Our first wild summer readers have reported in!
I thought that you might enjoy these pictures of N and J reading while on our vacation; N was reading on a river ferryboat, and J was ensconced in a hammock underneath coconut palms. It was lovely! We hope you’ve found some great reading spots as well this summer!
What a treat! Wesley Stocken, one of my wonderful writers when I first came to MVCS who is now in middle school, recently won a prize for his rhino book. He generously sent our class a copy of his book plus supplies to make African spin drums so we could join him in celebrating World Rhino Day last Thursday. Thank you, Wesley!
It is a great honor to be a teacher. Every day I am surrounded by tender hearts eager to fill the world with good. In current events, we recently read about sanitation needs around the world as well as concrete things we can do to help the poor in respectful ways. This morning’s share in morning meeting touched me deeply, so I asked Martha to say it to me again so I could write it down. I am filled with hope when I listen to my students’ thoughts about ways they want to help and give to others.
Martha’s Share: “I would like to share a little bit about things that I feel like God is calling me to do. I have been listening to the Laubachers (our special missionaries who are preparing with New Tribes Mission to travel to the Asia-Pacific), and it encouraged me to try to translate the Bible to another language where people don’t have one in their own language. I’ve been writing my own songs to practice. That helps me so I can use ideas from His Word to sing about how wonderful He is like in the hymns we’ve been learning. When I translate the Bible, I want to translate the songs too to give to the people in their language. I went around the house and found things on signs. I was looking for words I need to learn in another language so I can write the Bible, such as God, Jesus, joy, and love.
I made a list of things that I feel God is saying I could do. It is like He said, “Hey, Martha, are you awake? Can you do this for Me? Can you serve me doing these things?” I listed out things I’m especially interested in and think He might want me to do. They are write a Bible, write songs, mail the Bible and songs to kids around the world, be with kids who don’t have parents, be with horses, be with animals, be a mom, go to Iraq and serve the Lord courageously by helping people be safe, be a teacher, be a dump truck driver, be a furniture maker, and have a farm.”
There was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,
Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.
The early lilacs became part of this child,
And grass and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover,
and the song of the phoebe-bird,
And the Third-month lambs and the sow’s pink-faint litter,
and the mare’s foal and the cow’s calf . . .
–Walt Whitman
One of the books I am enjoying this summer is Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. He proposes that direct exposure to nature is essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. Here are the first few of his “Nature Activities for Kids and Family”, and I am sure you have many more ideas of your own to add. Louv recommends, “The most important goal is for our children, in their everyday lives, to experience joy and wonder, sometimes in solitude–for them to create their own nature experiences and, as they grow up, to expand the boundaries of their exploration.” (appendix)
Gloriana and I are constantly looking for adventures. Join us at the pond, . . . .
. . . . and now shut off this computer and head outside for your own adventure!
Tonight was a very special night. We got to write with new teacher friends
from around the world.
I can’t wait to tell you more in tomorrow’s post!
Remember in a previous post that I was mentioning serendipitous encounters, keeping your eyes open to all the many opportunities around you. Today I would like to introduce you to one special treat of the Writing Institute–new friends.
Meet Rigil Ballester. Rigil is visiting this summer from the Dominican Republic. I have been learning so much from him all along, but he agreed to chat with me during lunch this week so that I could ask some questions about his country that you may be wondering.
Miss Blessing: What would my students be most excited to find out about you?
Rigil Ballester: One connection you may be excited about is the fact that there are a number of Dominican ball players on the Red Sox team. Some of them are David Ortiz, Manny Delcarmen, and Adrian Beltre.
http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=bos
I have met David Ortiz (Big Papi) personally through my work, as well as many other baseball players. Everyone in the Dominican Republic likes to play baseball, and I played a lot growing up. There are a number of farm leagues in my country. We call it the farm system because it’s where the players can grow in their ball skills. They do baseball morning until night in the baseball compounds.
Now I do Major League Chapel for the ball players in the Dominican Republic, from minor league to professional, providing spiritual guidance for them. Their teams pay them a lot of money for playing, but they are human beings with troubles and family things that may be on their minds. I go to the dugouts before games to pray and talk with the players to support them in any way they need.
I teach students from all around the world how to speak Spanish. I take them out into the real culture to learn, and they do a lot of learning by writing. My students do community service learning. I connect my students to service learning in seven different communities, and they help the people there in all different ways.
Miss Blessing: Rigil showed me pictures of the baseball players practicing. I also was especially interested in his pictures of some students from Philadelphia who raised money their whole senior year to come help malnourished children by putting cement on the floors of their houses instead of dirt and getting gardens going in their communities. I am wondering if there is some way next year’s fourth graders may be able to be involved.
Rigil also has a special connection with last year’s fourth graders. He was in my writing group on the day I shared my poem, “If You’re Not From New Hampshire.” Our class wrote these poems as a final response to our year of New Hampshire Studies, and we were hoping to express our love of our place. Rigil was intrigued, and he wrote a piece entitled, “As Dominican as I Can Be” to demonstrate HIS love of his place. He agreed to publish a paragraph or two of his piece as part of this post.
As Dominican as I Can Be
As Dominican as I can be.
Yes, I’m Dominican. My skin and soul are painted in different colors. My blood is warm, heavy and explosive just like the sun that burns the sugarcane fields. My Sundays are filled with baseball bats and pain. My back is marked with invisible scars from dictatorships that I cannot erase from my past, but my heart is full of joy.
I dance merengue, salsa, bachata and laugh about my luck. Come on and take a closer look… you may find my definition of freedom interesting as well.
Thank you for sharing, Rigil! If you have questions for Mr. Ballester, write a comment!