The Little School on Vermijo

This week at the little school we had a few games of chess against Mr.Phil!

The Little School on Vermijo has had another fantastic week of learning! Our band has already written the first few verses to our first song, with the working title “Goldfish in a Trailer Park” (I did say WORKING title ). We’ve had a lot of help from our songwriting teacher Xanthe on this awesome new tune! Mr. Bob is also teaching us more about bidding and had us construct some 1 notrump hands. I hope you’ve enjoyed this update on LSV education!

Your trusty blogger,

=^.^=Syd

Mikayla’s 1NT bridge hand

This week The Little School has worked their little brains off figuring out Bridge! Mr. Bob has us pulling our hair out over bidding, and playing, and well…pretty much everything. Today we played a hand, and for the first time got to experience ‘da bidding!

As a plus, we are working on the back-bone of our song with Xanthe! So far we’re jamming out with the chords C and D. Our jamming is starting to upgrade from noisy to pretty. Haha…

As far as Chess goes, a new offer has been announced! Ms. Sue is offering 50,000 points for who ever can beat Mr. Phil in Chess! Bennett is determined to reach the goal.

I hope you enjoyed this mini-update on life at The Little School!! We’re all working hard to impress ya. O.o

-The NEW LSV blogger, Sophia

So far, The Little School has had a fun, knowledge-filled, energetic gamma quadrant! Our guest teachers include Xanthe, teaching song writing, Mr. Bob, teaching Bridge, and Mr. Phil teaching recreational math! Gamma quadrant is gaming quadrant so we have been enjoying playing Bridge, Cribbage, and Chess, which all involve a lot of strategy and logic. We have also been having fun with our “point game” which is helping us with economics skills. I don’t think that most kids get to go home from school and tell their parents that they got a job as cat lover and are getting paid 30,000 points Jamming has become quite the LSV extreme sport with instruments such as ukuleles, drums, and frogs!

Mikayla and Evie playing a heated game of Cribbage

“The Jamaica Mons” jamming out

Skyler enjoying his job as vacuumer

I hope you’ve enjoyed this update on life at The Little School,

Your trusty blogger,

=^.^= Syd

Hello!  I’m wondering if any readers will find their way here, with all the hoopla about the yard sale coming up on Saturday.  I figured it couldn’t hurt to update the blog, just in case.  I  get so wrapped up in helping the kids with their blogs, that I forget about the school’s.  I haven’t even added links to all the new students to the sidebar yet!  And it’s almost Thanksgiving Break!

What’s going on here right now, you ask?  Well, we’re in the midst of “Writer’s Workshop”, in which the kids are writing, writing, writing.  I try and teach them a thing or two here and there about the craft as we go along.  So far we’ve had all kinds of genres being tried, from plays to short fiction, from poetry to advertisement, from song to memoir.  You just gotta show them all the possibilities, share some of your own writing or that of others, and then let go for awhile, and see what comes.  Then guide it with a bit of suggestion, critique, and conventions.

I also just finished reading The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, to them.  Wow.  If you haven’t read it in decades, I suggest you pick yourself up a copy.  Here’s a poem I wrote today during Writers’ Workshop, which was inspired by the book.  It’s pretty short, but the kids liked it, and thought it was worth publishing.  So here it is:

the sunset

doesn’t care

who wins the rumble

it only wants to

be admired

by individuals on

both sides

stay gold, Ponyboy

says Johnny with his last breath

stay gold

Today, we listened to Sheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, and attempted to write what we saw/felt/thought/imagined.   Sometimes music can help us access places within us that even we were not aware of.  Music can draw out words and images and stories.

And since I am reading One Thousand and One Nights to the kids, I figured that a selection of music from Sheherazade would be most appropriate.

Seeing Sophia’s amazing poem in print inspired me to write mine here.  This is the revised and edited version of words that flowed out of my mind and through my pencil while listening to Sheherazade.

blue veils

blue ocean

blue mysteries

a world long gone

a ship with white sails bobs up

& down up

& down until

it reaches the shore safely, Pacifcally, finally

harbor home

the tempest a long-ago-once-upon-a-time memory

the hustle of the market forgotten from so much time at sea

women, children, vendors, dust, viands, buyers, sellers

this earthly madness assaults his senses

until-

he spies a girl

with blue sails

blue mysteries

bobbing up

& down up

& down

calling calling calling him onward

and he follows her veils

away from the seaside stench into dark alleys with darker corners

and secret tales

and he forgets to be afraid

The original writing went on for a bit more… there was something about the sun coming out, a rainbow, and some lines about how following this girl was like trying to chase down the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow: pointless.  But after I typed “and he forgets to be afraid”, I just knew that the poem had to stop there.  It was done.

After it was done, I made a few final edits, word deletions, word changes, and BAM!  It hit me.  I realized that I had a poem about King Shahryar.  And I didn’t even know it.

Heyo people!

Today, My post is about the new girl in LSV, my school!

Her name is Mikayla, and now that she is definitely staying in LSV, I finally have a girl with me!

She’s very energetic, playful, fun, and funky!

She is a very hard working little girl!!!!!!!!

Sometimes, she doesn’t turn around……

And, like me, she can be a real oddball!

I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

-Sophia

And now….. your host……. Alex Trebek!
Here’s LSV’s version of Jeopardy, with Carl Sagan, a Giant Chicken, and a Benedictine Monk named Bob!
Enjoy!

Already, Alpha Quadrant has come and gone. For some reason, it’s been difficult to begin blogging this year. I don’t really have any excuses, except that the times I actually have to sit and reflect are few and far between these days.

Alpha Quadrant’s grand finale included presentations of Haskell solar systems, several musical solos, and an absolutely hilarious Jeopardy skit with Carl Sagan, a Giant Chicken, and a Benedictine Monk as the contestants. If I can get the video loaded, I’ll post a small portion for you to watch…

Now we have finished our study of Astronomy, Gardening and Cooking, and Music, and we are embarking upon an eight-week journey of Language Arts and Medieval Arts. Hoping to get in some sword play, juggling, calligraphy, illuminated letters, knitting, weaving, chainmail, and dancing before Beta Quadrant ends.

Because leaving our viewers hanging for the blogging off-season I think is somewhat discourteous, I hereby announce an official Summer Standstill. No new posts will be published until the schoolyear is back in session, nor will any blog maintenance will be administered. Before Summer Standstill takes its toll, let it be known that The Little School is alive and well, though currently hibernating, and is going to enroll several new students in the fall as well as re-enroll two prior students. Lead teacher Sue Spengler no doubt has a myriad of new plans for the new year. Enjoy your summer and see you soon!