11-11-11

I'm pretty sure I do this every year - but it's worth remembering!

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

Hangin' with the Little Women!!

Our holiday weekend is drawing to a close - and tomorrow will find everyone heading back home - but we've had a fine four days together with the little women!!

Several games of Golf!! And some amazing wins!

Soccer practice at sunset - the beach is a great place to hang out!!

Got in on Activity Days with Dawn and the girls of the Monrovia Ward - Annika and Esme are devotees of the journal now!

This is either "Spit" or "War" - but ask Porter about "Kaboom!!"

Dad and I did babysitting honors for Dawn on Thursday night - Noah joined us too.

Eve loves it when the cousins come!

So a Grandma's Sleepover was in order - this is what it looks like the next morning - I never seem to remember to take a photo when the three little girls are snuggling into our living room!

This is my latest Grandma find - and it is a BIG HIT!! It's a battery powered turtle with stars on his back - when the room is dark, he projects the constellations onto the ceiling - there is even a crescent moon!! After a set period of time, he goes dark once more, so you aren't wasting batteries.

Waffle Friday!!

Crafts in the family room. We had some fun shopping at Michael's!!

We came back to the beach Friday night - and Grandpa joined us.

The household had been without a computer - the new one isn't up yet - so all were interested in seeing what Grandpa's had to report!

Annika requested I take this shot!! She is quite the star, don't you think??

Ara is adding the bassoon to her repertoire!!

Saturday saw four girls with four games in pretty much four different places - at least Ella and Esme's games were both at the high school - just on different fields.

The view from Annika's game - like I said, this is a beautiful place to live!

Annika's team won - 5 to 0. She LOVED her trophy!!

I forgot to ask if Esme's team won - we were there briefly - to bring Ara to Grandpa - we had to head back to a birthday party Annika needed to attend.

But we were all together briefly. Dad did not take photos of Ella's or Ara's game. Ella's team lost, but they are still in first place. More games next week. Ara's team won - Dad said it was a great game.

We are back in Monrovia. We have enjoyed the photos Bonny has been sending to my email. Hopefully she will do a wonderful big post - it all looks and sounds like a great place to visit.

It's been a lot of back and forth, but it's not so bad with some great conversationalists riding along with you!! The girls have been great - we've done lots, talked lots, and I even got everyone in bed on time tonight - except yours truly!!

Dad and I especially enjoyed sleeping at Bonny's - the view of the night sky was wonderful - what a way to head off to dreamland!!

Tomorrow is the Primary program - should be great! If I get more good photos, I will post them - but I do have some catching up in other areas that is nagging at the back of my mind, so maybe I won't. Trust me when I say it's been a busy four days, but they are four days I wouldn't trade for anything!

I am so grateful for our wonderful grandkids - what a joy they are in our lives!

Veterans Day

When I began substitute teaching many years ago, one of the first things I noticed was that many, if not most, students were sadly lacking in what I call "common knowledge." This is not to be confused with what I call "popular culture." I am fairly conversant with the former; I am sadly lacking in the latter. (However, I'm not sure that's really a flaw!)

Once I started teaching and getting a credential in Special Education, I discovered that awareness of "common knowledge" is actually one of the markers that is tested in establishing intelligence and ability levels. (This is the arena where much controversy occurs - and it's fodder for many another post - but suffice it to say, someone who can't recognize the Parthenon or the Lincoln Memorial is at a distinct disadvantage on certain tests.)

Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old World War I veteran, attends the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who had been killed in the Korean War.

This apparent lack manifested itself especially on the recognition of significant days in history - and not just U.S. History. For awhile, everyone knew about December 7th being Pearl Harbor Day because a movie of the same day came out and was quite popular for a time. Ditto for the Titanic. However, even those days produce "duh?" responses from students now!

So I began using holidays as ways to introduce some elements of common knowledge. There is a plethora of material out there to use with students - and most of it can be integrated nicely into the California State Standards governing language arts. This year I decided to use poetry to help them understand more about Veterans Day. (A note here, the U.S. has adopted the attributive case - no apostrophe - rather than the possessive case - lest you think I'd forgotten the apostrophe - since it is the day of the veterans!)

Another note: Most of my students were truly perplexed as to why we were having a holiday in the middle of the week. Veterans Day has been celebrated since 1921 - although then it was called Armistice Day - but in 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act changed it to the 4th Monday in October. Veterans protested that the holiday was losing its true meaning, so in 1978, Congress established it once again as being observed on November 11th (if it's a Sunday, we do get Monday off though!!)

The poem I used this year is "In Flanders Fields" by Lt.Col. John McCrae. He wrote it after watching a colleague die in battle. He wasn't satisfied with it though and tore the page out of his notebook and tossed it in the trash. A fellow soldier retrieved it and sent it to the British magazine Punch, where it was published to great acclaim. McCrae died within the year - ironically from complications of the Great Influenza epidemic.

It is not only recognized as being significant and well-written, it is also now imbedded in "popular culture." Wikipedia noted its inclusion in The Simpsons, Charlie Brown, the song "Marieke" by Jacques Brel, the film Mr. Holland's Opus and the Herman Wouk novel City Boy, to name just a few.

And the line "To you from falling hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high" is written on the wall of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room!

Here it is, for your reading pleasure. Please note the use of alliteration, personification, symbolism,metaphor, and imagery.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


On a proud note, I must be succeeding, since many of my students could indeed find those literary devices.

Final side note: Disabled veterans used to make and sell paper poppies near and on Veterans Day - I remember having them to pin on our clothes. There was no mention of this in the sources I checked - but I still remember it!

And thank you to all veterans everywhere for your service to God and country!