Slaying Dragons

The way you measure a society’s soul is by the way that it treats its children.
Nelson Mandela

Kidz Newz no. 143 – 23rd June 2015

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Slaying Dragons

I have written before about the importance of fantasy – not only for children but for all of us. Please go to Kidz-Newz #42 – The Need for a Highly Developed Imagination or #137 – Why We Need Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden.

Because I feel so strongly about this topic, I was drawn to a paper posted by Kate Forsyth in Academia.edu titled – SLAYING DRAGONS: Why fantasy fiction is vital reading for children. I am including the link so you can read the article in full. I highly recommend you go here now.

The article starts off with a mother asking Albert Einstein what books she should read to her son in order to make him brilliant like the famous scientist. He advises her to read him fairy-tales, and then more fairy tales.

In this day and age of schools being measured by performance, that is, grading students according to their mastery of the ‘3 Rs’, one wonders whether we have lost sight of the reason for being at school. Somewhere along the way, many students feel its irrelevancy and can we blame them? We need people to read and write properly and to master maths and science, but if we neglect everything else we fail to produce fully-rounded individuals capable of contributing to a world we cannot even imagine. We need to do everything possible to encourage children to see the joy and wonder in learning, in exploring their imaginations so they can not only contribute to the world in future, but have fun doing so.

Do read Kate Forsyth’s paper. I highly recommend it. Go here now.

EOFY Specials! 50% Discount

I am over-stocked with Scarf Magic – both the pack and the individual DVD. Each is now 50% off until July 2 (I know that is after EOFY but I want to give you two weeks).

The pack consists of a 40-page picture book of ideas to use with children incorporating scarves and music. It also contains two scarves and a DVD demonstrating how to use the book. If you are even remotely concerned about doing music and movement, see how the children in the video behave. They had never done anything like this before and it was shot only once. They behave like children. I show you how you, too, can bring them back in line if they do get out of hand. (Out of hand? Never!)

RRP $55.00 Special – $27.50 (DVD was $27.50 – $13.75)

Please email me directly at info@kidzfizbiz.com so I can invoice you. These specials will not appear on my website.

Quotes of the Week

“God’s gift to you is more talent and ability than you will ever use in this lifetime. Your gift to God is to develop as much of that talent and ability as you can in this lifetime.”
– Steve Bow

“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations – something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”
– Katherine Paterson (1932 – )

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
– Albert Einstein

Testimonials

I found ‘Scarf Magic’ to be a lovely resource to use with my 22 month old daughter. It’s easy to use and engaging and is a great way to encourage her imagination. She loves the colourful scarves and we both benefit from the time we spend together on the activities. I would certainly recommend this book to any parent.
– Jessica Helm

I have your scarf DVD and book. I love it!!!!!”
– BAVCEVIC Katarina, Port Hedland, WA

Entertainment

The Flagpole

Two Irishmen were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up.

An attractive blonde walks by and asked them what they were doing.

Paddy replied, ‘We’re supposed to be finding the height of this flagpole, but we don’t have a ladder.’

The blonde took out an adjustable spanner from her bag, loosened a few bolts and laid the flagpole down.

She then got a tape measure out of her pocket, took a few measurements, and announced that it was 18 feet 6 inches.

Then, she walked off.

Mick said to Paddy, ‘Isn’t that just like a blonde! We need the height and she gives us the length.’

(From Rachel Green’s newsletter of 25/2/10 – RachelGreen.com)

About The Author

Marlene Rattigan B.A., Dip. Ed. (ECS), CELTA

Marlene Rattigan is an Early Childhood teacher, a teacher of English as a Second Language, and from 1987-2000 was a nationally accredited fitness leader. Her background is in music education. A keen interest in motor development in children led to the creation of Kidz-Fiz-Biz which she taught successfully for 13 years. Marlene also conducts workshops for children, teachers and parents at schools, in the community and at festivals. She has produced teaching manuals complete with audio CDs which are an extension of her ‘Kidz-Fiz-Biz’ program.

Kidz-Fiz-Biz
PO Box 6894, East Perth WA 6892, Australia
T: +61 8 9355 4890 M: +61 (0) 410 64 2781 E: info@kidzfizbiz.com

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Until next time … continue being a legend in your classroom.

Marlene Rattigan, Editor
Kidz Newz

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