HOPE IS ALIVE: THANK YOU SPONSORS

Team Kirkwood’s Literacy Lab brings books to life through reading aloud, enacting, role playing,  sampling various culinary delights, and curriculum development. Depending on the particular book or discussion, the curriculum may include vocabulary words, critical thinking questions, and problem solving math questions.  For example, vocabulary words such as “ornithologist,” “bondage,” and “activism” are from the book Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford. Critical thinking questions would include “What did Mr. Schomburg mean when he said ‘a book is a garden carried in a pocket?”

Now let’s try a math question. Hint: you’ll need to watch the video from the Better to Best blog post. If Uncle Russell learned the poem Be a Better B in 1947, how many years has he known the poem?

On one occasion in the classroom, we learned that   there were only five dictionaries for 22 students to share. Because of this, it was difficult for them to complete vocabulary building activities. So, Team Kirkwood got busy. With the help of Melissa Spradlin, Executive Director at Book’ems, and Dr. Ryan Mire, our family physician and a devoted sponsor, we were able to provide each student with a copy of Merriam-Webster’s Notebook Dictionary. 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Better to Best: Dreams Bring Hope

Each of our sessions begins with the fourth graders reciting a poem  entitled Be a Better B. It goes like this:

Be a Better B, 

Be a Better Best,

Never let it rest until your

B is Better and your Better

is BEST!

My mom taught me this poem when I was a little girl playing make-believe with paper dolls. Since then, I’ve taught the poem to my own daughters and a host of students along the way. We hope it will stick in their long-term memory and help them remember to strive to be the best they can be.

One day, we decided to start the session with one of the students’ favorite activities: blowing bubbles and sharing dreams of what they hope to become or places they hope to visit. Even Ms. Butler joined in too.

Before introducing our guest speaker, we asked, “How do you make your dreams come true?” The answers were varied: do your homework, go to college, pay attention to Ms. Butler. 

We closed with wise advice from the guest speaker, my beloved 94-year-old uncle, Elder Russell Bates. We challenged the students to heed Uncle Russell’s words.

Literacy Lab 2019 in Review Part II : Why We Should Vote

Repeat, Repeat!!

Why we should VOTE, Why we must VOTE!

While brainstorming one day, Papa K and I asked ourselves: How can we stress the importance of voting to our students in a way that will encourage them to influence adult friends and family members to become lifetime voters? Our answer:  DISCUSS AND ROLE-PLAY THE PROCESS OF VOTING. With this goal in mind, we developed our program entitled "Why We Should Vote." The details of this program are located under the Literacy Lab heading above. Just scroll down to Explore Our Projects, and it is the first program listed under "Civil Rights and Citizenship." 

By popular demand, Team Kirkwood presented our “Why We Should Vote” literacy series to a new crop of fourth graders. In the classroom, I started off by reading the book If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier. Afterwards, with the help of the fourth-grade teacher Ms. Wilson, we polled the class to assess whether they would be interested in electing class officers.

Papa K explained the roles and expectations of the four offices including the office of president, vice president, secretary, and sergeant at arms. The students were very eager and excited to get started. Everyone wanted to run for a position, and some even wanted to run for two positions!

Papa K Prepping the Candidates

That lead to a discussion about qualifications and skills. The following activities included selecting candidates, delivering speeches, campaigning, completing voter registration forms, and a voter registration card. Then off to the polls we went!

Some say that a picture is worth a thousand words. The pictures below can best tell the story!

Our Future Leaders—SPEECHES

It’s on NOW!

We Are Registered to Vote, Are You?

You must be at least 10 years old and have not committed a felony. Yes, we talked about what that means.

Registration Cards in Hand!

Time to Vote!!!

Hurry Up Mama K, Tally Up the Votes!

Drum Roll, Please…

Once the votes were counted, we had the pleasure of introducing Ms. Wilson’s 2019-2020 fourth-grade Class Officers: President Anthony, Vice President Leslie, Secretary Ke’Shala, and Sergeant at Arms Maria.

The fourth-grade president and vice president roles for 2018-2019 were filled by two females!

Losing Hurts

Although we had explained that not everyone would be elected into office, the realization didn’t fully sink in until after the results were announced. A few of the candidates expressed disappointment, so Papa K and I tried to ease their pain by relating our own life experiences. I shared that I had once wanted to be a majorette like my best friend Linda, but I was not chosen for the team. Papa K played alto sax and shared how excited he was when chosen to compete for a seat in the All City Band. He did not make it. We explained that feeling sad is okay as long as you don’t sulk too long. Instead, we encouraged the children to use their energy as a launch pad as they work toward middle school. It is our hope that the lessons on speech-making and campaigning will give our students a head start for success in middle school, high school, and beyond.

Next Literacy Lab 2019 in Review Part III: Dreams, Stickman and “Be a Better B

My, Oh My, How Time Flies

2019 has come and gone. My, oh my, how!! We had the best time ever in Kirkwood’s Literacy Lab.  Papa K and I engaged with our fourth-grade students, as we all explored and learned the difference between a country, state, and city. We used this knowledge to share a few facts about our travels this past summer.  We then jumped right into the voting series. Soon after that, we made free time to talk about dreams. That was a lot of fun. We ended the year celebrating the students and reading one of my favorite holiday stories.

Did I hear, “Whoa slow down Mama K, you are going too fast —we want more details”?  Sorry!

Before sharing our summer activities, the students were asked to complete a sheet entitled, “Where Have You Traveled and What Places do you Want to Visit? Some of the places the students had visited were Mississippi, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Memphis, and Gatlinburg. Sadly, a few responded with “Nowhere.” 

The list of places the students hoped to visit was extensive: New York, Mexico, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, London, Africa, Paris, Hollywood, Australia, Spain, and Hong Kong. With this information, Papa K first asked the students to locate Tennessee on their maps. Some found Tennessee, while others could not. Papa K was shocked when one student pointed to Europe. We realized that we had to backtrack before we read another book. We needed to introduce a geography lesson that included defining and explaining the difference between a city, state, and country.  Using the maps, the students had to list and write down examples. We will continue to assess their skills and knowledge. 

OUR SUMMER TRAVELS                                                                                  We reluctantly visited a friend in Cleveland, Ohio, thinking there is nothing to do there. However, we promised that we would come. So, off we went. We were so wrong, what fun we had and could not wait to get back to Nashville to share what we learned and discovered. With our maps in hand, the mind travel began with a few fun facts about Cleveland, Ohio.

1. Our first stop on the Lolly Trolly was to see the Cuyahoga River, which runs through Cleveland and is known as the River that caught fire (14 times.)

2. “Hang on Sloopy is the city’s official rock song. The students thought it was a funny song, but they sang along with us. 

3. Four-time gold medalist Jesse Owens was from Cleveland and he attended Ohio State University.

4. We visited Case Western Reserve University and stood on the grounds of one of the Underground Railroad sites.

5. We visited the Cleveland Museum of Art and toured the Medieval Monster exhibit. We brought the students a copy of, “A Field Guide to Medieval Monsters.” Once in hand, the students’ attention was focused on turning the pages and turned a deaf ear to Mama and Papa K.

6. We visited Little Italy and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We mentioned a few inductees: Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Elvis Presley, and BB King. However, the only name the students recognized was Janet Jackson.

MOVING ON DOWN THE ROAD San Antonio, Texas was our second summer trip. Oh, what fun we had, riding the trolley, searching for good books to read to our new class of fourth graders and learning more about the city, people and culture. Before sharing the fun facts that we learned with the class, I read Voices of the Alamo by Sherry Garland. It was both informative and heart-wrenching. The students had to use their maps to locate the State of Texas and the City of San Antonio. Several new vocabulary words were introduced such as,  hacienda (a large farm);  padre (a Catholic priest) and Tejas (the original spelling of Texas). 

Now, for the fun facts that we shared with our fourth graders and some places we visited. Did you know that:

• San Antonio is the seventh most populated U.S. city?

• San Antonio is the most visited city in Texas and the 17th most visited city in the nation?

• 20,000 Mexican Free-tail bats consider the I-35 bridge over the River Walk home?

• San Antonio holds the record for tamale making.

• The Alamo is named after the Spanish word cotton wood.

• Church’s Fried Chicken was founded in 1952,  as Church’s Fried Chicken to Go in San Antonio.

      We visited: 

• A portion of the River Walk. The depth range is two feet to 24 feet.
  We went to the San Antonio Museum: the Men of Steel and Women of Wonder exhibitions. The students were in awe.

• El Mercado shopping district- the largest Mexican market in the nation on the hottest day ever    

• Drove by the HUGE USAA bank compound

After the show and tell of San Antonio, we had a party to try some Church’s chicken and biscuits donated by Mr. Reeves, Mgr. We also traveled to Memphis to get some of Pop’s Tamales. They were some of the best that we ever had. The kiddos loved them. Dunkin Donut Munchkins was the sweet treat donated by Mr. Smith, Mgr. They also had to have a healthy veggie- CARROTS- Team Kirkwood 

NEXT——2019 TEAM KIRKWOOD LITERACY LAB in Review Part 2:

The Voting Series

Greetings from Kathlyn!

Forgive me for not checking in sooner, in between engaging with the fourth graders in the Kirkwood Literacy lab, I have been working on my second book about ”Chickens.”

I still want to keep you in the loop on all the ways we are helping young children grow a love of reading and curiosity about the world. And I promise to be a bit more timely in the future with updates. Please check out my latest blog post:

Journaling about Kindness

After discussing the book” Each Kindness” by Jacqueline Woodson, each student was given a handout, entitled: Each Kindness Log. The students were asked to journal for two weeks any and all kind deeds that they did for family, friends, neighbors, even strangers. The descriptions range from awesome to well it is all about me in receiving and accepting kind deeds.

1. “I extend kindness for my great, great granny when she can not bend over. I get it for her.”

2. “I extend kindness to my next-door neighbor by helping her picking up trash.”

3. “ I helped my Mom with her cancer.”

4. “Sometimes I help Mama and Papa K.”

5. “I help my parents cook on Sunday after church.”

6. “I help my dad clean out his car.”

7. “ I help my auntie because she cannot move her legs.”

8. “Today I got up and my brother was going to miss the bus and I got him up.”

9. “When someone is at the washer and they need help, people at the washer will ask me to help and I say yes.”

10. “I am nice to Ms. Wilson because she is nice to me.”

The last question was, how did being kind make you feel.

… “Being kind made me feel proud of myself.”

…”Happy cuz I did all these things”

…” It made me happy inside.”

…” It made me feel great because you get more friends.”

…” I feel happy because they are nice to me.”

I close this blog with two reflective questions:

What kind deeds have you done lately?

How did it make you feel?

Um- something for all of us to think about, yes me too.

A New Year at Buena Vista Enhanced Option Elementary School: Introducing Ourselves to Ms. Wilson’s Fourth Grade Class

Papa K and I met with our new fourth graders a couple of weeks ago and we were more nervous and excited than the students.

I asked if they knew anything about us. Many hands went up — the one response which caught us off guard was, “ You are old, you have gray hair.”

Someone else said, “You bring food and read.” Now that was the response we were expecting! Nevertheless, we assured them that although Papa K is bald and I have a crown of gray hair, our hearts and minds are still very young.

As we dug deeper to get to know the students, we asked the basic question, What do you want to be when you grow up? Most of the boys dreamed of sports, football, basketball, and baseball. I will talk more about that later. A couple of girls aspire to be dancers, while we heard one shout for engineer, mathematician, scientist, teacher, and soccer player. This will help us in deciding what books to introduce and bring to life.

Our 2019-2020 literacy theme is “Embrace the Journey.”

Then, as we have for the past four years, we kicked off Team Kirkwood’s Literacy (Lab) program by reading “Each Kindness” by Jacqueline Woodson (one of my favorite authors). See my 8/31/2018 News Blog for more details regarding a list of discussion questions.

After the group discussion, the students were asked to share with the class one kind deed that they had done. Some of the responses were:

• “I played with my sister because she was bored.”

• “I helped my Granny up and down the stairs.”

• “I helped my sister with her homework and my mother with the groceries.”

• “I read a book to my sister.”

• “I helped my grandmother after her knee surgery.”

• “I gave a homeless person my snack.”

• “I helped my brother and nephew get dressed.”

In an effort to move this lesson into their long-term memory, we gave them a “Kind Deed” assignment. They were asked to journal (for two weeks) by listing the kind deed and the person that the kindness was shown or extended. I will let you know how the students did in completing this assignment. We concluded the session by reciting the “ Kindness Pledge” from the Be Kind People Project. You could hear us all the way down the third-floor hall.

To help keep the many handouts organized that they will receive this school year, we gave each student a notebook and dividers provided by sponsors Ms. Anaxet Jones and Mr. Kenneth Ford. A heartfelt thanks also is extended to one of our major sponsors, Staples, for providing a copy of the Each Kindness book cover and the Kind Pledge for each student.

I will be blogging soon about the our second visit entitled, What We Did This Summer.

Welcome!

Welcome to KathlynJKirkwood.com, new home of my book projects and the Team Kirkwood Literacy Program! I am so excited about my new website - what a journey this has been over the past few months. I never knew how much time, effort, and thought go into creating a website. I had to really dig deep and reflect on what message I wanted to convey regarding my authorship and literacy activism. With the help of an awesome team, it is here.

 Thanks to Janna, my writing coach, agent, and friend for insisting that I needed a website and going beyond the call of duty to make it a reality. To my beloved daughters Anaxet and Juliette for keeping me balanced through the process, for their thoughtful edits, and for supporting my dream by gifting me with this website; to Hannah, my website designer, a creative genius, what can I say - amazing, wonderful, tremendous, outstanding, superlative… And to Andrea, who heeded the call at short notice to lend a final microscopic review before the launch.

 I love the website and I hope that you do, too, and will visit often. Stay tuned for news about book projects, Team Kirkwood projects, and lots of great resources to support literacy for young people!

Ending the School Year with A Splash!

I can’t believe that the end of this school year is here already. We have so many more books that we want to breathe life into before our fourth graders take flight to middle school. As I look at the stacks and stacks of books in my office, I have to resign myself to the fact that this is it for this year. 

I am sure you want to know how we ended the year. While on our field trip in NYC, we visited the Schomburg Library. I had recently been gifted a book entitled Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by my writing coach, agent, and friend Janna. At that moment, I decided that we would end the year by reading that book and the Dr. Seuss classic, Oh, the Places You Will Go!

The book, Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library is filled with so many facts that we needed 3 weeks to cover it! We created three vocabulary lists, along with research and critical thinking questions for the students to complete over the summer months.  

(A special note of appreciation to Dr. William A. Shell, Nashville, TN,  for purchasing Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library for each student as a keepsake and reference.)

With their maps in place, the students again raced to be the first to locate the likes of Puerto Rico, New York, Spain, London, West Africa, Maryland, Massachusetts, and the Gulf of Panama, to name a few.

The students learned about authors, and how and why writers had pen names.  One of their activities was to come up with a pen name. 

Schomburg attended many galas. The students were unfamiliar with the term “gala.” So Papa K dressed in his tuxedo and me in a formal gown, and showed up ready to attend a gala. The students loved it!!

Did you know that...

• Mr. Schomburg’s book collection was purchased by the Carnegie Corporation and donated to the New York Public Library.

• Ludwig van Beethoven’s mother was a Moor.

• Alexandre Dumas, author of the book, The Three Musketeers, was descended from slaves.

• Mr. Schomburg founded and established the Fisk University Library’s Negro Collection.

Papa K was able to squeeze in one additional presentation. Students pulled out their maps and faux passports, ready for their stamp of validation.  He introduced and told exciting stories about his travels to Egypt, Israel, and Kenya. Papa showed the salt balls that he had collected from the Dead Sea and allowed each student to feel, touch, and smell one. I gave a CLASS WARNING: DO NOT PUT THE SALT BALLS IN YOUR MOUTH.” Ms. Butler had to give Jesus a second warning. We all laughed. 

We closed out the year with an awesome party. The class officers created a party menu. They wanted pizza, chicken wings, chips, Doritos, ice cream with sprinkles, cookies, and water or tea. Their wish was granted and sponsored by Publix, Papa John’s, Thunderbird, Tea Tea, and  Co., Panera Bread, and Mr. Kenneth Ford. Book-em gave each student a bag  that we filled with the book gift from Dr. Shell, along with their summer homework assignment with additional note paper; a pencil from our travel to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin (yes, the students were able to locate it on their map--quickly!) and a framed photo that we took with each student as a keepsake provided by Mr. Kenneth Ford. 

Each sponsor was given a class photo with a thank you note signed by the students. Papa K and I also wrote a note of appreciation to each of the sponsors. 

After the students feasted, I read the last book to one of my favorite classes, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!  The students surprised us by telling us the many places that they plan to visit when they grow up. We heard Noah say Chicago (that’s where he was born), Jesus plans to go back to Puerto Rico, and then we heard North Carolina, New York, Mississippi, Florida, New Mexico, and Indiana, to name a few. 

Zak said it best: “I am going to be a tourist and go everywhere, including swimming in the Dead Sea like Papa K.”

I confess, as we packed up, my eyes were full. Noah, the class Sergeant at Arms and designated consoler of Mama K, came to my rescue with a hug, saying, “It will be okay.” 

My hope and prayer is that each of my students will be okay and never forget what we taught them early on in August, something they recited at the beginning of each literacy session, a poem that my Mom recited to me often:

Be a better “B” Be a better Best Never let it rest until Your “B” is better and your better is BEST!!

In closing, we read twenty-one books this year. Every book brought so much joy and excitement. The students learned a lot... and so did we. 

Pondering about the upcoming year.

Athletes and Artists, Not So Different After All

In April, Papa K took the lead. One of the books Papa K read was Between the Lines, because Dallas, one of our fourth graders and the classroom audio/video tech, said that he wanted to be a football player when he grows up. 

Between the Lines is about Ernie Barnes and how he explored his talents as a football player and an artist. He was born in North Carolina (maps in hand, our students raced to see who could locate North Carolina first) during the Jim Crow era like Papa K and me. Ernie loved to paint, but the public art museums were not very welcoming back then. Ernie’s Mom worked for Mr. Fuller, a white lawyer across town. He said it was ok for Ernie to come to the house to see his library. Ernie described the paintings in his home as “Stories without words.” 

Ernie’s artwork grew from “mud painting (drawing pictures in the mud after it rained)” to paper sketches. At the same time, Ernie was growing physically - 6’3”. The coaches wanted him to play football. Ernie just wanted to draw. 

His Dad wanted Ernie to become a professional football player. Why?, we asked the class. Their responses: 

• “for lots of money,”  

• “to travel to different places,” 

• “So he can buy a big house, get married, and have some kids.” 

Ernie was obedient. He was drafted by the NFL and played for the Baltimore Colts, but not before completing his first football painting, The Bench, which he never sold. 

Ernie left the football field and later became the Official Artist for the American Football League. The lesson: Use all of your talents to the fullest. 

Ernie Barnes said it best, When I became an athlete, I didn't stop being an artist.

Facts: Did you know...

• In the closing credits on Good Times, a painting, Sugar Shack, is one of Ernie Barnes’ works. 

• Ernie was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh.

• The Bench painting now hangs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

• Mr. Barnes’ work hangs in museums in Philadelphia; Los Angeles; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Daphne, Alabama. The students had fun locating all the states and cities on their maps. Thanks again, Staples!

This book was brought to life by our guest speaker and local Nashville artist Omari Booker, who stands at 6’11” but never played football. He chose basketball instead. He, too, was influenced by Vincent Van Gogh, among others. Mr. Booker brought several paintings and shared what inspired his works. 

So inspired by his creative genius, we purchased one of his paintings, entitled Transfigured. Papa K and I call it “Cotton Head.” The kids called it “Fluffy.”

What a giggle we shared with that description.

Justice and Women’s History Month

I had the hardest time deciding what books to read for Women’s History Month. The list of great women to read and talk about: ENDLESS!

In the end, I decided to read two awesome books, Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, and I am Sonia Sotomayor. Both Bader and Sotomayer are activists in their own right.

Before the reading began, I pulled out two black robes. The student were puzzled and excited. Ms. Butler selected two girls to dress and serve as Justice Ginsburg with her various collars and Justice Sotomayor for the day. 

As I read, our students discovered that although these Supreme Court Justices lived in very different New York neighborhoods, one middle class and the other not so much, they both shared a love for reading, especially the Nancy Drew series. Both engaged in extracurricular activities--music and opera for Ruth, and forensics for Sonia (public speaking).

They were excellent students. Ruth attended Harvard and Columbia Law school, and Sonia attended Princeton. It was no surprise that they became outstanding lawyers before ascending to the Supreme Court.

These justices also experienced similar tragedies. As I continued to read one book and then the other, I thought of Zak and his loss. Justice Ginsburg’s mother died the day before her high school graduation, and Justice Sotomayor’s father died a few months after she was diagnosed with diabetes. She was just nine years old. 

In their grief, they kept aspiring. What a great lesson for Zak, his classmates, Papa K, and me.

For each book, the students were given a vocabulary list and critical thinking questions to complete, and of course, the students had to pull out their maps supplied by Staples to locate the various cities and states named in the books. 

We all learned so much about working hard and dealing with tragedy. There is light at the end of the tunnel if you don’t give up.