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Want to Know More? Books of Note - Part 3 -- Creating the Peaceable Classroom: Techniques to Calm, Uplift, and Focus Teachers and Students

2009-09-06T20:52:00Z

My elementary teaching days have passed, but I would totally be using this book if I were working in a school. I came across it in the vastly rich bookstore at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA.
Who wouldn't want a peaceable classroom?

Creating the Peaceable Classroom is an incredible collection of tools for teachers and their students to self-regulate their thoughts and behaviors when under stress or overstimulated. With these tools in hand, all members of a classroomcommunity can focus their attention where it needs to be.

Bothmer starts with detailed information on "Bringing Balance and Vitality to the Classroom Arrangement" through the use of Feng Shui - the ancient Chinese art of creating environments that foster individual and personal goals. Teachers have always put time and efforts into classroom arrangements - but sometimes with as much focus on neat and pretty as on truly functional. Here we go beyond desks and blackboards to new key classroom elements (from rugs and sofas to fountains and wind chimes), how to place them, and why they help teachers and students to do their best work.

Think about a store or location you've been to where traffic flow restricts access or where the shopping experience just isn't good. On the other hand, if you've been to DisneyLand/World, you know how well people can flow in and around the rides and exhibits. Those folks spend a lot of time and effort on what people see and how they can see and move around it. Don't we owe that same opportunity to our children as they learn?

Subsequent chapters describe in detail activities that foster a peaceable classroom such as doing deep belly breathing, striking yoga poses, stating positive affirmations, participating in guided imagery, and listening to music.

Teachers will be glad to see that there are actual lesson plans with objectives, materials lists, and step-by-step instructions. The background for how and why these activities connect to classroom success is another important offering. A guiding principle is that the activities are all ones that focus on "the whole self" (as opposed to just the brain...) as essential to the learning process. Some of my favorites are raisin focusing, dog and cat pose, and rocky coast visualization.

What I really appreciate about the ideas in Creating the Peaceable Classroom is that they model techniques that can extend to life outside the classroom. How wonderful to empower children to notice their own reaction/response to a situation and then appropriately manage it. Very terrapeutic, indeed!

Nature's Rainbow: What Is Green?

2009-09-03T14:24:00Z

It seems like the first sunny day after all the spring rain turns the New England landscape palette from brown to green. Green buds, and shoots, and grass appear almost as you watch.

Now my favorite color has always been green (go figure!) but as I look around my yard and gardens, I find myself asking, "What is green?"

Is this green?

Or this one?

Or maybe this?

The teacher in me chimed right in with an answer and I thought of several ways parents can discuss this with their children and do some language and brain development, too!

Ask kids questions like: "Which green is the darkest? The lightest?"

"Which is your favorite and why?"

"What are some words you can use to describe green?" (regular Crayola users may have the advantage here...)

"Which one is silver green? Yellowish green? Emerald green?"

"What does green taste like?"
"Fill in this sentence: As green as a ______."

These questions can be adapted for use with all colors, of course. Look and listen for the many learning opportunities that are all around in Nature.

PS: Just for fun, you can learn lots more about green by clicking here.

Diary of a Composter – Part II

2009-09-03T02:18:00Z

By George, we’ve done it!

We explored the yard for likely spots, looking for a place that was accessible (so we’ll actually use it!) AND didn’t take up valuable yard/garden space.

After much exploration, discussion, and measuring, we found a spot next to the bulkhead which isn’t too far from the slider doors that we access the back yard from. Some, but not too much, shoveling will be required come winter. We actually decided to “repurpose” an old plastic fencing kit and cover it with a piece of composite board. It’s working just fine and was perfect for our budget.

With its location just below the kitchen window, we even thought about making a “food chute” so scraps could slide right out, down, and in.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, I find myself during food prep/cleanup asking, “can I compost this?” We did a lot of research and determined the generally agreed upon items and I made a sign (to stave off those Senior moments…) Initially, we did end up putting things in plastic bags in the freezer. Then we moved to a big cookie tin. Recently, we upgraded to a stainless container that sits on the counter that we empty almost once a day.

Out in the yard, we add leaves and clippings. Mark adds occasional paper to keep the green/brown/white elements in balance. He turns it regularly and after only about a month there’s some good-looking humus in there.

What’s really incredible now is that between recycling and composting, our trash has gone down dramatically – from 2 tall kitchen bags a week to 1 bag every 2 weeks!

Stay tuned as we learn where to go from here!

Visit the EPA for more information on composting.

Want to Know More? Books of Note - Part 2 - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

2009-05-30T18:51:00Z

There are 4 books that popped into my path as I was conceiving of what Terrapeutics might be and I want to tell you about them—what they say and how they informed my thinking. Here is the 2nd of the lot.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
By Barbara Kingsolver
with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

I devoured this book, pun intended. The whole notion that someone (with husband and 2 kids) would pick up stakes in Tucson and move to a farm in southern Appalachia completely intrigued me. Add to that their goal of spending a year attempting to consume food from only local sources, including their own farm. Page after delicious page made me realize what an undertaking this is because of our incredibly industrialized food production system. Could I go a year without bananas?

I started reading this on the plane to San Diego where I would have a week’s vacation with family. It felt like one of the shortest plane rides ever! As spectacular as SD was, I found myself glad to have alone time to read and finished this literary treat within a few days.

Kingsolver, along with her husband and eldest daughter, have cooked up a scrumptious combo of month-by-month diary entries about their adventure, sidebar facts and figures about the history, politics, and environmental impact of industrial food production, and recipes and menus that feature local (for them, Virginia), seasonal foods. Nearly every page contains a humorous anecdote, a planting hint, or thoughtful presentation of key points to anyone interested in local food production or in how a family adapts to such major changes in lifestyle.

This family’s year was definitely an example of the old Yankee saying, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” in action. And what a steep learning curve they took on!

Their commitment was 24/7, where animals needed constant care, where the plantings and harvestings often had small windows, and where the weather was both enemy and friend. I was completely drawn into the descriptions of their daily decisions, trials, failures, and triumphs.

What I especially liked was the sense of community that developed around them during the year. I realized that you may be self-sufficient by growing your own food, but you definitely share: your knowledge, your hands, your harvest!

Two quotes jumped out at me:
“By pushing the market with our buying habits, we continually shape our buying choices and the nature of farming.”
“Eating preprocessed or fast food can look like salvation in the short run, until we start losing what real mealtimes give to a family: civility, economy, and health.”

Do you know where most of your food comes from?
Check out www.slowfood.com to find out how you can get involved in efforts to refocus ourselves on nurturing and using what is locally grown.

And particularly as it applies to children: “Food education in schools tends to exclude the important factor of nourishment linking man and food – the principle of pleasure: pleasure derived from the use of the senses, but also the pleasure of discovery, the pleasure of manipulating raw materials to create dishes, the pleasure of playing and the pleasure of company that around the table becomes conviviality.

Slow Food works to bring this pleasure to children while educating them to recognize quality food through the use of the five senses. Taste education in the early years of life contributes to the creation of a child’s sensory memory while defining tastes and habits and becoming more aware of their food choices. The younger years are furthermore the best time to guide them to taste and evaluate different types of foods and their relationship with the resources needed to produce, distribute and consume them.”

Want to Know More? Books of Note

2009-05-09T02:47:00Z

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
by Richard Louv
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005

I had just come from kayaking at the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center in Maine and happened across it at the little Audubon store. Personally, just the title made me take a giant step (and I thrive on baby steps!). I was at first incensed that someone would actually invent such a label: Nature-Deficit Disorder, indeed! Then I realized, what better way to quickly encapsulate an important issue, giving it a handle that many could grab and perhaps be inspired to focus on.

It is the consummate compilations of thoughts (from Louv and many interviewees, including children) about why we’ve moved away from nature, why we need to get back to it, and how we do that. Louv states, “The wilderness provides an environment for a child’s interior life to develop because it requires him to remain constantly aware of his surroundings.” Could any statement be more Terrapeutic-affirming?

During the last 4 or 5 decades, factors such as limited time and access, “stranger danger”, and health concerns (darn those ticks and ‘skeeters!) have severely affected the amount of time we let our children spend outside at play (soccer practice doesn’t count!). Louv provides both empirical and research-based information that kids who experience unstructured time outdoors tend to be healthier, happier, and more productive than kids who don’t.

Among the many points that are made, I was gleeful to find reference to the fact that nature exploration shows promise as a good therapy for ADHD; the “restorative environment” being “Nature’s Ritalin.” It makes sense, doesn’t it, that being in a place with less response-demanding stimuli could result in a calmer, more focused child. How nice for parents to have a possible supplement/alternative to medication!

In addition, Louv and others support the notion that creativity is fostered by outdoor play in natural settings because of the multisensory experiences and the availability of unlimited “loose parts” that stimulate kids’ imaginations. Case in point: you won’t find too many kids at the beach declaring, “Mom, I’m bored. What can I do?”

Louv urges politicians, educators, community leaders, and parents to work together to plan for and create spaces for natural play. We must help kids to “associate nature with joy and wonder, not fear and apocolypse.” And to see spending time in nature as more than just a lab experiment. Despite the thorough discussion of all the reasons why we don’t appreciate our time outside, it is a hopeful book and definitely propelled me along the Terrapeutics path.

I was lucky to attend a presentation by Louv at Wheelock College in 11/07 where he reminded us that when with kids outdoors, “ it’s not about the information, it’s about the experience!” See the Child and Nature Network website for lots of detailed information. http://www.childrenandnature.org/

It was also at this conference that I learned about the No Child Left Inside movement.

Natural “Wonders"

2009-04-23T12:55:00Z

I usually walk south on the beach. It has the easiest access and I can measure my journey by three breakwaters. But today, on this cloudless, windless, gorgeous early spring morning, I felt like walking north. I could see no one was on that stretch of beach and the tide was such that it was easy for me to scramble over some rocks to get access. The wave patterns and the hodgepodge of dog prints captivated me as usual, and I was thinking how joyful dogs are when they get to run full-out and chase something across the beach, when I noticed a sandbar – about the length of a football field -- jutting out into the ocean. I’d never seen it before and wondered where it came from.

Of course, scientifically, I know – something about tides and currents and such. But how cool it was to be able to walk out and look back at the shore. Like a red carpet had just been unrolled for me, I ventured out, feeling like I was between two oceans—waves lapping at my left and a different set on my right.

When I arrived at the very tip, it looked like three oceans converging. The wave activity was unbelievably intricate. Big waves coming straight in (that had traveled who knows how far), meeting with waves from the left and right, little waves scurrying across in front, all playing an exquisite, oceanic symphony.

The sun shining straight in on all the action caused sparkles galore, like the flashes of scores of cameras – my own paparazzi! I stood for a long time, taking in the sight and sound.

As the waves came in closer to my feet, I realized I was in a temporary place. A moment in time, provided by Mother Nature, that I was glad to witness. And a reminder that wonderful things can present themselves during my daily walks when I pay attention.

Terrapeutics Celebrates Earth Day

2009-04-22T05:48:00Z

Terrapeutics is proud to join the rest of the World in making each day Earth Day.

What is Terrapeutics?

2009-04-22T05:00:00Z

The Terrapeutics concept proposes that children who spend time engaged in a combination of farm activities, nature exploration, and mind-body work tend to be very self-aware, are less stressed, and have a well-developed sense of personal power.

We think this concept is important because kids who have good self-esteem, are able to make appropriate decisions, can adapt to various situations, and can follow directions are likely to be more successful in school.

Now we’re not just talking about frequent participation in activities like picking strawberries, visiting a farm stand, going for a hike, or taking a YogaKids® class. We believe that a continuity of experience is important – a continuity that can be fostered by parents and teachers who ask questions to help children tune into their thinking (What did you notice? How did it feel when you…?) and who share their own thinking (I noticed that…. When I…it made me feel…because….) before, during, and after these activities.

In short, Terrapeutics is, for now, a way of thinking. On this blog, you can expect to read articles and listen to interviews that have to do with helping kids develop their “inner landscapes” so that they can lead healthy, productive lives. We’d love to hear what you have to say on the issues we put forth.

As for our goals, who knows? Our topic list may grow to the point that we are able to develop curriculum materials. And isn’t it cool to consider an actual destination spot where kids come to unplug for a while? We’re open to it all.

Diary of a Composter - April 18, 2009

2009-04-22T04:58:00Z

OK. I’ve put it off long enough. I’ve been meaning to start composting for a long while.This has got to be the year.

Now I’ve always known why I would compost – to save myself money and to help save the environment – but I have a lot to learn about the what, where, and hows. Follow me here as I figure this out!

I think I’m mostly hung up on the where and how issues. First of all, where am I going to keep the food scraps and such in my tiny, already-packed kitchen? (As it is, I feel like the recyclables have an inordinate amount of the square footage…)

A dear friend of mine puts stuff in a plastic bag and keeps it in her freezer until critical mass tells her it’s time to make a trip out to the bin. Not sure this is for me. First of all, it involves plastic. And also, my freezer space is kinda limited. So then a quick review of the myriad home & garden catalogs/websites provided me with many container options – something for every kitchen style! But then it becomes a counter or under counter space issue. OK. I’m gonna have to ponder this for a bit longer…

And then, even when I figure out how to make my kitchen accommodate this new venture, I have many questions about where to place the composter outside. It seems to me that location will play a huge part in whether I stick to it (in other words, if I put it way out next to the shed, will I ever trudge out there in the midst of winter?) or not.

Way more pondering to do…stand by!

P.S. I have added a few pics so you can see what I am talking about.

Meet Jean Lawler

2009-04-22T04:20:00Z

Jean Lawler is a long-time classroom teacher and educator with Masters Degrees from both Lesley and Harvard Universities. She has focused the last 20+ years in educational publishing, helping to create a wide variety of curriculum products (books, CDs, DVDs, websites).

When she moved to the North Shore 5 years ago, she built a big veggie garden and lotsa flower gardens in her backyard, started spending a lot of time at Joppa Flats (Mass Audubon) and Plum Island (the ocean), and got involved in local yoga and tai chi classes.

Over the course of the next 4 years, she realized what an incredible influence these 3 activities were having on her peace of mind. As a lifelong educator, her thoughts went instantly to children: what if kids could learn to feel this sense of calm and contentment? So Terrapeutics was born.

Over the last several years, Jean has hiked coast-to-coast across England, walked across hot coals, had her aura photographed, and went two years without eating red meat. Currently, she hikes the forests and walks the beach all year long, digs in the dirt as often as possible, and practices yoga regularly.

She is thrilled to finally be sharing her story online.

Thanks to my son, Mark, who “caught my dream” and who inspires and encourages me daily. Oh, yeah, and does all my electronic support!!

And thanks to my dear friend, Corinne, who listened to my early musings and was there the moment everything fell into place and offered “terrapeutics” as a moniker.

Meet Mark E. Twohig

2009-04-22T04:15:00Z

Mark E. Twohig has over 15 years experience in educational, entertainment, and online media production and development. Mark began his career in 1993 working as a producer and editor for educational publisher D.C. Heath and Company. While there, Mark contributed to some groundbreaking video development for interactive CD-ROMs.

Since then, Mark has served as a producer and editor for a number of companies and has been responsible for the development and implementation of several major television and Internet initiatives. Some clients include Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Universal Studios, Starz, ABC, The Learning Channel, The Travel Channel, and The Spanish Béisbol Network.

When he is not connected to some piece of technology, Mark likes to spend time at his backyard pond, where he communes with frogs and attends to the koi.

He also delights in cooking with fresh herbs from the garden.

Update: My Koi has gone missing.... but I wanted to share this frog with you all... he/she was sitting on my windshield one evening...