The View From Here:
      Lynne Fukuda
(stay tuned to next issue)

The Techno Corner:
      Susan L. Jones
(stay tuned to next issue)

QUIBILS AND QUIRKS
(the original text as serialized in The Cariboo Observer)

Dan Lukiv, M.Ed.
English and Creative Writing
McNaughton Centre, Quesnel, BC, Canada
E-mail: lukivdan@shaw.ca

LAST EPISODE/CHAPTER 84: The professor told Miss Snapdragon, “We’re falling in love.”

CHAPTER 85: WILDCAT SNAPDRAGON

            At his house, Professor Hamburger felt through dark kitchen drawers for a candle and matches...He wanted to see the woman he was falling in love with!
            During the professor’s search through drawers, King Quibil, in the Royal Cave, waited for the other Miss Snapdragon to arrive.
            “Spank-spank-spank!” he said excitedly.
            Hooper, reunited with his parents (the king had released Mooch too), also excitedly waited for the “spanking spectacle.” But his mother kept embarrassing him.
            “Hooper!” she’d keep crying out, and she’d hug him, kiss him, tweak his nose, pull his ears, and brush fingers through his hair.
            His face felt scorched.
            “We were awfully worried,” Mr. Quirk said, absently reaching for his pipe.
            Mooch, his chicken tail sticking up like the CN Tower, said, “The king actually thought we were spies.”
            Hooper told Mooch and his parents about his travels, explaining how he’d met Professor Hamburger. Of course, he mentioned Booger Jimm, Quabbit, and Goopy. But he kept getting too excited, making himself fumble words.
            “Slow down,” Mrs. Quirk said. “Your words are spaghetti—and Professor Hamburger is dead.”
            He had to keep retelling the story, because, quite frankly, nobody could make much sense of it.
            But Miss Snapdragon’s wild entrance grabbed everybody’s attention. She screamed and twisted and kicked, almost escaping from her four captors.

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Effect of Interactive Metronome® Training on Elementary School Students

Jose E. Coll, Ph.D. and M.S.W.
Director
Military Social Work Program
University of Southern California

Lee A. Teufel
Assistant Professor
Director of Training, Counseling Programs
Argosy University/Tampa

Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Ph.D., P.G.C.E., F.S.S.
Professor
College of Education
Sam Houston State University
E-mail: tonyonwuegbuzie@aol.com

Increasing attention and policy decisions are made on the issues of developmentally appropriate curriculum to enhance the learning of young children. Specifically, federal initiatives—for example, “No Child Left Behind”— employ narrow criteria for “school-readiness” (McAllister, Wilson, Green, & Baldwin, 2005), creating an environment of high pressure learning and development at an earlier age. However, it is imperative that educators do not forget that early learning consists of various stages that are supported by developmental tasks that include but are not limited to the development of sensory and fine motor skills. Cassily and Jacokes (2001) state that these developmental tasks are met through a multidimensional learning environment that consists of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. It is believed that each developmental dimension influences the other, an intertwined and interdependent process that influences the development of the other (Hostetler, 1992). Moreover, it is important to understand and recognize the importance of play, movement, and active involvement in sensory and motor development and its role in child development. For instance, sensory integration is an important factor in developing and influencing cognitive and language skills, which enhance cognitive growth (Puckett & Black, 1999). When children do develop basic rhythmic coordination, they show a significant difference in three skill areas: (a) musical skills; (b) motor skills; and (c) academic performance, considerably in the areas of reading, language arts, and mathematics (Weikart, 1998).

A child’s early developmental experiences are critical factors to his/her ability to think and apply academic skills in future settings (Ramey & Ramey, 2004). A child must be able to link together appropriately early experiences that are essential components to enter school “ready to learn.” Numerous researchers (e.g., Bartscherer & Dole, 2005; Pless, Carlsson, Sundelin, & Person, 2001) have documented that children learn through basic dimensions that include physical, social, emotional, and cognitive components. Thus, it is indicative that children are equipped with the sensory and rhythmic competence at an early age to later apply these dimensions of learning.

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Cultural & Symbolic Systems: An Eco-History Reflection of my Grandmother

Linda Elmer
M.A. Candidate in Culture, Ecology & Sustainable Community
New College of California
E-mail:  linda@lindaelmerdesigns.com

Although she lost her mother at a young age, I believe my grandmother found “mother” while fishing in the 1960s. This mothering via nature fostered a growth in her that her actual foster parents were never able to do. I liken this growth to that of a teenager; and as is the hope for many teenage culminations, hers ended in the creation of a fulfilling life for herself. In effect, she grew into her “happily ever after.” Offering a richer sense of an adolescents’ transformation into adulthood, professor and environmental philosopher Paul Shepard suggests that an adolescent who has shared a profound connection with nature “will graduate not out of that world but into its significance” (30).

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