Field Day: Station Three

When a class is faced with an open field, what's a class to do? Why, Capture the Cone, of course. 

Sneaky.

The Mom and Dad volunteer even played with us! 

Yes, that looks like a captured cone, alright! 

One must guard a prisoner. 

Field Day: Station Two

Next up: relay races with cooperation

At this station, we had recent Kentridge High School graduates volunteering. 

Way to use your heads! 

Three cheers for Field Day! 

Field Day: Station One

We started Field Day off with the Refreshments Station. It was a bit chilly, but we were so glad the rain did not make an appearance. 

Half of us visited the Health Station while the other half visited the Refreshment Station. Miss Ruth, a former Emerald Park student, works for The Red Cross and she taught us how to make a sling, and how to wrap an open wound. Just look at all of those parent volunteers that we had! 

Stuffing Report Cards

I thought you might like to see what it looks like when I stuff report cards at the end of the year. It takes a l-o-n-g time. 

Carco Theater: Snow White

We went on a field trip as an introduction to our Fairy Tales Unit. 

I was extremely proud of them as they were the most well behaved group at the theater amongst all of those schools. They were seated well (and not bouncing in them), kept their feet off of the seats, sat upright, they used indoor voices, and clapped appropriately - they were young adults, I tell you. I was very proud. Way to be good Emerald Park ambassadors. 

If only they could show just a LITTLE personality. Right? 

5 Reasons Why You Need to Take Your Kids to the Library

Christine French Cully is the editor in chief of Highlights for Children, Inc.

I learned to print my name almost before I could read it -- for the sole purpose of getting my own library card. I was so young I had to stand on tiptoe to see over the check-out desk and hand the librarian my application. When the librarian, in turn, handed me a library card with my own name typed on it -- not my mother's -- I was ecstatic. I literally wore out the card in a few months, off and running toward becoming a lifelong reader.

Recognizing the role the library played in my becoming a book lover (and a career children's editor), I herded my kids into the library as soon as they could toddle. Libraries had changed a lot, of course, but -- just as I did -- my kids quickly felt at home there. The children's librarian came to know them, helped them select books, and, even better, encouraged them to also choose their own books. Libraries have played such an essential role in our family that I'm almost gobsmacked when I encounter families who don't share my enthusiasm. Some say that the children's rooms of libraries are an anachronism in a world of mobile screens with books on demand. But I say that while childhood has changed quite a bit, children have not.

Here are five good reasons to take your children to the library today:

• Regular library visits inevitably lead to more reading.
  And reading, as it turns out, is brain food!
  Research shows that reading actually aids in brain development, especially in your child's first five years of life. When kids are read to, their brain cells are literally turned on, and existing links among brain cells are strengthened and new cell links are formed.
  Reading is also one of the best activities to provide the foundational language and literacy skills your child needs to succeed. And let's not forget how reading aloud connects us -- reader and listener -- in a very intimate way. When we read to aloud to kids, we send them this message: You are important. This time is for you.
• When you visit the library, you can expose your children to more books and magazines than you can afford to buy.
  Sure, you can take your kids to the children's section of a nearby bookstore -- and you should! But if you're like most of us, you're on a budget and you have to cap their spend. But at the library, you can haul out as much as you can carry, turn your books back in as soon as they're read, and take home a whole new pile.
  Further, the "casual discovery" nature of a library -- browsing the stacks without pressure to buy -- allows kids to be serendipitous. There's no predicting what might catch their fancy, but, whatever it is, they can "test drive" it at low risk.
• Your local children's librarian can recommend books that you may not know of or think to suggest, broadening their tastes and expanding their minds and vocabularies.
  One of my young readers was a rough-and-tumble, car-obsessed little boy. Our home library was full of books about vehicles that I knew he'd like. But it was our children's librarian who introduced him to Ruth Krauss's classic picture book Big and Little (later reissued as And I Love You). I would never have guessed that he'd come to love this poetic book so tenderly, committing it to memory and naming his favorite stuffed black bear "Big Dark Street" after the book's comforting conclusion, "Big dark streets love little street lamps."
• Library time is active, not passive.
  Maybe in your mind the library is an eerily quiet place with lots of shushing. But today's youngest library patrons engage -- with books and magazines, with librarians, and with other kids. Most libraries offer regular children's programs that make stories come to life. (Think puppets, costumes, and animated storytellers.) And often this magic happens in cozy corners where kids flop down on big pillows and bean-bag chairs.
• Owning a library card teaches kids responsibility.
  As card-carrying library patrons, young kids learn about treating with care things that belong to others. When a kid checks out books in his own name, he feels trustworthy. He feels responsible. He feels more like a member of his community. A child's first library card is an early rite of passage.

So get your child a library card -- and underscore its importance. Take a photo of the moment. Go out for ice cream to celebrate.

Even better, go home and open a book.

Christine French Cully is the editor in chief of Highlights for Children, Inc.

Kent Fire Department Visits for Summer Safety

 Thank you to the Kent Fire Department, and Ms. Melanie and Ms. Kirsti, for their visit to the second grade. We learned a lot about helmet safety. 

We also learned how to cross the street safely. We must take care of ourselves as the drivers might not be paying attention to us. But, we must cross the road quickly, NOT like Ms. Melanie is demonstrating here. This his how people cross when they think they are cool, but we know they are NOT cool! They are being unsafe. 

Make sure your helmet fits safely. Two fingers above the eyebrow. Two ears snug in the helmet straps. The chin strap must be snapped. 

What to wear if you are walking to be seen and to be safe. 

This walking vest is the bomb! It actually glows! I love it! You will certainly be safe if you are blinking while you walk. Drivers will see you for sure. 

Even dogs need to be strapped into the car like Hercules is in this picture. 

Firefighters wear very heavy helmets to keep their brains safe. 

Ms. Melanie challenged us to figure out which helmet is best to wear for which activity.

Students got to go up to all of the helmets to decide which is the best helmet per activity.

This is how a helmet should be worn. She even got to keep this helmet. What a great gift from the Kent Fire Department. Thank you. 

We got gifts for each student. Here the students are using the "mood pencils" that change colors as you write. These pencils inspired us to fill out the packet that was given to us, too. 

We worked in pairs to complete our packets that taught us how to be safe this summer and beyond.