Taneicea's Encore

Yesterday I meant to take the day off now that testing is over to get some rest. I forgot to, and I'm glad I did. I got a huge surprise when I let the zoo animals...I mean students....in at the morning bell.

Somehow Taneicea talked her parents into staying in Orlando for one more week until Spring Break (This foto was last Wednesday when she first told me she was moving. I was too affected to look at the camera so I gave my evil eye to someone who was goofing off.....probably Luis or Chad :-)

Before she left last week something told me to write a quick chapter during lunch from an education/adventure book I'm sloooooooowly working on. After I shared it with the class Taneicea started writing her own story. You have to read it. Now that she's back I'll try to get it scanned or I'll ask her to type it......It's good and speaks volumes.

This is the first draft of a new book from the series, Once Upon a Tree



CHAPTER ONE ~ THE SILK ROAD

Brosden, Bella and Sofia have been transported back in time once again. They find themselves in the year 1274 a.d. where they meet Marco Polo on Asia's Silk Road. Mr. Polo has just arrived himself, and he looks very tired.

"Why are you so tired, Mr. Polo", Brosden asks. He was very polite for an eleven-year-old boy.

"Call me Marco. I'm only 20. My father, uncle and I have been traveling for three years to get here. We came on a ship, wagon, horseback and now on foot."

"It took us on-wley three minutes", says Sofia. Even though she was six, she still had twouble, I mean 'trouble', pronouncing some of her letters.

"Sofia, shhh! He won't understand", Bella quickly said as she took off her jacket. It was really warm here.

"Why won't he undahstand? Is he not vewry smart?"

Brosden interrupts the two by stepping between them. "Mr. Polo, er Marco, sorry....you're a lot older to me than you think."

"Yeah. Like by almost 800 years", Bella said under her breath.

Brosden shushes his sister by covering her mouth before saying, "Marco, why did you travel so far? What's here?"

"Oh my, little guy! This is the famous Silk Road of the continent, Asia. We are merchants from Venice, Italy. We have come to bring rare and exotic goods back to Europe."

"Ware goods? Ware awre wat goods?", Sofia wondered aloud.

"Rare, Sofia, rare. It means exotic, strange, very different."

Brosden liked when Bella explained words to Sofia. That way he wasn't embarrassed when he had to ask. He didn't like it that his younger sister did better in school, but he tried not to let it bother him. "What kind of different things are here that aren't in Europe?"

"Well, things like gunpowder, coal, and paper money. We're headed to Shangdu to meet Emperor Kublai Khan. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure!", replied Brosden, who was always up for an adventure.

"What's a kwoobly kwan..."

"Don't even try it Sofia. He's a ruler with a name that's impossible for you to say."

"I too can say it, Bella. We have woolers in school. See, 'wool-lers'".

"Not 'rulers'. Oh, never mind! Let's go before they leave without us", and Bella, who could be a little bossy, took Sofia by the hand.......



***And these are some of Taneicea's recent comments on the blog I write for them, called Stuart's Spectacular Students.

I would not only say she's been reached, but confident and smart enough now to believe in and start creating the gifts she hears within her heart.

***From "Fossil Results"

hi mr.stuart this is taneicea and that when i read that i think that when people have ideas and i can listen to them and then i can and my ideas to them and then it can even a better idea then it was before. Also that I will find a way to get more then what i have already in classworks. And it was great to have the class call me and care so much about me and call me just like mr.stuart would and that they are all great and that I like to thank them so much I think this is the best class ever and then mr.stuart. love taneicea

hey mr.stuart this taneicea last week was not that so good so i came back to have a better week than before and I could not leave without saying good bye to flo in our class I know when I leave you guys will or might miss me.

i love you and i would do anything to have you.
love taneicea.

7:30 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

And these are from "Good Day or Bad Day?"

hey stuart this is taneicea again and thank you for everything that you done for me and that i would not be what i am today and it is because of you. thank you.
roses are red volits are blue
being with you there is nothing else I would want to do. I love you and thank you without you I dont know what my life would be like if I did not have you and i am not like i am with you. love t

8:30 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey mr.stuart this is taneicea and i do not know what to do for my land form and that is is tommmorow and i have lots of things but they are already taking and i do not konw what to do and i really want to do this but i cant without a speach to do and i want you to help me pick what i might be the best at and what can help me face my fears the most so by the time i have to go at the end of the week i will be feeling better than i was last week and that once i try to face my fear and that when i leave hopefully that the fear that i have of this will be no longer inside me and that is another step closer to living my live and it will all because of you. Ilove you [as a teacher] THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND BELIVING IN ME AND CARING IN ME. I LOVE YOU. Taneicea

Creating Our Lives

They say creativity keeps you young. As I approach my 40th birthday this week I have to say in many ways I'm feeling younger and younger. I attribute much of this to allowing myself to be creative, knowing each time I do, I get better and better at it.

This morning I was adding to my vision board, or treasure map, of what I want in my life. Using my computer's "paint" program, I began playing with an idea for the cover art for the Once Upon a Tree books I'm writing. Although it's only the second time I've used this, I allowed myself to have fun doing it, totally envisioning it as the real cover for the books that will bring so much enjoyment to their readers.

Since we are creating our lives with our every day thoughts and actions, why not have fun doing it? The day may not turn out to be the masterpiece we intended, but it does move us closer to learning how. "Groundhog Day" (1993) with Bill Murray is as good a movie as any for seeing how to do this.

After all, if we created the circumstances we are experiencing today by our "creations" of the past (thoughts, actions and choices), then we can create our futures exactly as we want it with our new creations today. This happens by focusing on what we want it to look like. If all we do is focus on the "what is" of our lives today, we only produce more tomorrows that look exactly like our todays.

Man, no wonder we get bored.

"How ya doin'?"

"Same old, same old."

Yuck! Let's take the time to appreciate what we like in our todays, and learn to turn what we don't like into what we do, by creating it in our thoughts and actions and choices.

"Make good choices, Honey."

As irritating and embarrassing as that was for us to hear when our mothers said it to us in front of our friends, nonetheless it is still true.

Just for today, let's all deliberately choose better thoughts and better actions. Let's give that big beautiful plant that wants to grow inside of us some real sunshine.

Then my friend,
in the end

You'll be delighted and surprised,
to find

At looking in the mirror,
and seeing

Not a picture of forgotten dreams,
and frowning

At all the things your heart knows you could have been,
but smiling

At the masterpiece shining brightly back at you
and seeing

Your biggest and best self,
has come true




"We are what we think.
All that we are arises
With our thoughts.
With our thoughts,
We make our world."
- The Buddha

Copyright © 2007 by Adam Stuart
All Rights Reserved

In a Father's Pockets

My daughter brought a book to me and asked me to read a story to her. I said "sure" and she proceeded to climb into my lap. To make her more comfortable I began to empty my pockets and we laughed at all the things we found:

~ a tape recorder for story ideas, a bluetooth ear piece for calls I receive, puppy dolls and the capes I can't put back on, a protein bar for when our tummies growl, a piece of chalk to draw hopscotch, and a dime that will grow into a mountain of gold, allowing us to travel the world

We had just come back from playing at Lake Eola with friends, which was a wonderful time. Thank you Holden, Veronica, Nicholas and Liz!

Then we went to "The Tree". I watched Sofia play and let more of the "Once Upon a Tree" story develop.

Then SHE read "My Name is Jack" which I always carry with me in the car. She's only 5 but knows the story so well she can "read" it (this is her favorite page, "I'll grow so tall that I'll TICKLE the moon!") I took video clips and thinking of posting them on MySpace ~ have no idea how to do it on blogspot.

Then of course before daddy could get things done there had to be time for a game of hopscotch (BIG smiles coming to my face right now).

A father's pockets contain all the things of real life; a mixture of things that need to get done and the making of time to show his love.
I enjoy being a father very much, like holding hands while we read. I hope there's time for you to get everything done that needs to get done today, ........especially the playing and reading part.

****If you haven't read "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch, please go to the library or bookstore right away and read it tonight. It might make you cry, but it definitely will make you stop having excuses for not finding the time to read to your children.

Click Here for the slideshow of the children.

Pictures Around (and Above) the Tree

The race to play




And guiding along the way











Writing the story down below....

...and
recording the kids' conversations as it goes

Once Upon a Tree

This is a draft of the first chapters of a book series I'm working on called "Once Upon a Tree". The very cool thing about this is that I get my ideas from watching the characters, my own children, play on a real tree, which is where we're headed now. I live near the historic district in Downtown Orlando, and this tree is in a park within walking distance from my home. (Sofia picked a flower for me but wouldn't let me smell it)

From my days in business I remember someone telling me to find someone who has what you want, do what they did, and you'll get what they got. C.S. Lewis, the author of the "Chronicles of Narnia" books, is one of these people for me.

Doing research, I found out that "During the Second World War, when children from London were being evacuated to the country, four youngsters were billeted at Jack's home, the Kilns. Surprised to find how few imaginative stories his young guests seemed to know, he decided to write one for them and scribbled down the opening sentences of a story about four children -- then named Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter -- who were sent away from London because of the air raids, and went to stay with a very old professor who lived by himself in the country.

That's all he wrote at the time (he was 41 years old), but, several years later (at age 51), he returned to the story. The children (now named Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) found their way into another world -- a land he would eventually call Narnia."

I got the idea for my own series based on teaching inner-city children who were two and three grades below grade level, hoping to bridge the learning gap for them. But the chances of anyone writing something so great for its readers that it becomes as world-famous as The Chronicles aren't great. The C.S. Lewis' and J.K. Rowlings' (Harry Potter), Shakespeare's, Twain's and Poe's come once in a lifetime.

But so what if the chances aren't great. All we need is one. And that one chance for me comes every time I open my eyes in the morning and realize I've been given one more day to live.

They were/are everyday people just like you and me, only with non-everyday dreams. If they could do it, so can I. Whatever you do, do it big; loving, dreaming, playing, learning, and writing. It was in teaching these inner city children that my "Dream Big, Do Big, Be Big" class motto came to me four years ago.

The most important thing is that together my children and I are creating something that will last forever in our lives, and it is being created out of my children's personalities and their father's imagination. Enjoy reading the story they've given me so far, while we go play and write some more. (I think I had to give her a kiss before she let me smell the flower)

Bella just sent Sofia up to tell me we had to go to the tree. After reading what I wrote for the first time, Bella told me in no uncertain terms that she isn't bossy; so now she's ordered Sofia to come and get me. Here she's practicing martial arts with her older sister's jujitsu belt. I think my own daughter is sending a warning to be careful what I write in the future about her.

Chapter One

“Where’s Drozden?”

“Bella, where’s Drozden?” Sofia asked. Her older sister smiled. She didn’t expect her four-year-old little sister to call her by her full name, which was Iszabella-Esperanza. In fact, nobody did. Everyone just called her Bella. Sofia couldn’t even say her brother’s name yet, which was “Brosden”, with a “b”. How in the world could she be expected to pronounce “Iszabella-Esperanza”?

“He’s up in the tree, Sofia” Bella said impatiently to her younger sister.

“No he’s naught”, Sofia responded, drawing out the vowel in the last word, which Bella, age eight, found annoying.

“Sofia, he’s right there!” pointing at the branches above their heads without looking. Her little sister annoyed Bella a lot and this was beginning to be one of those times.

Looking up and slowly turning her head in all directions, Sofia finally looked back at her sister and said, “No he’s naughtttttttt”.

Bella looked up, expecting to see her brother hanging upside down from a branch, covering his mouth to control his laughter. Her brother, age ten, lived to play and laugh, and was always up to something. But this time he wasn’t there…..

Chapter Two

“Just a Big Old Tree”

Now the tree the girls were talking about wasn’t any ordinary tree. True, it was an old and big tree in a park just down the street from their father’s house. But it was more than “just a big old tree Dad wants to show us”, as Brosden said to Sofia, helping put on her shoes to see the tree for the first time. Little did they know the surprise they were in for, as this turned out to be a really, Really, REALLY OLD and BIG tree....with a magical and mysterious secret.

It was so old and big that Sofia said it looked like it grew all the way to the sky. Brosden ran from where the branches spread out on one end all the way to where they stopped on the other end, gasping for breath. And Bella sat back in amazement as the tree’s branches looked like giant fingers reaching all the way back to the ground.

“Dad, are we allowed to climb on this tree?” Bella asked.

“What else is a tree for?” her father said smiling as he watched his three children race from where they were and begin scrambling up the welcoming fingers of the branches. This is a sight he would often see as he would sit underneath the tree working on his stories while his children played above his head.

Chapter Three

“The First Scroll”

“Brosden! Where are you?” Bella called out, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun as she scanned the branches for signs of her brother.

“Drozden, wear are yooh?” Sofia repeated, and covering her eyes completely while starting to count, thinking they were playing hide-and-seek.

“It’s Brosden, 'bah..bah'...Brosden, Sofia, with a 'B', not a 'D', and stop counting. Brosden, come out right now!” Although younger than her brother, Bella tended to be a little bossy.

“Drozden, wear are yooh??? Come out white now!” Sofia said imitating her sister.

“Sofia it’s….oh forget it.” Bella said exasperated. “Come on, let’s go find him. Give me your hand.”

As Bella carefully walked her little sister up one of the huge branches, they could see the dirty tennis shoe of their older brother. “Brosden, why didn’t you answer us?”, Bella demanded. Her brother didn’t answer, but just sat there reading an ancient looking piece of paper. This alarmed Bella more than thinking her brother might have fallen out of the tree, because her brother never read unless Dad made him.

“Brosden, what are you reading?”

“I’m not sure” her brother replied. “I was hiding from you guys when I reached in this hole I’ve never seen before. I felt this rolled up inside.”

“Let me see!” Bella said as she snatched the piece of paper from her brother’s hands. “It’s a scroll!” she declared excitedly.

“A what?” asked Brosden.

“It’s a droll Drozden” Sofia tried to explain to her brother. “Bella, what’s a droll?”

“A scroll Sofia, ‘sc’..roll. It's a very old piece of writing.”

“What does it say?” asked Sofia innocently.

Chapter 4

"The Riddle of Curses and Traps"

Even though his sister had the piece of paper, Brosden answered Sofia’s question by repeating the writing on the scroll word-for-word. He was very bright when he focused and applied himself. What he read had made him totally focused:

This tomb is protected
With curses and traps

Geometric
figures
Are your only map

Step with care
If you dare

Of
similar shapes
Be very aware

The floor will hold
Only those
smart and bold

Avoid congruent shapes
And your path will be gold

“What does that mean?” Bella thought out loud.

“What’s a domb?” Sofia asked.

“Tomb, tah..tah..tomb Sofia” both Brosden and Bella responded in unison.

“It’s a …..” but before Bella could finish, the mysterious hole in the tree above her brother’s head was widening, getting larger and larger. Before the three children could move, the branch they were on lifted them up and slid them into the hole……

A Great Day!

While Brosden had baseball practice, Bella read to me and Sofia (the little one took these pics - impressive for an almost five year old).








Bella comes up with some great ideas for Dad's andventure/learning book about her and her siblings, "Once Upon a Tree".










Baseball practice over. It's time for some football.









Sofia applies some face paint to Dad.














She jumps into my arms, facing her fear of heights and ready to go!






Dad and son discuss strategy.
















Team Stuart has a great time!