Tickets to add to a Summer Fun Jar- most relevant to Kitchener-Waterloo

Listen to an episode of Adventures in Odyssey

7 pm weeknights 93.7FM

Or whitsend.org and click on “LISTEN NOW.”

Go to a farmer’s market and buy a fruit or vegetable you never tried before.

Put a movie on hold at the public library.

With a parent’s permission, take apart something that is broken to see its hidden parts.


Count the coins in your family coin jar and together decide on a charity to give it to.

Surprise someone with a tea or hot chocolate.

Make pizza using Naan or other flat bread as your base.

Go outside and take pictures of 6 different kinds of flowers.


Make a smoothie.

Make an ice cream cone

Make your own popsicles

Make a fruit salad.


Ask your parent or caregiver to tell you a story about their childhood

Write a note or card to one of your cousins and put it in the mail with a stamp.

Offer to do yard work for one of your neighbours.

Send Mrs. Mostert a postcard to the school’s address.  She will get it.


What would a cameleopard look like? Try to draw one.

Visit the KW Art Gallery at 101 Queen St. N in Kitchener.  It’s free. Kwag.ca 

Make a robot using supplies in your blue box.

Find the oldest book in your house and read 3 pages of it.


Reread one of your favourite books.

Visit a little library close to you. Find them at llkw.ca/honour-roll.

Go to a community centre and find out about their programs

Write in your journal or notebook.


Take a hike and notice different birds and plants

Wash your bicycle.

Ride your bike around the block.

Call a grandparent on the phone, with permission


Create an outdoor obstacle course.

Make an indoor treasure hunt for someone else that has at least 7 clues and hiding places.

Think of 5 different exercises and stretches.  Do them to some music that you like.

Learn a new song on the recorder, piano, ukulele, drums or some other instrument.


Play a game of UNO.

Plan a playdate with a friend, including the snacks you will share.

Walk to the park or playground close to your house.  

Plan your own small yard sale or bake sale.


What day of the month is it?  Read the Psalm in the Bible that has the same number.

Write out a line from a song that you like using an ERASABLE marker on the mirror. When someone notices it, offer to clean the mirror. 

Learn to count to 10 in a new language.  Teach someone else to do it too.

Sign out a musical instrument from the central branch of the Kitchener Public Library.  Have fun with it, while taking good care of it


Read the chapter from Proverbs that matches the date today.  Which proverb sticks in your mind?

After checking the weather forecast, set up a tent in your backyard and make plans to sleep in it that night.

Take a city bus to a park you like.

Take the ION train with an adult.






Blow bubbles outside.

Visit a farm.

Write in a journal.

Play catch with a tennis ball outside.


Plan a picnic.

Trampoline.

Organize a baseball game in a park near your house

Follow a Bob Ross painting tutorial.


Make paper airplanes.

Draw a cell and label 8 parts.

Go on a walk and bring a plastic bag to pick up garbage with.

Do a walk around the block and pay attention to one God made thing.


Draw a map of a room of the house that suggests a way to rearrange the furniture in it.

Make a cootie catcher.

Make a menu, using food already in the fridge, for tomorrow that you will help make.

Walk around your house and look closely at the framed photos and artwork. Which do you like best and why?


Read part of a newspaper.

Lay on the ground outside and watch the clouds.

Return an abandoned shopping cart to the store.

Go into your backyard and identify 10 different sounds you can hear.


Do a word search.

Stargaze.

Start a jigsaw puzzle.

Play Scrabble.


Make popcorn.

Sing a song you remember from music class.

Make an encouraging card or note for someone in your house.

Play with Lego.


Get out your skipping rope to skip and learn some new skipping techniques.

Make a recipe for the perfect sandwich. Add the ingredients you don’t have to the shopping list and make it soon.

Make cartoon creatures using fingerprints.

Find toys you no longer use and decide who to give them to.


Colour with crayons.

Go to the library. Visit an aisle you have never looked in before.

Choose a song to play after dinner.

Colour with pencil crayons.


DANCE!

Make hopscotch on your sidewalk or driveway.

Climb a tree.

Read a comic book.


Create a no-bake dessert you can make for your family.

Do a chore secretly.

Put a movie on hold at the public library.

Catch insects and examine them.






Find a map of Ontario and look for a town with an interesting name and write a short story explaining how you think it got its name.

Read a chapter of a non-fiction book.

Learn how to sign your name in American Sign Language.

Go up and down your street and look at the mailboxes people have. Make your own mailbox awards for the nicest ones (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and leave them in the winners’ mailbox.


Make biscuits.

Record your voice reading a poem. Play it at dinner.

Research a tropical fruit on computer. (Ideas: dragon fruit, durian, bread fruit, pineapple)

Make a reusable HAPPY BIRTHDAY poster for your family to hang up every time there is a birthday.


Read a chapter of a book in your room.

Organize the pantry.

Go swimming

Make your own slime.


If you got a new pet, what would you name it and why? Draw a picture of it.

Hide a penny somewhere in your house and see who will find it.

Look through an old photo album or your baby photos.

Write a story based on something that happened to you this summer.


Decorate a cardboard box.

Create a crossword puzzle and give it to a family member for them to try.

Take pictures of six insects and try to find out their names.

Plan and host a bake sale on your street. Make posters or flyers.


Play a song on the recorder.

Learn to count to 10 in a different language.

Test out all the markers in your house. Take the “dead” ones to STAPLES for Terracycling.

Sign out a drawing book from the library and sharpen your pencil.



Tell jokes.


Make fruit salad.


Visit a cemetery. Notice designs of headstones.


Plan a sleepover.


Make a note or card for someone and mail it with a stamp.

Make your own drum set using household items.

Go on a hike.

Take a bubble bath.


Build a blanket fort inside.

Invent a new sport. What equipment do you need? What are the rules? Who can you teach it to?

Set a reading goal and surpass it.

Sort your books into alphabetical order.


Write a kind message with sidewalk chalk.

Think of 5 acts of kindness and do them all.

Research how to make shadow animals with your hand and make a shadow show.

Find an interesting word in the dictionary and make a fun drawing about it.


Bake some cookies with a parent’s help.

Make a video based on a story you like.

Learn how to make a friendship bracelet.

Have a nap outside in the shade.

Biography Poem for C.S. Lewis

In 1898 in Northern Ireland he was born,

He had an older brother, Warren.

Together they made imaginary lands

At their country house with few demands.

Sadly, his mom died when he was just ten,

In those days kids weren’t raised by men.

Off to boarding school he was sent,

Only summers at home were spent.

Reading and study he loved to do;

He became a professor of philosophy and English too.

He did not believe in God for years

Until he turned to him with tears.

He knew the Bible all was true

And began speaking about his faith so new.

On the radio and in books he told

That Jesus was worth far more than gold.

Those childhood stories came back to mind

In two different fantasy series he designed.

The one best known of Narnia tells

Where the lion Aslan sometimes dwells.

C.S. Lewis preferred to be called Jack.

Most of his friends were taken aback

When he married a woman named Joy

Who already had more than one little boy.

When Joy got cancer and died

C.S. Lewis truly cried.

He cared for sons Douglas and Dave

Until he joined her in the grave.

C.S. Lewis died at age sixty-five.

The “C” in his name stands for “Clive.”

His fantasy world begun in a wardrobe,

Now reaches all over the globe.

The Party Pig: a story to break the scarcity mindset

 

When I was a child, I did not have as many books as many of my peers.  Perhaps that is what makes each one of them memorable.  My sister and I shared a set of four "Golden Books," which were each written in Dutch.  Their English titles were "The Taxi that Hurried," "The Saggy Baggy Elephant," "The Poky Little Puppy," and "The Party Pig."  We heard and eventually read these books over and over as any child enjoys hearing a favorite story again.
   It was only recently that I discovered the English title for "The Party Pig."  In Dutch, the title "Het Feestvarken" matches an idiom used in the Netherlands for anyone who is celebrating a birthday, quite apart from any reference to the story.
   In "The Party Pig," a young pig is left at home while his mother gets some last minute supplies for his birthday party to take place later that day.  When a series of hungry animals come to the door asking for something to eat, the party pig gives away cheese, lettuce, milk and more, not thinking about himself at all.  As he says farewell, he invites them to come back for his party that evening.
   When the pig's mother returns, she is dismayed that the cupboards are bare.  She cannot imagine how any kind of birthday party can take place under these conditions.
   However, at party time the same procession of animals comes with practical gifts.  Each of them has made some of the raw ingredients given by the party pig into something new to be shared once again.  Instead of the party being ruined, the party pig's generosity brings joy to each of the characters, not least the party pig himself.
   The scarcity mindset of the pig's mother afflicts us all at times.  We hesitate to invite someone over because we think our dwelling or our limited selection of foods might not be enough for a guest.  We want to make sure we have enough for ourselves before we give to charity.  We approach things from an economics point of view and see limitations rather than abundance.
   First published in 1954, this Little Golden Book is coming back into print in May 2019 to celebrate the 100th birthday of its illustrator, Richard Scarry.  It's a title worth sharing with the children in your life, because a child's inclination to help others needs to be nurtured rather than dampened by stories and experiences with adults who care about them.

A Parade of Anti-Heroes

   Sometimes as a teacher, a great idea does not turn out so great.  My great idea was that the first three students who handed an assignment in early, that was due on February 28th, could assign me to read a book of their choice.  The three books my students gave me to read were, in this order,
1) Diary of a Wimpy Kid-the Getaway by Jeff Kinney
2) Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
3) The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
While this challenge did motivate some students to complete their work early, I did not particularly enjoy reading these books.
   My young adult children would tell you that my experience with these children's books is a bit unusual.  Typically, I really enjoy books written for middle school and high school readers.  Books that have won or are nominated for the Newbery Medal are among my favorites. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, intended for children, have a depth to them that led me to read them over again several times as an adult.
   I was reflecting on some commonalities in the three books listed above and what exactly made them distasteful to me.  The main character in each book is a boy I would best describe as an anti-hero.  He's not a villain, but he prides himself in lacking basic social skills.  He is a misfit, but he construes his place in society as everyone else's fault.
   Anti-heroes Greg Heffley and Tom Gates appear in journal-like books with plenty of stick figure illustrations and a font that mimics a kid's legible printing.  Both of them despise their siblings, parents, and teachers. Tom Gates takes the family mockery to another level by calling his grandparents "the Fossils" and finding them useful only for giving him candy or money at his convenience.
   In contrast, Alcatraz Smedry is a fantasy character in a chapter book without illustrations.  Alcatraz has been raised by a series of foster parents, but on his thirteenth birthday he gets a glimpse of his true identity as a Smedry, one of a line of people with special talents.  The types of talents the Smedrys have include breaking things, being late for things, tripping, and falling to the ground.  Alcatraz is the narrator, and he constantly reminds the reader that he is not a hero, not brave and not a very good person. Most of the book has him and a cast of relatives all named after famous prisons fighting and using assorted weaponry to recapture a bag of sand they fear will be turned into a set of lenses that will give the Evil Librarians the upper hand in a culture war.
   In fairness, Alcatraz grows as a person and becomes more capable of caring for others by the end of the book.  However, Greg and Tom experience no growth in character in their stories.  Instead, they become better at manipulating others and escape any consequences of their misdeeds.
   Now, other adults who would happen to pick up these three titles and read them back-to-back might have a much different reaction to them than I do.  Perhaps I am taking them too seriously when they are meant to be funny, the same way "Dennis the Menace" and Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes" are supposed to be entertaining.  What I think disturbs me the most about this parade of anti-heroes is that I occasionally see real children behaving just like them, disrespecting themselves and others, reveling in passivity, and having disgraceful goals like publicly insulting someone they dislike.

RROP: Reducing Reliance on Plastic

Over the past year I have taken some steps to reduce my plastic consumption.  For each of these items, I had not previously realize the cumulative effect of using plastic in this way or about alternatives.  Perhaps one of these will be new to you as well.

Toothbrush

   Dentists recommend you change your toothbrush every three months.  That means each year I would personally send four chunks of plastic to the landfill that will never decompose.  In my lifetime so far, I have probably "consumed" 200 toothbrushes, plus those I have purchased for my husband and children.  Some toothbrushes do linger in my home as cleaning aids for hard to reach places!

   I discovered last year that there are toothbrushes with bristles made of plant products and a handle made of bamboo.  Even though they are sturdy, they will eventually decompose or safely be burned.  Yes, they cost more.  No, they don't come in flashy colours.  But they have given me the courage to say, "No, thank you" when the dentist offered me a complimentary toothbrush at my last visit.  I still need an alternative to dental floss...[1]

Straw

   I don't use straws often at home and haven't purchased a box of them in years.  When we go out for a meal, the server is likely to add a straw to a soft drink or chocolate milk.  That has changed in some establishments lately, and it alerted me to the problem of plastic drinking straws and the litter they cause world wide.

   One of the summer dates my husband and I went on last year involved walking to a diner about a kilometre from home and each having a milk shake.  We brought our own reusable straws, which were sturdy plastic and had been part of a teacher gift: a large sturdy plastic cup, lid and straw.  However, since then I have purchased a bamboo straw that will serve me better. A cloth carrying case in the store seemed a bit overpriced, so I'll have to improvise to keep my purse sanitary.

Food wrap

Cotton food wrap

   I've never been a plastic wrap user.  Over the past twenty-one years, I may have bought one small box of it that dispenses from a cardboard tube. I have found other ways to cover food and leftovers, including reusing a bread bag to put around the container and removing air before adding a twist tie or Tupperware® with a sealed lid.

   When I found out about beeswax infused cotton to use as a cover or wrap for leftover food, I purchased a few of them and have been pleased with the results.  They are washable in cold water, so as not to melt off the wax.  After they lose their clinging power (I've had mine over a year and they are still fine), you can cut them into small pieces and put them in the compost/green bin

Shampoo

Partly used shampoo bar on wooden soap dish

   For the past six months, I have completely switched over to washing my hair with a shampoo bar instead of a liquid shampoo.  Even though most shampoo bottles are recyclable and I do recycle any piece of plastic with a recycling symbol on it, I'd rather not add plastic to the environment when there is an alternative.  I first became aware of shampoo bars by receiving one as a gift.

   Today, when we think of soap it is highly specialized.  Dish soap, laundry soap, hand soap and hair soap are not interchangeable, but in the past (and even in many places around the world), soap in the form of a cake or bar was used to wash clothes, hands, hair and floors.  Using a shampoo bar also enables me to support a local producer of soap and care products!

[1] Footnote in 2024. There is a Canadian made product made of corn silk that works just as well as dental floss. The product name is FLOSSPOT Gold. It comes in a reusable and refillable stainless steel dispenser!

Reading Strategies and my books of 2018

   Each of the 85 books I read last year had an effect on me. As I teach my students, "Reading is thinking."  Every book requires of its readers a level of engagement. Being touched by the books we read proves that we have taken them seriously and that we are not just passive recipients of knowledge being poured into our brains.
   There are specific reading strategies that help us to get the most out of the books we read. As I go through each strategy, I will highlight a book or two I read in the past year which especially required this strategy of me.

Visualization

When reading, it is helpful to picture in one's mind the action that is taking place.  As the author

describes people and place, they come to life in our imaginations. Two books I read last year that became vivid in my mind were The Trumpet of the Swan by E B White and Stolen Child Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. The first book highlights Sam Beaver, a boy who comes to a remote part of Canada and who becomes bound up with a family of swans. The wilderness setting was a bit similar to a green space near my suburban home. When Louis the swan leaves his family to find his voice, the sights and sounds are told in lovely detail. Stolen Child is set at the same time period that my father and his siblings came to Canada as immigrants. Some of the scenes of the country school and the simple and practical home built by new settlers I imagined to take place on and around the property of my dear aunt and uncle who lived on a farm in the Niagara Peninsula.

Prediction

As we read fiction books, we use our own background to try to predict what a character will do next or what events might follow. By making conscious or unconscious predictions, we invest in the story and care more about the outcome. The book from 2018 that I found myself making predictions for was My Secret Sister by Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith. This lengthy biography of two sisters separated early in life and raised in different households had alternating narrators. As narrators switched, I found myself trying to figure out how the story would continue.  So many things in the story were difficult to predict, such as one family moving to South Africa for a period of time, and the surprising revelations about other siblings who had been raised by others and remained unacknowledged by their birth mother.

Connections

Every story we hear or read connects to our lives in some way because there are common experiences in being human.  Stories can also connect to other stories we've heard or to world events we are aware of. The books that led to many connections for me in 2018 were Meet Viola Desmond by Elizabeth MacLeod and The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson. Both are non-fiction books.  The first one is a picture book that tells the story of African-Canadian, Viola Desmond. In 2018, this woman's image was revealed on the Canadian $10 bill. Learning about her story enabled me to connect it to the story of American civil rights activist, Rosa Parks.  Both women did not give up their seats in order to assert their human rights, and both were punished at the time.  However, in time, they have both come to be admired and exonerated. The book The Soul of Shame provided me with connections because all humans deal with guilt and shame. Hearing the author speak at two different conferences helped me make deeper connections between what he said in his book and my own life experiences.

Questions & Evaluation

As we read, we can ask question in our minds. What is the author's purpose? Do I agree with what this character has chosen to do? What would I do in this person's place? What will I do with what I have learned? Is this story true to life? The book I read in 2018 that led to the most questions was Good to Great by Jim Collins. On the surface this is a business book, but the principles it holds up apply to all kinds of organizations. I found myself asking how I could apply the things I was learning to myself as a leader, to various aspects of the organizations I am part of. I even did a bonus group assignment to explore how school leaders can invite more timely feedback from parents, teachers and the community to address problems early.

Clarifying

Finally, clarifying is a reading strategy that focuses on understanding words and sentences. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde required this of me the most of all the books I read in 2018.  Wilde wrote this work in 1890; its structure and vocabulary reflect a highly educated and literary level. My son studied this novel in a university English class and encouraged me to take it up. As much as I encourage my students to read books that stretch their reading ability and comprehension, I need to practice this myself.

Hidden Figures, Part 3: New Testament

This is the final installment of a short series that responds to the film Hidden Figures (2016).  The New Testament also contains a number of hidden figures, ordinary and even marginalized individuals who turn out to be essential to the moving forward of God's kingdom narrative.

Nativity Story

   Sometimes stories become so familiar that we don't realize that some of the figures in the Nativity story would have been overlooked or considered non-essential if recorded by a historian other than Luke, the evangelist.  As a Gentile and outsider himself, he seems to have an eye for the marginalized, including non-Jews, women, the disabled, and so on.

   So, how are shepherds "hidden figures" in this sense?  While we might imagine shepherds to be the gentle caretakers of cute and fluffy sheep, the society in which they lived did not consider shepherding a noble profession, despite the beloved Psalm 23 that compared God to a shepherd.  The time spent outdoors and isolated from town life led to perceptions that sheep-tenders stretched the truth and couldn't be trusted.  In fact, they were not permitted to testify in court even if they were eye-witnesses of a crime.
   It is striking that God decided to send a troop of angels to shepherds outside at night. They were chosen as the first visitors, the first witnesses of an event that changed the course of history.  The angels identified the child as "the Saviour, Christ the Lord," and the shepherds did not find ways to rationalize this message away.  Instead, they got up and followed the directions they were given! 
   After they had gone to worship the baby, they told everyone they met about this good news.  No doubt, many listeners shook their heads and dismissed the story as nothing more than a tall tale from no-good shepherds.  But anyone whose heart was prepared may have looked past the grubby messengers and received the news with wonder and hope.

Minors

   There are two distinct times when individual children in the New Testament are mentioned for their deeds.  The first, whose name is not given, plays an important role in a miracle that is told in each of the four gospels.  It is John, the Evangelist, who provides the detail of where the 5 loaves and 2 fish came from in the feeding of the 5000.  It was a particular boy who made his bread-and-fish lunch available to Jesus, providing the raw materials for a multitude to be fed.

   The second young man is Paul's nephew.  In Acts 23:16 and following, this nephew overhears a plot against the Apostle Paul so that he can be ambushed and killed before he can receive a proper Roman hearing.  Being in the right place at the right time, Paul's nephew is discreet and goes to the proper authority to tell what he knows.  In acting quickly and with wisdom, he played a part in preserving Paul's life and testimony until God's plan was fulfilled.

Patronesses

   Three short verses at the start of Luke 8 tell us something not commonly known among Christians.  The hidden figures in this case are wealthy women who provided for the needs of Jesus and his disciples over the course of their ministry.  During these years, ministry work was intense and could not be combined with making a living in the traditional way.  Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Cuza, Susanna, and "many others" accompanied the group of followers.  Jesus did not use miracles to provide for himself, as Satan had earlier tempted him to do in the wilderness.  However, these hidden figures did what they could behind the scenes, using their own means to make sure Jesus and his followers did not go hungry. In other places, Mary, Martha and Lazarus and Simon the Leper are named as providing hospitality when Jesus and his entourage are visiting the Jerusalem area [1].

Easter 

   The first ones at the tomb on Easter morning were hidden figures too, women distraught at the death of their Lord and eager to do what they could to respect and anoint his body with aloes and spices.  All four gospels confirm that they were the first to see that the grave was empty, although it took some time for all the believers to sort out exactly what this meant.  When they came with reports of the empty tomb, the first reaction of the disciples was disbelief, partly because the message was beyond what they considered possible and partly because women were not considered reliable.

   Again, we see that God exalts those that society has considered unworthy.  Women as the first witnesses of the resurrection would have been completely ludicrous in that culture if someone were fabricating a tale to convince the Jews that Jesus rose from the dead.  That all the gospels have women arriving at the tomb first and being vindicated that they had indeed seen angels gives compelling evidence of the truth of the narrative.

Conclusion

   As I have pondered the concept of "hidden figures" the past several months in relation to the Bible, I can see that one of Scripture's overarching themes is that the humble will be exalted and that the lofty will be shown their proper place.  One day before Christmas, the song of Mary is a fitting place to summarize:

   He [the Lord] has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.  He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers. [2]

[1] See John 12, Matthew 26 and Mark 14. 

[2] Luke 1: 51-55, NIV.