percentage of cloud cover. They go on a scavenger hunt to find items in nature. We make environmental art projects based on Andy Goldsworthy's work. Do this with your students. Go out on a limb.

Education News Update

Once a month I will save all of my education exploring news and give an education update on what's going on that's printed in the newspapers, yes newspapers that are dying at an alarming rate. That's another rant for later about how will our democracy survive without a first amendment – freedom of the press - investigating government and keeping people from all of this dishonesty and greed we see today? All in all the last great undercover investigative reporting was Watergate.

The government seems to be giving an increase to states for early education in a recent education bill. Per the New York Times Sunday Sept 20 shows “New Initiative Would Focus on Raising Quality of Early Learning Programs” by Sam Dillon. A higher ed bill that passed the House last week includes early learning and care programs that serve kids birth to 5. To get the money states have to show a curriculum of sorts, a way to review programs and give quality ratings, training requirements, a plan for parent involvement or reach out, and a way to collect data on children. The Dept of Ed and Health and Human services would admminsiter the Challenge Fund. Some are upset because the bill does not raise the number of kids who can get a pre-K program. This is a focus on quality not quantity attending.. 30 states have kept or increased giving money to early learning and some are reducing and eliminating as many as 12,000 children as in Illinois. The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University follows the numbers.

Another cry for help in education is in South Africa where students are teaching themselves in classrooms where facutly don't show up. “Keen to Learn, And Let Down In south Africa” by Celia W. Dugger protrays a racist program with chronic problems in the black schools but not the wealthier neighborhoods. Students are angry as they know education is the way to a better country with a great need for bookkeepers, accountants, engineers, doctors. They are crying for an education.

I must say that when I come in to class to teach I don't have students crying for learning here in the United States public schools. We've lost so many students to a different ethic – not work, but glamor, fast fame, petty disagreements and a view that there is an easy way to money.

Other NEWS Literacy is down in Afghanistan since we have taken over because basic institutions like schools are suffering. Greg Mortenstern, author of Three Cups of Tea is making the rounds talking about his new children's books that explain his program to build and rebuild schools in Pakistan..There are small ways to be a part of that.

Aside personal noneducational news: I have a farm in western Nebraska, Banner county exactly, and there on route 14 is one of the 6 windiest places in the United States. I have experienced it. They formed a wind association to speak with companies that would like to put up windmills/turbines. A company is proposing to install 900 to 1000 wind turbines and 3 substations to run them within 10 years. The company is working on changing the laws to be able to send the electricity beyond Nebraska. It could run 750,000 homes! We'll see how it goes. They are just investigating and putting the ideas in motion in the Nebraska legislature to change the laws. People are excited about the economic lift it would give the county. They estimate that each land owner might receive $12,000 a year from the electricity generated by the windmills. It would be one of the largest windmill farms in the world.

Princeton Friends School

A visit to Princeton Friends School If you want to see a state of the art school with 130 students k-8th grade, this is it. It began in the late 80s. I taught there in the early 90s when it was 3 years old - walked in and said this will become a remarkable school, and Ernie Boyer at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in his book Basic School, a community of learning thought so too. This school has such a profound sense of respect and encouragement for each and every student. The attitude is projected from the top by Jane Fremon, the director. There is a beginning school of 4's and 5's, then the advisories are identified by age or grades 2nd and 3rd, 4th and 5th, 6th -8th. I advised an advisory of 3rd through 6th graders. I also taught everything as elementary teachers often do with drama, Central Study, Math and PE. With a class of 4th through 8th graders in PE I thought it would be a challenge. How could I teach a gifted athlete who is raging to show off how to play with a clumsy non-athletic 4th grader? I asked him to take up a challenge. "You're good" I said, "if you can get that 4th grader to score a soccer goal. You must coach a young newby in soccer to follow you up and you'll be the assist for his scoring -- then you're good." He accepted that challenge and learned to respect that younger athlete too. The school is designed around the library which has risers to sit on in front of the books as a place to read. There is the big room for all school gatherings for Friday folk dance, singing, and meeting. It now has a playground and basketball court, but that all came after 1997. The core of the school is the amazing faculty. The courtesy, respect and time spent to instill a wonder about the world is palpable. princetonfriendsschool.org can give you some understanding and pictures. Here are a few of their programs: canoe trips to the New JerseyPine Barrons to learn about brackish water and ecology, an annual trip to Guatemala with a sister school there a trip to Kentucky for a folk dancing festival sometimes. Richard Fischer produces a math problem of the week that includes information about mathematicians and encourages parents and student collaboration toward work, study and play with the problem; sometimes its games pr designs. Each student gets a schedule to follow. Each student has an advisor, but also goes from class to class to follow central study: this year work and play, other years Walls and Bridges, or Rivers -- a topic that is discussed and read about and studied in metaphor, non-fiction, fiction, science and throughout the curriculum; devised in a customized fashion by the entire faculty. I had an amazing day watching students love being there because the entire staff loved being there. If you're interested I can tell you more details of the classes I attended. write back