Teacher updates in the parent portals on the Inly website:

In the Toddler Class

Pumpkins everywhere!

Our week was so much fun! Our toddler friends enjoyed exploring pumpkins in a variety of ways. They were able to carry them from here to there, some heavy some on the lighter side, great for large motor skills and body control. We put them in bins with handles, we rolled them on the floor. At circle time we used them to introduce the “Five Little Pumpkins” song and then Colleen, our music and movement teacher, shared the story with us during her class time.

We used all our senses: smell, taste, touch, seeing, and hearing. Cutting up the pumpkin, scooping out the seeds, feeling the stickiness of the seeds, and the slimy inside of the pumpkin. How does a pumpkin sound when it’s rolling on the floor or the seeds are being dropped into the bowl? We also cooked our pumpkin and mashed it up, and if we were brave enough, even had a little taste. (Some thought it was yummy, others not so much!) We will continue using pumpkins during the upcoming weeks. Soon we will make pumpkin pudding to bring home to share with our families.

We continued our fall theme this week and extended our discussion on harvesting. Over the weekend, some children went apple picking and shared apples with us for snack. The children helped cut the apples during a group lesson and we discussed the growth of an apple.

We looked through our collection of leaves from our nature walk and picked out different types of leaves and followed up the activity by doing a matching exercise. We dissected a leaf and learned its parts.

During circle time, we passed around a pumpkin, talked about pumpkin patches, how pumpkins grow; their size, shape, and color. We asked the children if the pumpkin would sink or float when put it in water. They loved guessing! We then experimented more sinking and floating with different objects. We had the most fun when we cut open the pumpkin and scooped out the seeds.

See the Toddler House portal to learn more about the Toddler and Bridging classes at Inly.

It’s time for Tuesday’s ASP (After School Program) Mandarin class, and a dozen Kindergarten and Lower Elementary students sit in a circle, eager to continue the song they’d learned the week before: Tour, Jianbang, Xi, Jiaozhi! (a.k.a. “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!”).

Teacher Ling Tang leads the song, introducing and repeating Mandarin terms for body parts at each round. Then each student takes a turn leading the group, giving commands in Chinese as classmates repeat the words, touching their necks, mouths, ears, hair, even eyebrows—in gestures both serious and silly.

Next Ling gets out her “magic bag” and pulls out various items and creatures, one by one. “Who can remember the name of this one?” she asks, pulling out a pumpkin. “Oh, oh, I know it in Spanish!! Calabaza?” offers one boy. “No, Nangua!” calls another. “That’s right!” says Ling. “Nan-gua.” And all the students now chime in, repeating the word five times, as they’re accustomed to do.

More friends, old and new, are pulled from the magic bag, one by one: Hei mao (black cat), she (snake), zhizhu (spider), xiongmao (panda), long (dragon) and bianfu (bat). Ling lines them up on the floor, and then the students concentrate hard as they slowly name each one in the line.

Ling holds up the bat at the end and explains that it’s a symbol of good luck in China. “Bat is called bian-fu – and fu is the Chinese word for blessing. The bat is very, very lucky.” And then Ling announces a special activity for next week’s class: traditional Chinese paper cutting with bats!

“Yay!” says a first-grader. “Yay!” echoes her friend. And they’re off and running…

Mandarin Chinese Programs at Inly

• Chinese is first offered in the Discovery program, an extended afternoon enrichment program for 3- and 4-year-olds.
• In Kindergarten (the third year of Children’s House), Chinese is part of the regular curriculum.
• The ASP (After School Program) offers classes in Chinese for students in Kindergarten and up. All ASP classes are free of charge.

Why start learning a second language so young?
At Inly, fostering global citizenship is a core part of our mission. In addition to heightening cultural awareness, our World Languages program is designed to take advantage of children’s “sensitive periods” of cognitive development. Children who begin learning Mandarin and Spanish at the preschool and elementary level will be especially facile and well prepared for a global economy that’s bringing Asia, the U.S. and Latin America closer together than ever before.

Lyrics to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Mandarin Pinyin:
Tour, jianbang, xi, jiaozhi, (Head, shoulders, knees, toes)
Xi, jiaozhi, xi, jiaozhi, (Knees, toes, knees, toes)
Tour, jianbang, xi, jiaozhi, (Head, shoulders, knees, toes)
Yan, er, bi han kou. (Eyes, ears, nose and mouth)
Tour, jianbang, xi, jiaozhi, (Head, shoulders, knees, toes)

How does a writer bring a book—and a book talk—to life? For award-winning children’s author Barbara O’Connor, it’s all about making hands-on, real-life connections. For her visit with Inly Upper Elementary students on this fall, O’Connor brought in an assortment of trinkets from her childhood, including a rhinestone poodle pin and a cardboard boat made from a Yoo-Hoo chocolate milk box. She talked with students about her writing process and inspiration, answered questions, and signed books.

All of these objects have a place in her stories and in her heart. Before reading relevant passages from How to Steal a Dog, Me and Rupert Goody, and The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis to small groups of Upper Elementary students, she held up the pieces of memorabilia that inspired them, telling quick anecdotes to explain the back story. She also showed slides of a pet cemetery in Alabama and other places that have found their way into her fiction.

“Taking real things and putting them in a made-up story is one of my favorite writing techniques,” she explained. “That’s how I can make stories sound real, by writing about what I know. And you can all do that too.” She talked about setting (most of her stories take place in the South, near the Smoky Mountains where she grew up), dialogue, point of view, and the most important thing of all: “Show, don’t tell!”

The author ended her talk by showing slides of her very first book: a remarkably detailed 76-page handwritten story titled “Just a Little Will Power.” O’Connor had produced this manuscript (complete with a table of contents and dedication page) at the age of 12 and uncovered it many years later in a box in her parents’ attic.

Since then the prolific writer has written—and published—many acclaimed books for children and young adults. She has been awarded the Parents’ Choice Gold and Silver Awards, the Massachusetts Book Award, the Kansas William Allen White Award, the South Carolina Children’s Book Award, the Indiana Young Hoosier Award, the South Dakota Children’s Book Award, and the Dolly Gray Award, among many honors.

During a Q&A session on one Upper Elementary student asked O’Connor to name her favorite book. “Greetings From Nowhere,” she replied. “There are four main characters with four points of view, so it was a challenge to write. But it’s my favorite.”

Another asked her to name the hardest book she’s ever written. “That’s easy,” she replied, “The Secret of Owen Jester—the one I’m publishing right now. It has nine main characters and nine points of view!”

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester, due to release this fall, has already met with resounding applause from reviewers. The New York Times Book Review said, “O’Connor has perfect pitch in this comic adventure, which ends with a happy resolution everyone, even the frog, can live with.” School Library Journal’s starred review said, “This tale of summertime adventure will be a hit with readers year round.” Kirkus Reviews also gave the book a star and described it as “a lovely read that perfectly captures the schemes and plans of school-age kids in the long days of summer.”

For more information about her books, visit www.barboconnor.com.

The Inly Parents Group is excited to host a free screening of Read Me Differently, a one-hour film by Sarah Entine, on Wednesday, October 12 at 7:00 pm in the Meehan Family Artsbarn at 46 Watch Hill Drive in Scituate. The event is open to the public.

Read Me Differently explores the impact of undiagnosed learning differences such as dyslexia and ADHD on relationships through three generations of the filmmaker’s family.

Tackling the topic with heart and humor, this film is a must-see for families affected by learning differences. The filmmaker, Sarah Entine, will lead a discussion after the thought-provoking hour-long film.

Read Me Differently is the winner of the 2010 Alumni Special Recognition Award from Simmons College, School of Social Work, the 2010 CINE Golden Eagle Award, and the 2011 SuperFest International Disability Film Festival Achievement Award. For more information, visit the website at: www.readmedifferently.com.

Directions to Inly School.

The Kids With Food Allergies Foundation published an article entitled, “Raising the Bar: Inly School Implements a Successful Food Allergy Approach.”

Thanks to Inly parent Paul Antico for sharing Inly’s success story with the allergy community and promoting the School in the process!