But Wait, There's More!

SOLSC #2

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers.  For the month of March, I've joined the challenge to post a slice of life daily.  

 

Yesterday we completed the Educational Effectiveness Survey during our faculty meeting. Here's one of the statements."Our staff can count on one another for help when needed." No hesitation on that one as I filled in the Almost Always True bubble, But I wanted an opportunity to share more, to give a written response.
"Our staff can count on one another for help."  Yep, I definitely need the Always True bubble.
And here's a thumbnail view of the rest of the story.
How about the time(s) . . .
when Deborah mentored me far past the one year assigned time period?
when Kathy helped me create a map of the Silk Road that I still use in my classroom?
when Karen and I collaborate to create student friendly learning targets for our Social Studies units?
when Bruce shares his latest rubric or form to make our work easier?
when Alice and I manage to squeeze in a few moments to share teaching ideas and good reads during our overbooked planning    period?
when Danae spends her precious weekend time helping me customize her rubric and handouts for my upcoming observation?
when Linda cruises by with her rollerbag at 6 p.m chanting, "Go home, Behnke," to remind both of us that we should have lives outside of these walls?
I'm lucky to work in an environment where we can count on each other!

March Madness!

 
 SOLSC #1

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers.  For the month of March, I've joined the challenge to post a slice of life daily.  

 

What have I done?  Yesterday I introduced the Slice of Life Story Challenge to my sixth graders.   At the end of the month, they will qualify for a specific level of recognition at our Slice of Life celebration -bronze for 22 entries (writing every school day this month), silver for 27 or more entries (every school day plus some weekend entries), and gold for 31 entries (writing every day during the month)!    It's been a long time since we've written every day in our Writer's Notebooks.  I explained to them that I would rather write with them in my Writer's Notebook, that I was petrified of posting to my blog and making my entries public.  They encouraged me to take the leap (it was Feb. 29)!  I shared the challenge with my building principal this morning, so I'm committed.  This is my first slice, although I've followed the blog for some time.  Let the madness begin!

My Newbery Possibilities!

Last year we had a Mock Newbery Book Club in my 6th grade Language Arts classes.  We used the Mock Newbery list generated by KCLS (King County Library Service), and were shocked to hear the chosen title, Moon Over Manifest, a book that had not been on any of the Mock Newbery lists that I perused.  I read the book last spring and loved it.

This Mock Newbery Club made me more aware of reading new books, and I've enjoyed following recommendations from fellow bloggers this year.  Since the book awards will be announced on Monday, Jan. 23, I wanted to do a quick recap of the titles I've read and loved that were new in 2011.

Inside Out and Back Again - This is a title that I read during the 48 Hour Book Challenge.  This challenge provided the impetus for me to start a blog.  See blog entry on June 4, 2011 for my review.  I was excited when this book won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.  Novels in verse are a favorite genre for me.  A couple of other titles that I love in this genre are Out of the Dust and Reaching for Sun.  I added novels in verse to my students' genre list this year. 

small as an elephant - It's really hard for me to type that title with no caps (the old school teacher in me hates this trend by authors of deleting capital letters).  That rant aside, I was quite moved by this book. I have a blog entry for it on July 5, 2011.

Okay for Now - I finished this title after school started.  I kept intending to write a review, but I never got around to it.  The writing is exquisite, and the characters have remained in my heart.  I enjoyed listening to a speech by Gary Schmidt about the book.

Breadcrumbs -  This is an interesting fantasy with many allusions to elements from other books and fairy tales.  I loved the determination of the main character,  as she embarks on her quest to rescue her friend Jack.

A Monster Calls -  I just finished this book this afternoon and I'm still processing it.  I like the emphasis on the power of story to help us deal with life's challenges. 

I'm out of time.  I wanted to list all the titles that I still want to read, but no time now.  If I had to pick from the books I've read, I would go with small as an elephant or Okay for Now. 

Soon we'll have the decision of the committees and lots of new award winning titles to explore.  I find this so much more exciting than the Oscars!