This week I read The Comet Seekers, by Helen Sedgwick, a beautiful, lyrical novel about two seekers whose paths crisscross throughout the book. Amazingly (coincidentally?), there is a comet in our neck of the galaxy this month. Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková may be visible with a telescope or binoculars tomorrow evening. How could I not write a haiku about a comet today?
comet seekers scan
every corner of the sky
searching for marvels
![Comet detail of Bayeux Tapestry [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/comete_tapisserie_bayeux.jpg?w=188&h=203)
Mary Lee Hahn’s #haikuforhealing project has grown on me, and I find myself composing haiku in my head as I’m driving, doing the dishes, or folding laundry. Yesterday as I headed out for one last round of Christmas shopping, flocks of geese flew overhead, inspiring today’s haiku.
patchwork clouds
stitched with vees of honking geese
hurrying homeward
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Wishing you all the happiest of holidays and a new year filled with love and joy!
Please be sure to visit Buffy Silverman at Buffy’s Blog for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Mary Lee Hahn‘s #haikuforhealing has become addictive, and Saturday’s snow scattered commonplace marvels everywhere.
tattered cobweb
now a crystal tapestry
transformed by winter’s kiss
a snowy thicket
strewn with breathing boulders:
deer hunker down
a mighty hunter,
sidelined by an icy gale,
dreams of chasing mice
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts. Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah, everyone!
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~
Deep in the woods behind our house is a pond where our boys fished in the spring, searched for turtles and snakes in the summer and fall, and ice skated in the winter. As they grew older, they spent less time in the woods and at the pond, and the path that led to it became overgrown and impassable.
Earlier this fall, my husband cleared the path and the pond was accessible to us again. I spent some time there a few weeks ago, soaking up the peacefulness of the woods. It was a perfect spot to find “commonplace marvels” and to be inspired for Mary Lee’s #haikuforhealing.
cloudshadows float across
the pond’s unruffled surface:
sky mirror
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
I had such good intentions for writing a slice today. I started writing a post last night that had promise. I was sure I’d have time to work on it during lunch today. No such luck. Now I’m heading out to see George Takei’s Broadway show, ALLEGIANCE, at our local movie theater. I have been trying to keep up with Mary Lee Hahn‘s #haikuforhealing this month, so here are a few of my favorites from the past week.
blue jays perch in trees
ready to launch an attack
on sunflower seeds
bite-sized chocolate orbs
hide a surprise inside:
memories of you
loops of spun softness
slip off quicksilver needles
cozy hat blossoms
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
silver-suited Glenn
steered Friendship Seven toward the stars;
our dreams rode along
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
![By NASA/photographer unknown (Great Images in NASA Description) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/john_glenn_entering_friendship_7_-_gpn-2000-000652.jpg?w=417&h=286)
Since Natalie Babbitt’s death at the end of October, I’ve been thinking about her lovely book, The Search for Delicious. (More about that here.) I’ve been keeping an eye out for “those commonplace marvels which [the world] spreads so carelessly before us everyday.” This morning, I noticed this “commonplace marvel” in the apple tree in my front yard:
fallen leaves reveal
robin’s hidden nest, holding
the promise of spring
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Bridgit Magee at Wee Words for Wee Ones for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
“The purpose of knowledge is to appreciate wonders even more.”
Richard Feynman
(A few weeks ago, the theme of Margaret Simon’s #Digilit Sunday was PURPOSE. Since then, I’ve been jotting ideas and working to clearly articulate my thoughts around this topic.)
In the Prologue of The Search for Delicious, Natalie Babbitt refers to “those commonplace marvels which [the world] spreads so carelessly before us everyday.” When I taught third grade, I read this book to my students every year. Babbitt’s magical tale of mythical creatures and human folly was a perennial favorite. The story of Galen’s quest for the elusive definition of delicious is nothing less than a metaphor for the quest for knowledge of any kind.
Helping children be attuned to these marvels and to be filled with a sense of wonder about the world has always been at the heart of my teaching. I want to help my students learn to be enchanted with the world around them. In my classroom, as often as possible, routines are woven into our days that nurture this ability. Such seemingly prosaic objects as dried sunflower heads, birds’ nests, and seashells become treasures to marvel over. I want my students to understand that they are explorers, and that the world is full of mysteries waiting to be uncovered.
So every book I read, every lesson or activity I teach is chosen or designed to lay out these wonders and enchant students. Enchant them so they grow a love of the world and become better stewards of our planet. I want them to look at the moon and see a peach nodding off, its eye at half-mast. Or hear music in the rattle of dried out bamboo as a woodpecker prospects for his breakfast.
I want to enchant them so they grow a love of words, and come alive as readers and writers. I want them to read and write with joy, in a way that allows them to deepen their understanding of themselves. I want them to find a book that holds up a mirror and lets them know they’re not alone. Someone else understands them and loves them, warts and all. I want them to read books that will open windows and help them discover truths about others, and the world around them. I want them to set out each day searching for, finding, and loving the possibilities in themselves and in one another.
That is my purpose. That is my passion.
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
“Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale.”
~ Joseph Addison ~
The moon has always fascinated me. Each day, I notice its passage through its eternal journey around the earth. I feel as if my day isn’t complete if I haven’t greeted my old friend. This month, the mystery of the moon has offered me a welcome distraction from the turmoil of our world. I wrote these haiku in response to the mood of the moon throughout the month.
i.
in the crisp gloaming,
a sliver of moon winks through
shadowy branches
ii.
music fills the night;
each note carried on a beam
of silver moonlight
iii
at dawn, a ghost moon
floats above purple hills;
not ready for sleep
iv
eyelid at half mast,
tonight the moon is a
drowsy peach
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Carol Wilcox at Carol’s Corner for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
When I taught third grade, Leo Lionni’s classic, Frederick, was one of the first books I read to my students. We admired Frederick’s independence and creative spirit. We relished his stock of words and images. Then we went outside to gather our own colors and words.
Back then, I paired this book with Mary O’Neil’s Hailstones and Halibut Bones and the kids wove the images they’d gathered into color poems. Today I would add Joyce Sidman’s Red Sings from Treetops. Sidman’s luscious poetry never fails to get a reader and writer’s creative juices flowing.
For the past few weeks, the autumn days have been spectacular in my corner of the world. I’ve been spending as much time as possible outside, collecting images and ideas. This poem grew out of those noticings.
Breathe in the silence
of a barren field
at evening’s edge.
Listen to the sun’s
last rays, seeping
through leafless trees.
Feel the murmur
of starlings as they
dip and dive in crisp air.
Watch the calm shatter
as a flock of geese
announce their approach.
Taste the first hint
of winter, ruffling
the pond’s glassy surface.
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Go and gather images and colors and words. Give your students, no matter how young or old, time to write their thoughts, their hopes, their dreams. We’ll all be richer for it.
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Reading to the Core 