Butterflies in Children's Art and Monarchs in the Garden

 

Kickstarter! Support "Mighty Wings" Monarch Caterpillar/Butterfly Song Set

 

"Mighty Wings" Ready for Launch 

After months of planning and getting organized, today is the day I launch my first, ever KICKSTARTER program! 

This crowd-funding effort is to underwrite the expense to release my Monarch song-set, written in collaboration with my daughter, Sarah Joy. The first is a caterpillar rap. The second recording is a butterfly call and response song. 

I need 100 people willing to purchase the song-set for $8.00, within the next 30 days. As soon as the Kickstarter program is totally funded, you will receive the songs in a digital file, ready for use as part of your End-of-Year science project -- or summer ecology efforts.  

Monarch butterflies are in peril. The beloved and easily identified butterfly has become endangered, due to loss of their host plant and habitat. Monarchs only eat milkweed. Pesticide and herbicide usage and the loss of milkweed plants to commercialization are just a few of the reasons that the future of the Monarch is officially endangered. 

Newly hatched Monarch caterpillars

Last summer my daughter Sarah Joy gave me my first butterfly enclosure and got me motivated to save them -- one egg and caterpillar at a time. Between us, in this first year of our becoming 'butterfly whisperers' we have personally supervised 250 to flight status. With each winged ascent we become more committed to their protection. 

That's a glimpse of what a whole hoard of tiny caterpillars looks like. Compare the penny's size. Can you spot all 17 butterflies in-the-making?

First grade backyard scientist in action, Vero Beach FL 

The perfect pandemic project. 

Before the global pandemic, I was a children's musician, having written and recorded nearly 100 original songs for young students. I have given 3 national keynotes to teachers of young children and spoken at educational conferences in 39 states and four countries. I have created three picture books as author/illustrator, where the lyrics of my song become the text of the traditional book format. I have given numerous workshops at teacher conferences entitled "Sing a Book and Read a Song." Over the course of releasing butterflies, I started to create some rhymes about the process of metamorphosis. Sarah listened in and then we teamed up. At her suggestion we roughed out 2 full songs -- one for the caterpillar, which will actually be more of a spoken rap, and one for the butterfly, which will be done in a call and response pattern. 

Sarah's experience as a traditional preschool classroom teacher enlightened her on the need to have appropriate and 'factual' resources available for teaching young children about the need to support pollinators in our own immediate world. It was her compelling experience of searching for such resources that we realized ,we had found a need' and that we were uniquely qualified to 'fill it' -- together! 

Ohio preschooler with Monarch cats

Ironically, I already had a commercially created Monarch caterpillar puppet and that prompted me to create a HUGE hand-painted and sewn Monarch puppet to bring the rhyme to life as I performed it during my pandemic series of FB LIVE Sing-a-Longs. Our HOPE is that the world returns to author school visits and teacher conferences and that we can use these props for students and their teachers.

Our goal is to intrigue students and teachers sufficiently so that they will contribute to planting milkweed at their buildings and home gardens to provide additional habitat. The saving of the Monarch is a grassroots project and the timing is critical to get as many people as possible involved in the planting of Milkweed. 

Start them young. We must get young children involved in understanding how the science and saving of the Monarch butterfly is dependent on our actions taken over the coming seasons. Creating a resource for teachers and parents in the form of songs (and ultimately a traditional picture book) will provide a tool for learning, exploration and understanding. Each of my earlier picture books began with the recording of the song lyrics, which become the book text. 

Sarah Joy: 2020, first summer w Monarchs

The lyrics are ready to go! I have worked with Ronn Price for over 15 years bringing my ideas into full fledged arrangements under his talented direction. Ronn is a master at arranging and stacking tracks for all manner of instruments. He has worked with some of the BIG acts in Nashville and beyond, yet his kind heart supports and encourages my projects as well. Now that the 2 arrangements are secured, we will record them at Amerisound Studios in Hilliard, OH under the direction of the owner and engineer-operator, Dan Green. We plan to use Dan's singer-songwriter talent as a vocalist in the 'response' portion of the butterfly song. We will also contract with an independent vocalist, Whitney Love to add her harmonies and heart, to round out the butterfly song. 

This financing will underwrite the expense of the 2 arrangements, as well as the recording, mixing and mastering of both of these two pieces of music. Just as significantly, I hope that the Kickstarter program will get the word out to others seeking such a resource, beyond and outside of my network of teacher friends and cohorts. 

We plan to record as soon as possible. Those who contribute $8.00 will get a digital download of the 2 songs in a file with the lyrics and LOTS of caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly photos! Those who are interested in a Zoom session can plan ahead to next fall's back-to-school season in September.

We look forward to this Kickstarter support to generate the enthusiasm that will see the metamorphosis of HOPE that brings these two songs to fruition -- for use yet this spring and summer, in support of the Monarch's growth to flight. 

Thank you for your consideration of this ecology effort to improve our world. Once you are aware of the plight of this beloved butterfly your actions change. In so doing the impact you make is enormous, sending out ripples to your family, neighbors and friends to make their own efforts on behalf of our planet. This is where we have the opportunity to make a difference. This is the exact moment where HOPE is still viable. 

We are very grateful for your sharing this Kickstarter effort from your platform, to generate more enthusiasm and a wider impact. Thank you! -- Debbie Clement 

Upcoming Global Workshop: Positive Language, Affirmation & I Messages with Children

WELCOME TO MY LITTLE CORNER OF CYBER-SPACE!!! 

I'm so excited that you've found me. I am thrilled to the guest on the Global weekly Pep Talk. Now a little bit more about me.

This is what I look like to a five year old, kindergarten child in Texas. I LUV that she noticed my unique appreciation of stripes and polka-dots. NAILED IT! 

(Although there is some evidence that I have a neck.) 

During this time of pandemic reality, I no longer have a calendar filled with Teacher Conference presentations and keynotes nor am I able to be making my beloved author-illustrator school visits. 

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo.................... 

Instead, three times a week I provide a half hour program of 

SONGS AND FUN FOR EVERYONE! 

*Tune in on my personal FB page

While I appreciate every opportunity that I have to speak directly to teachers, parents and librarians, 

I absolutely ADORE every opportunity that I have to work directly with children. 

Here are a few favorite photos. 

Sometimes I have the intimacy of a small classroom. 

Sometimes the auditorium or library is filled to the brim. 

I have written and recorded 100 songs for children. 

I have turned three of my songs into traditional picture book format. 

My first book is entitled, 

"You're Wonderful." 

The song is from my first ever recording, 

WHICH WAS IN CASSETTE TAPE FORMAT!

I personally designed and created the illustrations for my book, from fabric, as small quilts. 

16 quilts makes a 32 page book. 

TA DA!!! 

When I make school visits, often times the children create 'quilts' to welcome me to their building. 

Do you know the game "Where's Waldo?" 

This is the version, "Digging for Debbie!" 

Can you find me? 

    For our pep talk together, our conversation is all about 

  "Choosing the Right Words with Children." 

We will begin by talking about the use of affirmations in our speaking to children. The lyrics of my song/text of the book are filled with affirmations.

"I think you're wonderful. 

    I think you're marvelous. 

      I think you're beautiful and magical and filled with curiosity 

          and DREAMS!" 

These next several pictures are from an Artist Residency in Colorado. 

The teachers had set up a photo booth and each student told what they were 'wonderful' at, which was recorded and then photographed. 

Each student also created a quilt square on a nine-patch, Tic Tac, Toe like page of 'oak-tag'. 

The quilt squares were mounted and then a border of the individual photographs was created to encircle the student artwork. 

After becoming familiar with my song and book, 

 teachers have directed their students to identify a quality that describes them. 

I have had the opportunity to see several such works in person. 

Have I mentioned that I absolutely LUV LUV LUV LUV making school visits? 

Here's the LARGEST quilt collaboration ever created for my visit! 

I've gathered some additional resources for you on this topic. 

I hope that you can visit some of these sites and learn from each in the process. 

We can all excel when we work at something that brings encouragement to the children we love, we care for and we teach. 

I will continue to expand this list of resources over the coming week. 

SOURCE 

30 Phrases that Will Change a Child's Day for the Better

Source and Complete Article 

Source 

What is a Growth Mindset?

How to Develop a Growth Mindset