Many a Musing from Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter - The Song Growing Co.]

Many A Musing...



Midsummer greetings to you all! Hard to believe August is fast upon us...  Last issue I asked for suggestions of what to call this newsletter, and many of you came through, big time! Inspirations, Monthly Squiggles and Dots, Pocket Songs, Hunter's Hunches, For Your Consideration, Tom's Trumpet, TNT (Tom's News & Thoughts), 'Til Next Time, Memory Matters, Stuff Worth Sharing, Melodious Muse, Talking with Tom, I'm Going to Make it Through the Month - and that's a mere fraction of the list.  Big, big thanks!  Many suggestions arrived with thoughtful reasons.  Hard to choose one (someone said we should use a different name each time), but after much deliberation, our vast selection committee has selected (cue up the crowd cheering) MANY A MUSING. Congratulations, Dena, and thanks - the promised prize (Still Growing CD) will be mailed as soon as you give us your address.



How to discourage slugs...  That's the other question from last time, and many of you apparently thought "discourage" meant "kill," which led to much advice about using beer - slugs get drunk and die. My favorite answer came from Dale who said to put many tiny books in the garden and because slugs can't read, they'll get discouraged.  I wonder if they'd just eat the books, and how does he know they can't read?  Someone else said slugs are to be encouraged - they're important for the ecology.  True enough, but preferably away from my garden..  Another question:   How do you remove permanent marker from a dress shirt?



A story:  During one of the evening gatherings at NW Teachers Conference (a.k.a. teachers camp), a 3rd grade teacher read (with permission from the child and his parents) excerpts from one of her student's journals. It's the practice of that class to write on Thursday and to receive the journals back on Monday with the teacher's response. Rarely do her comments have anything to do with spelling, vocabulary, and grammar; she chooses instead to respond to the content of the child's writing. That evening, as she read to us from his journal, we got to know a boy who struggles with friendship, school, math, family, his own feelings of inadequacy, and to hear his periodic pride when something goes well. Journaling in this class is not some mandated exercise in writing, not simply a strategy for language arts instruction. Through his own writing, this boy comes across as a real person expressing his own real issues in his own real words. There is no happy ending either. All the way through the year, he continues to struggle, but the more he writes and the more she responds, you can hear his writing become clearer and more expressive..  It was very moving as a listener to be let in on the interaction of a teacher who genuinely cares about her students and every week tells them so, not by saying "you're wonderful" but by creating a conversation in the intimacy of a journal.



Tom's appearances in Aug. & Sept. - more details on the website, a few dates open in Oct. and Nov. for events closer to home, and gaps in Jan. and Feb. awaiting your requests.

8/1-8/3 Roseville, CA - workshops with Bev Bos

8/10 Bellingham - brown bag family concert

8/13 Lummi Nation Head Start

8/18 Dallas - all-day workshop

9/8 LA area - Bright Horizons professional day

9/9 Edmonds, WA - Edmonds United Methodist Church

9/14 Portland, OR - Head Start workshop

9/22-9/23 Pilgrim Firs (Port Orchard, WA) - church retreat



The store:  Wonderful responses to our latest CD "Many a Mile" keep coming. Several parents have said they love its range of feelings - loud and raucous to quiet and intimate. A mom says her preschool children's favorite song is "Who Killed Cock Robin"; they want to hear it over and over. It's led to valuable discussions about death, the kids being impressed with how the other animals help out when Cock Robin dies. A teacher says it's been the CD she's listened to most this summer on her iPod.  A new shipment of "In the Air" just arrived, so you can order lots!.  Late summer special: both "Many a Mile" and "In the Air" are $10 through Labor Day!  More details about each are available on the web site, where you can also find our other CD's and a couple of books.  Click here to go there.  Right now is a good time to set in a winter's supply of CD's for your classroom and your family car. Discounts are available on quantities of 5 or more of one title - PTA groups, curriculum folks, preschool gifts to families, back-to-school gifts for teachers.  Possibilities are limited only by your imagination!



We always welcome your responses, jokes, suggestions, critique, stories.  Here's to a wonderful August with still some vacation to enjoy, planning for school to open, time for the tomatoes to ripen, and moments for "many a musing" of your own.  Cheers to you all!





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THE SONG GROWING CO.
1225 E. Sunset Dr., #518
Bellingham, WA  98226
(360) 738-0340
fax: (360) 734-0295
songgrow at tomhunter.com
www.tomhunter.com
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