About a family of groundhogs...

One of my current projects is a story for young readers about a family of groundhogs. They live near a large vegetable garden from which they help themselves to delicious meals. Unfortunately, although the previous dangers of dogs and hunters are no longer present, they become entangles in a relocation program. One after another the family members disappear. Access to the garden is complicated by a series of obstacles that need to be overcome.

The true habits of groundhogs are incorporated into this story, their benefit to the environment, as well as their devastation of vegetable crops. As I work, I am amazed at all that I have learned about these animals. As the daughter of an avid gardener, I have always thought of groundhogs as something of a pest - like rabbits. Through my research, however, I am discovering the breadth of good work that groundhogs do through their excavations.

I am hoping to find just the right artist to illustrate this story - in fact I have someone in mind, if I can inspire him with a captivating manuscript to participate in this project.

The Wonderful World In Numbers

Half a year ago, I began the second non-teaching interlude of my professional adult life. This is technically not completely true - actually it is the second time that I found myself not attached to a school or other organized educational program. What was I to do?

I formed Ms. Ilian's Opportunities in support of the creative arts, Waldorf education, and an anthroposophic lifestyle. Under this umbrella, I began offering tutoring, workshops and classes. Business got off to a slow start, but among the first successful offerings was a class for Waldorf parents in which the Waldorf grades school curriculum was presented, demonstrated and discussed. It was during the weeks that we were discussing how numbers and mathematics are taught, that I became inspired to write The Wonderful World In Numbers.

The first introduction of numbers in the first grade at a Waldorf school consists of finding things in oneself, humanity and the world that are represented in that number. Thus, there is one sun, one earth, one moon, one of me (and I have one nose, one mouth, one heart). Each number is handled in a similar way.

When considering a children's book for beginning readers, there are techniques that can help the children with the text. These techniques include the use of language that the children are familiar with (basic, not simplistic), sentences that are not too long, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, and text layout. In my first drafts, I tried to include repetition, but this proved to be more of a hinderance than a help to the project. I also maintain that, while the words of the text need to consist primarily of familiar vocabulary, it never hurt a young reader to be exposed to a few new terms. In that spirit, I did not shy away from using a few longer, more complicated words when these were called for by the ideas I was trying to convey. My main strategies, then, for making this book accessible to young readers, were the use of rhythm, rhyme and visual layout. The text can easily me learned by heart after only one or two readings, which helps beginning readers to practice reading fluently, with confidence and expression.

The Wonderful World In Numbers has been in print for two weeks now, and sales have begun. People who have seen this book have given me positive feedback. It is written in such a way that it can be used in the home, or as a reader in the classroom. I hope very much that it will find its way to the many young children just beginning to learn reading and numbers. Those readers who are interested in learning more can see sample pages by clicking on the picture of this book on this blog, and can contact me by visiting my web site at http://sites.google.com/site/msiliansopportunities/books where I also have links to download order forms.

Mother Earth's Bad Day

Three and a half years ago, during my first period of not teaching, I wrote a children's book for my class called "Mother Earth's Bad Day". It was an early reader that spoke about geological realities in an imaginative way. When I introduced the book to my class the following year (when I was back on the job), They loved it. It was humorous as well as scientifically correct. It was a great introduction to reading, and several of my students have copies of this book due to an extra printing just for them. The following year, the teacher of the class behind mine also used my book with her class as an introductory reader. They loved it! "Mother Earth's Bad Day" evoces laughter, while telling the true process of how a cinder cone volcano is formed. It is my hope that many other children will have the opportunity to laugh and learn with this charming picture book.