A thing or two by Kelly Tenkely

>> The magazine for life-long learners<<

a thing or tw http://standagain.org

Summer 2014 NO1

Learn

Teach

Create

Summer Time

Learning >> How to avoid the summer slide>>

keep the kids reading SUMMER >>which book is JUST RIGHT? Creativity apps KIDS WILL LOVE >>>Serving to build COMPASSION

<<Summer Learning>>

<<Keeping Kids Reading>

<<Best Creative Apps>>

Idea (logo) designed by Christopher Holm-Hansen from the Noun Project Creative Commons – Attribution (CC BY 3.0) Keep Reading This Summer Infographic by Kelly Tenkely, Creative Commons (CC By 3.0) iPad image by Randolf Jorberg, Apple iPad 3G Frontansicht, Spiegelung, Schatten App images for Creativity Apps story from app developer websites

JUNE 18, 2014

A THING OR TWO

a thing or tw

contents… !

Summer 2014

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AVOID THE “SUMMER SLIDE” AND READ THIS SUMMER-5

PIXEL PRESS FLOORS CREATIVITY APPS TO CHECK OUT- 11

SERVING OTHERS A STORY OF ANASTASIS ACADEMY SERVICE- 15

Letter from the editor

Keep Calm and Read On

Keep Reading this Summer

Best places for ebooks

Which book is right for your child?

Creativity apps you should know about

Pixel Press Floors

DIY

Composer Pro

Serving Others

Serving with Kids

SERVING WITH KIDS 7 IDEAS FOR SERVING WITH YOUR KIDS-18

JUNE 18, 2014

A N OTE

A THING OR TWO

FROM THE

E DITOR

I can still vividly remember the beginning of the space unit in first grade. One Monday morning, we walked into the classroom to find all of our desks pushed out of the way and a giant spaceship in the middle of the classroom. The lights were dimmed, and glowing stars had been stuck all over the ceiling and the walls. The spaceship had flashing lights, made spaceship sounds, and was surrounded by purple â&#x20AC;&#x153;spaceâ&#x20AC;? rocks. You have never seen 6 and 7 year olds so excited about learning. As we sat in a circle around the spaceship, we were each handed one of the purple play-dough space rocks. I remember discussing where we thought the space rock may have come from based on clues from around the room. One student spotted the Space Rock book by Susan Schade and Jon Butler. Each student received a copy of the Space Rock leveled reader, and together we poured through its pages. As we read, we made more predictions about where the purple space rocks had come from. Even the most reluctant readers in our class were excited about reading that Monday morning. This was the beginning of my unquenchable fascination with space. Who would have guessed a silly leveled reader could hold so much power? A sense of play and imagination can make any learning experience memorable. This issue of a thing or two takes a look at continuing learning through the summer months and making some special memories as a family exploring the world together. -Kelly Tenkely !4

JUNE 18, 2014

A THING OR TWO

Summer comes with longer days, loads of time spent outside, and the inevitable:

“I’m bored!” Keep your kids reading this summer! Books have all the adventure needed to keep your kids exploring, learning, and miles away from being bored.

ummer comes with expectations of relaxation and fun, but it can also mean a break in learning. The dreaded “summer slide.” Teachers know the slide well, we regularly see it at the beginning of a new school year. Two months without any structured learning can lead to a loss of reading skills.

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are. -Mason Cooley

Summer doesn’t have to hinder the learning progress. After all, learning IS fun, and reading can certainly come with both adventure and relaxation. In the following pages, we recommend our favorite tried and true methods for finding great books, making sure the books are leveled appropriately, and designing space that makes it fun to cool off and read. The very best way to keep your kids reading this summer: model it! Find yourself a few good summer reads and dedicate 20 minutes a day to reading. !5

JUNE 18, 2014

A THING OR TWO

You can help prevent the “summer slide” by encouraging your kids to read this summer. Reading is fun, can be done anywhere, and keeps your child’s brain actively engaged! Kids who read regularly are: better readers, spellers, writers, have a better vocabulary, know more, have increased empathy and tend to have a better view of themselves as learners.

Not sure what to read?

Use the

Your Next Read website

to discover recommended books based on your child’s current favorites.

http://yournextread.com

JUNE 18, 2014

Don’t have time for a trip to the library or bookstore? E-books are a great option! These free collections are sure to bring hours of enjoyment this summer!

Oxford Owl is an incredible collection of free children’s ebooks

A THING OR TWO

“Books are a uniquely portable magic”- Stephen King

for kids ages 3-11. Each ebook has accompanying audio so that kids can choose to read along or read independently. The books also have activities that focus on reading comprehension and story recall. There are several options for filtering the ebooks so that kids can find just the right story. Search by age, by book type, and by series. In addition to the ebooks on the site, you can find fun activities and recommendations for each age group, games to print and play, and online games with characters from the books and site. Oxford Owl books are available online or from your tablet! www.oxfordowl.co.uk/library

We Give Books is a fantastic initiative from Pearson. Here, you will find award winning digital picture books for children through age ten. There is a mix of fiction and non-fiction, a variety of authors, and a balance of read-aloud books and independent readers. New books are added every month along with special, seasonal books. Even better? The more books your child reads, the more books that are made available for everyone. Choose a book to read, choose a literacy partner campaign to support through your reading, and the more you read, the more books are shared with those that need them. www.wegivebooks.org

Books Should Be Free is a fantastic collection of audio books that students can download and listen to for free from the public domain. Books are easily searchable by genre, keyword, title or author. Books can be downloaded as MP3 files, iPod or iTunes format. Each book includes a description of the book, full text from Project Gutenberg, a Wikipedia link, and the audio download. Kids can play a snippet of the audio before deciding to download. The collection is pretty impressive, including some favorite classics. This is a great place for older students to access some summer adventures! www.booksshouldbefree.com

Kindle has a free app download for any device. Each month they add hundreds of free books to download and read from upand-coming authors (and some old favorites, too!). www.kindle.com

When your child laments that there is nothing to read, ebooks come to the rescue! Each of these options includes an audio component, perfect for those times you aren’t able to read with your child.

|Kelly Tenkely|

A THING OR TWO

THANK YOU

a thing or two would like to thank our gracious friends!

As we embrace and welcome summertime, there are many blessings we must share with you all.

When we began preparing the garden at the end of the school year, the amount of work to be done was daunting. As Miss Nancy and I spend our days working in the school garden, God has blessed us abundantly with decent weather for weeding and rain to nourish our plants and seedlings that have helped us transform the space into what has begun to look more and more like the garden it once was.

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We are grateful for... • • • •

Mr. Anderson for supplying steer manure to make the soil more fertile. The unexpected discovery of growing lettuce, potatoes, and beans. Bob (the church maintenance man) who has helped us greatly with mowing. Anastasis families who have helped supply us with additional tomato plants which have all been transplanted and are flourishing. • Home Depot who has donated over $300 worth of supplies including landscaping sheets to assist us in suppressing weeds, compost, as well as additional plants to help us prepare our land for future learning with students AND endless opportunities to feed the hungry. • Ace Hardware for supplying compost for additional fertility.

As I'm sure there will be even more amazing things to share with you throughout the summer and school year, I am sending this letter asking you all to join Miss Nancy and I in this very large endeavor. This is a task that is much greater than two people alone can handle, and we simply cannot complete this vision in its entirety without the help of our community.

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If you are hoping for a summer tan, increased health benefits such as nutrition and/or fitness, quality time with your family and friends, an outlet to serve others... then this is the opportunity for you! As we are certain God has His hand in all of this, which has been so evident by all He has provided, we ask if you are being led to come alongside us then please do join us! This week, we will be at the garden Tuesday (6/24), Thursday (6/26), and Friday (6/27) from 9am - 12pm. This is subject to change each week due to scheduling conflicts and weather, however if you cannot make it this week and would like to come by sometime in the future, please contact Miss Nancy or myself for our availability. We would love to have you! :)

Exodus 18:18-23 "The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone... Your load will be made lighter, because they will share it with you."

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IN OTHER WORDS... "Many hands make light work!" -John Heywood Thank you and God Bless! Sincerely, Debra Weissman

WHICH

book

IS RIGHT FOR YOUR CHILD? You are in the library or bookstore with your child, endless possibilities are before you, but how do you know that the book is an appropriate reading level? The five finger rule will help to find a book that falls into the reading “sweet spot,” not so challenging that it is impossible to read independently, and not so simple that it will fail to hold interest and build reading skills.

Open the book to any page.

Ask your child to read the page aloud.

Put up 1 finger for each word they don’t know.

1-2 fingers up: the sweet spot, this is a good choice!

3-5 fingers up: this book is probably too challenging to be enjoyable.

A THING OR TWO

CREATIVITY APPS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT! Pixel Press Floors - a seemingly magical app that lets your children turn their drawings into app games they can play and share with others! -Page 11

DIY- an app that encourages children to share what they make and do and get patches for the skills they earn. DIY has more than 80 skills including Hardware Hacker, Backyard Farmer, Gamer, Fashion Designer, and Skater. -Page 13

Demibooks Composer Pro - an app that lets kids create their own interactive ebooks. Kids can add gestures, audio, and other interactive/ multimedia elements. -Page 14 !1 0

P i x e l

Press

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Floors

Pixel Press Floors is a seriously magical (currently free) app that brings a child’s imagination to life. With the Pixel Press Floors creation platform, kids can literally dream up and draw their own video game without any coding. Kids draw their ideas out on paper, and the Floors app turns the drawing into an actual video game that can be played. Print out the special paper so that the app can recognize the shapes “glyphs” that are drawn, or use the in app drawing tools. The drawing is instantly turned into a game that can be tested, designed, played, and even published to the “Arcade” where others can play it. The first step of creation is to download the Pixel Press Floors app on the iPad. Next, go to projectpixelpress.com to download and print the free sketch guide. Students draw the game of their dreams and then take a picture of what they drew from the Pixel Press Floors app. !1 1

A THING OR TWO

Pixel Press Floors (cont.) The glyphs (shapes) that students draw are magically transformed into game play objects. After glyphs have been created, students can apply a design to the element, test it, and play it. Create with 14 creator glyphs including terrain, moving blocks, ladders, portals, monkey bars, power-ups, coins, super coins, falling blocks, spikes, exploding blocks, start and end positions, pits and fireballs, keys. In designing games, kids learn systems thinking, creative problem solving, art and aesthetics, writing and storytelling, and create a motivation for further STEM exploration. As players, kids learn to think strategically, persist through failure and experience epic wins that

can translate to what they do and are willing to try out in real life. As designers kids learn systems thinking, creative problem solving, digital art and aesthetics, and storytelling and writing. Kids will love being able to bring their creations and ideas to life in the form of a game. Video game creation could be the key to unlocking the storytelling genius in your reluctant writers. It has been my experience that a child faced with a blank paper and a writing assignment can be daunting. Introduce the idea of designing their own game and suddenly a storyline pours forth. It is pretty neat to watch! Kids can create games that help them build skills. Instead of simply playing those drill/skill games on

other websites/apps, they can create their own! This is visual notes 3.0. Instead of simply practicing math facts, encourage your kids to create a customized game to help them learn and remember those facts! This type of game is perfect for creating games to practice: math facts, spelling, vocabulary, foreign languages, letter recognition, geography, history facts, etc. Instead of passively playing games in their free time, kids can create their own! The blend of the hand-drawn and technology is seamless and brilliant. Kids will have such fun creating their own games and bringing their imagination to life. |Kelly Tenkely| !1 2

A THING OR TWO

D I Y

DIY is an online club for kids to earn maker skills. Kids (otherwise known as Makers) share their creations and work with a larger online community and collect patches for the skills they learn. Each skill has a set of challenges that help kids learn different techniques and create something fantastic.

When a child completes a maker challenge, they can add photos and video to their online portfolio to show off their creation. DIY is a website where kids get: a public portfolio, a place to upload videos and pictures of their projects, can choose to do challenges to earn â&#x20AC;&#x153;Skillsâ&#x20AC;? badges, and a parent dashboard where teachers or parents can follow along on all activity. Maker identities are always secure, children are asked to choose an animal and a nickname to help protect their privacy. Parents get access to see what their kids are posting online. This site encourages creativity, reflective portfolios, and constructive use of technology. It is an outstanding balance of online and offline activity! At Anastasis Academy, we strive to encourage a maker community. We also have a 1:1 iPad environment. For many, this equates to a technology rich environment (it is) where everything is done or consumed on a device. I can think of nothing sadder than reducing learning to only a device! At Anastasis Academy, we most often use our technology to capture and share our learning. DIY is a fantastic site that makes way for kids to be curious about the world around them, create something new and use technology to innovate. DIY is a great place to help your kids discover the love and joy of being a learner and a creator. It fosters innovation and sharing of learning and accomplishment. How many DIY badges can your kids earn this summer? |Kelly Tenkely|

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A THING OR TWO

Composer Pro

Demibooks Composer is the first iPad based authoring software. Do you know what that means? It means that your kids now have the ability to create their own interactive books!

Kids can use this powerful authoring app to create interactive book apps (yes, apps) that include realistic physics, animation, sound and visual effects. This app lets your kids create books that take full advantage of the iPad’s capabilities. Finished stories can be shared to a Dropbox account, iTunes or published as an actual book app that can be purchased in the App store. Seriously, how cool is that? With Compose Pro, kids now have the tools that let them create interactive tools without knowledge of programming. Kids will get

a small taste of programming language as they use Composer with “if, then” commands. Composer Pro is intuitive enough for your children to figure out as they play. This app gives your children the power to create true ebooks. This is not just a book that can be read on the iPad. This is a book that they can make interactive. Kids can publish creative writing, explanatory informational text, poetry, math story problems (and solutions), ABC books, phonics practice, story retells, historical narratives,

etc. The list could honestly go on and on. Composer Pro lets your children create anything that they can imagine. Encourage your kids to spend some time storytelling this summer. They can bring their stories to life in ways never before possible with Composer Pro! |Kelly Tenkely|

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Serving Others

A THING OR TWO

Anastasis Academy students participate in some truly incredible learning experiences. Our students have served at The Crossing Denver Rescue Mission throughout the year and we’ve built relationships with chaplains who serve and the homeless being served by the programs there. Recently instead of our students making the journey downtown, “downtown” came to us. What an awesome thing to be on the “receiving end” of service, as those whom our kids had ministered to came to minister to them. Chaplain Danny took his time to come and give our students some insight into what the program at the Crossing looks like from the inside. While our students have served meals and gotten to know some of the staff and residents, they haven’t really had the opportunity to get the inside track about all that the program entails. Accompanying Chaplain Danny were men who are making their way through the program. Each of the program participants stood up to share their story and background with our students. They all began the same way, “I’m not really a public speaker…I’m a little nervous.” I’m here to tell you, whether they know it or not, these men ARE public speakers! (cont. on page 16)

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I really enjoyed hearing all of their stories, but I think that Michael’s story impacted me the most. The fact that he was a little younger made him easy to relate to. It really got me thinking when he said that all his trouble started when he started hanging out with the wrong group of friends. This has been on my heart a lot lately, especially going into high school. His story really encourages me to be intentional about hanging out with the right kind of people. - Meredith

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Serving Others

A THING OR TWO

The stories they shared were humbling. I think that as kids who only know life in the upper-middle class suburbs, it can be easy to assume that they are far removed from a life of homelessness. However, as the stories unfolded, the students became more and more aware of just how delicate the balance really is, and how they aren’t nearly as far removed as they might have imagined. We heard from men who had good paying jobs who went from a nice house and family to a life of poverty. We heard stories about men who felt depressed and defeated when they lost their job and turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. We heard from former boxer, DC Barker who was a champion, very successful as an athlete, had traveled all over the world and met all kinds of people, had lots of money, and who had a wife he loved more than life. When his wife died, he fell into a downward spiral that included some drug and alcohol abuse to make him forget what he was missing. We heard from a 23 year old who lived a life very similar to the lives of our students. He was a student with good grades, a high school athlete, popular, friends with everyone, uppermiddle class family, parents in the medical profession. As a sophomore in high school everything changed for him. He wanted to be liked and accepted by everyone and as a result fell in with some kids who influenced him in very negative ways. He owned his part in the decisions but told the kids how hard he found it to stand up and say “no.” “I wanted to be liked.” This need for

acceptance from everyone led to drug and alcohol abuse and time in jail. He was homeless at 18. The testimonies from these men were powerful, but the real blessing came in sharing a meal with them. In the casual

setting of eating together, the conversation flowed. Laughter was shared, stories passed, words of wisdom were offered. Something happens when you break bread together. All pretense fades away and suddenly everyone is on equal ground. DC Barker had the kids in stitches as he told boxing stories, places he has traveled, and sandwiches that Elvis taught him to make. Robert passed on words of wisdom he had recently learned, “instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” 23 year old Michael talked about his upbringing and encouraged the kids to stay focused and pay attention to those that they surround themselves with. (Cont. on page 17)

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Serving Others

A THING OR TWO

This is learning that looks a lot like life. This kind of learning changes hearts and attitudes toward others. This kind of learning leads to compassion, understanding, relationship and action. I can’t think of a curriculum company around that can teach what our students learned on that day. |Kelly Tenkely|

After listening to the stories of Robert, Matthew, Michael, DC, and Danny, I feel a strange peace inside of me. I expected them all to feel sorry for themselves and almost complain about their past life. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of the discussion. All of them said their stories not with sorrow but almost as if they were talking about a different person, an old them if you will. As DC stated, “the trigger that helped me to go up was my past.” That was really refreshing to hear. Something else that intrigued me was how they were so passionate about their faith. They were constantly relating everything in their life to God. This made their faith look childlike which, in my opinion, is extremely spiritually rewarding. This makes me want my faith to look this way and I know that if I stay focused I, eventually, will. -Lexxi

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A THING OR TWO

serving with kids

ways to serve this summer

Summer is the perfect time to foster compassion and empathy by serving others. Serving with your kids reveals the importance of community, working together to make this world a better place. We’ve collected some great opportunities for service in Colorado. Make a service bucket list and serve as often as you can during these long summer days!

more information

Bake some yummy treats and make thank you notes for a local firehouse or police station and deliver them. Work in the Anastasis Academy Community garden!

Contact dweissmo@anastasisacademy.us for information

Make blankets for Project Linus

http://projectlinus.org

Fill “Kits for Kids” for Centennial, CO

http://projectcure.org/programs/kidskits

Collect store window displays for your school. Learn more at UpDated Design

http://updateddesign.com

Join Food Bank of the Rockies club for kids.

http://foodbankrockies.org/programs/ programs-for-children

Lend a hand for the new Clarity Commons Park, honoring the life of Claire Davis who died at the Arapahoe High School shooting.

http://claritycommons.org

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A THING OR TWO

THANK YOU

a thing or two would like to thank our generous friends!

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