True Colors

Not bad for a January day.  We took a walk above the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and took this picture.  I am very impressed that the camera captured the true colors of the scenery - no editing or tweeking.

cause it's not just about the movies

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I found a CD at the library that makes me happy - especially this bluegrass instrumental.  I think it's time to call Audrey and her parents and Aunt and Uncle and have a skyping dance party!

goodbye January

Well, January, you've been okay this year.  Some challenges, but nothing we couldn't handle, so thanks - it's been a pleasure and time to move on!

Before we do, however, a couple more comments about movies.  I realize most of my posts this month have been about movies.

A couple of weeks ago I had "Hugo" on in the background while I was scrapbooking.  I have seen this movie several times but one particular line stuck out to me this time.  Hugo, who spent his life with and fixing clocks, was explaining to his friend that there are never any superfluous or leftover pieces to a clock.  Every piece of has a purpose.  And so he figured that it must be the same for him - that he wasn't here by accident - that he had a purpose.  This thought helped him carry on through some difficult years of his childhood, before he found a family that loved him.  So I think it's the same for us all.  None of us are superfluous or leftover or un-important.

PBIS World.com

CHECK THIS OUT! Monday was another inservice day for the staff in our school district.  We were told of a website that I think is amazing.  It is meant for educators but I think it can also be valuable for parents as well.  If your child is having behavior issues and you want ideas of how to handle it/how to help them change their behavior you can go to this website.  The first page has dozens of behaviors listed.  You click on one and it talks about what may be included in this category.  Then it says "does this describe your child?"  If you click on yes then it takes you to the next page that gives you all kinds of ideas, strategies or "interventions".  You can then click on a strategy and it explains further how to implement it.  There are a lot of ideas that you can try as a parent, and it can also give you things that you can suggest to the teacher if you feel he or she is not doing enough.  Here are two examples:

1.  Disorganized - You click on that and it gives you descriptions of being disorganized (which is stuff  I'm sure you would have already noticed).  After you click "yes" it gives you ideas of how to help your child get more organized like having assignments broken down into smaller steps, or having your child use a planner or a visual schedule they can see and refer to, or using color coding to help them notice things better etc. etc.  You can click on any of the suggestions and it tells you further how to implement it.

2.  Sadness/Depression - Some of the categories, like this one, might feel more mysterious because your not sure what your child is going through. Reading the description helps you get a better idea.  Then some of the strategies are "teach coping skills" or "deep breathing" or many other things.  You can click on each of these ideas and it further tells you how to teach the coping skills, etc.  Of course something like Depression might be serious enough to seek outside help, but sadness or loneliness might be something that you and the teacher can address and help them get through.

So anyway, I think this is a very valuable website.  It seems to me that we, as parents, are always looking to each other for advice - this website might be a great new friend!  And I think it is comforting to know that teachers and other staff members that are working with your children are being encouraged to look for "Positive Interventions and Supports" which is what the PBIS stands for.

UCSF children's hospital

This year our church is really focusing on the concept of community service.  The youth theme for this year is "O Ye That Embark in the Service of God, see that ye serve Him with all your Heart, Might, Mind & Strength".  So we've been looking to do more activities around this concept.

 Last Tuesday night we joined in an ongoing project that a women in our church has been spearheading for a while - making dolls for the UCSF children's hospital.  They are cloth/ gingerbread doll style - with little hospital gowns.  The doctors use these as a way of showing the kids in the hospital what will be happening to their bodies/what parts of their body is going to have surgery.  The kids also get to draw a face on the doll and personalize it as they want.  Hopefully it makes their experience a little easier.

It was a wonderful activity and I am excited to find more things to do for service this year.

Selma

Luke's teacher emailed all the parents to let them know that a theatre in our city was allowing all 6th through 8th graders a free ticket to see the movie "Selma".  If Luke write's a one page essay about it, with his ticket stub attached, he gets extra credit.  So we rushed over to the theatre to see it.  Some of it was understandably hard to watch, but important nonetheless.  And, I must admit, the movie left me wanting to come home and do a lot of research.  I was surprised at the portrayal of President Johnson - the movie portrays him as less supportive than I understood him to be, and from what I've seen and read from other sources he and martin Luther King Jr. had a much better working relationship than this movie shows.  On the other hand, the movie does great, in my opinion, in showing that with each Civil Rights movement victory there was still so much more to accomplish.  Like how, even though, by law, segregation had ended and African Americans had won the right to vote, there were still illegal obstacles put in their way that made their voting impossible.  So all in all I am happy that Luke got this opportunity and that I got to see the movie with him.

History fascinates me.  Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with me that I am so interested in other people's cultures or backgrounds and issues of the past.  But one line from the movie, which I think is a direct quote from the era, is that the Selma marches, etc., was not a black person's issue, or a southern issue, but an American issue.  And maybe there is also something wrong with me that I am interested in looking back but not in looking forward.  I don't get involved in politics and hot-topic issues of the day.  It's something for me to think about I guess.

But as Luke and I have a holiday on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I hope everyone has a wonderful day.  I am certainly amazed at the things he accomplished in his life and at his desire and ability to "turn the other cheek" at the same time, in line with his belief in the Savior.

a nice day at school

The special day class I work in has less than a dozen kids, and if there are absences the staff/child ratio can get down to one on one.  Those days are great - the kids can always use one on one help with their goals, etc., even though we are all in the classroom together.  But, sometimes the kids get to join in activities and projects in the mainstream class of their specific grade.  Today one of our students got to participate in the "Famous Americans" presentations put on by he and his fellow grade members of the school.  We got to go along and watch and it was adorable!

Every student in that grade chose a famous American to report on. They had to make a poster, prepare an oral presentation and dress up like their person.  Then they all stood lining the perimeter of the cafeteria.  It was like a fair - like they each had their own booth.  You got to go in and talk to however many students you wanted.  Some of them had their whole report memorized and some of them carried on a great conversation explaining who they were, etc.  They were all so cute!  One of the most memorable costumes was Albert Einstein with his big hair.  Our little guy did a great job in his costume, holding up words of who he was.

One other thing I love seeing is how several of the kids in the mainstream class have chosen to be friends with our kids.  They asked if they could be helpers for our class and at first we thought maybe they just wanted to get out of their classwork.  But they are very helpful when they come in and even more helpful in offering friendship and comfort to our kids out on the playground, etc.

It was just a really happy day.

Disney Marathon 2015

Well, we've decided to do a Disney movie marathon this year, like we did in 2012.  This time will be different, however, because we have grandchildren to enjoy it with us!  Truthfully, we miss Audrey SO much that I wanted to find a way to stay connected to her like we are to Julia's kids.  I want her growing up feeling as known and loved by us as the ones who live here.  Hopefully doing this year long marathon across the miles will help with that.

Again, we are following Disney's list of the first 50 animated classics.  January is Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo.

Today we watched Dumbo because of easy access - it is on Netflix and we are waiting for Snow White from the library.  Like before, I think the best part of this movie is the dedicated friend, Timothy Mouse.  I noticed a line in the film today that I hadn't noticed before.  It's a quote to remember.  When Timothy realized that Dumbo's ears could enable him to fly he very excitedly said:

"The very things that kept you down are going to lift you up up up!"

Here's wishing the same for us all!

That Malfoy sneer

After a couple of days of movie watching I want to share my opinion about several.

The first I loved loved loved.  Reggie even watched it with me and was very impressed. It is called "Belle" and was filmed in 2013.

 It is about a mixed race woman in the mid 1700s who, along side her caucasian cousin, was raised by their very well off Aunt and Uncle.  In fact, the uncle was a high judge in England at the time who was put in the position of ruling on something that would support or nearly take down slavery.
I read some reviews that praised it for being historically accurate (being based on a true story and all).
If you look up information about it you will see this painting of the cousins.  The movie also explains why this painting was so revolutionary/so special.

One more interesting thing about the movie is that the actor who plays "Malfoy" in the Harry Potter films is in it and still gives that awful sneer.

Second: "Hundred Foot Journey".  Very enjoyable and definitely worth the rental price or even owning.

Thirdly I really liked "Magic in the Moonlight".  So far no one else has had the time to watch it with me and I wish I knew what my family thought of it.  As a religious person the atheist tone bothered me but I came away from it feeling like my position of faith was supported even more.  I also think that an atheist would probably come away from it feeling that their position was supported.  I guess it  leaves the question up to the audience: who is the greater fool, the one who believes in things they can't prove or the one who doesn't.  It could definitely make for some good discussion, although I know that that rarely happens without people offending each other.  Either way, it was a light hearted comedy that I enjoyed.

In the theatre we saw Annie and the most recent Hobbit.  Reggie and Luke enjoyed the Hobbit, which is all I know about it.  Samantha and I enjoyed Annie and I was surprised that it didn't get very good reviews.  I admit, the re-written songs are no-where as good as the original, but I think that setting it in modern day New York makes it more relatable to young girls today, and I think that's important.  I mean, how many times have other movies been re-written for their time?  Did you know that "You've Got Mail" was originally done with Jimmy Stewart as "The Shop Around the Corner" and then with Judy Garland as "In the Good Old Summertime"?  And no-one was complaining when Jane Austen's Emma was made into a clever 90's movie called "Clueless".  Or maybe people did complain, I don't know.  But I thought Annie was great and it is another one that may end up in our library.