Posts Tagged ‘Slice of Life’
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
Charleston, South Carolina, offers so many things to see and do–Rainbow Row, stately plantations, history and art museums, Fort Sumter, mouth-watering food, the Angel Oak, ghost tours. My family and I tried to do it all the week we spent there on vacation, but what was on the top of my daughter’s list of things to see? Battery Park.
Really? I couldn’t figure out why she was so adamant about visiting Battery Park. Yes, it’s filled with lovely live oaks draped with Spanish moss and overlooks sailboats gliding across the harbor, but it’s a park. Then as we drove past on a bus tour and glanced the gazebo, it hit me.
“You want to see the place where Piper, Hazel, and Annabeth had tea with Aphrodite in Rick Riordan’s The Mark of Athena.”
She grinned in response. It seems I wasn’t the only one who was touring Charleston with a book in mind. We saw several sites connected with The Mark of Athena in addition to the gazebo at the Battery. No monsters were fighting within the walls of Fort Sumter, but I could picture them there. We even saw a model of the USS Hunley outside the Charleston Museum (where Jason, Frank, and Leo went while the girls had tea with Aphrodite). The original Hunley has been recovered from the bottom of the ocean, but it is still undergoing restoration.
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Model of the USS Hunley. We didn’t encounter any ghosts, but maybe they haunt the real submarine.
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The site of the infamous tea with Aphrodite in Battery Park. No goddesses showed up on our visit.
While my daughter saw monsters and demigods lurking just out of sight among Charleston’s landmarks, I glimpsed scenes from the pages of another series: Virals and Seizure by Kathy Reichs. The ferry to Fort Sumter took us by the lighthouse on Sullivan Island, the sight of an important discovery in Virals. We drove past the Karpeles Manuscript Library, where the pack researches the secret behind Anne Bonny’s treasure. We even took our best tour of the city–Alphonso Brown’s Gullah Tours–because I wanted to learn more about the Gullah language and culture from first reading about them in these books.
Charleston is not the only place I wanted to visit based on literary inspiration. I could vacation for years to come visiting places I first read about. Here are my top destinations.
- Prince Edward Island: L.M. Montgomery first took me to Prince Edward Island where I discovered the village of Avonlea and the House of Green Gables and the Lake of Shining Waters. I dream of visiting this island for myself one day.
- England: One of my English professors (Dr. Knight with Romantic Poetry) at Meredith College made us promise to one day hike the Lake District with Wordsworth’s journal in hand. I haven’t made it to England yet, but when I do, I will spend a day or two tramping through the fields and watching the daffodils. While I’m in England, I want to visit Canterbury Cathedral (Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales), the Globe Theater and Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare, of course), Paddington Square (my daugther has a Paddington Bear from the station), and Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station (Harry Potter)l. If I could find my way to Hogwarts or Diagon Alley, I’d visit there, too. I suspect my trip to England will need a lengthy stay to include a jaunt to Wales and Stonehenge (Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series).
- Pioneer Tour: I travelled across the prairie in a covered wagon with Laura, Mary, Carrie, Ma, and Pa in the Little House books. I’ll need a whole tour to recapture those pages. I can start in DeSmet, South Dakota, and visit the homes and school that are found in By the Shores of Silver Lake. Then I’ll have to drop down to Mansfield, Missouri, to visit the home of Laura, Alphonso, and Rose–and where Laura wrote the Little House books. Somewhere on this trip, I’ll have to camp on a covered wagon trip.
What are the literary trips you would like to make?
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
I jumped into Teachers Write yesterday. Jo Knowles invited us to reflect on finding beauty in our writing with her Monday Morning Warmup. I’m still thinking about that one. I suspect her words and ideas will resonate for a long time. I’ve not written directly about her invitation, but thoughts of it are underlying my writing this week and beyond.
Kate Messner provided a powerful minilesson on adding a deeper layer of sensory details. This is something I know. It is something I taught my students again and again through the year. But it is still something that blows me away with its power and simplicity when I remember to do it myself.
I started out sitting on my back porch and writing about what a haven that space has become for me this summer. I completed a quick description and brainstormed more details. Before I could incorporate those details into a revised draft, I got interrupted. I haven’t gone back to that piece yet, but last night at the county fair a rainstorm kept us trapped in one of the buildings. Here’s my writing from the fair.
First draft:
Not even a thunderstorm can keep people away from the first full night of the fair. Lightning cracks and thunder booms. Rain splatters and blows across dirt, gravel, and pavement. People crowd into the wildlife building to escape the downpour. Conversations swell around me. A stroller parks infront of me, green and yellow ballons tied to the handles. Children skip across the concrete floor, stop and point at the taxidermied critters behind the fence. Empty wasp nests dangle from the ceiling.
More details focusing on each sense:
- Sight: bright green fake grass, wood paneling. bags, rulers, and t-shirts advertising the local hospital and political candidates
- Sounds: patter of rain, laughter, shrieks, country/bluegrass music
- Smells: buttery popcorn, deep fried poptarts and pickles and Twinkies, sweat and swam from the turtle tank behind me
- Touch: smooth hard bench, cool pricks of rain blowing in
Revised version:
Not even a thunderstorm can keep people away from the first full night of the fair. As lightning cracks and thunder roars, rain splatters across the gravel and pavement between the buildings. I sit on a hard wooden bench in the wildlife building. Cool pricks of rain blow against my arm as people crowd in to escape the downpour. Conversations swell around me. A lawyer running for prosecutor greets adults as the walk by. Children laugh and shriek as their feet splash through puddles. They stop and point at the taxidermied animals posed between a fence and paneled walls. A beaver, badger, mallard, otter, skunk, snapping turtle, raccoon, and deer stand motionless on a bright green carpet of artificial turf. A stroller parks in front of me with green and yellow ballons tied to the handles. A little girl with the straps of her tank top falling down clutches a bag of buttery popcorn and twirls away from her mom’s outstretched arms. The rain lets up as quickly as it began. The building empties out and we follow the smell of deep fried pickles out into the rest of the fair.
Now I’m off to try this morning’s quick write!
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
I’m sitting on the back porch listening to the rain sweep across the grass and trees. Thunder echoes deep behind the clouds while birds call goodnight to each other. Cool breezes caress my skin, providing relief from the day’s heat and humidity. And I smile as I think about my favorite things from the grand opening of our Little Free Library.
1. The weather cleared! Earlier Friday afternoon, a thunderstorm exploded overhead, but about an hour before the clouds broke up and blue sky even peeked through. After we were done, the clouds reappeared, dropping rain on us again.
It was still humid, so my camera lense kept fogging up.
2. People came! We had no idea if anyone would show up or not. Several neighbors dropped by along with friends from church. Most took a book or two home with them. We all enjoyed the brownies and punch and conversation.
3. More people donated books! Another friend had seen news of our LFL and messaged me to ask if I wanted the children’s books left over from her yard sale. That box was filled with treasures–Madeline, My Side of the Mountain, the Boxcar Children, and Magic Treehouse. The best part is I get to read the books, too! Now I may need a warehouse to store them all.
4. Some visitors surprise us! One evening while we were reading in the living room, a car we didn’t recognize pulled into the driveway. Instead of stopping at the library, though, a young woman with a handful of books came to the door. “These don’t have the stickers in them, so I wanted to give them to you,” she said as she turned back to the car. (I’ve been putting Free Little Library stickers in the front cover to advertise.) I’m not worried about the stickers, but I love to see people taking ownership for caring for the books.
5. We are now official! The day after the Grand Opening, I received my official Steward’s Packet with our sign. They also sent a lot of helpful information and cool stuff: bumper sticker, book plates, bookmarks, and even a book for the library.
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
It all started with the snow that overwhelmed us this past winter. My husband looked at the unused basketball goal in our driveway and suggested that he build a birdhouse to fit between the posts.
“I’ve got a better idea,” I responded. “Look at these.” I pulled up the website for Little Free Library. “Would you build me a library instead?”
I couldn’t believe it when he said yes. Then came months of discussion. He thought the books should be in a waterproof plastic container inside the house. I said no containers. The library needs a glass door so people can see the books.
I know with my students, they are much more likely to pick up a book to read if it’s easy to pick up. They are more likely to read from my classroom library than the school library. They are more likely to pick up a book that has the cover facing out on the chalk tray or book stand than they are to pick one up from all the titles standing on the shelves with just the spine out.
Once spring arrived, my husband started building. He created a little library with three shelves out of spare material he had lying around. The wood is wrapped in water-proof cloth. The roof has shingles. Cedar siding warps around three sides. The door does indeed have a full glass window so everyone can see the books. I was responsible for painting the inside. White reflects light from the ceiling and two walls. Turquoise pops along the back wall and shelves–at least what you can see around the books.
I am also responsible for filling the shelves with books. I’ve been hitting up yard sales and thrift stores. As I’ve told people about the Little Free Library, several have offered donations of books for it. Two overflowing boxes sit behind me waiting for books to be taken so I have room to add them to the shelves. My husband’s comment: “I thought this library was going to get rid of books in our house, not multiply them.”
Now that the library was built and officially registered, it was time to spread the news. We copied a flyer and set off Saturday afternoon around the neighborhood. We live in a rural neighborhood, so it is two miles around the “block,” and that doesn’t include heading back long drives shared by multiple houses. Thank goodness for the four wheeler. On some of the houses we just left a flyer stuck in the door, but if people were home, we stopped to tell them about it. What were the reactions?
- Most people were quite excited about it–especially those with kids.
- Some people offered donations of books. I explained that they were encouraged to trade out as many books as they wanted. The whole concept is “Take a book, leave a book.” I can’t wait to see what comes in.
- A few people gave me strange–or maybe it was just confused–looks. But they thanked us anyway.
- One person asked when the block party was. It’s Friday night! We plan to have refreshments for our grand opening!
- Only one person had a negative comment–and he even thought his grandkids would like it. He would like it if we’d keep the grandkids for a while. No.
Now the library has been built, the shelves have been filled, and the invitations have been sent. Now all that’s left is to see who will come to the party. I hope the whole neighborhood will.
The new Slam Dunk Books Little Free Library 15682.
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
June brings strawberries to southern Indiana–red, ripe, lucious berries that beg to be savored. Every day or two, we stroll to the raised bed in our back yard to pick a quart or two or three of starwberrries. Even though we love them, there are only so many berries we can eat before they start to go bad. Our favorite way to preserve them to enjoy through the rest of the year is to make strawberry jam. Now I could go out and buy a package of commercial pectin to make our jam, but I prefer the art of using the natural fruit pectin and sugar to make jam. It takes a little more time and stirring, but it’s really not that hard.
Find guidance:
The Ball Blue Book has everything you need to know.
If you have never made jam or canned fruits and vegetables, you will want to find someone or something to help you do it safely. We started by using the Ball Blue Book years ago. It has directions and recipes for canning (and freezing) almost everything. You can also contact your local agricultural extension office for the latest information on food safety. I grew up helping my mom make jam. I remember her sealing the jars with paraffin. No one every got sick from that jam and jelly, but today food safety experts recommend a water bath canning method for preserving jams and jellies.
Gather jam ingredients and prepare the strawberries:
The recipe I use for strawberry jam is simple:
- 2 quarts strawberries, hulled and crushed, and
- 6 cups sugar.
That’s it. If you can’t walk out into your own backyard to pick strawberries, use the freshest strawberries you can find. Visit a pick it yourself farm or your local farmer’s market. When strawberries are in season in your area, even the grocery stores are more likely to have fresh strawberries, though they will have sat longer than those picked just that morning.
To prepare the strawberries,
- Rinse off any dirt.
- Then cut off the stems and cut the strawberries in halves or quarters. I’ve never tried one of the specialized strawberry hullers. A paring knife works well.
- Mash the strawberries. I use a potato masher to smush the berries in the bottom of a quart, glass measuring cup. You could also use a food mill.
Just add strawberries and sugar!
Gather canning supplies:
Don’t panic. Many of these supplies you may have in your kitchen already. Most are inexpensive, too.
- Water bath canner: I use the smaller size since I can jam in 1 cup jars. The rack keeps the jars off the bottom and makes it easy to take the jars in and out of boiling water. If you don’t have a canner and don’t want to buy one, you can use a large stock pot. Just make sure it is deep enough for water to completely cover the jars. You will also need some sort of metal rack to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot. It might be easier to ask around and borrow one!
- Canning jars with lids and rings: Definitely use real canning jars because the glass is strong enough to take the heat. If you reuse jars that held commercial products, the glass might break during canning. That’s a mess (and a potential hazard) you don’t want to clean up. Canning jars can be reused year after year. So can the rings. You will need to buy new lids to ensure an airtight seal.
- Small pot to boil lids: The lids have to be boiled to sterilize them and to help improve the seal.
- Funnel and ladel: These are to put the jam into the jars.
- Tongs: You can even buy a magnetic lid lifter to help get the lids out of the hot water without burning your fingers. I find that putting the lids in by alternating them upside down and right side up prevents them from sticking together most of the time. Then I can just use a simple pair of tongs to get them out.
- Jar lifter: How else will you take the hot jars out the boiling water?
- Hot pads, towels or paper bags, or boards: Everything is hot, so you will need to protect all your working surfaces from the heat. We set the jam pot on a large cutting board and then fill the jars on paper bags (which can be thrown away afterwards). You could also use cloth towels. You will also need to set the hot jars on a protected surface to cool. Don’t set hot jars to cool on a cold stone countertop. You could crack the jars.
Canning supplies aren’t too scary!
Now that you have everything out, you are ready to start cooking the strawberry jam! Take a deep breath. The biggest skill needed is stirring!
- Put washed canning jars into water bath canner and fill with water. The water should cover the jars by an inch or so. Cover with the lid and bring to a boil to sterilize the jars. Once the water boils, you can then turn off the eye of the stove. The water and jars will remain hot while the jam cooks.
- Put the lids in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil to sterilize. Just like with the jars, you can turn off the eye and put a lid on the pot to keep lids hot. It doesn’t take very long to bring this amount of water to a boil, so you can wait to do it while cooking down the jam.
- Combine crushed strawberries and sugar in a large stockpot. One with a thick bottom will help prevent burning. You will want to use a large pot because the jam will splatter as it boils. I use a large wooden spoon to stir.
Keep stirring!
- Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Keep stirring occasionally as it comes to a boil.
- Once the strawberry and sugar mixture comes to a boil, keep it boiling rapidly. Keep stirring. How long do you boil and stir? That’s the secret to the art of jam making. The recipe in the Ball Blue Book suggests about 40 minutes, but my jam never takes that long to be ready. Once the color turns to a dark, rich red (after about 30 minutes), I drip some jam on a plate. Once it cools a little, I check the consistency by running a finger through it. The jam will set up firmer as it cools, so err on the runny side unless you like your jam to be thick enough to cut.
- Remove jam from heat. Grab a jar out of the water bath canner and pour out the water.
- Place the funnel on the mouth of the jar and use the ladel to fill the jar with jam. Fill the jar until there is a half inch of space between the top of the jam and the rim of the jar. Continue filling jars until you run out of jam. Most water bath canners can hold seven jars. If I fill more than seven jars, I put the extra jam in a jar to be enjoyed immediately! The extra jar can be stored in the refrigerator.
- Take a wet paper towel and carefully wipe clean the rim of each jar. If there is any jam (or anything else) on the rim of the jar, the lids will not seal.
- Take a lid out of the hot water and place rubber side down on top of the jar.
- Take a ring and screw it down over the lid. Use a tight fit, but don’t overtighten the rings.
- Return jars to the water bath canner and lower into the water.
- Bring water back to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. You will need to boil longer if you are at a higher altitude.
- Remove jars from canner and let cool. For best results, place jars in a location without drafts.
- Once jars have completely cooled (the next day), check that the lids sealed. The lids should not move or flex when you press down on them. If any jars did not seal, store them in the refrigerator.
Enjoy the jam!
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
For the past several summers (and other school breaks), I have looked forward to diving headfirst into stacks of books with the #bookaday challenge thrown out by Donalyn Miller. I don’t always succeed in reading a book every day of evert break from school, but I loved devouring a sea of words in book after book.
This summer, though, I find myself wanting to stay longer with the books I read. I finished Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys several days ago, but I’m not ready to let her story go. I want to visit longer with Josie and wander the streets of the French Quarter with her as she schemes to find a way out of the past that haunts her.
I still have stacks and boxes of books that are waiting for me to read them (not to mention the unread books on my Kindle and the audio books I am downloading weekly from Sync YA). I currently have a large enough supply of unread books that I could read a book a day for the rest of the summer and not run out.
But I also find myself wanting to be open to books that come into my life serendipitously. Just the other weekend, a former pastor brought a book for me as his contribution to our cookout. I didn’t even know Wendell Berry wrote short stories, but now a collection of them waits in my purse for me to dip into its pages.
I also want to explore books that make me think, and I want time to reflect on and absorb their words, even write in response to them. I have been wanting to read books by Barbara Taylor Brown that reflect on faith, especially her newest book Learning to Walk in the Dark. I even feel an urge to revisit Thoreau–maybe while I’m out hiking or camping.
I know after the pressure of this past teaching year, I need to slow down. #Bookaday is not a competition where others will put me down for not meeting that goal, but I put the pressure on myself. I want to savor the words I read and write this summer instead of rushing through them. Books will be my companions as I wend my way through this summer. So will my pen and notebook as I reflect on where I’ve been and where I may be headed.
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
Where does music fill the streets and dance across the stages? Nashville, Tennessee. And if you travel with a high school orchestra, the weekend will be packed with music. We loaded up the buses at 7:30 in the morning–instruments in one compartment; suitcases, coolers and breakfast boxes in another compartment; and students and parents with backpacks, blankets and pillows in the seats.
Our first stop was Western Kentucky University, where the orchestra students enjoyed a sight reading workshop with one of the professors from the school of music. The parents sat back and enjoyed the concert. We even got a tour of the campus, and learned first hand how the school earned the nickname of Hilltoppers!
This orchestra can sight read!
Friday night welcomed the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, with special guests The Midtown Men from Jersey Boys. I may have not lived through the sixties, but I grew up in the eighties listening to the best music from the sixties. I had to remind myself not to sing along. If I forgot, my daughter generously elbowed me as a reminder.
Home of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra
Do you know how an album is recorded? I learned a little bit about the process when we visited Blackbird Studios where some of the biggest acts in music today have recorded albums. There are separate rooms to record drums, keyboards, strings, and vocals–and that’s just to get down the basics of the songs. Extra touches to fill out the music are added later in yet another studio room. Then the last mixing is done to create the perfect sound in another room before being sent off to create the final master. Each song is the result of thousands of decisions along the way. (Sounds a lot like a day in the life of a teacher.)
Some of your favorite artists may have sung into this microphone.
We found even more music aboard the General Jackson showboat. We cruised up and down the Columbia River while eating a delicious lunch and being entertained by a muscial act that gave tribute to some of the greats in country music (along with a few laughs at their expense).
We are ready for toe-tapping music and good eating.
We celebrated Saturday night at the Grand Ole Opry. Most (well, really all) of the current starts were on Las Vegas for some reason last weekend, so none of them made a surprise appearance on the circle at the center of the stage, but we did get to hear some of the old time greats of country music and bluegrass, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Bill Anderson, and Restless Heart. My favorite had to be the Willis clan. Six of the twelve children–all siblings–played bluegrass until the youngest six children (down to age 3) joined them on stage to kick up their heels. My daughter came home and has been checking the Opry calendar to see when we can go back and catch her favorite members. During our backstage tour he next day, we even got to stand on the circle on center stage (taken from the stage at Ryman Auditorium where many of country’s greatest stars stood). Those orchestra members who played violin even got to play a few measures while getting their picture taken.
The Willis clan throws down some bluegrass and dancing.
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
What is the best way to come back to school after spring break? Why by taking my classes to the book fair all day!
If you could see the piles and boxes of books I have stacked around my house and classroom, you would know that the book fair is the last place I need to to spend my day. But what could be better than spending time every period browsing the new books, pointing out favorites to my students, and discovering new titles that look intriguing. To make it even better, this is the BOGO book fair. How can I turn down a deal that lets me get a free book for each one I buy?
I also had chance to look at next year’s Young Hoosier Book list and buy some of the titles for my classroom. I can tell I am much more aware and current with my reading. When I first started promoting the Young Hoosier books through our book club at school, most of the books and authors were new to me. When I looked at this year’s list, I realized I already owned eight of the titles in my classroom library already, and several of the other titles have been on my wish list. I am looking forward to discovering a few new books and authors as well.
The more books and authors I know, the better I am able to recommend the right book to my students. And my students have been reading up a storm this year. I currently teach 113 students. Those 113 students have read a grand total of 2,121 books so far this year. I think that rocks!
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
For the second year in a row, I have joined Two Writing Teachers in the month long Slice of Life blogging challenge. For the second year in a row, I wasn’t sure I could actually pull it off–write and share every day for the month of March. For the second year in a row, I did it. I wrote, posted, shared, and commented every day. For the second year in a row, I have learned more than I could have imagined before I started. What have I learned?
- Writing is sometimes hard, but I can still do it. There were quite a few days when I had no ideas, no words. Those were the days I dug through notebooks or read posts (especially the inspiration posts–Thanks, Stacey) from other writers to find ideas when my brain was empty. One day I even wrote about having nothing to write about.
- Somedays I wrote better than other days. I cringed as I published some of my posts, but I am grateful for the kind words of people who encouraged me to try again the next day.
- I can find time to write every day. Usually how long it takes me to write a post depends on the amount of time I had available. On busy days, I could crank out a post in less than 30 minutes. During spring break and weekends when the entire day stretched before me, it would take me an hour or two to write a post. The posts on those leisurely days weren’t necessarily better than the others. They just took longer.
- I have readers I didn’t know about. Throughout the month, I would run into people at school and church who would comment on my posts or ask me a question about something I wrote about. I usually share my posts on Facebook and Twitter, and sometimes responses would come there as well.
- I love comments! I still get excited when someone takes the time to write a comment about my posts. I also love reading and leaving comments for others. I could spend hours reading and commenting if I had the hours to give each day. Sometimes, though, it is hard to know what to say. Sometimes I wish I could be there face to face instead.
- I am glad to have found and become a part of this community. The slicing community is filled with some of the most dynamic and passionate teachers, literacy coaches, administrators, and parents that I’ve ever met. I have learned so much from what you have shared from your classrooms and homes. I am inspired to become an even better teacher and mother.
I stand in awe of those of you who have classrooms of students slicing with you. By next year I am going to figure out how to organize and keep up with 120 language arts students so I can share the excitement with them as well.
I will be back tomorrow for the weekly round up of slices each Tuesday! I hope to see you there, too.
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
I was inspired by yesterday’s inspiration of the Right Now post written by Terje. As I am enjoying the last day of spring break, I thought it would be a perfect way to capture the end of the week before jumping into the whirl of the last eight weeks of school.
Here goes. Right now I am
- waiting for warm weather to finally arrive.
- appreciating the blue skies and sunshine we had all day today–along with the crocuses and daffodils that have started blooming.
- thanking my family for all their help cleaning our house this weekend.
- cooking hamburgers and french fries for dinner tonight.
- anticipating the excitement my students will bring back from spring break.
- reading Georgia Heard’s book on writing nonfiction, Finding the Heart of Nonfiction.
- smiling because I feel rested and renewed after the past week of reading and relaxing
- accepting that I didn’t get everything done, and that’s okay.
- remembering and the amazing writing that I’ve read this month.
- hoping that our test scores reflect the hard work my students have done this year. I have faith in our work together, but not so much in the accuracy of the tests to measure it.
- wondering where my daughter will end up for college and glad we have several years to sort it out.
- wishing everyone a great end to the school year.
