What is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving Feast

Do you know the real story behind Thanksgiving? Is it just about remembering the Pilgrims and Indians? Are we supposed to give thanks for what we have while remembering those who have less? Do we pray to God and reflect on our year? What about stuffing your face with Turkey, while watching football and planning out tomorrow's Black Friday shopping trip? There are so many ideas behind Thanksgiving; traditions from the past that have become the celebration of today, but where did it all start? What is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving as we know it today came from three different types of celebrations. The first comes from a long ago time when people celebrated and rejoiced after a successful harvest. When colonist arrived to the New World from England they brought this tradition with them. The second celebration is another tradition from the Pilgrims who felt the importance of religious observance to thank God through prayer and feast. These celebrations would occur anytime of the year.  The last celebration is the commemoration of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock and surviving a harsh winter with the help of the local Native Americans.

As a national holiday Thanksgiving was first celebrated on November 26, 1789 when President George Washington issued a proclamation declaring the day of thanks for the blessings God gave the new nation and its independence from Great Britain.

     "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness"

After that first declaration various harvest and thanksgivings were celebrated but it wasn't until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared the fourth Tuesday in November a national holiday that Thanksgiving was consistently celebrated as a nation.  In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the third Thursday in November. He did this to give people living during the Great Depression more time to make money before Christmas.

Squanto

 We all know the story of the Pilgrims and Indians but it has become more myth than truth. Yes there were Pilgrims who struggled though a harsh winter. Yes there where the Native Americans living near by who were known as the Wampanoag. One particular Native American man named Squanto helped the Pilgrims survive. But the true story isn't really happy and peaceful. It is sad truth that the Pilgrims stole from the Native Americans. They also treated them badly and thought the Native people weren't as good as the Pilgrims. They stole to survive and believed God was on their side. It is the way people thought back then. After the harsh winter they gave thanks to God. The spirit of Thanksgiving can be seen in the actions of the Wampanoag Indians. Instead of hating the Pilgrims for their bad deeds they helped them survive.

Thanksgiving should not only be a time to give thanks for all we have but a time to remember how far we have come. Perhaps the real first Thanksgiving wasn't born from good behavior but the spirit of Thanksgiving can be found in those first events.  The Pilgrims did overcome a harsh winter. While they may have abused the Native Americans they also learned from them. Truly, the Pilgrims would not have survived without the help of their new found neighbors. It was Squanto who helped establish a peace treaty between the various Native American tribes and the Pilgrims.

How fortunate for us to be able to learn from our past, good and bad. Thanksgiving is a celebration that requires each of us to reflect on our lives and give thanks for our blessings. Let us all remember our beginnings from that first harsh winter of desperation to becoming a country to today's blessings. Living in Pasadena may not make it easy to realize where our food comes from but take the spirit of those long ago celebrations of a good harvest and rejoice in the good things to eat. Remember the Native Americans and their willingness to try peace even though they were wronged. Will you thank God for your school, family, food, shelter, friends? What else can you give thanks for?

Happy Thanksgiving Falcons!



As always, I used library resourced to search for information about Thanksgiving. Here are my citations.

1. Newman, Jason. "The Real First Thanksgiving." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012
2. White, David. "The First Thanksgiving." Social Studies for Kids. 15 Nov 2010: n.p. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 20 Nov 2012.
3. "George Washington: Proclamation for a General Thanksgiving (1789)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012
4. "Squanto."  American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012
5. "Squanto." Image. AP/Wide World Photos. American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.
6. "Thanksgiving feast." Image. Library of Congress. American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.
7. "The American Thanksgiving: The Evolution of a Tradition."  Thanksgiving Primer. 1991: 4-7. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 20 Nov 2012.

Saint Philip's Feast Day

Today St. Philip the Apostle School is celebrating the feast day of Saint Philip. This tradition finds the St. Philip school community gathered in Holy Angel Hall, eating pan dolce and hearing about our patron saint. This year there is a little more of a surprise in store for the students. The teachers are going to put on some skits that help remind us all what it means to be a St. Philip student.

Saint Philip is one of those saints that not too much is known about. I tried searching for him on our various databases and didn't have much luck. I did find him in the World Book Encyclopedia and Wikipedia. Have I ever mentioned that encyclopedias are my favorite reference tools? They rarely fail me. There is also an entry on him in the Dictionary of Saints by John J. Delaney.

According to World Book, Philip of Bethsaida was one of the 12 Apostles and can be found many times in the Gospel of John. Present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes (John 6:5-7) it is also assumed that Philip was Greek since he was able to communicate with a group of Greeks in John 12:20-22. Philip was present at the Last Supper and was the apostle that asked Jesus if he could see the father (John 14:8-9). According to Richard Edward, the author of the World Book Encyclopedia article, "This special interest in Philip indicates that he was highly regarded by the author of the Gospel of John".

Lastly, the library does have a dictionary of saints and it has an entry on Saint Philip. I am happy to say that the book confirms the accounts of Philip in the bible according to World Book. Although rest assured, I did also look them up in the bible. The book of Saints tells how Philip is not mentioned further in the New Testament other than being a part of the 12 apostles waiting for the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:13. According to the book tradition dictates that Philip "preached in Greece and was crucified upside down at Hierapolis under Emperor Domitian".

And that is really all there is to know about Saint Philip. Wikipedia does make some other references and I did find a listing on http://saints.sqpn.com that mentions his character and says he is the patron saint of hatters. But I was not able to confirm this information elsewhere. I also was unable to discover why he is the patron saint of hatter. 

Citation:  

1. Edwards, Richard A. "Philip of Bethsaida, Saint." World Book Student. World Book, 2012. Web. 3 May 2012. Delaney, John J. 
2. Delaney, John J. Dictionary of Saints. Doubleday, New York  1982

Final round of 4th grade projects

We had the final round of 4th grade research presentations today. In case you don't remember the 4th graders were asked to use the Dewey 200s section, Religion, and research a non Christian religion. They could work with partners or alone. They were given a list of options that allowed them to present their research creatively. One of the most popular option was the Prezi presentation. I posted about those here and here. Today I thought I would share some of the other presentations. I must say we have some very creative children. 

This is just a sampling of projects from 4A. 

Maggie Kiechler chose one of the more creative options. She made a menu that explained the god Artemis. 

But this is not your typical menu. My favorite option: The Trojan Horse served with a side of revenge!

Lily Mendez created a travel poster for a Hindu Temple. She made sure to include the etiquette that must be followed when visiting a Temple. 

These two post cards depict the Shinto religion. I love how they explain how to say Hello from Japan in Japanese. 

This is a book jacket for a book about a Buddhist Temple. I forgot to take a picture of the inside but the description of her research was very witty. 

The front cover of another beautifully done book jacket. 

I love Gabriel's passion!

Megan and Molly decided to be fashion designers!

I just adore this book jacket. The artwork is well thought out!

Another great Prezi

Ethan Gray and Andrew Huang in 4A just did a wonderful Prezi presentation. It is an excellent example of how to put together your research in an interesting and engaging way. Here it is...

Viking gods on Prezi

4B Research and Prezi

The 4th grade library classes have been working hard learning the Dewey Decimal System. Starting with the 000 and going to the 900 they learn what each section means. The past few weeks have been spent learning the 200's; Religion. To better understand their world the class was asked to research a non Christian religion. While the Dewey 200's is made up of mostly Christianity if you look at the numbers between 290 and 299 you will find a multitude of books about various world religions. We have books about Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions. There are also books that cover ancient religions like Greek and Roman Mythology, Aztec Gods, Celtic and Scandinavian Mythology.

After reading about various religions the students were ask to do mini presentations. They choose from a list of various genres that included things like advertisements, book jackets, poetry, quizzes, and much more. By far the most popular choice was to do a Prezi. A few month ago I posted my own prezi. It can be found Here

Yesterday 4B presented what they learned about their religions. The posters, quizzes and book jackets will be displayed in the hallway outside the library.  The Prezi's are posted below.

Sikhism on Prezi

Hinduism temples on Prezi

Ramadan on Prezi

JAINISM on Prezi

Dionysus on Prezi

Buddah on Prezi

Taoism on Prezi

Redesign

The past few weeks I have been working toward revamping The Falcons Fables. I wanted it to be more user friendly and easier to navigate. I believe I have achieved those goals.

The major change has been to move all my links from the side bar to the tabs at the top of the page. I believe the most exciting tab to add was Databases. I have been speaking of them for a while now. I promise that by the end of the year we will have a few more links within that tab. Right now the link for World Book online is located there. Keep an eye out for many more. Also check out the Other Blogs tab. There are many great book related blogs on the web.

I hope you like the redesign. I had fun doing it!

 

The Immaculate Conception Part 1

Alright Falcons, there is something that seems to confuse many people including Catholics. As you know, we attend mass, as a school, once a week on Tuesdays. Yet this past Tuesday we did not go to mass. Instead we went today. I heard from a few students that they were a little confused as to why. Fr. Dennis did an excellent job of explaining it to us during his Homily but I'm afraid some of our falcons weren't listening. I had to laugh a little when a student turned to me and asked, "why did we go to mass today and not Tuesday?" Mind you this was said seconds after Fr. Dave finished speaking. That's OK, it happens to the best of us! But of course this got me thinking. If you follow this blog you know I have a passion for research.  I will take every chance I get to become The Falcon, supper speedy research librarian extraordinaire! Hey, it is fun!

I did not know today was a holy day of obligation. I am not sure why this year my brain decided to acknowledge mass as a school or that it is a day of obligation. Also, I was once a Catholic who thought the feast of the Immaculate Conception meant it was the day Mary immaculately conceived Jesus. Perhaps in all my years of Catholic schooling it was never explained to me properly OR more likely, I didn't listen properly. Now I know better and am aware that it has to do with Mary herself being immaculate.

All right, that's what I know! Ready? Get your research caps on! Here we go...

GOOGLE: Yes, yes I did Google. 
Immaculate Conception brought up websites for some schools. 
The Immaculate Conception got me Wikipedia! Um no thank you. While, I think of Wikipedia as a great jumping off point I reserve it only for subjects I don't know much about. I use it as a way to get those synapses going. So I skipped over Wikipedia.
What is the feast day of the immaculate conception returned some interesting results and I scanned the various websites for information. All seemed correct and unbiased either written for Catholics or for people wanting to learn about Catholicism. Good. 

But, I didn't want to just trust websites, especially ones I didn't know much about. So I pulled out a book donated by Mrs. Ramirez (the school principal for you non SP readers). 

The Catholic Source Book: A Comprehensive Collection of Information about the Catholic Church. Our copy is from 2000 so it could be considered outdated. I am not 100% sure if some of this information has changed or not.  Here are some tidbits of what I found. 

"There are ten holy days of obligation listed by Rome. In the Untied States six, besides Sundays, are celebrated. The number varies from country to country because conferences of bishops are free to set their country's holy days - with the Vatican's approval. Current practice is to retain at least two: Christmas and one feast honoring Mary." Here is the list, the italicized ones are not obligations in the USA. Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, The Body and Blood of Christ, Mary, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception, Assumption, St. Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, All Saints. 

Well that explains why we had mass today instead of Tuesday. Today, the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of obligation. It is also special in that it is a mass that honors Mary, the Mother of God. 
Beyond that there were only some references to symbolism, mainly Mary and the Moon. (more on that in another post)

Back to the internet. 

I found many many websites explaining Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the feast day of the Immaculate Conception. While they all said it a little differently this is the one thing that stood out. 
Mary, full of grace from God was redeemed from the moment of her conception. As said by Pope Pius IX in December 8, 1854, "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin." It was on that December day that Pope Pius IX made it church dogma, that Mary is free from original sin through the grace of God. While the concept was not new, in fact centuries of Catholics believed in immaculate Mary, the church now acknowledges officially Mary's freedom from original sin. Immaculate meaning without sin and conception referring to Mary's conception, not Jesus'. 


And that is all for now. I am very interested in this topic, especially the symbolism and artwork. I also have a lovely book written by DEMI. She is known for her award-winning picture book biographies of spiritual leaders. Her book on Mary has some interesting text that I want to do further research on before posting. So stay tuned! 

Dust Off the Books

I can't believe another school year is here and I am starting my third year as the St. Philip Librarian. I am so grateful to share my passion for reading with the St. Philip community. We have some exciting things planned for the school year. First and foremost, we have decided that since library for grades K-5 is a class where they learn library skills, research tools and book appreciation the students will now receive a behavior and effort grade. I feel this will greatly benefit the classroom environment.

The look of the library has changed a bit. Sections have been moved around to better suit the needs of our smallest library patrons. Last year I moved the reading area and this year the Easy Readers have been moved to the shelves located in the reading area. Reference has been moved close to the computers, while Fictions books are located in the middle of the library in the taller shelves.

Lastly, the library will be receiving three laptop computers. We are getting these so the children can utilize our online systems to do research and work on homework without taking over the library computers. I am very excited to include these in class time. The children will be able to check out a laptop at lunchtime if they wish to work on assignments or do research.

OH! We also got a new American Girl doll. Meet Josephina

Things Have Been Busy and Cinderella!

First let me apologize for the lack of posts lately. Now that I work part time I find  my other library duties make it difficult to find time to blog. On top of that Drama Club is preparing for our spring musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. I am knee deep in costumes, sets and props. Not to mention singing and dancing.

Second, as usual my daily life has inspired me in the library. We all know the Disney version of Cinderella and some of us may recognize that the Brother's Grimm version is slightly different. But the tale of Cinderella has a rich history that translates to different societies with many versions of the same basic story.

Cinderella is probably one of the most well known folk tales.  The characteristics of folklore include stories that are common among a group of people and are often past down from generation to generation. There are around 1000 different versions of Cinderella, the earliest coming from China. Tuan Ch'eng-shih wrote down the Chinese tale sometime in the ninth century (850-860 CE) But that does not mean he created the story. He simply was the first to put the tale on paper. The Chinese people had been telling the story of a Yeh-Shen and her magical fish for as long as they could remember. The theme of the story is the same as the Cinderella story of today. Yeh-Shen is unappreciated and unloved. Her magical fish gives her the opportunity to meet the prince who recognizes her worth from her golden shoe.

The Disney version of Cinderella comes from the folktale written down by Charles Perrault. Written in 1697 Contes de ma Mere L'Oye introduces the Fairy Godmother, the pumpkin carriage, animal helpers and the glass slipper. In this version Cinderella and her kind heart takes pity on her step sisters and finds them husbands too.

Another famous version of Cinderella is interpreted by the Brothers Grimm. This German version also goes by the name Ash Girl and is dark in nature. There is no Fairy Godmother but instead a magical tree planted by Cinderella at her mother's grave. After Cinderella gets her prince the stepsisters eyes are pecked out by birds living in the tree as punishment for their cruelty toward Cinderella.

St. Philip's Drama Club is doing the Rodgers and Hammerstein Musical version of Cinderella. There is a Godmother and pumpkin coach but no true animal helpers. I hope you come out and see our production. If you are curious to read other Cinderella tales the library has a few different versions including

• Little Gold Star by Robert San Souci
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Grimm's Fairy Tales Abridged
• The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo
• Cinderella's Rat by Susan Meddaugh
• Trollerella by Karen M. Bourgeios 

For more information on the history of Cinderella visit this site!
http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forashs.html

Back in January I wrote about interesting and different biographies that can be found in the library. One person I highlighted was John Muir, America's environmentalist. Last week the latest copy of Appleseed Magazine was delivered to the library and low and behold it was all about John Muir. In case you didn't know, Appleseed Magazine is a social sciences magazine for children ages 8-11. Like most classroom magazines each monthly edition focuses on a specific topic. For April 2011 it is Earth Day and John Muir. After reading the magazine from cover to cover here are some things I learned about John Muir.

1. One of America's most famous environmentalists, John Muir is also known as the "Father of Our National Parks". 
2. Muir was an inventor. Some of his inventions include a self-setting sawmill, an automatic feeding machine for horsed and an early rising machine that tipped the sleeper out of bed when an alarm went off. 
3. President Theodore Roosevelt known to be a nature lover himself, requested that Muir take him on a tour of Yosemite Valley to see first hand the destruction humans have on nature.
4. After their trip together Roosevelt was convinced Yosemite Valley had to be preserved and with Congress passed a bill in 1906 making it a national park. 
5. In 1892 John Muir helped found the Sierra Club, named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The club helps people explore nature and teaches about plants, animals and landforms. They have a special program for inner city kids to help expose them to environmentalism. 
6. John Muir was an author and poet. His words inspired many people to learn to love and care for nature. 

"Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy" - John Muir

Inspiration!

I am always inspired by the many events going on during the school day. This week the Jr. High Science Fair had me thinking about how useful our library is to the students when they have less literary assignments. I decided to pretend I was entering a science fair and see what I came up with.

The first stop is to choose an experiment. I already know the library is chalk full of experiment books. Here are a few...

               

Hmmmmm, I am hungry I think I will explore the book Try it With Food from Scholastic Books. There are many different types of experiments in this book but the one that catches my eye is Gelatin Optics (pun intended). "Get 'jiggly' with it in this experiment and make some colorful gelatin 'glasses.' Try them on to demonstrate the principles of magnification and refraction." 


It is a simple experiment that asks you to make various sizes of gelatin glasses using an assortment of small containers such as measuring cups, spoons and saucers. Once the gelatin has hardened you take it out of its molds and use the gelatin as lenses to look at objects, pictures, and the pages of books. I soon discover that the size of the lens affects the magnification. Who knew JELLO could be used as a magnifying lens. Pretty cool. But I still don't understand how it works. The book explains a bit, defining words like concave, convex and refract. But I want to dig deeper.

Call Number
535
STI

Does our library offer books to help me better understand these terms? It sure does!!!!!! Using our computer catalogue I searcher these key words: lenses, light, magnification, and refract. I found this book.

Manipulating Light: Reflection, Refraction and Absorption by Darlene R. Stille.  is part of the Exploring Science series. This series takes a quick look at everything from contemporary issues, such as the greenhouse effect and genetics, to core curriculum themes, such as atoms, molecules and plant cells.


OK, but did I, a decidedly unscientific person, learn anything?!


Well, YES!!!! I learned that the gelatin, in the shape of a curved surface, acts as a magnifying glass. A magnifying glass makes objects look larger than they are. This is because of refraction. A ray of light enters the curved surface and bends as it goes, spreading out, or refracting, on its way to your eye. If the light ray does not bend we would not see clear images. Instead everything would be blurry. Our eyes work the same way. They too, have lenses that refract light. This is why a magnifying glass helps make the image bigger. 


PHEW!!!!!!!!! All this scientific thinking has me H U N G R Y. I think I will do a quick search using Destiny Quest Online to see what sort of yummy goodness I can make using gelatin! 


Here is what I found!
Jello Cookies Recipe found at 
http://www.food.com/recipe/jello-cookies-13745 

I am off to bake!

Earlier I wrote about finding unique biographies. I love learning about people and their accomplishments. Because of this I have been taking a close look at our biography section. We have a wonderful collection of biographies for all ages. Many of them are picture books meant to introduce children to influential people. While perusing the biography section I came across a beautiful book titled John Muir America's First Environmentalist by Kathryn Lasky and Illustrated by Stan Fellows.

Kathryn Lasky, quotes from John Muir's diaries to engage the reader in the life of this famous environmentalist. Told in the form of a children's story the book follows Mr. Muir's life from Scotland to Wisconsin and Florida to Alaska. Each chapter is written as a new adventure in John Muir's life following his many talents as writer, inventor, scholar, farmer, explorer and naturalist. The influence he had on America is quite remarkable. It is due to his love of waterfalls, mountains and the giant sequoias that the first national park was founded.

Lasky's book is wonderfully organized by events in John Muir's life and yet it reads like a story book. Stan Fellow's artwork is colorful and artistic. This book is great for all types of readers who are interested in the environment, art, science and conservation.

"A good starting place for science and biography projects, this book will also appeal to young activists with its message about people needing 'beauty as well as bread'". -Booklist.

Biography

The 5th graders have been busy checking out Biographies for their book reports. To be quite honest I love and hate this time of year. I love the idea of the children learning about remarkable people and history makers. I love that the children get to read these books and perhaps be inspired by other people's accomplishments. But, there are aspects of the biography book reports I greatly dislike. The first is the page limit. While necessary, it is difficult to find biographies that are age appropriate and at least 100 or 150 pages. The second is that more often than not the children gravitate toward the typical biographies. Usually when I suggest a biography the children aren't interested because it isn't someone really popular. Yet, I keep trying. So here are some of my suggestions of really good biographies about people you may know a lot about.

Belva Lockwood: Equal Rights Pioneer
By Jill Norgren
A biography of United States attorney, politician, educator, and author Belva Lockwood, that chronicles her struggles to receive an education and law degree and her run for president with the Equal Rights Party.

Ernest Shackleton: Gripped by the Antarctic
By Rebecca L. Johnson
A biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the daring, charismatic Antarctic explorer who fell short of his goal of crossing Antarctica, but accomplished a far greater feat by bringing every member of his crew back alive.

Agness de Mille

By Judy L. Hasday

Presents a biography of Agnes de Mille, discussing her illustrious family, her interest in dance and determination to become a ballerina, and her eventual success as a choreographer.

Bessie Coleman
By Philip S. Hart
Presents the biography of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman pilot and chronicles her childhood and desire to fly and the struggles she and others faced to overcome racial 
discrimination.

Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini
By Sid Fleischman
A biography of the magician, ghost chaser, aviator, and king of escape artists whose amazing feats are remembered long after his death in 1926.

Pope John Paul II: Young Man of the Church
By George E. Stanley
A brief biography of Pope John Paul II that focuses on his childhood, early years, and events that led him to being named Pope.

Sylvia Earle
By Beth Baker
Describes the life of this groundbreaking marine biologist and diver, from her childhood in New Jersey and Florida to her deep sea explorations of the 1980s and 1990s.

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Kids Edition
By Gregg Lewis
Ben Carson used to be the class dummy. Today he is one of the world's most brilliant surgeons. Gifted Hands Kids Edition tells the extraordinary true story of an angry, young boy from the inner city who, through faith and determination, grew up to become one of the world's leading pediatric neurosurgeons.

Johannes Gutenberg: Inventor of the Printing Press
By Fran Rees

Presents a biography of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, and provides information on the Renaissance world, the Gutenberg Bible, and the impact his invention had on the world of books.