Learning from mistakes even when lesson plans fail

 Hello my dear friends! Teacher Omi here with some thoughts on what to do when lesson plans fail. When you forgot an essential material, when the instructions of the package didn't work out, or when someone or something derails it. Here are ways to learn from mistakes when lessons go awry. 

I got the idea to write about this from (this will sound odd) my CPTSD dreams. I struggle with very realistic trauma dreams in which I'm expected to be caring for or teaching kids who are out of control in a very chaotic environment in which I have no experience with. It's funny because even in nightmares, my teacher brain take over and I try to make lesson plans with straw as it were. What I mean is that improvising has become second and even sleep nature. So what can we learn from that? 

First, one thing to know about kids is that they are always learning. What they learn may be positive, or it may be less so. So if you panic when things don't work, they will learn that mistakes are fails, fails are catastrophes and so it's bad to "fail"  Now, why do we panic as teachers and homeschoolers? (raising my hand to own up to this one). I've found it's usually because we are afraid that we have let someone down. That WE are failures. And being the great imitators they are, kids learn that they are failures in turn.

BUT and this is a big but (small LOL) if we model patience, ingenuity and sangfroid in the face of what looks like catastrophe, guess who else will learn to do that? Yep, your students. I witnessed an example of this making gingerbread houses with some of my grandkids. Now if you've ever put together one of those kits with kids you'll know that they are a fail in themselves, especially the little village ones. They never turn out like the picture. Particularly when made by young kids. 

What impressed me was how mom handled this. When she saw they weren't working, she didn't get upset. She just did her best, let the children decorate as they wished and complimented them on their designs. The kids had a ball, which was actually the point of the exercise. What fun is making replicas that thousands have made before? Much better to use creativity. 

So what can we learn from this? One thing was to read directions closely. I broke a few because I didn't trust that the score lines would work and used a knife. And some lines didn't work and broke anyway. We also learned that because we missed the part about decorating the rooves first, it was hard to do it when constructed. But then, the rooves were too heavy for the house structure anyway. This taught us some vital STEM concepts of load bearing walls, weight displacement etc. I actually recommend using gingerbread kits as lesson plans with older students to learn engineering, construction and more. 

And on improv, one of my favorite things to teach kids is workarounds. When you don't have this, use that kind of thing (no buttermilk, add vinegar to milk). This is not something you drill into students but rather help them find resources to do. And Google is a great friend here. You'll find countless ideas to substitute for about anything you could need. We made litmus test strips from paper and red cabbage, for example. 

And back to staying calm in crisis. #1 very few things are real crises. Having said that, the best way to avoid lesson plan fail is to prepare, prepare, prepare. Gather materials and know your content. But even then,  I've done science experiments in front of large groups of students that fell flat. And my first response is what can we learn from this? So first I make a joke to show it's okay. Next we go back to the directions to see if we missed anything. 

After that we try to find out what went wrong. Was something too cold, out of date, etc. This is where your science journals are invaluable. In the case of the gingerbread houses, I would have kids note that the rooves usually can't handle as much decoration as the picture shows. And an extrapolation from that is snow and ice on a real roof and why too much weakens them. I like to get as much practical wisdom out of lesson plans as possible. That's the whole point of education. 

Now for the best part. Have the students brainstorm on workarounds, alternate ideas, what to do differently, what we can take away from this, etc. List on the board all the ideas. You might even break them up into small focus groups to experiment. Using the gingerbread house example, one group might compare results of different size houses. Another might explore different configurations. Yet another might test decorating the roof before and after. Another, methods of breaking up the pieces. Another, alternate gingerbread and icing recipes. One simple workaround is to forego gingerbread altogher and use cardboard or paper. You can't eat it anyway. 

It took Thomas Edison 3,000 (!!) tries to find the right material for the lightbulb filament. But finally perseverance paid off. I honestly think the fails are so much more educational and fun that the successes. And a lot of my students have agreed. 

Winter Snow Party with games, crafts, activities and free Disney Frozen printables

Raise your hand if you’ve had it with winter. You parents and teachers must be especially tired of dealing with bored kids stuck inside. Well, teacher Omi has a winter blues buster first aid kit for you! Here are easy, safe games and activities to throw a Snowtastic party! And I'm nothing if not frugal so these activities are cheap or free, require no fancy equipment and are endlessly adaptable! Oh and value added, I've included winter themed literature tie-ins and free printables to make your winter activities multitask. I'll list those at the end.

Boot skating:  Sweep off an icy patch of pavement, or hose it down to make a rink. Demonstrate how to speed or figure “skate” by sliding in boots. I remember in second grade, teachers letting us “skate” down the halls after we watched a figure skating documentary. I really thought I was Janet Lynn. Have kids bundle up so if they fall they won’t get hurt. Here are some clips from figure skating history. 

Sonja Henie (1945) 

Janet Lynn (1972)

Torvill and Dean (1984, Sarajevo) 

Broom Hockey Use boot skating and play with old brooms or shovels. Use any old playground (basketball, 4-square, volley) balls. Allow no fighting. No need to imitate pro hockey that closely. 

Shovel Races: See who can shovel snow the fastest or make the neatest, clearest walks. Use snow shovels like shuffle board. Push playground ball toward a goal. 

Snow Golf: Use old brooms as in hockey. Dig holes in the snow and sweep tennis ball toward holes. 

Snowball Skeeball: Kids love to make and throw snowballs, but getting hit can really hurt. So have kids aim at a target instead of each other. Paint water color initials on snowballs so kids know whose ball landed where. Mark four concentric rings in the snow, like Skeeball. Have kids aim for the center.  Award more points depending on which ring it lands in nearest target. 

Snow Sculpture Walk: Have kids create 3D snow sculptures along a sidewalk or pathway. Have them design placards. Allow them to spray with food colored water if desired. Encourage visitors to view the art walk, comment on the pieces. No need for competition. This gives less athletic kids a niche at which to shine.  Do text-to-life literature tie-ins, using Children’s Books as a theme.

Cardboard sleds : Have kids design sleds from recycled cardboard boxes, markers, scissors, box cutters and duct tape. Provide paraffin (sealing wax). Show kids how to apply wax to waterproof and make the sled go faster.

Literature Tie-In Have students design sleds after famous vehicles from literature. Wikipedia lists fictional vehicles and sailing vessels with images. Edupics has free printable vintage vehicle coloring pages to use as models. Do a library treasure hunt. List vehicles/vessels and have kids research what book each comes from. Here are examples: Dawn Treader, Trojan Horse, Nautilus, Pequod, HMS Pinafore, Millennium Falcon, Polar Express, TARDIS, African Queen. 

Sled run: Simulate a luge or bobsled run. Pile up snow and make a hill or use an existing tree-free hill.  Rate kids on style, landing, distance, speed. Assign group sledding to help kids learn to work as a team. Or just freestyle. 

Snow-robics: Have children pretend to be different animals. Make butterflies (snow angels), snow snakes, snow alligators, snow fish, snow dolphins.  Have them make footprints trails and “track” each other by identifying individual print. Have them “walk” letters in the snow to write their names. Let the imagination run. This will occupy the youngest children for a long time. 

End with cocoa and sandwiches! Or  here are recipes from my Disney Frozen Winter Party Planner. 

Bully busting children's literature: bibliotherapy books for kids to deal with bullies

 Hello my friends! Teacher Omi of the Omschool, here. Today I'm thinking of ways we can address bullying with students. When I was a kid, many moon ago, the concept of a bully was pretty stereotypical. I always think of the Charles Atlas bodybuilding ads on the backs of comic books. A big guy is featured kicking sand in the little guy's face while the dismayed girl looks on. 

Bullying prevention was stereotypical too. The Charles Atlas ad exhorted "Frail, puny" boys to build up their muscles, take on the bully and impress the girl. Dubious motive and overall cringyness aside, it wrongly implies that "might makes right." But neither brute strength nor two wrongs make a right. Coping with aggressive, coercive or intimidating behavior is about inner fortitude and brains, not brawn. 

Even the term bullying prevention can be misleading. It suggests that the bullied are responsible for making bullies stop bullying. And that only "shrimps" get picked on. But bullying happens to people in all sizes, colors and orientations. People don't do anything to make themselves targets. And bullies aren't' born that way. They are grown. Bullies bully because they can and/or were taught to. True bullying prevention tells bullies they can't and punishes them when they do. And helps children develop empathy but also interpersonal and self-care skills. 

And it helps the "bully" (who are actually kind of frail emotionally themselves). Children need to develop empathy and insight into how and why people act this way. Best outcome is that the person behaving in hurtful ways will get his or her needs met in healthier ways and be able to be part of the group of friends instead of an outsider fighting his way in. 

Here's a list of bully buster children's literature books on bullying to teach kids what bullying is, what it feels like and what to do if they are bullied. Bullying prevention happens in clever, avant-garde ways. Through gentle bibliotherapy for kids, children see bullying for the weak cowardice it is. These children's literature books on bullying help kids use humor to diffuse the pain and get past victimization to the find the chutzpah they need to deal with their bullies. And in some stories, the bully becomes the friend. 

 "Hooway for Wodney Wat" by Helen Lester. Poor timid Wodney Wat (Rodney Rat) can barely "squeak clearly" to his friends, let alone to big mean Camilla Capybara. But when our hero is forced to take on Camilla, rodent to rodent, everyone at P.S.182 School for Rodents hears the mouse-sized bully buster loud and clear. This is one of the most endearing children's literature books on bullying ever. 

 "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" by Eugene Trivizas. This fractured fairy tale flips our preconceived notion of bully vs. victim on its ear. And therein lies the bibliotherapy for kids as they cheer three gentle, peace-loving little wolves who teach one pyromaniac pig bully to dance. 

 "A Bargain for Francis" by Russel and Lillian Hoban. The redoubtable Francis the badger brings off a scathingly brilliant coup against her devious, double-dealing sometime-friend often-times bully Thelma. Bully buster Francis gets the prize for best plot twist in children's literature books on bullying.

"Ira Sleeps Over" by Bernard Waber. Ira loves his teddy Ta-Ta. When he's invited stay the night at his friend Reggie's house, his bullying big sister convinces him that "Reggie will laugh" at boys with bears. But Ira and Ta-Ta have the last laugh on sister. 

 "The Bully of Barkham Street" by Mary Stolz is a tender, heart-jerking look at how a bully is grown. It's bullying prevention from the roots up. In this bibliotherapy for kids, children may find themselves sympathizing with the bully as they see him as he really is, a hurt kid. 

 "Mouse Soup" by Arnold Lobel. Fox wants to make soup out of Mouse, but Mouse pulls a Scheherazade and makes mental mincemeat of Fox. Children will howl as the bully gets his comeuppance. 

 "The House on East 88th Street" by Bernard Waber teaches people not to judge a bully or a bully buster by his cover. You couldn't ask for a nicer crocodile than Lyle, but the neighbor cat Loretta is terrified he's a bully. Read how Lyle befriends the fractious feline. For more bibliotherapy for kids, read Lyle's other adventures in diplomacy too. 

 "Thomas the Tank Engine" by Rev. W. Awdry. A little engine is alternately the bullied then the bully. Will rascally Thomas ever learn that bigger isn't always better? Kids learn many important lessons watching cheeky Thomas fail and rethink his choices. 

"Emil and the Detectives" by Erich Kastner. Young Emil is stalked by some very fierce men with nasty intention, but this sensible, prescient boy takes them on and saves the day. 

 "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberley. In what might be the most interactive bibliotherapy for kids, children take down a monster of a bully one piece at at time! Read these books for kids to explore creative bully buster ideas. As always, talk about what you're reading. Help kids build empathy and tolerance for all people regardless of behavior. But also heathy self-respect that sets boundaries and feels okay about that. Tolerances doesn't mean tolerating hurtful acts. 

A-Z Healthy School Lunches and kid-friendly lunchbox food recipes for back-to-school nutrition

Looking for free nutrition lesson plans? Look no further than your kid's lunchbox. Helping students plan and prepare healthy school lunches is one of the best learning activities you can do. Check out my month-long menu of easy, quick A-Z school lunch recipes. Kids'll eat up these healthy school lunches and lunchbox recipes and beg you for more! Here are some free printable nutrition lesson plans and resources from MyPlate for lesson extenders. 

First, teach students about food safety by showing them how to keep food fresh with a freezer ice pack or bento box with freezable tray. Make it part of their chores to wash daily, freeze overnight and pop in lunch box in the morning. Next, make the preparation school lunches part of the lesson plans. 

Teach kids to always read product nutrition data. Some foods are surprisingly high in sugar, salt, junk fat and additives. Help them to compare which brands are healthier than others. Have them use snack-sized zippered bags for kid-friendly portion control and to avoid waste. Rotate this A-Z school lunch menu monthly so kids won't get bored.

 A-Z lunch menu of quick lunch recipes and lunchbox foods for kids

 A+ Applewich: Spread light oat grain bread with almond butter or natural peanut butter (no transfat). Add sliced apples or apple butter. This will be in hot demand on your monthly lunch menu.

 Banana Boats--cut two slits in banana and peel back skin part way. Remove a little banana and fill with peanut butter and apple slices. Save removed banana for PBB sandwiches (lunch recipes below)

Cheez-its crackers with dried apples or apple slices--sprinkle apples with lemon juice and store these  lunchbox foods separately.

Dogs in the blanket--Smart dogs (made with tofu) or nitrate-free beef hotdogs with honey mustard or hummus and wrapped in lettuce leaves

Eggs Devilishly Good--Hard boil eggs, chill and peel. Rinse and slice lengthwise. Remove yolk and  mash with light olive oil mayo, spicy or horseradish mustard, dill weed and paprika. Fill egg cavities. 

Fruit Max--Mix dried apricots, raisins, apples, guava papaya (don't get sugared ones) with nuts, seeds  and pretzels

GORP (good old raisins and peanuts) or almonds, walnuts or any nuts or seeds. Personal favorite: pepitas or pumpkin seeds

Happy Trails Mix-- Mix unsweetened breakfast cereal, pretzels, raisins, cheese cubes and dark chocolate chips (just a few) for yummy lunchbox foods.

Insanely Healthy Peanut Butter Dip (peanut butter and plain Greek yogurt mixed half and half) with  rice crackers, strawberries, pineapple, baby carrots, green pepper spears.

Jumble nut butter oatmeal cookies--Make with healthy sunflower oil and blue agave syrup to sweeten. Use different nut butters (peanut, cashew, almond or sunflower). Add mixed nuts and seeds  for remarkably filling protein alternatives for vegetarian lunch recipes.

Kangaroo Sandwiches--Stuff pita pocket bread with lettuce and chicken or tuna salad. Mix tuna or  chicken with light mayo, spicy mustard, chopped celery, apples, grapes, nuts and black pepper. Be  sure to call it Kangaroo Sandwiches on the lunch menu!

Lighten Up Roll-ups--spread tortilla shell with light cream cheese or hummus, turkey lunchmeat, large romaine lettuce leaf. Roll and slice. For gluten-free roll up, roll cheese stick in lunch meat or cheese slices

Mucho Guacamole Boats--remove pits from avocado and scrape out some avocado. Mix with lemon juice, garlic, tomatoes, onions for guacamole. Tuck tortilla chips inside avocado, fill cavity with  guacamole and sprinkle with cheese. Send some chips separately. How's that for super healthy  school lunches in minutes?

Nuts and bolts--pretzels, dried fruit and Honey Nut Cheerios. Send almond milk or lowfat milk for  lunch cereal.

Olives overboard pasta salad--Cook whole grain pasta, drain and chill. Add cubed feta cheese,  cucumber chunks, green and black olives and a little olive oil for vegetarian lunch recipes.

Po'boy Shish Kebobs: Skewer Swiss cheese chunks, pickles and all natural Al Fresco chicken  sausage slices on toothpicks.

PBB sandwiches. Make peanut butter sandwiches with banana spread like jam on bread.

 Quick lunch recipes--Pita chips and hummus with baby carrots--Teens love these lunchbox foods.

 Raw colored peppers and yogurt salad dressing (store separately). Yogurt dressing is Greek yogurt  mixed with lemon juice, feta cheese, pepper, dill, rosemary, oregano and sage.

 Smoked almonds, broccoli and yogurt dip and blueberries--How's that for super portable vegetarian  lunchbox foods.

Sailboat Sandwiches: PBJ sandwich cut diagonally (for boat) and then one half in half again (sails). Use light whole grain bread, natural peanut butter and low sugar jam.

Tomatoes or baby carrots and hummus are another teen lunch pleaser.

Very Vegetarian Veggie burger: Mash beans and mix with chopped veggies. Cook ahead and make  into sandwich.

Wagon wheels--Cut sliced cheese round using mouth of small glass. Place inside two crackers. (This was Timer's recipe in the old Saturday morning PSAs)

Under the Sea. Serve Goldfish crackers with foil tuna packets or imitation crab sticks. Add cucumber slices and watermelon chunks for quick lunch recipes.

 X-tra quick school lunches--Serve healthy power bars like RxBars, Kind, GoMacro and Larabars. These make great school snacks or lunches that satisfy

 YOLO--Lemon, lime or orange flavored yogurt cups or Greek yogurt cups like Light and Fit, Stonyfield, Oikos, Dannon, Chobani. Avoid "kid" yogurt or yogurts with granola, candy, dyes or junk in them. Choose small yogurt cups for less waste. Or mix plain Greek yogurt with organic lemonade, peeled  grapefruit and oranges. Serve with nuts for vegetarian healthy school lunches.

 Zucchini "Sushi" Rollups--Spread turkey lunch meat or cheese slice with cream cheese and wrap  around skinny spears of zucchini, carrots, green peppers, cucumbers and scallions.

Early math lesson plans from the practical life learning center with printables

Hello my dear friends! Teacher Omi (grama) here with some free early math lesson plans. These preschool activities cost nothing because they use materials you already have on-hand, whether you homeschool or teach in a school classroom. Today's math lesson plans come right out of the toybox or in a preschool classroom, the practical life learning center (called the house area in a Montessori set-up). Use them to teach early math skills like sorting, classifying, organizing, patterns and sequencing. 

Setting the table. I love this early math lesson plan for it's nod to nostalgia. When I was young, we learned in a little girl's club I was part of, how to properly set a table, using real dishes, utensils and table linens. That might not seem like a math lesson, or even very important to know. But it's kinda gestalt in that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. For one thing, it was relaxing and therapeutic, especially for kids (like me) with a high need for orderliness. Now we might be called OCD or even autistic. Then we were just called organized. 

And there was a lot of emphasis on organizing back then which I see less of, today. And this is where the early math and even science and STEM comes in. All these disciplines rely on sorting, sequencing, organizing, classifying, arranging, method and order. There's nothing haphazard about math and science. And the earlier children learn how to do these things, the easier higher math and science will be. 

So how would you use the practical life or house learning center for early math lesson plans? Well, in those learning centers there's always a kitchen set of some kind, with play food and dishes. Teach children to set the table by showing where each item goes. You can get free printable placemats to help with arrangement. 

Early math lesson plans with play food. There are a multitude of ways to use play food in math lesson plans, particularly the kind which is separated into pieces. Have students disassemble food into pieces and then match up again. Encourage them to talk about what they are doing. You might even make it into a memory game. This teaches fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, matching, sorting and verbal skills. 

You can also teach math and science skills by grouping foods according to color, shape, food group, plant part, etc. These preschool activities help children learn about plant science, nutrition, categorizing and noticing details. 

You might have students arrange food on the printable placemat templates to make complete meals. MyPlate has a large section of free printable nutrition lesson plans to teach about food groups, healthy eating, meal planning and much more. 

After children have explored these concepts, end with a tasting party! My grandson Emmett likes to taste the play  food LOL. So we get out the real foods and sample them. And my personal favorite place to start is with fruits and vegetables. So much color, texture and nutritional goodness. Try making a rainbow fruit and veggie plate. 

How to host a poetry party with free printables

Hello my dear friends! Greetings from Teacher Omi's little kinter garden. I just love thinking up fun, educational things to do with kids. So today, let's explore ways to host a poetry party for children. I'll throw in some free poem patterns, writing prompts and poetry templates. You can use these poetry lesson plans anytime, anywhere with all ages. So they're perfect for homeschool. As we're heading back to school this fall, why not host a poetry party in your classroom? 

For starters, where shall we hold the poetry party? You know what I'm going to say---outside! You can go for a nature walk or sit on blankets in the back yard, by the beach or in the park. You don't need much in supplies: a notebook, pencil and maybe some markers are really all. Some kids (like my grandson Silas) prefer drawing to writing so the markers can be used to illustrate their poems. 

And on that note, if writing isn't your thing or if younger children aren't quite ready to write, there are options. You can do picture poems, like a pictograph. Or you can dictate your thoughts into a recorder. All phones have one. Thought ideally, I prefer the poetry party to be device free. 

Oh, one more thing, what's a party without snacks? I think the best snacks for outdoor poetry parties are varieties of fresh fruit. For our fall back to school theme, why not bring an assortment of apples, pears and grapes?

So once we have our location, snacks and materials, we need a theme. You could do autumn, bugs, butterflies, beach, harvest, clouds, flowers, birds, meadow or woods or even just a nifty tree you saw on your walk.

Next, you'll want to create a word bank. This is as simple as encouraged kids to explore around them and come up with words to express what they see, hear, smell and touch. They can discuss and describe the fruits they've sampled. 

I like to have kids call out words and phrases as they think of them. And then you can note them in several ways. The teacher can bring a large poster board or dry erase and write the words there. Or kids can transcribe them into their notebooks. You might also do the silent word bank with older kids in which they find a quiet alone space to journal their ideas and thoughts. 

Be sure to let kids know that this word bank itself is a form of poetry. They can arrange the words into a kind of rhythm such as a song. They can play around with rhyming but make sure they know that poems do not have to rhyme. One of the most famous is William Carlos Williams "This is just to say" 

I have eaten the plums which were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me. They were delicious. So sweet and so cold.  

How is that a poem? I would say because of the rhythm and cadence. But that is the beauty of poetry. It's an arrangement of words that sound pleasing to the ear. Or they might sound discordant, like Edgar Allen Poe "The Bells." 

Once kids have their word banks, they can arrange their words to express thoughts. Encourage them to make sub lists of synonyms (words with similar meanings). This will give them more choice for their poems. 

Here's a sample word list with synonyms that I made on a walk to the Lake Michigan dune. 

sand

surf (waves)

gray, grey, slate, charcoal, smoke, dusty, smudged

aqua (teal, blue-green, turquoise, aquamarine)

hemlock, fir, evergreen, balsam

buzzing, creaking, dripping, croaking, chirruping, whistle, kiss, crash, roar

cloudy, misty, fog

dusk, twilight, evening

spicy, sharp, piney, peppery, 

blue jay, cardinal

Then I made up some combination of words: 

pepper pine

click tick tock

dusty dusk

creak-croaking, 

fir-frog

fluffy fog

sun-sun sand

cardinal kiss call

blue jay joy

wave rave

surf roar

And then I made these into my poem

in noon dune

blue jay joy

sings praise to pines

beetle tick-clicks

fir frog 

creak croaks

waves rave

on sun sun sand

in dusk dune

fluffy muffled fog 

creeps up on

jewel-bright surf

turns blue sky

to charcoal cloud

waves and frog shush

cardinal kiss calls

for twilight slumber

in dark dune

owl's hush hoot

on slow dancing tree

leaves fold in on themselves

pepper pine sharp

scents sklish, swish breeze

end of wonder wander

as weary wanderer

wends her way home

After creating poems, kids can read theirs aloud. It's always gratifying for them to hear their words. here are some free printable poem templates. I've listed the google page because many are downloads for you to click and print. 

How to write poetry

Hi my dear ones! Maybe you didn't know this but Teacher Omi is also poet Omi. I have a blog of poems called The Writer's Garden. People ask me sometimes, how I write poetry. And the answer is embarrassingly simple. I just do. I start typing ( or writing in a notebook). And when I'm finished, I call it a poem. There's more to it if I'm writing a formula poem, like rhyming, haiku or sonnet, but not much more.

Um, so you're wondering, 

I do sometimes edit it but only after I've let it marinate. And then not very much. I believe that free writing, just letting the thoughts come, is the most effective. Oh, one step I forgot, which isn't really a step but more of a preparation, is to pick a theme or subject. I know, probably obvious, but it's an important way to overcome writer's block and probably what caused the block in the first place. 

My theme is memories of my childhood with my grandparents. Mostly the ones who lived near Lake Michigan but I'm working toward including my Grand Rapids ones too. The overarching theme is walks with grampa to the lake.  We called it the Big Lake so my poems are the Big Lake Anthology. 

It's important to pick a subject or theme that means a lot to you. You can't really get a good head of writing steam going if you're not interested. And my time with  my grandparents means the world to me. It's been fun exploring these memories with my children and now grandchildren, too. 

I know that there are some poems with a very angry vibe to them. And if that's what you need to write then more power to you! Writing is a perfect way to work through bad feelings and experiences, for sure. I personally am a bit old-fashioned and like the pretty poems that make me feel good. And which I think people prefer to read. Not that this should matter or affect your choice of subject. You do poetry for you. If people want to read it, fine. If they don't, fine. 

And I'm always going to plump for nature poems. You know me and my "get schooling outside" mantra. Our big beautiful world is the best teacher and for a writer, it's an amazingly fertile and endlessly pleasing subject to write about. When I first began writing poetry, I would sit outside. Now that we have phones, I can walk and talk-write into the notepad app on my phone. Then upload to my blog later. 

I don't talk-write directly into the blog template. I'm techno-fied enough to use a blog but still old-school about needing a full computer keyboard. 

Another thing: to rhyme or not, that is the question. The answer is whatever you prefer. You knew I was going to say that! I like to exercise my skills on a rhymer occasionally but I'm more concerned about word choice rather than whether it fits a pattern. I don't want to sacrifice the perfect word, just because it doesn't rhyme. I also feel that word sound is more important. It's like the music of the poem. 

One of my favorite poem styles is onomatopoeia in which words are just sound descriptions. The classic example is Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells" which is a fabulous read-aloud. And on that  note, poems are meant, in my opinion, to be read aloud. So as you write, practice reading it the way you're thinking it. This will help you "hear" your poem. 

Oh and another fun thing about these sound poems is making up sound words! I love trying to get just exactly the right descriptor for the sound. Here's one called "Campfire music and lightning bugs or fireflies" ( I greatly dislike the title and that's always my nemesis. If you  think of a better one, let me know, please and thanks!) I am particularly and fondly proud of crickle-trickle, sklish-swish and moan-groan. I do hyphenate a lot in onomatopoeia. 

Okay so stay tuned because I'm going to write a post on how to throw a poetry party that promises to big fun! 

Little ways to find God in your daily lesson plans

Hi friends. Did you know that writing to you is my therapy? I don't know who needs to hear this, but you are precious and amazing, just as you are. And I see you. I know, being a teacher can be overwhelming, especially if you're homeschooling. There is always a mountain of things undone. That monkey on your back never shuts up. If you do stuff with the kids you should be doing housework, or laundry, or cooking, or, or, or. And if you work around the house, bad you, you're  neglecting the kids. 

Well, Teacher Omi (grama) is here to tell you that neither is true. You don't have 8 arms or 48 hours in every day. You can't be in two places at once let alone everywhere. Even if you spend the day reading and eating chocolate chips, it's okay (kids, remember "The Musgrave Ritual" on that summer day?) You are a human being, not human doing. God doesn't expect as much of you as you expect of yourself. And having said that, here are some little ways to find God in your daily lesson plans. 

You know what I'm going to say, here. Go for a walk. In the woods or beach if possible. But down a street will do to. I used to take my kids and later grandkids on walks when they were babies. I babbled on about all we saw. I asked them questions and they answered in their baby ways. We talked about cracks in the sidewalk and foofers (dandelions gone to seed). We observed insects and birds and squirrels. We admired the work the neighbor had done on his roof and another's pretty flowers. 

I think those walks held my soul together. Spending time with children, with no particular aim or plan except to enjoy and give thanks, IS quality time and also worship of God. And you can do that too, anytime, anywhere, with 12 kids or one. You can fancy it up by having them keep a science journal, if you feel the need. Or you can just make memories. You can make it 10 minutes or two hours. You don't need any materials, lesson plans or lecture. Nature speaks for itself if we will just listen. If you're city bound, you can notice the cool buildings or nice people you meet. (thank you, Mister Rogers 🥹) 

When we went to Louisiana to visit this year, one thing my second oldest baby grand Moses wanted was to go for a wander with Opi (grampa). I loved wandering with my Opi along the Big Lake (Michigan) dunes. We didn't bring anything, no water bottles, sunscreen, and certainly no phones. We didn't talk about God or even talk about much at all. We just appreciated God's handiwork. He really outdoes Himself in a back dune woods. If you've never walked the beach of Lake Michigan, do yourself a favor and come visit.

We'd walk for hours. Even the dog got sick of it and went home. But he was an overweight poodle. I'd come home from our walks, footsore, weary and thirsty as all get out! Grama always joked that she thought we'd gotten lost. And in a way, we did. Lost in our wander wonder. I loved every minute and treasure those memories. I wanted to live there forever. I'd go back to the woods with grampa in a heartbeat. I'm making myself memory-cry just recalling those days. 

He's swimming in the big lake of  heaven now. But I can and do take every opportunity to enjoy wherever I am with my grandkids. We took numbers 5 and 7, Milo and Juno on Grampa's and my woods walk to Mona Lake channel.  I told them how happy I'd been walking with their great-great Opi, how lucky I was to be able to take them and that maybe someday they'd take their grandkids and tell them the story. Heavy stuff for kids. But Milo smiled and said, "Omi,  I want to live on the great-great Opi beach forever!" That's my boy.  

So this has kinda digressed from lesson plans, but not really. My goal in teaching and hopefully yours too is to make (as Dr. Montessori showed us) every moment a teachable one. 

(Picture is a much younger me and Emma Grace, not at Lake Michigan but nearby at Bass Lake, in Pentwater.)

Free printable paper airplanes and plane models for aviation science lesson plans

 

Hello and welcome to a beautiful day in the Omschool! Teacher Omi (grama) here with some science lesson plans I know you're going to enjoy! I've got a collection of free printable paper airplanes for you to cut out and assemble! Sprint is the perfect time to turn out attention to flight and aviation science lesson plans. 

Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated with all things with wings, be it birds, bugs, airplanes or helicopters. The science of flight is crucial to our understanding of physics (physical science) Building model airplanes or making paper airplanes are excellent hands-on STEM (STEAM) activities. STEAM is the expanded version of STEM that includes science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Building model airplanes addresses all those STEAM disciplines. 

Here are free printable paper airplanes from Delta. Here are more downloads for free printable paper airplane models from Iowa State University. Fold 'N Fly has a plethora of free printable paper airplanes to cut, fold and assemble. There are instructions plus information of flight duration and expected distance that you can use for measurement and other STEM lesson plans. My favorite part are the suggestions to extend the science lesson plans by encouraging students to experiment with add-ons, different configurations, etc., thereby building in student creativity. 

I suggest giving each student a notebook science journal to record airplane statistics, modifications and results of experiments. Using scientific method shown below, students can collect and analyze data to draw conclusions. 

Science journals employing scientific theory make ideals HOTS (higher order thinking skills) activities. Plus flying their model airplanes gets kids outside, actively learning,  in the fresh air and away from passive staring at screens. 

Free printable calendar lesson plans: reuse old calendars

  Hi friends of the Omschool! Teacher Omi (grama) here with free printable calendar lesson plans and ways to reuse old calendars. If you use paper calendars, you've got a treasure trove of math manipulatives at your disposal. Save your old calendars to make hands-on math activities to teach date and time, skip counting, sorting and organizing and calendar skills.

Reuse old calendars as math worksheets. Give students calendar pages and teach them to count, skip count by 2-8, to help kids understand times tables (fact families). The beauty of  reusing calendars as worksheets is that kids can write on them like workbook pages. Use them to teach days of the week and months of the year. 

Reuse old calendars as flashcards. Let children cut and paste calendar numbers onto recycled cardboard. Then students can arrange flashcards in order or by 2-8 fact families. In this way, you get double duty free lesson plans with math crafts and counting activities. 

Reuse old calendars as games. Have students cut and paste calendar numbers to make Memory games, Bingo or a pathway counting game such as Candyland. Students might also invent their own games. This expands these into cross-curricular free printable lesson plans that include writing, reading, spelling, creative writing, design and STEM activities. 

Reuse calendar pictures as homemade kids books. Calendar pictures are usually centered on a theme (nature scenes, etc.) Instruct students to cut and paste the 12 images onto recycled cardboard. Then they can practice creative writing skills to make these into homemade books. Kids might then read the stories aloud to younger children to practice storytelling skills. 

These free printable lesson plans make excellent resources for classroom and homeschool students. 

Free St. Patrick's Day lesson plans with printables, books, activities, crafts and snacks

 Hello my friends of this blog on free printable lesson plans! Teacher Omi (grama) here from the Omschool! (2nd gen homeschool by grama) with St. Patrick's Day printables, activities, games, crafts and snacks. Learn more about St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and other Catholic saints with these homeschool activities. 

Any time I post about Catholic activities, I have to share Catholic Icing, a wonderful blog created by a homeschool mom featuring a wide variety of Catholic Christian lesson plans, printables, crafts and more.  You can get secular St. Patrick's Day activities anywhere with leprechauns, rainbows, shamrocks and other Irish schmaltz. But for free printable lesson plans on the St. Patrick visit this blog. 

For free printable coloring pages to explore the Bible, Catholic saints, teachings, liturgical activities and more, visit The Catholic Kid.  Loyola Press has pages of Catholic lesson plans  and The Kids' Bulletin has free printable Sunday bulletins for children that follow the Catholic Bible readings of the liturgical year. EWTN Kids has a lot of good homeschool and religious ed activities too. Catholic.org has a plethora of helpful links, activities and lesson plans. Though these sites are free, they're free for moderators to maintain, so a donation is requested to defray costs. 

For kids books on Saint Patrick, read Gail Gibbons St. Patrick's Day and Tomie DePaola Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland or Patrick, Saint of Ireland Joyce Denham and Diana Mayo. The Wolf and the Shield is excellent for older readers (Sherry Weaver Smith). Check this link to Thriftbooks for other picture books, easy readers and chapter books on St. Patrick, Ireland and the saints. 

Stereotypical foods to serve on St. Patrick's Day include the usual corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Irish soda bread and beer. However, in 4th century Ireland that would be almost unheard of. The fare in 399 was wheat bread (barley was for ale, fermented to prevent the grain from spoiling), sour milk and cream and cheese. Fish was common too, so salmon, eel and trout. Include garlic, apples and watercress too. 

And Patrick was not Irish but a wealthy patrician (where the name Patrick actual comes from) of Rome living in Saxon Britian, the furthest Roman outpost. So prior to being taken slave (or running away as some stories tell it) he would eat as "an expat with a mild case of affluenza" as one author adeptly put it. So this would include such foods as French wines, game birds and peas with coriander. 

In his Confessio, Patrick recalls as a captive living on deer and wild honey. If you want to eat like Saint Patrick really ate, serve salmon with garlic and butter, creamed peas, flatbreads made of wheat (think pita) buttermilk, simple watercress soup and stewed apples with nuts. 

More YA literature and kids books on girl power for Women's History Month

Hello my friends of this blog on free printable lesson plans from the Omschool (Omi's homeschool)! Teacher Omi (grama) here with another list of YA literature and kids books on girl power for Women's History Month. When I was a kid and teen, literature was my lifeline, social media and therapy! There's a word for this: bibliotherapy. My role models came from strong female characters. The term "girl power" wasn't a thing yet, but I think it stems in part from many of the girl protagonists featured in these books. 

The most important thing about these girls and women is that they are 3D, realistic, relatable and fallible. They aren't cardboard Disney princesses, helpless handwringers or male dependents that peopled so many books of the time. They interact with men. But they are higher power or self-reliant. They break glass ceilings and defy expectations. I know that now, this may sound like dated ERA rhetoric, but believe me, it was crucial then and necessary now. Because expectations woman were hypocritical, shaming and punitive. 

We had to be beautiful but humble, work like mules and be paid about as much, achieve the impossible but not outshine men. We worked in factories to support families when our men couldn't or wouldn't, but were blamed for taking men's jobs. And then we couldn't vote or own property. We had to take care of our children but not have a say in their lives. The list and I, could go on all day. So here are YA and kids books featuring young women and girls, existing within these expectations but yet rising above them. 

Where the Lilies Bloom I'm known for crying over stories, even Pooh Bear and this YA book, was one of the tear-jerkiest. It explores the lives of an orphaned family of rural Appalachian children who find creative ways to avoid being separated. Second oldest, Mary Call Luther takes on the matriarch (and patriarch) role at just 14. 

The Boxcar Children You haven't lived till you've read the story of four also orphaned kids who make a home for themselves in an abandoned train boxcar. It's maybe a smidge idealized but the lessons learned on sticking together are worth it. Eldest sister Jessie is our featured she-ro, but little Violet gives a lot in her own way too. 

Me Too also by Bill and Vera Cleaver. A sister rails against having to basically parent her special needs sister. But she also fights hard for her. It's got a lot of mostly-recent negative reviews, but that's because many in younger generations can't wrap their minds around issues and situations that many of us in this time period lived every day: parentification, rabid cruelty, discrimination and anger with no channels. 

I'll be sharing more YA literature and kids books on girl power for Women's History Month as they surface in my memory! Love you all and a special hugs and kisses sent to my lovely daughters, Emma and Molly, daughter-in-law Samantha and grand-daughters Lola, Juno and Flora. You rock my world. 

10 Classic Kids Books with Realistic She-ro Girl Protagonists for Women's History Month

Hello my dear friends of this blog on free printable lesson plans! Teacher Omi here from the Omschool. Today, March 1, begins Women's History Month so we're going to look at 10 classic kids books with realistic girl protagonists. These young ladies will make you laugh, cry, cheer and most importantly resonate. 

First, a bit of back story. I'm 59 years old and I was lucky to be a kid during a great literary revolution in young adult literature. Beginning in the mid-ish 60s, youth, YA and teen literature was turning a corner away from the more cardboard hero/heroine characters to much  more realistic, identifiable, fallible 3D characters. And I, being so fully human, very awkward and out of step, embraced, this change with open arms. 

Because let's face it, the Disney princesses, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Nurse Cherry Ames, Trixie Borden, Nancy Drew, even the March sisters of Little Women, are all much larger, and well, gooder, than life. They are poised and pretty.  They make mistakes but they never fail or fall. They are the toad-kissers but never the toad. This was difficult for a little girl who always felt fat, warty and klutzy. 

So the "heroines" in my book list are believable. Most of these works of classic children's literature date from my childhood and teen years. 

Sam, Bangs and Moonshine This book is an excellent resource for helping kids deal with grief. Sam has just lost her mother and she's developed the habit of making up stories to cope (denial). Her lies cause some real problems. But what makes her a she-ro, in my book, is the way she recognizes and works to fix the damage she's caused. 

The Pigman This one is definitely not for kids under about 13 (take this from someone who read it at 10). Lorraine and John both live in dysfunctional situations and find friendship in each other and an elderly man. What happens is very upsetting but it's real and what I like about Lorraine is that despite her cruel upbringing, she very maturely takes responsibility and doesn't blame anyone else. 

Harriet the Spy So Harriet isn't your average kid detective. She's a snoop and a bit of a stalker. But she's just so darn clever about how she does it, with all the little gadgets she invents. I couldn't help but admire her, especially being weaned on Nancy Drew, who if I'm honest, is incredibly annoying. Nancy is a busybody snoop too. But it never backfires like it does with Harriet and usually in real life. 

Honestly, Katie John! (Mary Calhoun, author of lots of good kids books) I seriously love this series! Just look at her facial expression! Katie John gets into so many mishaps all with the best of intentions. She's not beautiful or a star pupil,  just a plain old kid and so relatable. Her ways of shirking work, helping her parents ready their new boarding house is hilarious. 

Katie Kittenheart (Miriam Mason) Hands-down, my favorite book from around age 6. From forgetting to dress up for picture day, to nearly incinerating her kitten, to single-handedly getting 40 kids through a flood, Katie is a delight. 

Velma (Scooby-Doo) Can we just agree that without brains-behind-the-outfit Velma, Mystery Inc. kids would have been gunned down, drowned or eaten alive in every episode? Velma shows that you can be smart and cute even without red hair and a scarf! 

Laura Ingalls Little House on the Prairie series I identified so with Laura. She is always the one in trouble. She can never match up to perfect little blonde Mary. She hates her brown hair, Sunday clothes and having to sit still and quiet. She's a little mouthy. But when push comes to shove, like in The Long Winter, Laura proves that she is the bravest of all! 

The Cat Who Went to Heaven The she-ro in this story is a sweet, self-sacrificing little cat who gives everything to help her friends. I cried my eyes out at 8, reading this story under the covers one night. 

I Was A 98 pound Duckling What resonates in this story is the challenge of those bumpy tween years. So I was "too chubby" and this character is "too thin" we struggled with the same issues, feeling (and sometimes being made to feel) ugly. 

The Doll of Lilac Valley Another one I cried myself to sleep over, what got me is how sensitive and empathetic Laurie is. When  she loses her favorite doll, her kindly (but non-child-aware) caregivers present her with one the complete antithesis of the other.  But the universe rewards her gentleness. 

Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? The great thing about this book and Margaret the main character is that they talk about the unmentionable...getting your period. Regardless, of time or age, all girls have to deal. Most of us felt like freaks. We hated it. Thank God for Judy Blume who at least normalized it. 

These girl protagonists may read like just kids but that's what makes them she-ros. Every girl is in my book! Most of these kids books are available on Thriftbooks or Amazon. Happy reading and HappyyWomen's History Month! 

Hands-On Preschool math and science lesson plans with play food, with free printables

Hello teacher Omi here with more free printable lesson plans from the Omschool! Today we are going to talk about how to use children's toys and common household objects to create interactive, Hands-On lesson plans for preschool, in your classroom or homeschool. Here's an idea to use play food to teach early math skills like sorting, symmetry and matching. These activities build fine motor and STEM skills as well. 

I recently bought some play food for the grandchildren to play with at their kitchen set at our house. Most play food now comes pre-cut. Children can use a knife to "cut" food into pieces and then reassemble by attaching velcro pieces. The bananas corn on the cob are "peelable" too. Use these as an easy matching game. This can be adapted for children ages 18 months through preschool and kindergarten. It's perfect for children with special needs, too.

For the youngest learners, (Omi is looking at you, Remus and Emmett! And Flora you'll be there soon too) simply have them separate the pieces or separate them for children. Then they match up the two halves. For older children (hello Juno and Ezra), put all the pieces in a basket and have them sort to find matching pieces. You can also play a memory game with kids of all ages (that's you, Lucian, Lola, Milo, Moses, Silas and Henry!) by placing food halves randomly on a grid you've made on a board. Cover each and have students uncover two at a time till they find the matching pieces. 

Students can also sort food by food group, color or plant part (in the case of fruits and vegetables. So this activity does does double duty as science lesson plans. 

Here are some more free printable matching activities (Education.com) and Memory games to print (Busy Bee Kids) for your classroom or homeschool. And check out Enchanted Learning which has 1000s of free printables with banner ads. You can also subscribe for the  nominal fee of $29 a year to print banner-free. If you subscribe for three years, it's only $69 which is almost a full free year. They offer school district pricing too. 

Bibliotherapy with Vintage Children's Literature: Lesson Plans Using Old Kids' Books

Greetings from the Omschool! Teacher Omi (grama) here with lesson plans using vintage children's literature. I was an avid reader pretty much from day 1. I grew up being read to, reading and and then reading to others, as a parent, teacher and grandparent. I have a huge memory bank and now library of old kids' books from my childhood and earlier.  Here are ways to use vintage children's literature as bibliotherapy. 

First, think back to favorite books from your childhood. If you can't remember the title or author, ask a librarian. This is how I unearthed "Mr. Miacca: An English Folktale (Evaline Ness, 1967). She was able to do a Google search and found it because I vaguely remembered that it was written by the same author as another favorite "Sam, Bangs and Moonshine." Another librarian helped me find my beloved book "The Doll of Lilac Valley." I knew the name but not the author and since it was withdrawn from circulation, it seemed lost in time. Which brought me to the next step. 

Do your own searches with Advanced Google Book Search, or Google Books just Google, using details I recalled from other works of children's literature I'd loved. This is how I found "Walter the Lazy Mouse" (Marjorie Flack, 1937). I'd been read this story at around age 4 and could only remember that it was about a mouse who moves to an island and makes furniture. 

Use picture memories. Many of my earliest books memories are of the illustrations. Before discovering Walter, anyone I'd ask would suggest "Stuart Little." I knew that wasn't the one because I recall the image of Walter making a stick bed and table. My mental image was a little blurred with Stuart Little but when I saw Walter's furniture, the illustrations fit my memory image perfectly. 

Begin (or continue) collecting old kids' books. Through garage sales, library book sales, thrift stores and now Thriftbooks and Amazon, I've amassed over 1,000 kids books, most written in the 1960s or before. Some were from the Little Lending Libraries. I rarely pay more than a buck or two per volume. I've had to pay more for a few of them because of age and the fact that they're collectibles. "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat" a classic my dad and I both loved, was going for about $50 but finally, I was able to purchase it for $8 at Thriftbooks. 

Find old kids books at Thriftbooks and Amazon. These sources have the best pricing for purchasing used and vintage children's literature.  As part of our travel quest, my husband and I rediscovered Uzbekistan, specifically Tashkent and Samarkand. He'd not heard of these cities but I remembered reading of them at about age 5, in my grandmother's Childcraft series. 

Try to recall as many details as possible. The Childcraft books were a children's encyclopedia set. My husband had not heard of these so I thought maybe I'd gotten the name wrong. All I remembered was that they were white or silver books with a dark red banner. I searched and found that the Children of Many Lands was volume 5 (with the Uzbekistan stories) but the cover didn't look familiar. I kept searching and found that Grandma Langerak had the 1961 collection with the covers exactly as I had remembered. I was able to locate and purchase volume 5. I've not received it yet so I don't know for sure if the stories of Taskent and Samarkand are in it but I will update you!

Keep digging. My husband had a favorite book called "The Big Book of Real Trains" that was lost. It took us awhile to locate, first because he forgot the "real" trains part. Then we discovered it had about 6 editions as trains changed over the years. We finally located one based on his memory of the cover. The illustrations were close but not exact. So we'll keep pursuing till we get the correct volume. 

Be prepared for some culture shock. I'll talk more about this is upcoming posts. Just to summarize, your beloved kids books will likely contain some things that might be uncomfortable or even offensive to you now.  Depending on time period, many kids books contained racial profiling, cultural appropriation (or misappropriation) and inappropriate depictions. I recently found a recording of one of my favorite albums "Aunt Theresa Please Tell Me a Story."  I cringed at how missionaries were portrayed as so superior and condescending to those they were missioning to. The racism, bigotry, inaccuracies and Messiah Complex in "The Stick of Wood That Talked" was rampant.