Angel Craft for Archangels or Guardian Angels

This week, I prepared a lesson on the Feast of the Archangels for my Catholic Moms Group.  We meet once a week, each taking turns on preparing an activity for our children to do.  This one turned out great, meaning that children of all ages enjoyed learning about the archangels and our guardian angels; they especially liked decorating an angel, particularly with glitter glue.

After I signed up to lead this lesson, I spent some time surfing the web looking for a craft suitable for ages 1 – 8 that we could do outside and that had more appeal than the swings or slides (we meet at a park so the kids can also get some exercise before the lesson to help them focus a little longer).  I found many wonderful projects, but eventually settled on this one by Noreen at Crafty Journal because I saw opportunities for the children to be creative, to use their hands in different ways, and to see how glitter can mimic the nature of an angel.  Also, I could do the cutting and attaching of the different parts at home rather quickly.

As usual, I made some changes.  Noreen spray painted her angel, but I choose not to spray paint so the children could color it as they wished.  I also cut the ovals for the angel faces from a manila folder to help them stand out from the white body and wings (using construction paper or colored card stock would provide a wider variety of face tones).  To add shine, we used squeezable glitter glue in neon colors, but of course regular glitter would work just as well (or even glitter crayons).

As I discussed the lesson, I showed the children a coloring page of the archangels from Coloring Saints (choose from one of their categories to find the page).  After learning about the different tasks assigned to Saints Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and the Guardian angels, we prayed the Guardian Angel prayer together and proceeded to decorate the angels.  I also explained the celestial nature of angels, which is the reason for their iridescent (glittery) appearance.  The children really applied themselves to this project, and even waited patiently for their turn with the different colors of glitter.  

I think angel crafts would be fun to do any time of year, particularly for lessons involving stories of angels visiting people, such as The Annunciation or The Nativity.  You read about the angel we crafted earlier this year at this post.  Below you will find links to more great angel activity ideas.

Noreen’s blog Crafty Journal includes several lists of angel crafts; the one we made is highlighted on the Christmas Angel Crafts page.

I found the link to Noreen at Crafolic’s September Feast Days page.  Near the bottom of the post, you will find many more angel crafts.

At Training Happy Hearts, I found links to readings for adults about the Archangels that helped me plan what to say during the lesson.  You will find them at the bottom of this Feast Day post.

Linked with Saints Cele-linky, Extraordinary Ideas for Ordinary Time, Catholic Bloggers Network, Faith Formation in Young Children, My Favorite Things, Making It Count, Tactile Tuesday, Saints and Scripture Sundays, For the Kids Friday and Weekly Kids Co-op.

Dual Language Learning: Why and How We Do It, Part 1

We are a bilingual family, speaking Spanish at home and English outside the home.  This path is not an easy one, since American culture encourages assimilation and English primacy.  It has been particularly difficult for me because I am not fluent in Spanish; my parents are from South Texas, but chose to raise their family as English speakers (hence, I blog in English).  I learned little Spanish growing up, and have had to work diligently to learn more as an adult.  My husband and I believe that the struggle to raise children who speak equally well in two languages is well worth all of our effort.

Why do we want our children to learn Spanish?  There are reasons related to future educational and economic opportunities, but there are personal reasons also.  As a Mexican immigrant, maintaining his culture and native tongue, and passing both to our children, are very important to my husband.  Also, his parents are not fluent in English.  One of my grandmothers spoke only Spanish, and I missed the opportunity to develop a close relationship with her because I could not talk to her beyond simple responses to her questions.  I often wish I could have known her better.  My children’s language skills have enabled them to build strong relationships with all of their grandparents, and to converse with extended family members who live in Mexico.

Also, cultural experiences, including traditional foods, music, dances, games, rhymes, songs, and literature are greatly enhanced with knowledge of the original language.  I feel that our life is enriched by our culture and that learning either culture on its own or language on its own are not enough, especially since we have the opportunity to teach both.

So, how do we do it?  I share what is working for us, which admittedly may only work for your family if at least one parent knows the language you wish to teach, or is willing to learn it along with the children.

Image courtesy of AHISD

2 Strategies for Raising Dual Language Learners

(with more to come in a separate post)

Define your language time and stick to it.

We chose to designate our language time by defining our home, and the homes of other Spanish speaking family members, as Spanish only.  I have heard about other families who designate a parent for each language, or devote a certain amount of time each day.  The outcome of our strategy is that our daughters’ primary language is Spanish; we hope this will ensure that they maintain fluency in Spanish while living in an English dominant environment.

Maintaining our family interactions in Spanish has been the most difficult part of our journey.  As the years pass, our older daughter (she is now eight), speaks more and more English at home, in spite of our continuous insistence during each and every day that we speak Spanish at home: nosotros hablamos español en la casa.  I probably say this dozens of times each day.  It would be easy to give up, but we are resolved to raise bilingual children, and that keeps me going on the days when English just keeps coming out of her mouth.

Educate in the language, at school and at home.

Our older daughter is enrolled in a public school dual language program; she and her classmates are learning in both English and Spanish, with a heavier emphasis on Spanish.  She attended a Spanish language pre-k and began the dual language program in kindergarten with eighty percent of her school day in Spanish.  We are extremely grateful for this opportunity, which is rare in our city and state.  The vast majority of Spanish language school programs are designed to teach the children English, with a goal of moving them to an English only classroom as soon as possible.  A dual language program educates with the intention of producing bilingual fluency. I have also heard about immersion programs in both Spanish and Mandarin.

Currently, my daughter and her classmates receive instruction in Spanish for math, reading, writing, and spelling.  They learn science, social studies, more spelling, grammar, music, and participate in physical activity in English. I also supplement my daughter’s school learning at home with lessons in art, religion, cooking, sewing, and more, all in Spanish.  This year, I am homeschooling our younger daughter for pre-k, also in Spanish with a little English (more about this in a future post).

If your school district offers a dual language or immersion language opportunity, I urge you to take advantage of it.  If you are fluent in another language and are teaching it to your children, I hope you will share what works for you.  If you are thinking about teaching language to your children, I highly recommend it.  Even a small amount of instruction can give your child the confidence to learn more as they continue their education.

I have more ideas about raising dual language learners that I will share in another post.  I have been too busy to finish writing the longer post that I planned, and I did not want to delay posting any longer (it has been 11 days).  Check back, and please share your responses, strategies, and ideas in the comment box.

In 2013 I am linking with: Say It Two Ways Thursdays

In 2012 I linked with: Catholic Bloggers Network, My Favorite Things, Worldwide Culture Swappers, Mulitcultural Mondays

This post is highlighted at the September Bilingualism Blogging Carnival.

Round-up: What Women’s Studies Students are Thinking About

Today, I asked students in my two Introduction to Women’s Studies classes to tell me what areas of our society, in their opinion, could use change or improvement in order to promote equal opportunity and to change our society for the better.  You might be surprised by some of their answers.  During our next class, I will introduce the semester long Advocacy/Activism Project, an assignment that asks them to educate others about a women’s studies related topic; today’s discussion is a pre-cursor, a way to show them that they have a wealth of topics to choose from.

If you are interested in my thoughts as a Catholic about Women’s Studies, you can read about how I see some common goals between Feminism and Catholicism, or read my thoughts about Feminism and Respect Life Month (click on the titles to link over to those posts).

Here is a list of issues and topics my students mentioned today.  Each class also chose a topic for in-depth discussion of possible solutions.  I have listed those choices two first.

• Time to be a good parent and the negative stereotypes about the men and women who choose to parent full time.
• Gender roles and stereotypes about women and men in the workplace, especially regarding promotions, supervisors, and workers with families.
• The difficulties merging reproductive work (pregnancy, lactation, child rearing) with paid work in our current business climate.
• A culture that encourages both women and men to objectify their bodies and those of others in order to “get ahead,” make money, or for entertainment.
• Educational opportunities for women and girls, especially in math and science, and basic education and beyond for women and girls in other parts of the world.
• Access to medical treatment, especially for women, girls, and the poor.
• Lack of respect for women candidates and leaders in business and government.

Several topics came up in both classes, and for the two we discussed in depth, they choose to combine some of the topics that were related to each other.  I think they did a good job of analyzing some of the major problems of our society, especially from a social justice perspective.  Keep in mind that I have not yet mentioned the phrase “social justice” or suggested that women’s studies work is similar to social justice work; they are determining that themselves.  

This particular class period is very motivational for the students, as they see how real concerns from their own lives are relevant to the course.  It is also motivating for me to see that students recognize serious problems in our society.  The next step is for them to educate others about these issues for their semester project.  Here is a round-up some of the projects my students created last semester.

One of the most innovative projects encouraged college students to object to the graphic portrayal of violence against women on television by turning the program off and writing letters of complaint to broadcasters.  This student created a website that educates about the issue, and includes a page to sign a pledge to turn off such programming.  She even created a flyer with a QRC code that links to her website when scanned by a smart phone.  Read the website here.

Another student created a Facebook page to encourage debate among rap music fans about whether the lyrics in certain rap music degrade women and to educate about rap music with positive lyrics.  See the page here.

One student created a video about societal attitudes toward “Supermoms,” encouraging viewers to show gratitude toward their mothers for all they do.  This video also addresses stereotypes and recognizes the roles filled by both working and non-working mothers.  Watch it here.

Another student chose to educate Hispanic women about their high risk for heart disease by writing information, statistics, and pointers in chalk on the walkways of a park in her neighborhood.  She also passed out flyers and talked to some of the women who were walking at the park.  See a slideshow of the project here.

Every semester, students create distinctive projects like these, and other students choose more common topics like domestic violence, human trafficking, and objectification in the media or advertising.  What I enjoy about this assignment is seeing how students develop the confidence to educate others about something they feel is important; this skill will enable them to successfully convince others to take action in the future on other issues they think are important, whatever those might be.

Working Mom Whiplash

I returned to teaching this week, and my oldest daughter returned to school, so we are all readjusting to our school year schedule.  My youngest just turned three, so she does not yet attend school; my mother-in-law watches her on the days that I teach and other days when I need to work from home without interruption.  As she gets older, I am able to do more of my work while she looks at books, or draws, or plays beside me.  Many days, I can check e-mail, look at student work, or plan for class during these small blocks of time when she doesn’t need my direct attention.  Some days, this kind of switching between teaching work and mothering work is hard to do because of the rapid mental switches involved; I call this problem Working Mom Whiplash.

I usually experience the slap of mental switches when I am really concentrating on something and suddenly my daughter needs my attention.  For example, say I am grading student essays on the computer (yes, I grade on-line these days) while my daughter naps.  She wakes up with a fussy cry and crawls into my lap.  I’m in the middle of writing a comment about how the student needs to analyze the issue a little further, and pow, my idea for what to say is gone.  So, while I comfort my child, I’m trying to get my thought about the comment back and to save what I’ve already written.  Meantime, she’s talking to me and I miss what she said, so I ask her to repeat it, and away goes my grading mindset again.  See?  Whiplash.

What about the opposite situation, you ask?  Suppose my children are busy playing together.  I am deep into planning meals for the upcoming week, and I go to the computer to print a recipe.  Since I’m on the computer, I check my personal and work e-mail accounts, perusing to see if anything needs immediate attention while I’m still thinking about the rest of the week’s meals.  One of my students needs help with narrowing down a topic for her advocacy/activism project, so I start thinking about that: what to suggest, and how to write it in a way that will help her explore her own ideas further.  Meal planning is forgotten.  Suddenly, I hear my children fighting over a toy and they come running over.  Bam, I’ve forgotten what I wanted to tell the student.  Once the toy issue is resolved, I go back to my student’s e-mail question, but before I can finish the girls want a snack.  At least while I’m getting them something to eat, I can think about next week’s meals again.

I’m sure these kinds of rapid mental switches happen to many people who work from home, whether the work they are doing is paid, volunteer, academic, or creative.  And, I’ll bet these whiplash-inducing interruptions come from other family members, pets, and roommates, too.  For a hands-on parent like me, who writes and also does quite a bit of paid work from home, they are a daily occurrence.  Even so, I haven’t gotten used to them.  I constantly feel like my mind is thrown back and forth, and it can be quite disruptive to my ability to complete complicated tasks.  I may be overly sensitive to these kinds of mental interruptions, but I’m guessing most of you have experienced them too.  If you have coping strategies for this type of mental whiplash, please share them.  

Fortunately, I have gotten used to doing things in small pieces, but that is hardest to do with my writing.  I can do most of the housework piecemeal, I can prep for class a little at a time, grade student papers one by one, and even revise blog posts one paragraph at a time, so I should theoretically be able to revise poems for a few minutes here and there.  But, I’m finding that the creative impulse resists interruption; most times, I can’t quite get into poem writing if I’m concerned that I’ll be interrupted.  I’m working on this though, because I won’t write many poems if I don’t use the brief time I have to do so.  Wish me luck!

Only a few days left: enter a raffle to win a signed copy of my chapbook by August 31.  See my giveaway post for details.

FYI: I've attached this post to a family scheduling link up hosted by Lacy at Catholic Icing, one of the blogs I follow.  You can see her post about creating a family schedule and the link up here.  And, welcome to my visitors from the link up!  I hope you like what you find here.

To Princess or Not to Princess

My two daughters greatly admire the Disney Princesses and enjoy playing with their many Disney Princess toys, wearing their wardrobe of Disney Princess outfits, and watching all the Disney Princess movies.  We also have a number of other types of princess paraphernalia, including Barbie as Princess toys and movies.  While I recognize the cultural normality of this type of play, as an instructor of Women’s Studies, I am often disturbed by the extent of the Disney Princess phenomenon.  This current obsession with princess speaks a little too loudly about how girls are supposed to think about themselves in ways that don’t sit well with me.

I hope to teach my daughters how to think critically about society’s messages for people, especially the messages intended for girls and women.  While the Disney Princesses are all considered physically beautiful, appear abnormally thin, and seem to always need a prince to rescue them from an evil fate, I hope to teach my daughters that true beauty lies within, that a healthy body is also strong, and that they can take the lead and solve their own problems.  I am still working all this out of course, so if you have ideas on how to go about teaching these concepts in a princess obsessed world, please share them.

As we prepare for our vacation to Walt Disney World, I am faced with yet another princess-related dilemma.  We have reservations to dine with the Disney Princesses, and the guidebooks I have consulted suggest that all the girls who attend will be decked out like their favorite princess, complete with hairstyles from the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique.  Friends who have recently vacationed at Disney World have told me that many girls wear their outfits while roaming about the park.  We did not budget for a trip to the Boutique, or to buy more official princess wear, so our dilemma has been whether to bring outfits from home for our girls to wear that day.

My husband preferred not to add more items to our packing list, and I didn’t want to carry extra clothes into the park for when the girls were ready to change.  However, my concern has been that our daughters would be upset if they were the only ones not dressed as princesses for our breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table.  So, we are packing one Snow White dress and one Belle dress, and I’ll be styling their hair myself that day.  The rest of the days, they’ll wear summer clothing, although we are also bringing shirts with the Disney Princesses on them, and pijamas.  Let’s hope this is enough.

Of course, you are probably thinking, why would someone who is concerned about the influence of the Disney Princesses even take her daughters to Disney World?  We were invited to go along with my husband’s family and while my children are young, I want to them to enjoy some of the cultural experiences that other children participate in.  While the Disney Princesses may not be the most intelligent role models, Disney World is good clean fun for young children.  There will be plenty of time to desensitize from the princess mentality when they are older and can start to think critically for themselves.

My husband tells me I think about this stuff too much.  I wish others would think about it more.  In any case, as a mother, I can hardly avoid considering how cultural ideas impact my children.  As a teacher, I require my students to explore cultural norms for women’s and men’s behavior as part of their class work, so it’s not likely I’ll stop thinking about the princess cultural phenomenon any time soon.  Over the years, several of my students have discussed the influence of Disney characters on society’s definitions of masculinity and femininity as part of their Advocacy or Activism Project.

Quick lesson: gender is defined as society’s expectations for men’s and women’s behavior, described as masculine and feminine, although there are a number of definitions for each and some individuals in our society do not fit into either classification.  So here’s an example of how society holds different expectations for boys and girls, related to masculinity and femininity.  At the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique, “Where Little Girls Are Magically Transformed Into Little Princesses,” prices range from $49.95 - $189.95 for hair styling, make-up, nails, costume, accessories, and photo session, depending on the package you choose.  Boys are transformed into Knights with “hair styling as well as a mighty sword and shield” for only $14.95.  This speaks volumes about how girls are taught about femininity and how boys are taught about masculinity, and it demonstrates so much about societal expectations for gender grooming and behavior.  I may have to use this as an example in class this coming semester.

This is my last post for about ten days or so.  I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write and think about after I return from our vacation.  And, in case you are wondering which guide books I read to prepare for our trip, I’ll list them below.  They are full of great pointers and insider information for families who are not familiar with Disney World.

Fodor's Walt Disney World with Kids 2011: with Universal Orlando, SeaWorld & Aquatica (Special-Interest Titles)  by Kim Wright Wiley 

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids 2011 (Unofficial Guides) by Bob Sehlinger, Len Testa, Menasha Ridge, Liliane Opsomer