Kids Do Say the Darndest Things!

Art Linkletter was well known for his interviews of children on his radio and television shows, House Party and Kids Say the Darndest Things.  Amy and I were honored to hear him speak in 2001 in Los Angeles.  He told his favorite “kid quotes” from those shows and they were hilarious.  As educators, we hear lots of stories from children as well.  Here are a few of my favorites…

My second year of teaching at Clark Elementary School in Charlottesville, Virginia was challenging due to sheer numbers.  I had twenty-nine students that year.  A part time teacher was hired to assist me in teaching reading and language arts.  That year I had Bobby, one of my all-time favorite students.  Bobby was legally blind.  His parents were both blind since birth.  Down the road from Clark was a company who hired visually impaired employees and both of his parents worked there.  It was a short walk from their house.  One Monday, Bobby came into class with a big bandage on his head.  I asked what had happened, and he told me this…”My Mom and Dad took me for a drive Sunday and got into an accident.”  So, I was thinking to myself, “uh, both are blind…hmmm, should I ask?”  Of course, I did.  It seems they inherited a car from a seeing family member.  Bobby explained, Dad would load everyone in the car on Sundays and pull forward until he bumped the house, then back up until he bumped the garage.  Apparently, on the last ride he bumped the house a little too hard.

Then there was the kindergarten boy who told me just how tired his father was every afternoon.  “He comes home, puts down his briefcase, gets a drink, and then falls asleep until dinner.”

I enjoy giving riddles for students to solve.  Here is one and the surprise answer;  “What do you cut at the table, but do not eat?”  The answer I was looking for was a deck of cards.  The answer I got was, “Dad’s credit cards.”

And a little bathroom humor…

I picked up my phone one day in June several summers ago to hear the following…”Mr. J, I pooped in the potty, I pooped in the potty!”  This was from a rising pre-kindergarten student whose mother had told her, “Mr. Jackson says you cannot go to big girl’s school until you poop in the potty.”  Mission accomplished!

So kids aren’t the only ones who come up with some funny stuff.  My third year teaching, Sherry came into my class about 30 minutes late and handed me the following explanation from her mother, “Sherry is late due to tardiness.”

I’ll keep adding to my list of funnies…who knows, you or your child could be in the next blog!

When Being Uncommon is Good!

I want to preface this blog by saying I am not politically motivated to write what you will find here.  Just look back at my other blogs about my family, TV shows, or snow days and you will see I have never written anything political.  The intent here is to educate the reader on the Common Core and where Sumner Academy stands in the growing controversy.  More and more we are giving tours to prospective parents who are dismayed with the Common Core in their public schools.  I am not endorsing any political party or specific politicians.  These are just my thoughts.

There have been many opinions expressed on the Common Core issue in our nation’s public schools.  In a nutshell, the Common Core is an attempt to nationalize the K-12 curriculum in the United States.  Proponents say multiplication facts, for example, in one state should be taught at the same level in every other state.  Since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Act, curriculum issues were the responsibility of the states.  The intent was to limit federal intervention in these matters.  The state’s testing and accountability period that began in the 90’s spawned some national efforts such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.  These national efforts came with big funding attached to set goals.  During my last two years in public education, we were (in my opinion) spending an inordinate amount of time preparing our students to take tests rather than teaching the actual content.  We needed another two hours in our school day to accomplish both.

Independent schools such as Sumner Academy regularly review national standards in each of the subject area when setting and reviewing curriculum.  These standards are set by national organizations of teachers in those areas.  Here are a few websites which contain these standards:

http://www.csun.edu/science/ref/curriculum/reforms/nses/

http://www.socialstudies.org/standards

http://www.ncte.org/standards

http://www.nctm.org/standards/

The Common Core has adapted some these into a their guidelines.

What makes us uncommon is our independence.  Everything about Sumner Academy is centered on our mission, not state or national testing or Common Core curriculum guidelines.  Our mission is to help discover and cultivate each child’s unique abilities.  The Common Core is incongruent with the creative curriculum building and management we employ at Sumner Academy.  We know our students well and prescribe the best curriculum and teaching practices to cultivate their learning.  Our teachers are free from teaching test taking and able to incorporate more depth and breadth to our curriculum.  It is important for us to prepare our eighth graders for success in ninth grades at schools they historically attend.  Our students are highly successful on the standardized testing we conduct in the spring.  Area high schools clamor for our students who have shown to be at the top of their classes year in and year out.

Sumner Academy embraces being uncommon and has been successfully serving its students and families for forty years.  Tell a friend, neighbor, family member or co-worker about us being uncommon.  We would love to show them the campus and introduce them to some outstanding and uncommon faculty members!

Gem Hunt

So, three snow days…wow, that’s a lot of calling off school for this Michigander!  While sitting at home during one of these days, I ran across a show on the Travel Channel entitled, “Gem Hunt.” 

Here is the description from the Travel Channel website:

Gem Hunt follows a team of modern treasure hunters on their high-stakes quest for the world's most precious stones. Their global journey takes them to some of the planet's busiest and riskiest trading regions. Fascinating, exciting, unpredictable and embedded in some of the most remote locations, Gem Hunt follows gem dealer Ron LeBlanc, jewelry expert Diane Robinson and geologist Bernie Gaboury as they maneuver through mines, markets and tense negotiations in search of the world’s biggest, brightest and most profitable jewels.

The three “stars” of this show look for uncut gems they can take back to their shops and create works of art.  They examine, create cutting plans for each stone, cut, shape, and polish.  As I began to binge watch the show, I realized the show and our school had similar missions.  At Sumner Academy, it is our mission to help discover and cultivate each child’s unique abilities.  Our faculty and staff examine, create plans for each student “gem,” (hopefully not cut), then we shape and polish.  Just as master jewelers, our teachers look for those unique qualities that make your child special and “shine.”  This individual attention is what sets Sumner Academy apart from other schools in our area.

As I celebrate my first six months here at Sumner Academy I have realized that Sumner Academy is a hidden jewel.  Help us spread the good news about Sumner Academy’s teachers and programs.  Please share your experiences with your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and families.  YOU are our best marketing outlet!