Saturday, February 27, 2016

Celebrate This Week!

                                Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

Discover. Play. Build.
                                  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!


A quick recap of some celebrations this week:

3 days subbing with two fabulous,
hard-working groups of sixth graders

4 books shared for World Read Aloud Day
(great to be in the classroom for this day)  
Arnie the Doughnut 
Clever Jack Takes the Cake 
Abe's Honest Words 
Henry's Freedom Box

Books, Brownies, and Beyond 
(our after school book club)
is prepping for March Book Madness

Several days of sunshine

Daffodils, camellias, and even a few rhoddies are showing up

A good friend and I are headed to
Western Washington University's
Children's Literature Conference!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Slice of Life: Blinded by the Light , Bolstered by Books, and Basking in the Sunshine!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, BethAnna, Kathleen, and Deb
                   for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

My day began bright and early with an 8 am PT appointment (no dire problems, just a sore knee that has plagued me for a couple of months).  As I waited for my warm-up time on the bike, I chuckled at the receptionist who kept shielding her eyes from the morning sun as she greeted each patient.  Someone recommended that she put on sunglasses.  After my warm-up, I transferred to a machine of torture right in the sunny window where I found myself using my hand to block the early morning sunshine.  You may wonder why they didn't just pull the binds?  Well, we live near Seattle and a sunny day in February is something to celebrate!  In fact, I celebrated by heading to the car wash right after PT.  We've had a historically wet winter with nearly 2 feet of rain in less than three months.  It's been the wettest rainy season in Seattle since 1894.  Today's newspaper urged citizens . . . "If your roof needs repair, your car needs a wash or your skin is in search of bronzing, rejoice - your atmospheric prayers have been answered . . .  The fickle Seattle sun is expected to make an extended appearance this week."  

So it was with trepidation that I headed down to the middle school this afternoon for Books, Brownies and Beyond.  Who knew if my young friends would spend another hour at school?  I wouldn't blame them if they ditched book club for some time in the sun.  But we had sixteen readers in attendance, eight girls and eight boys.  We're prepping for March Book Madness.  Today I asked readers to take a stand for Fantasy or Realistic Fiction.  We were tied evenly, with 7 votes for each genre.  Yes, some of our members didn't vote.  They couldn't bring themselves to choose one over the other and then there was Elsa, standing halfway up because she wanted to vote for both.  

After book club I basked in the sunshine, no jacket needed, and chatted with Carrie Bowman, the KCLS librarian who teams with me to lead our book club.  Wonder what we talked about?  Books, of course!  

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Celebrate This Week!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 
Discover. Play. Build.
                         A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!


1.  The 90% off remainders book sale at University Books
I purchased six books for $5.26 (including tax)!

2.  Read Wanda Gag:  The Girl Who Loved to Draw by Deborah Ray
This picture book biography about the creator of Millions of Cats
 is a great mentor text for how to include quotes from
original diaries and correspondence in a biography.  
And it has some delightful cats in the illustrations too!

3.  Discovered this remnant of Christmas cheer in the driveway
It's a poinsettia leaf bedecked with raindrop sparkles!

4.  Walked with a friend on Saturday afternoon
We delighted in the blue sky and puffy clouds
(after a week of mostly rain and gray skies)!

Friday, February 19, 2016

Poetry Friday: Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle . . . And Other Modern Verse

Head over to Mainly Write 
 for this week's roundup of poetry love.
Thanks for hosting, Donna!

I shared a favorite poetry book when I was here two weeks ago, and decided to share another one today.  I discovered this book in the 70s (first printed in 1966), and it's still in print and available at Amazon.  I have three copies, a paperback and two hardbacks.  It's important to have multiple copies of a favorite book (just in case one disappears).  One of my hard back copies is falling apart and the binding is held together by just one thread.    

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle . . .  And Other Modern Verse was introduced to me during college.  I used it as a resource for the poetry unit I designed to use during student teaching with my 9th graders.  I know I'm dating myself here, but this was in the days of purple dye mimeographs that had to be typed on a typewriter! 
The book opens with a favorite poem, "How to Eat a Poem," by Eve Merriam and closes with "Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity" by John Tobias.  Sandwiched between those pages are many other delightful poems.  Two of my favorites are "Summons" by Robert Francis and "Crossing" by Philip Booth.  

If you've somehow missed this book, check it out.  It's an anthology I often recommended to my sixth graders.  I loved it when they returned, book in hand, ready to share a favorite poem with me!  

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Slice of Life: Word Wanderings and March Countdown

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, BethAnna, Kathleen, and Deb
                   for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Do you ever stumble across a word that you've read often in print, but don't have the slightest idea how to pronounce?  That's a perfect example of when my friend M-W (Merriam Webster) comes to the rescue.  It happened last Friday.  I was reading "The Californian's Tale" by Mark Twain to a group of 8th graders when the word, dauguerotype, appeared before my eyes.  (The story was new to me and a delight to share with the students.  We started class with Dorianne Laux's poem "On the Back Porch," read  "The Californian's Tale," and ended with Jane Yolen's picture book, The Stranded Whale.)  (I adore being subversive and sneaking in poems and picture books into other teacher's lesson plans.)  (I couldn't remember the title of Yolen's book, so I googled stranded at sea because I knew it had stranded in the title.  Oops!  Way too many hits, so I revised the search to "stranded at sea jane yolen.")  (Did you know that auto correct switches Yolen to Yolk?)  (Sure enough, google provided me with the exact title of the book.  I also discovered something else, but I digress!)  Back to dauguerotype - we googled the word and listened as my friend M-W gave us a perfect pronunciation.  (I worry that we're raising a generation who do not know how to interpret the phonetic symbols to properly pronounce a word, but who am I kidding?  The only people who really care about those symbols are word nerds like me.)

Do you ever stumble across a word that just doesn't fit its meaning?  That happened to me yesterday when my friend M-W introduced me to a new-to-me word, pulchritude.  I couldn't believe the meaning of this word.  Physical comeliness???  The word doesn't sound beautiful.  And it doesn't look beautiful.  When I look at this word, I think of putrid and puke and belch.  Try fitting pulchritude into your next conversation about a beautiful person!

Do you ever stumble across a word that you love?  Serendipity is one of my favorites and skedaddle, and yesterday while reading Lizzie and the Lost Baby, higgledy-piggledy popped onto the page.  That's a perfect word if I ever heard one.  It makes me smile and giggle just looking at it.  And all those fun consonants just make for a word that sounds higgledy-piggledy!

Does the countdown to March strike fear into your heart?  This will be my fifth year, and I have no idea how I'll be able to write a slice of life every day.  But today's word wanderings provided several possibilities for future slices:
  • The students'  response to my comment that we had read a poem, a picture book and a short story - all in one period!
  • Wandering side roads and by roads with my friend M-W
  • The biography in my book bag of Noah Webster
  • A favorite high school graduation gift - my dictionary
  • Why I still like to look up words in the dictionary
  • From card catalogs to google searches - serendipity along the road to distraction
Do you wonder how on earth you'll be able to write for 31 days?  It happens, my friend, one day at a time.  Three pieces of advice:  Write down your random ideas, get inspired by fellow slicers, and enjoy the journey!  FYI - 13 days until March!

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Celebrate This Week!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 
Discover. Play. Build.
                        A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!


1.  The Cybils Winners are up!

2.  I finished Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton and 
now I'm reading Victoria Jamieson's graphic novel, Roller Girl!

3.  It's mid-winter break!
(Yes,  I'm retired, but I subbed five days out of the last seven school days.)

4.  I finished my adult book club book, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah!

5.  We celebrated Valentine's Day early
with a Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn concert!

6.  Hopefully the stars will align this week and we'll be able 
to schedule our online book club to discuss
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlan.
It's a fun way to stay connected with two friends who've moved away.  

7.  I got permission to share this Valentine's Day pic
of my little friends, Lenna, Kilee, and Imi!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Slice of Life: My Airport Run with Dustin Hoffman

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, BethAnna, Kathleen, and Deb
                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

I am awake from 3-4 am anticipating an early morning run to the airport.  I finally manage to get back to sleep.  The radio comes on, jarring me from a deep sleep.  I pop out of bed, refresh the Alaska page, and see that my kids' red-eye flight will arrive 35 minutes early.  No time to dilly dally.  I throw on yesterday's clothes, hop in the car and settle in for the 20 minute drive to the airport.  My biggest surprise of the morning is how many people are also on the road before 6 am.  The drive flies by and in no time, I find myself in the loading/unloading zone - waiting.  Periodically, a loudspeaker announces that "no waiting" is allowed and that cars may be ticketed or towed.  I try to keep an eye out for the airport police, but it's difficult because Dustin Hoffman is in the car with me!

I just spent the past twenty minutes with him, and he's still entertaining me.  I'm captivated by his reading of the audiobook Appleblossom the Possum by Holly Goldberg Sloan.  The target audience (ages 6-10) is younger than my usual middle grade focus, but I've totally enjoyed this audiobook. I requested it when I noticed it on the Notable Children's Recordings - 2016, (and that it was read by Dustin Hoffman).  The theatrical adventures of Appleblossom and her siblings make me happy to hop in the car, even for short errands.  

Take a look at the award winning recordings for 2016 and treat yourself to an audiobook.  I get them from the public library.  Even though I don't spend a lot of time in the car, it's one of my favorite ways to get around to some of the books on my WTR (want to read) list.  Next up on my list, The Odds of Getting Even by Sheila Turnage.  I've loved enjoying the adventures of Mo and Dale in the two previous audiobooks.  If you haven't listened to Three Times Lucky, start there and prepare to be entertained by two additional sequels! 

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Celebrate This Week - A Post of a Special Number!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 
Discover. Play. Build.
                        A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!


1.  Sara's stack of possibilities for beach reading (before weeding) for her trip to Hawaii!
Like mother, like daughter.
Our toughest travel decisions are always which books to pack!
2.  Neighborhood connections!
Our mailboxes were broken into over the weekend.  In the process of scheduling the replacement of our locks, I communicated with the entire lane.  And then each of them had to stop by to pick up their new keys and pay their part of the repair bill.  
It felt a bit like Halloween as I walked to the door
with the container of keys in plastic bags to distribute.
We need to get together more often!

3.  This blue sky as I left daughter's house on Tuesday!

4.  These cookie bars that traveled with me to school on Friday!  
It was fun to share with my former colleagues as I substituted in sixth grade.
I squeezed in a picture book (Mother Bruce) and shared a poem for Poetry Friday!

5.  My 500th post!  
It's an amazing journey to write with my online friends.
My life as a writer was born on my blog and is

 nurtured by your comments and ongoing support.  

Friday, February 5, 2016

Poetry Friday: 100 Quickwrites by Linda Reif


 for this week's roundup of poetry love.
Thanks for hosting,Tricia!

Selecting a  favorite for my bag
Hoping for time to share
I'm off to a Friday in 6th grade land
But first I need some more sleep!

This is what happens when you face insomnia at 3 am.  I wander over to my bookcase of professional books and pull an old favorite off the shelf.  I'll be substituting in a team teaching situation today, so I don't know if I can squeeze in a poem for Poetry Friday.  But fingers crossed, I'm ready with a personal favorite, Linda Reif's 100 Quickwrites!  I flip the book open to "February Air" (p. 88), then notice "Charlotte's Web" (p. 92), or maybe I can use "Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant To Whom It May Concern" (p. 96) which would tie in with their social justice unit.  If you've never explored Linda Reif's delightful book of quick writes, head to your favorite indie bookstore and  treat yourself and your students to this book (recommended for grades 5 and up)!

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Slice of Life: Our 3rd Dinner Guest!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, BethAnna, Kathleen, and Deb
                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Dinner's ready!  So why am I tearing into the package we just bought at Michaels?  My daughter wonders why this can't wait until we've eaten dinner.  But our Thai takeout will have to wait.  I must include our third guest.  

My daughter gave her to me several years ago.  She sat propped on top of the bookcase for awhile until I finally put her in the car so I could frame her.  She traveled there for several months and during one frenzied car clean out was carried into the house and misplaced.  I recently found her again. So when daughter invited me over for a mother daughter sleepover, I started a bag of things to take to her house:  the sweater that needed a button, the gift that needed a frame, books I wanted to share, her Christmas picture books that still needed a note from me...

We stopped by her house before heading out to do some errands and you guessed it, she was carried in.  So rather than abandon hope of finally framing her, I insisted we stop by to retrieve her before picking up our Thai takeout dinner.  We stopped by Michaels and I wandered the aisles of frames,  finally deciding on a white frame since all the brown frames weren't quite right.  I was surprised by the price, 24.99!  But daughter assured me she could pull up a 40% off coupon on her phone.  

As we headed for the checkout, we discovered one more spot with tabletop frames and there, on the bottom shelf, I found the perfect frame for $10.99 (and we could still use the 40% off coupon)!  

When you find the perfect frame, dinner can wait!  And that's why I took off the cellophane wrap, removed the back, discovered the print was a bit too big, trimmed the white excess, and inserted the picture - all before opening any white takeout cartons or taking a single bite of our delicious Thai dinner.  After all she was our honored guest!