Recent press

Thank you to Party All Ready for featuring my daughter's birthday party on their blog (link here). We all had a great time at her dinosaur party.

For details about how to make the birthday pennants, check my original post about the event. Dinosaurs are a fun theme for any party, and I found it worked particularly well as a girl party. You know, something a little unexpected.

While you're visiting my blog, please check out the "What topics can you find here" list to the right. I think book of the week, recipe, and activities of the week are good places to start.

Happy Parenting!

Agenda: Meeting #4

December 11, 2012

9:15-9:35

            Connections

            Agenda Review

9:30-10:05

            Microlabs - Holiday preparation

                    1. What will be the highlight of the time between now until early January?

                    2. What will be the biggest challenge of winter break and how will you handle it?

                    3. How will you encourage gratitude in yourself and your sons/daughters?

           

10:05-10:55

            Protocol: Text Rendering

            Susanna Sonnenberg. "Stuffed." Wonder Time December-January 2009: 79-83.                

10:55-11:05

            Scheduling for January meeting*

            Closing

11:05-11:15

            Parenting in Pdx evaluation

*note--the December meeting is the last one of your FREE Fall session. The fee for the winter/spring will be $45.

Microlabs Protocol

Microlabs

Purpose: To address a specific sequence of questions in a structured format with small groups, using active listening skills.  The Microlab is useful for team-building and democratizing participation because it asks that participants equalize communication and withhold judgment.  It affirms people’s ideas and builds community while addressing specific content issues.

Time allotted: About 8 minutes per question — this works best with a series of no more than three questions.

Group format: Form triads, either with the people you’re sitting near or others in the group you don’t know well.   Number off—1, 2, 3.  

Facilitation Tips:  “I’ll direct what we will talk about.  Each person will have one minute (or, sometimes 2 minutes, depending on the group and the question) to talk about a question.  While one person is speaking, the other two in the group simply listen.  When time is up, the next person speaks, and so on.  I’ll tell you when to switch.”  Emphasize that talk has to stop when you call time, and, conversely, if the person is done speaking before time is up, the three people should sit in silence, using the time to reflect. 

The quality of the questions matter in this exercise.  The questions should be ones that matter to the group.

The Activity:

After instructing the group, read the first question aloud (twice).  Give everyone time to write in preparation.  Then, tell people when to begin, and then tell them when each one/two minute segment is up.  On the first question, begin with person #1, then #2, then #3.  Then read the next question aloud.  On the second question, begin with #2, then #3, then #1.  On the third question, begin with #3, then #1, then #2.

Reflection questions following the activity:

• How did this go for you?  What worked well, and what was difficult?  Why?
• How might your conversations have been different had we not used this protocol?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of using this activity?
• What would you want to keep in mind as someone facilitating this activity?

Source: National School Reform Faculty, 1/2003

Adapted 2012

Text Rendering Experience Protocol

The Text Rendering Experience

Purpose:             

To collaboratively construct meaning, clarify, and expand our thinking about a text or document.

Roles:  

A facilitator to guide the process.

A scribe to track the phrases and words that are shared.

Set Up:

Take a few moments to review the document and mark the sentence, the phrase, and the word that you think is particularly important for our parenting.

Steps:

1.  First Round: Each person shares a sentence from the document that he/she thinks/feels is particularly significant. The scribe writes it down.

2.  Second Round: Each person shares a phrase that he/she thinks/feels is particularly significant. The scribe records each phrase. The scribe writes it down.

3.  Third Round: Each person shares the word that he/she thinks/feels is particularly significant. The scribe records each word. The scribe writes it down.

4.  The group discusses what they heard and what it says about the document.

5.  The group debriefs the text rendering process.

Source: NSRF, 2001; Adapted 2012

A Little Break

I'm taking a little break from blogging except for updates related to the Parenting in Pdx groups.

Be back soon. 

Playing with scissors

Activity: Cutting paper
Required materials: Paper, kid's scissors with metal blades and blunt ends (like these), a bowl, crayons/markers (optional)
Age: Probably 3 and up (under close supervision)
Reason to try it: It's simple, fun for the kids, and easy to clean up

Let me start by saying that kids need the real thing when it comes to scissors. We have had the plastic kind. Yes--they are safer than metal, but they just don't cut as well. Getting each of my kids good scissors was worthwhile.

Recommended activities:

1. Making 'soup'

Letting kids cut up paper makes a mess. It's an easy-to-clean-up mess, but it's still a mess. Try telling them to make soup with their scraps.

How is this done? By simply putting scraps into a big bowl.  This keeps the scraps off the table and floor in an engaging way for the kids.

2. Coupons

Coupons made for me by my son

I'm a coupon-clipper. The kids see it every Sunday. Give them a chance to help. Either save the coupon section (that you don't need for yourself) or let them make their own.

My daughter calls her little scraps coupons. She doesn't color them first.

My daughter designated the red piece a coupon. 

3. Cutting practice

Draw lines on paper and have your kids cut the paper by following the lines. This improves their manual dexterity and fine motor skills. Here I did some zig-zags, some wavy, and some plain straight.

Try drawing shapes for older kids.

For clean up? Just brush any loose scraps into the bowl. Same with the scraps on the floor. Simple!

____________________________

Stealing Time giveaway update --  Unfortunately, there is no winner due to the lack of comments. 

Election Recap

Ours is a divided household. My husband and I are not members of the same party and every election is a more than a little interesting. Adding a very aware 5-year-old made things even more fun this year. When asked who he would vote for, my son said, "President Obama."

Truly curious because we've been quite careful not to sway him, I asked, "Why?"

He said, "Because he's President!" I think if my son had been a few years older that would have been followed by a 'duh'. 

We watched the election returns with him, but he went to bed before President Obama was re-elected. He loved seeing the states flash on the screen and watch the map of the country turn red and blue. He didn't understand that those colors mean that we have a deeply divided nation, and that the division means that things aren't working, unlike in our household. 

Both my husband and I were impressed with the speeches. My favorite part of Governor Romney's speech was when he said, "The nation, as you know, is at a critical point...Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work. And we citizens also have to rise to the occasion."

I was reminded of my son, and his perception of the electoral map when later in the evening, President Obama said, "We remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are and forever will be the United States of America."