Anatomy of a Learning Initiative: What Worked, What Didn't

I'm always interested to hear about people's special learning or middos initiatives for kids - particularly those that sustain momentum. I'm deeply interested in what makes an initiative last.

This is the story of one special learning initiative for kids. I thought it might last a couple of weeks. It's been going on now for, gee, almost five months.

Here are some factors that seem to contribute to the success of the program:

1. The task is simple, small, and specific: read a perek of Navi in English and tell me what happened in it.

2. The prizes are varied, cute, and very low-key -- on the order of magnitude of M&Ms, but not edible. The girls pick out one prize per perek. They not infrequently spend several minutes deliberating over which one they want to choose; but - this is my criterion for prizes - although some girls are drawn in by the prizes, I think they take more pleasure in the mastery of the material.

3. The initiative is public. The narrations take place in the shul social hall after davening on Shabbos, so when a girl comes up to tell me about a perek, her friends see and are reminded about the program. As long as someone is doing it, the other someones are interested.

Also, I put the prizes in a translucent bag, so they're in everyone's face. A number of girls have gotten involved because they came over to ask what those are, and can they have one?

Here are a couple of things that surprised me:

1. The e-mail I sent to parents explaining the initiative (with the graphic above) never went further than the parents. The only way communicate with the girls is to speak with them directly.

2. The fact that the initiative is l'ilui nishmas someone significant in our lives, while it is a nice thing and I'm glad we're doing it, seems to make no difference in anyone's motivation.

3. I need to remember not to underestimate the attractiveness of bite-sized anything. I now have several girls who've started learning Pirkei Avos instead of or in addition to Navi. It isn't any easier -- but the bites are smaller.

4. We've had tremendous surges in participation from all ages around Purim and Shavuos, because Megillas Esther and Megillas Rus are particularly user-friendly Navi.

5. We also have higher-than-average participation rates on Shabbosos or yamim tovim when the girls come to shul more than once, e.g. on two-day yontifs.

6. The age range surprised me. Girls who can't read yet are now participating because they get their sisters to tell them the stories in Navi. There is a sharp cut-off in participation at age 11: no one older will condescend to play with us (although several have said they want the prizes). I thought we might have one playful adult or even teen from this whole community, but no: it's turned out to be strictly a kid thing, ages 4-11.

So.

To sum up, I attribute the fact that what I thought might be a three-week program is still running five months later to

(a) nissim v'niflaos

(b) the fact that it's so low-key. It's an easy task and the prizes are tiny and consistent. There's absolutely nothing splashy about it... except that

(c) the content is real. The accomplishment is real. The girls really appreciate that they are learning something.

The one outcome I am still hoping to see that I haven't seen is whether the girls' interest will spill over to others in the community. We are starting an outreach kollel here in Elul but it would be pretty cool, if equally unlikely, if a group of 4-to-11-year-old girls can get the whole kehilla talking in learning before that.

Now that a lot of the girls are learning Pirkei Avos, when they come to tell me a Mishnah I suspect they don't really understand, I tell them they have to find an explanation for it. So they are engaging their parents, which is great.

Textile Melachos Demonstrations for Non-Textile-Makers

This is the second year I've gone into my daughter's school to give a presentation on fiber arts for a class studying the 39 melachos.

It occurs to me that there are probably other teachers out there teaching these melachos who could use a hands-on demonstration, but don't know how to give one.

Here you go.
I'm sure fiber artists will see plenty here to correct (please add your comments!); but this is what I've done that has worked for us so far.

Melaben
I pass around a bag of unwashed wool and the kids (or anyway the ones who aren't grossed out by it -- unwashed wool is amazingly... unwashed) all feel it.
I ordered two ounces of unwashed sheep wool (and one ounce of unwashed goat hair, for fun) from this supplier: Flintstown Fibers. I like that she put the names of the animals on the bags of wool. (I tell the kids to "Reach in the bag and pet Polly.")
I ask the kids: what's the first thing we need to do with this wool?

"Wash it!" they all scream.

Menapetz
Now I pass around another sample of wool from the same supplier, this time a washed one; and the contrast is amazing.

The next thing we have to do is comb out the tangles.
I use two wire-bristle dog brushes because the same tool is used for sheep wool, but the mini version sold for dogs costs much less.
I lay a little bit of the washed wool in one brush, and drag the other brush through it. This is carding, and it produces a fuzzy, fluffy wool.

Now we have a nice, detangled wool. What's the next thing we need to do with it?

Tzovea
I had some jars of dye in the house (from here); it's not formulated for wool but it worked for the demonstration. I took the little bit of carded wool and dunked it in the dye jar, and patted it in a paper towel until it was dry. It came out a very pale blue.
(Making your own natural dyes would not be hard. Here are instructions for dyeing with onion skins.)
(Fun fact - if you have the disposable income of an emperor you can still buy argaman pigment.)

Now I have nice blue wool. What's the next thing we need to do with it?

Toveh
I take my little piece of blue wool and twist it between my fingers so that it looks like a piece of yarn. Just twist -- that's it.

If you let go of the wool after you've twisted it, it will untwist: it has to be held in hot steam to stay twisted. So, I press it on a towel with a hot clothes-iron, pushing the steam button. Now it's yarn.

I like to show the kids how much faster spinning is with a spindle; they all can't wait to try it but the truth is that just twisting the wool between their fingers is easier for them. If you want to play with spindles I recommend (as both inexpensive and easy to use) this Mini Bottom-Whorl Spindle.
Here is a tutorial that explains how to spin on a spindle: Mielke's Fiber Arts Drop Spindle Tutorial.

Technically at this point I would take a couple of strands of yarn and twist them all together -- this is called plying -- but I skip that part.

What's the next melacha?

Meisach
At this point you need a loom.
A children's potholder loom (like this or this) is fun to use; maisach is putting on the loops in one direction. (These are called the warp threads.)
Or, take an empty picture frame, wrap a lot of thread or string around it (I wrapped eight times) so it looks like a two-sided guitar, and tape the ends to the frame.
Or, this is the kind of loom I use, just because I have one in the house already.


Oseh Shtei Batei Nirin
I show the kids how I weave potholder loops, or pine needles (easier to see in a demonstration than thread) over one string and under the next, all the way across.
(These are called the weft threads.)

I ask them whether they think that weaving curtains for the Mishkan this way would be a quick job or a slow one.
"It would take forever!" they say.

Enter heddles (batei nirin).
A lot of simple children's looms don't have heddles. There are also many that do, like this one and this one. Potholder looms don't.

You can make heddles. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't work on a potholder loom (the warp loops slip off their pegs easily) so you'll need a picture frame or a beading loom or something else that lets you secure the warp threads well.
One way to make heddles is to make a heddle bar; but I just tie thread loops around every other warp thread and tape them together.
This is enough to show what a heddle does; to actually use the loom I would need a second heddle, which is slightly more complicated.

The best instructions I've seen for making an inexpensive loom with two sets of heddles are in Sarah Swett's book Kids Weaving, published 2005. The whole loom is made of PVC pipes (about $4 worth of pipe plus some fittings) and it's got cool moving parts.
If you want to make the kind of loom that (I think) was used for the mishkan, there are instructions here: How to Build and Use a Warp-Weighted Loom. (Ms. Swett's instructions are written for children and therefore more user-friendly.)

Oreg
When you pick up those heddle loops, every other warp thread rises. You can slip your weft thread (or pine needle...) in the space underneath.
When you release the loops, the warp threads drop back into place, and you'll see that your weft thread is held neatly between the warp threads, as if you had woven it over-under-over-under one thread at a time.

Now You Try
At this point I pinch off a piece of washed wool for each kid and pass out the carders and spindles; they card the wool and spin it, and bring it to me to steam it for them with the iron.

Today when everyone had spun a little strand of wool I dyed it for them also. We did tzovea last because I'm not sure this dye washes out of clothing. We would have gotten more even color had we worked in order.

If we would spend all day spinning we would end up with enough yarn for the kids to weave also; but we stop with spinning. The whole demonstration takes half an hour.

A lot of elementary school teachers keep a big loom in their rooms for kids to weave on during down time, which I think is a nice idea.

I have read that in art from certain parts of the ancient world, Jews are often recognizable as the nation depicted wearing striped textiles.

Total Shopping List for a Demonstration of the Textile Melachos
Melaben - unwashed wool. You can wash it yourself if you want to.
Menapetz - washed wool (two ounces of washed wool has lasted me through about 30 kids and we haven't used it up yet); two dog slicker brushes (or more pairs so lots of kids can try it at once - each needs to use two at a time)
Tzovea - commercial dye powder (or a pot of onion skins)
Toveh - clothes iron (I tried once to steam spun wool by holding it over the spout of an electric kettle. This was not pleasant - find an iron); spindles (optional)
Weaving melachos - a loom. Despite the fact that you have to buy the pipes and assemble it yourself, I think the best option for an affordable loom with batei nirin that has clear instructions is the DIY pipe loom in Sarah Swett's book Kids Weaving.

Undivided: a Computer Game about Consideration

My husband found this game.
I never thought I would recommend a computer game, but we've both found it useful in teaching consideration.

The game must be played by two players simultaneously. The two need to collaborate to push each other toward the goal.

One controls the right & left arrows and can move its character only sideways; the other uses only the S & W keys and can move its character only up or down.

The game is here:

Undivided

Math Manipulative: Montessori Binomial and Trinomial Cube Puzzles

Montessori is great for beautifully made manipulatives.

I finally found a good excuse to order the binomial and trinomial cube puzzles.

This site which explains how to use them recommends them for the youngest children; but I seem to remember working on these cubes (and finding the trinomial very challenging) in both my Lower Elementary (1st-3rd grade) and Upper Elementary (4th-6th grade) classrooms.
Personally, my excuse for ordering them is a group of high school students who are studying polynomials. I think we never outgrow good visuals.

I handed the boxes to my second grader, told her they were puzzles, and let her figure out on her own how to solve them. She found them an absorbing and pleasant challenge.

(The math-genius grown-up of the family walked in, took one look at the trinomial and, without stopping to think, FOIL'd it and built up all three layers at once, diagonally.)

A significant part of the Montessori philosophy is that children are sensitive to beauty, so their learning materials should be beautiful. The school I attended used, I remember, beautifully crafted, polished Montessori materials.
I ordered the (relatively) cheap version of the puzzles from China. I'm satisfied with the quality. They're still lovely and curiously attractive (like Uncle Andrew's magic rings) and satisfying to handle.

Book Review: Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine

When I got asked to teach math, I went to the library and scraped off the shelf all the children's picture-book biographies of Ada, Countess of Lovelace. There are quite a few of them.

The best-written of the lot to which I had access is Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, by Laurie Wallmark, because the author succeeds in taking the reader into Ada's experience of falling in love with numbers.

I asked my second-grader, who tested all the books with me, and she agreed that this version tells the best story.

Now you know.

It's a pity there aren't lots of shiny math manipulatives with brass bickerjiggers on them. Most rotary calculators, for instance, are plastic.
Abacuses and Montessori beads are two welcome exceptions.