Jacks, Jump ropes, and Journals

Artifacts for today are jacks, jump ropes, and journals. My favorite games to play with others were jacks and singing the jump rope jingles while jumping in and out of the two man rope turning. Awww, those were the days. I'm still pretty good at jacks, as long as I use a golf ball instead of that puny red ball that barely bounces.  Jacks was reserved for the weekends when I could visit my friends down the street from where I lived and have tournaments. Jump rope was pretty much every day at recess, along with four square with the kickball. Hey, I should be writing this down in my journal so the details will push through those cobwebs of memory. I'm an educator so am always thinking kids but EVERYONE really needs a journal to write in. The earlier we begin, the better!

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image url: http://www.fungameskidsplay.com/jacksgame.htm

My journal is a storehouse, a treasury for everything in my daily life: the stories I hear, the people I meet, the quotations I like, and even the subtle signs and symbols I encounter that speak to me indirectly.
                 -Dorothy U. Seyler from Patterns of Reflection: A Reader

Keep your journal close to you at all times. Be ready to write anything and everything - words, pictures, lists, stories, anecdotes, quick writes, poetry, dreams, nightmares, and yes, even jump rope jingles:
Jump Rope Jingles:

Cinderella, dressed in yellow
Went upstairs to kiss her fellow
Made a mistake
And kissed a snake
How many doctors
Did it take?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. . . .


While jumping and chanting, the jumper must try to perform those actions

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Turn around.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Touch the ground. 
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch your shoe.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
That will do.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Go upstairs.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Say your prayers.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Turn out the light.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Say good night!

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back
She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump over the fence, fence, fence
He jumped so high, high, high
He touched the sky, sky, sky
And he didn’t come back, back, back
Till the Fourth of July, July, July

Our 4th graders and 7th graders in Texas just completed their STAAR writing tests. These testing days can and probably are grueling for these kids. Our teachers truly teach their hearts out using the writing process, writing craft, and writing strategies. But research shows that the best writing that our students will do is away from school - a place where there's no pressure, open thoughts allowed, no rules. Every child needs at least one journal at home, in the car, in the bathroom, or by their bed. 

Cool tip: Those small flip notebooks you can buy at Target, Walgreens, or Office Max are perfect pocket notebooks for our kids. They'll be able to catch funny phrases in the cafeteria, at home around the dinner table, at the movie theater, or on vacation.  Here's a few quotes I picked up here, there and everywhere:

1. I need to see a man about a dog! (meaning I have to go to the restroom)
2. "If everybody obeyed the 10 commandments there'd be no 10:00 news"
3. You grow too big for your britches, you'll be exposed.
4. Never trouble trouble until trouble bothers you.
5. He knew how to put the fun into dysfunctional.
6. "Our town's so small we don't even have a town drunk. We just take turns" (Doc McConnell)
7. Special memory - "Going to bed listening to voices of people who love you" - Kathryn Windham
8. "Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha." - Robert Brault
9. D.C. Cornish said "Knocked her out graveyard dead."
10. What's the difference between polititcians and vampires? Vampires only suck blood at night.

It's never too late to find a blank journal and begin your writing journey. The earlier the better because it becomes a natural, daily habit. Choose your color ink, pencil or ipad to jot, type, write, draw, color, paste, doodle, and reflect! You'll surprise yourself!