Welcome to Carl's Corner!

My name is Cherry Carl, and I retired in June, 2003, after 35 years as a teacher and Language Arts Specialist in Santee, California.  However, I am continuing my role as an instructor at the University of California, San Diego, in the Reading Specialist Certification Program.  

I wasn't ready to retire. Teaching is in my blood! (My mother always reminded me that when I was little, I dragged the neighborhood kids in to play school whether they wanted to or not!) I still have the strong desire to make a difference for teachers, parents, and students. I'm passionate about the joy of knowing how to read and write and want every child to have the experience of closing a book with a sigh, "Wow, that was a good book!" The only way they can do that is by having the necessary skills and strategies to become independent readers. Teachers and parents need to be aware of the all-important instructional tools and "promising practices."  This website has been created to provide resources and materials for classroom teachers, reading and resource specialists, speech therapists, parents and students in the area of language arts. Please feel free to download and print anything that catches your eye, but please make sure to leave my name on the poetry and worksheets!

If you have specific needs or suggestions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm always open to new ideas and requests. That's how the site continues to grow. You can email me at carl1404@msn.com.
 

Thank you so much for your heartfelt messages and testimonials. You and your children are the reason that I maintain the site and I will continue to offer the materials with little or no fees/subscription costs.
 

I have purchased the www.carlscorner.us.com domain name and anticipate many changes and upgrades to the site. Because I was under the umbrella of a public school district, I couldn't produce the CDs that many of you have asked for in the past. The William D. Lynch Literacy Foundation here in San Diego now owns and generously funds this site and we are exploring publication options. If we do decide to offer CDs, all proceeds will go to the foundation to support children's literacy. I'm not out to make a profit from my skills and I'd also prefer to work on creating new materials and supporting teachers instead of going into the retail business!
 

Thanks again for sharing your success stories with me!
 

Warm regards,

Cherry Carl

Where is it?

*You'll notice as you peruse the pages that I'm a poet at heart, and so I dedicate this one to those of you who tend a "garden of life and learning."    

The Keepers

The keeper of the garden builds an everlasting environment that is filled with beauty and peace. In the middle of that garden is a haven . . . a birdhouse, a safe place for fledglings to grow and flourish before taking off on their own. The gardener provides nourishment to feed his feathered friends, to make them grow strong and healthy. He protects them from predators, watching from afar, not interfering with the balance of nature. They flutter and fly and sing their sweet songs from the safety of their home in the garden, and then, one day, they are gone. The keeper of the garden experiences a moment of sadness at the loss, but he knows that he has done well.

We are, you and I, the keepers of the garden of life and learning, protecting the sanctity and serenity of the "schoolhouse." We build an educational environment that is filled with opportunity and experience. We provide nourishment to feed our cherished children, to make their minds grow strong and healthy. We protect them from outside forces and influence, watching them from afar, letting them try out their wonderful wings of independence. They sing their sweet songs of newfound knowledge and then one day, they are gone. We, too, experience a moment of sadness at the loss, but we know that we have done well as keepers of the garden of life.

We have some very dear friends in Germany and we've spent quite a bit of time with them here in San Diego and in Europe. I followed the children to school . . . I couldn't help myself. Once a teacher, always a teacher! I walked with the girls to the bus stop, rode the bus to school and sat in on their classes on two separate days, jumped rope to American jingles and completed the same assignments they were given (or tried to). Even though I could only understand some of the language, I came to the realization that no matter where we are, children are children, delightfully so! Since then we've been back several times and I've been invited to teach in their English classes and design some materials for their program. Such fun! Thought I'd share this poem that I wrote after visiting the classrooms in 2004. While spending a week in Tuscany and another on the Danish coastline, I taught the girls American jump rope jingles. I was surprised to find later that they had shared them with their German school chums. I was talked into going outside for recess and being one of the rope turners!

Children Are Children

 
Children are children wherever you go.

They act the same from head to toe!
 

The boisterous boys with skinned-up knees,

Who love to laugh, to tickle and tease;

They twirl their fingers in their hair

And weave their daydreams in the air.

They play a game of tag and chase,

Or have a rowdy running race.

The patched-up jeans and baseball caps

Belong to boys and chummy chaps!

The giggly girls with bows in their hair,

Who skip and jump from here to there;

Dainty dresses and frilly frocks,

Shiny shoes and slippery socks;

Barrettes and braids and freckled faces,

The missing teeth with smiley spaces;

Bracelets, braces, shiny glasses . . .

We love them all, the girls and lasses!

Children are children wherever you go.

They act the same from head to toe!
 

(Written For Frau von Heyden and Frau Domnick)
Tuttendorf, Germany
April 21, 2004