There’s all sorts of classic children’s books that feature bunnies:

• Goodnight Moon
• Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book)
• Guess How Much I Love You
• The Runaway Bunny
• Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales (Potter)
• The Velveteen Rabbit

But this sort of bunny tale is about a third grade teacher, Mr. Done,  who has 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny.

He writes:

I fix staplers that won’t staple and zippers that won’t zip, and I poke pins in the orange caps of glue bottles that will not pour. I hand out papers and pencils and stickers and envelopes for newly pulled teeth. I know the difference between Austria and Australia.

I plan lessons while shaving, showering, driving, eating, and sleeping. I plan lessons five minutes before the bell rings. I know what time it is when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the nine. I say the r in library. I do not say the w in sword.

I put on Band-Aids and winter coats and school plays. I know they will not understand the difference between your and you’re. I know they will write to when it should be too. I say “Cover your mouth,” after they have coughed on me.

I am a teacher.

Makes a great teacher gift!

32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons from Teaching is a wonderful book for any parent of a third-grader, a former third-grader, or a potential third-grader. (That’s most of us!) It’s also a terrific book any teacher who can commiserate with the misery and joys that Phillip Done faces during the school year. You may want to buy a copy for your favorite teacher or someone who is going to school for their teaching credential.

I’m about halfway through the book and am enjoying every page of it. It’s very well written – he’s obviously been teaching many third graders how to write essays and book reports. It’s funny and touching, too.

The book makes you realize that no matter how backwards your school board is, how obnoxious your principal acts, and how run down your school may be, it’s the teachers that make school the wonderful place it should be.

Phillip Done, who has taught elementary school for over 30 years – he also won the Schwab Foundation Distinguished Teacher Award – is one of those special teachers. I’m glad he’s written 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons from Teaching to share his wisdom and humor.

Now if he can only tell me how to get my third grader to write neatly enough so I can read it. Then again, Done’s a teacher, not a magician.

Obama summed up my feelings quite nicely:

Part of what arts education does is it teaches people to see through each other’s eyes. It teaches us to respect and understand people who are not like us. That makes us better citizens and makes our democracy work better.

What’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding?

He’s talking about empathy, and Obama’s not the only one advocating using art education programs to do this. In a 2006 Lancet essay, Development of children’s creativity to foster peace, Dr. Ashfaq Ishaq wrote:

The arts can aid a child’s holistic development, especially empathy… A RAND study noted that the communicative and personal nature of creative expression, accentuated through collective arts activities, can forge social bonds while supporting identity formation and cultural transmission.

By teaching empathy through music and art programs, we give our children the skills to succeed and live peacefully in a diverse world.

The arts also promote academic achievement

Did you know that children who receive art and music education are more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, win an award for school attendance, participate in a math or science fair, or be elected to a school class office? Children who actively engaged in the arts are more likely to read for pleasure or perform community service, too, according to a study conducted by Stanford University and Carnegie Foundation For the Advancement of Teaching, Americans for the Arts.

Yes, reading, writing and arithmetic are important, but as Obama said, “Kids whose imaginations are sparked by the arts are more engaged in school.” An engaged child is a successful one both academically and socially. That is why it is important to make sure your school district places an emphasis on academic achievement by supporting art and music programs as part of the curriculum and as extracurricular activities.

Bringing the arts into your child’s life

Not only is arts education important in school, it’s important to bring it into the home to spend time enjoying the arts as a family. Here’s how:

• Attend cultural festivals and learn about different cultures through their music, dance, dress and food.
• Visit art galleries and museums.
• Go to the library and check out art books and CDs.
• Turn off the TV and listen to music during family meals.
• Make sure your child has ready access to art supplies – paper, pens, crayons, modeling clay, scissors, glue, beads, feathers, etc. Even if you aren’t artistic, you can doodle, paint or color with your child.
• Attend concerts, theater, and music and art festivals.
• Support initiatives that bring arts to your school, whether it’s helping to get a band started or volunteering to help the drama teacher put on a musical.
• Enroll your child in band, piano lessons, dance or martial arts.
• Encourage them to join a church choir or community youth drama group.

Supporting the arts does not have to be expensive. Many museums offer free days and reduced rates for children and seniors. Many children’s museums offer hands on art activities as well that are free or have nominal fees as well.

Check your Friday paper to find family family friendly concerts and plays in your community. Many are free or affordable.

Activities and resources

• The When May Met Andy art activity helps children model empathy and break down stereotypes. This activity uses an episode of the Scholastic show, Maya & Miguel, on PBS
• Supporting the Arts: Why it’s important to connect to the creative side of school by Cara Pitterman at Scholastic Parents magazine
• Make Sure Your Child Gets an Arts Education by Sarah Hutter at Scholastic Parents magazine
• Citizens of the World: How to raise a child who appreciates, respects, and enjoys the diversity of life by Louise Boyle Swiniarski PhD at Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine
• Americans for the Arts website
• Helpful guide on exercises in grammar and writing by a site that reviews online school programs

Research and books

The Internet is full of junk when it comes to Native American topics. Since the Wikipedia section on the Iroquois is locked for “vandalism,” I questioned the information there. Luckily, our local library has a healthy selection of books on Native American culture just for children. We checked out:

• The Iroquois (Native American Histories) by Charlotte Wilcox for children ages nine to 12. Nathan’s currently reading this during his 15-minutes mandatory reading homework time. And he’s using a feather as a book mark, go figure.
• The Iroquois And Their History (We the People) by Genevieve St. Lawrence. Another book for kids who are reading at a third to sixth grade level.

The report assignment

As part of their project they have to do an oral report and artwork or a craft of some kind. My husband had the brilliant idea that Nathan make some Native American food to serve his class. I liked this idea because it was relatively inexpensive and I didn’t have to store a diorama after the project was over. I thought that Nathan’s classmates would enjoy eating Native American food, too.

I checked out another children’s book, Native North American Foods and Recipes by Bobbie Kalman. Since this book had more facts than recipes I also reserved two adult Native American cookbooks:

• Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This book is in traditional cookbook format with chapters broken up into appetizers, soups, meats, birds, game, breads, desserts and beverages.
• Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. This cookbook is divided into geographic regions, so we found this more helpful for the project. Nathan and I decided to make maple syrup candy and Algonquian Maple Popcorn Balls. Yes, the Algonquians are not part of the Iroquois Confederacy. However, all Northeastern Indians had access to corn and maple syrup, so I think we can fudge it. I’m sure all native Northeastern peoples did some sort of popcorn and maple dish.

Spirit of the Harvest

Many of the recipes in this cookbook, including ones for pumpkin soup, Indian pudding, and cranberry pudding, looked so good that I will be ordering Spirit of the Harvest so I can make them for Thanksgiving. But why wait? I was intrigued by the cover dish of Hidasta Stuffed Sugar Pumpkins. (The Hidasta are Plains Indians in North Dakota and trade with their Minnesotan Chippewa – or Ojibway – neighbors for wild rice.)

I have a freezer full of ground venison and wild rice in the cupboard, and since pumpkins are in season now we started our Native American cooking project a little early.

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

Ingredients:

1. 1 sugar pumpkin (also called a pie pumpkin) 4-5 pounds – do not use a regular pumpkin! Sugar/pie pumpkins are sweeter and less stringy than regular ones
2. 1 medium onion, chopped
3. 2 teaspoon salt
4. 1 cup cooked wild rice (you can substitute brown rice if you wish)
5. 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
6. 3 eggs, beaten (I used six egg whites instead to lower the fat content)
7. 2 teaspoons olive oil
8. 1 teaspoon crushed, dried sage (I used 1 Tablespoon fresh sage from our garden.)
9. 1 lb ground buffalo, venison, or beef (I used ground venison. You could try ground turkey or meat substitute, too.)
10. 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the wild rice per the instructions on the package. This can take up to an hour. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while it’s cooking.
2. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. when the rice is nearly done.
3. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove strings and seeds. Put top aside. Reserve the seeds for another use. Prick the cavity with a fork and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the mustard.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet, add meat and onion and saute over medium-high heat until browned. Remove from the stove top and stir in cooked wild rice, eggs, remaining salt, sage and pepper.
5. Stuff pumpkin with the meat mixture and cover with the lid to keep the rice moist.
6. Place 1/2″ water in the bottom of a shallow baking pan. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Add more water to the pan as necessary to avoid sticking.
7. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges, giving each person pumpkin and stuffing.

Notes

• My daughter seems to be growing out of her egg allergy. Still we’re cautious. I had read that kids are more likely to be allergic to egg yolks, so I’ve been using egg whites only. Plus, it lowers the fat. Remember, two egg whites equals one whole egg.
• I mistakenly put all the salt in the pumpkin, so I didn’t add more to the meat. Unfortunately, when you bit into a spoonful of pumpkin, it was too salty. However, when I mixed up the pumpkin and meat, it was fine.
• The original recipe didn’t say to put the pumpkin lids back on top. So I put them on the side. Since the rice got dried out and crunchy, so I’m recommending that you gently place the lid back on and let it sit on top of the meat mixture. It should keep things moister.
• I was surprised that the kids didn’t care for this dish though my husband and I loved it. The kids didn’t like the wild rice in the meat, so that’s why I’m recommending you use brown rice instead. It’s a possibility that they didn’t care for the sage, so I’m wondering if using basil, parsley, and oregano may be more to their liking. That’s what they’re used to in meatballs and meatloaf. However, they did like the roasted pumpkin, go figure.

I wish I had know about this before I shopped online at some of my favorite merchants like Kohl’s, Staples and Target. Oriental Trading, Cabella’s, Home Depot and over 60 other popular merchants are there. It’s also a great site to do your back to school shopping at, since merchants like Wal-Mart and Lands End are offering special deals until the end of August.

If you want to shop through the site to earn money for your school, you must register online through the Box Tops website and designate a school to support. Second, you must start your online shopping at the Box Tops for Education Marketplace in order for Box Tops to credit purchases to your school. Finally, be sure that “cookies” are enabled on your Internet browser. The use of cookies is necessary to accurately track your purchases from participating stores.

Friends, relatives, and businesses can shop to support any school, whether it’s in the next state or across the country. All they need to do is sign up online at the Box Tops website with your child’s school’s name and state or ZIP code. Once registered, every qualifying purchase they make through the Box Tops Marketplace will earn cash for your school.

For more information see the Box Tops for Education Marketplace FAQs.

I have a profile at Box Tops for Education from a few years back, and have a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card*, a $10 gift card to Land’s End and a $20 Target gift card sitting on my desk. Looks like I have some shopping to do!

(Complimentary of RocketXL. Now before you say, “Well you were paid to promote this!” Well, true. However, I’m happy to get the word out about another way to raise money for my children’s school while doing the stuff moms normally do, like shopping online. I think most of us would rather raise money this way than buy cookie dough, you know?)

If you missed it, you can listen to the archived show here.

For a lot of kids the first day of school is scary. Reading books and talking about school can help calm their fears. Here are some books and activities you can do with your child to get the discussion started.

Books

• Kevin Goes to School (Kane/Miller) – Belgian author Liesbert Slegers’s character Kevin and his friend Ali help make the transition to school less frightening.
• Something for School (Available in August 2008 from Kane/Miller Book Publishers) It’s the first day of kindergarten, and Yoon’s new teacher and classmates mistake her for a boy. Oh no! This book is about starting school and making friends instead of assumptions. By Korean author Hyun Young Lee.
• Little School (Kane/Miller) Australian author Beth Norling gives readers a realistic account of preschool life so your preschooler knows exactly what to expect when they start.
• Tibili: The Little Boy Who Didn’t Want to Go to School (Kane/Miller) French author Marie Léonard set a story of a reluctant first-time school-goer in Africa. Also available in Spanish and French.
•  First Day Jitters (Charlesbridge) Author Julie Danneberg’s character Sarah Jane is scared and doesn’t want to start over at a new school. With prodding from her father, Sarah Jane reluctantly goes off to school. She is quickly befriended by Mrs. Burton, who helps calm her nerves. Also available in Spanish.
• Kindergarten Countdown (Random House) By Anna Jane Hays and illustrated by Lind Davick. A little girl named Lucy counts off the days by naming what she’ll do in kindergarten, what she’ll wear, and what she’ll learn. (Read my review of Kindergarten Countdown.)

For more book ideas see my post Back to school book roundup.

Activities

Here are some links to articles that can help you prepare your child for that scary first day of school:

• First-day jitters: starting preschool by Isadora Fox, Ilisa Cohen and Diane Debrovner of Parents.com
• Cures for First-Day Jitters – by the American School Counselor Association
• Preparing for the First Days of School by Ellen Booth Church of Scholastic Parent
• 10 Steps for a First Trip to School from Scholastic Parent
• Click here for some school lunch ideas.