“The miracle is this: The more we share, the more we have.”
~ Leonard Nimoy ~
Last week, I shared Jacqueline Woodson’s heart-breaking Each Kindness (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012) with a fourth-grade class to begin a series of lessons on theme. As I read these words, “This is what kindness does, Ms. Albert said. Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world,” the image sending Slice of Life posts out into the world came into my mind. There’s an important difference, though. When you share a Slice of Life post, the ripples of kindness return to you in wonderful and surprising ways.
I wrote my first March Slice of Life Challenge post without much forethought to what a month of blogging EVERY DAY would entail. I certainly didn’t have a plan. I know that I NEVER anticipated the way my posts would ripple back to me.
Through this warm, supportive community, I’ve made so many friends I’m afraid if I start to mention you all, I’ll forget someone. When I was NCTE’s national convention last November, I don’t think there was a single session when I didn’t sit with a friend made through Slice of Life or blogging. The truth is, the kindness sent out by this community is overwhelming. Thank you to all of you who have influenced me and helped me grow as a teacher, writer, and human being.
Bruce Coville wrote in his poem, “Ripples” that
“Words and gestures ripple outward,
What shores they reach we cannot name.”
I can’t wait to see where this year’s ripples take us. Happy Slicing, everyone!
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each day during the month of March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.
~Henry David Thoreau~
My cat has cabin fever. He has always preferred being outside, but as he’s grown older, he spends more time inside. The cold and snow are no longer an adventure for him. So he bats at my yarn when I knit, chases nothing into the front hallway, and tries to toss his scratching pad into the air like a frisbee. He’s quite entertaining.
I miss being outside, too. I usually walk a mile or two each Saturday and Sunday, with shorter walks squeezed in here and there. But the snowbanks are too high, the roads too narrow, and the temperatures too low to walk outside for any distance.
These walks clear my head and stretch my thinking. Most often, I walk with my dear friend, Colette, and we hash out all the problems of the world. Our teaching experience is at opposite ends of the spectrum (her’s mainly in a high school English classroom, mine mostly elementary), which helps us each gain a better perspective on education in general.
I have been walking on the treadmill, but the view in my basement is no match for the Connecticut countryside. And, although I’ve read some terrific professional books, they can’t compare to having a conversation with my friend.
Watching my cat this morning made me think of a student I saw skipping in the hallway the other day. Like every school, we have rules about walking in the hallways, so I really should have reminded her to walk. But I didn’t. Instead, I marveled at the joy her steps contained. Who knows what ideas were unlocked as she traipsed back to her classroom.
What Thoreau knew 150 years ago, and my skipping friend knows instinctively, science now has plenty of research to support. Entering “impact of physical activity on learning” into Google Scholar yielded 67,500 results in .15 seconds. A standard Google search turned up 27,000,000 results in .47 seconds. Reports like this one from SPARK, an organization devoted to combating childhood obesity are full of findings that support a link between physical activity and improved academic achievement.
Maybe we shouldn’t all start skipping in the hallways, but we should incorporate movement into our classrooms and get our students moving whenever possible. Who knows where our legs, and our thoughts, will take us.
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
I returned from NCTE last November energized by all the informative and inspiring sessions I attended. The Two Writing Teacher’s presentation, “Tools to Build a Culture of Writing Through Story,” was chock full of achievable ideas to promote writing. In her portion of the session, Dana Murphy shared her experience hosting a Family Writing Night. I knew this was an event I wanted to hold at my school. (You can access Dana’s presentation slides here.)
My building administrators thought having a Family Writing Night was a great idea and gave me their support. The PTO provided funds for journals, pens, door prizes and refreshments.
Dana emphasized that in order for Family Writing Night to be a success, you had to spread the word. In addition to having announcements on Twitter and in the school and PTO e-newsletters, old-fashioned hard copies went home in backpacks. Canva was a great tool to create posters, flyers, even door prize tickets! Classroom teachers were extremely supportive and reminded students daily about the event.
To get an idea of how many people to expect, I created a Google Form and asked people to let me know if they were coming. But I made it clear that whether they responded or not, everyone was welcome. I heard from about twenty people. So you can imagine my surprise when over sixty people turned out in near-zero temperatures!
Everyone chose a notebook and pen, then filled out a door prize ticket. When people were settled, I took Dana’s advice to “fill the room with beautiful words” and began the evening with a read aloud. John Rocco’s Blizzard (Disney-Hyperion, 2014) is my favorite new book, so I started the evening by reading Rocco’s boyhood memory of the Blizzard of 1978. (I also thought this might spark some weather-related stories; we’ve had a little snow lately!)
Writing Process bulletin board adapted from Dana’s presentation.
Then I talked very briefly about the the benefits of writing daily and the recursive nature of the writing process. I stressed that the goal of Family Writing Night, indeed any family writing time, was to have fun sharing memories and ideas. I reminded parents how important it is that they encourage kids to write without inhibitions, and not censor themselves because they may not know the exact spelling of a word or the best way to phrase a sentence. Editing is the final step. The most important thing is to get their thoughts down and keep writing daily. Just like athletes, writers develop fluency and build their writing muscles by writing.
I also encouraged parents to let kids to write about events and topics that are important and meaningful to them. To demonstrate that this could be anything, I shared Ralph Fletcher’s “Squished Squirrel Poem.” I had suggested that people bring photos of family vacations or other memorable events to get their writing started. As Ralph Fletcher says, “Memories are like a fountain no writer can live without.”
Then, everyone wrote. It was so gratifying to see more than sixty moms, dads, brothers, and sisters all writing! They wrote about tropical vacations, afternoons at the ball park, their pets, and more.
After about fifteen minutes, I encouraged everyone to share their writing with their families. Dana had shared some commenting prompts, such as asking a question or “tell how the writing made you feel,” which I had available as a handout. These got the writers going for another ten minutes or so.
Time really does fly when you’re having fun! I was amazed at how quickly the hour went by. Soon it was time to draw the winners of the door prizes.
Parents were effusive with their thanks and appreciation for the opportunity to come out and write with their children. Many wanted to know when the next Family Writing Night would be, and one mom asked if we could do this monthly! But the best feedback came from a third grader who told me, “I can’t wait to get home to finish my story!”
Thank you, Dana, for inspiring this wonderful evening. Thank you also to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for sharing your terrific ideas at NCTE. As always, thank you for this space to share our stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
It’s been snowing for much of the past week, wreaking havoc with assessment schedules, mid-year goal meetings, and learning in general. On the other hand, I have had plenty of time to read, which is always a good thing.
John Rocco’s Blizzard (Disney-Hyperion, 2014) has been out since October, but I didn’t read it until last week. Rocco was ten when the Blizzard of ’78 buried most of southern New England under forty inches of snow. This picture book memoir is an adventure story that all kids will love, whether or not they’ve experienced record-setting snow storms. But as I reread this wonderful story, I realized that this book is a great mentor text, one that will inspire kids to write about their own epic weather adventures.
The simplicity of Rocco’s language is deceiving. He has done a terrific job choosing just the right word and detail to truly bring this story to life. When John and his sister finally get outside after the snow stops, they realize that walking is “like trying to move through white quicksand.” When John makes his list of necessities before he heads to the store, “candy bar” is the only starred item. And when he returns from his adventure, he tells his family about his “perilous journey.”
Rocco’s word choice also make this book a good choice for an activity like one Lynne Dorfman and Diane Dougherty describe in their recent book, Grammar Matters: Lessons, Tips, and Conversations; Using Mentor Texts, K-6 (Stenhouse, 2014, a must-read for any K-6 teacher). They suggest gathering nouns and the active verbs they’re paired with to spur kids thinking about replacing worn-out words with more vivid choices. Also, Rocco’s uncluttered declarative sentences are perfect for introducing compound and complex sentences. There is even a great example of parallel structure, beginning when John realizes that “I was the only one who had memorized the survival guide.”
Thevisual humor of Rocco’s illustrations and his ingenious use of text features give Blizzard an added depth of meaning. The passing days of the week are each spelled out in clever ways that blend into the scenes. “Tuesday,” for example, is spelled out by a squirrel scurrying across the roof. The old-fashioned cash register totals $19.78, and there are clues about John’s fascination with frozen landscapes scattered throughout the book. The fold-out map of John’s trek to the store is a wonder, and I can imagine some kids spending lots of time poring over this winter wonderland.
Blizzardbelongs in every K-3 classroom library, and I can imagine 4th and 5th graders who will love it, too. First and foremost, read this book for the wonderful story that it is. Then go back and take a closer look. You and your students will be richly rewarded. I can’t wait to share this book with my students, if it ever stops snowing!
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
Yesterday, in an effort to get everyone home safely before the snow began, we had an early dismissal. Usually this means a four-hour day, but with a blizzard bearing down, the powers that be decided school would end at 11:30, leaving us with a three hours.
What can be accomplished in three hours? With the right book, plenty!
My schedule this week includes introducing the “Contrast & Contradiction” signpost (from Beers & Probst’s excellent Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading) to our fourth grade students. Our shortened day gave me just the right amount of time to read Eve Bunting’s One Green Apple, the text we’ll be using in our lessons,to both classes. Despite the excitement generated by the impending storm, the kids were mesmerized as I read this lovely story of a girl who has just arrived in America. Farah doesn’t speak English and is worried about other cultural differences between her and her new classmates. But over the course of the story, she begins to see that there might be a place for her in this strange country. I told the kids ahead of time that I was simply reading the story, that we’d ask questions and share thoughts later. It was such a peaceful way to start the day.
Then I met with a third grade student who is working hard but making s-l-o-w progress. I worry about her every day. Finding books she can read independently that aren’t too babyish is a challenge. I’ve heard much praise for Shannon and Dean Hale’s The Princess in Black lately and knew I had to get this book for this student. So when I saw it on the shelf at Target on Sunday, I snatched it up. Words can’t describe the look on her face when I handed this book to her. As I gave it to her, I said something like, “…if you love it.” Her response? “I love it already.”
There was just enough time to meet with both of my first grade students, and they each read a Rigby leveled reader that was “just right” for them. I watched with pride and respect as they worked through unfamiliar words, using multiple strategies to decode these words. Are they where they “should be” at this point in first grade? No. Will they “meet grade level expectations” in June? Probably not. But they are on their way, and I was happy to give them a chance to practice and polish their skillswith an engaging book that pushed them but didn’t frustrate them.
And what did I do when I got home? Read a book, of course!
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
mix in regular servings of hot tea and ginger ale,
chicken soup and toast;
sprinkle with at least one book, one old movie AND
the latest episode of Downton Abbey.
Feel better by Monday!
My weekend in a nutshell. I did work on my writing yesterday, but nothing came together that’s ready to share. I felt well enough to go to work today, but I’m ready to call it a night. Stay healthy, everyone!
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
I’ve been knitting for about 15 years or so. Hats, scarves, mittens; you name it, I knit it. I love the sense of accomplishment I get from creating something soft and warm out of beautiful yarn. I don’t tackle patterns with a lot of technical stitches or color patterns, but I can adapt patterns and usually knit my way out of any messes I might get myself into.
So I was pretty frustrated over the weekend when the hat I’d spent a couple of hours knitting didn’t fit. I reread the pattern to make sure I hadn’t missed a step, but I hadn’t. The hat just didn’t fit.
What to do? I really didn’t want to tear the whole thing out, although there was no pressure to finish this hat. I decided to try making the ribbing longer, but that didn’t work.
Now I’d spent about four hours on this hat. My irritation was mounting. I knew it was time to put this project aside for a while before I made a decision about tearing everything out and starting over.
I stewed over the hat through dinner and while I cleaned the kitchen. I thought about the pattern, the yarn, adding on to the ribbing. All of these choices were guided by my knowledge and experience. I’ve spent years reading magazines, studying patterns, and talking to expert knitters. I’ve played with different weights and textures of yarn. Yet this seemingly simple hat pattern got the best of me. This fact was frustrating, but not the end of the world. I’ll tear the hat out and try again. Maybe I’ll adjust the pattern so it will fit, or maybe I’ll use a different pattern altogether. I have lots of options.
This whole experience got me thinking about what we expect of our students when we ask them to write. We expect them to make decisions about words and structures, details and sentence length. I know we think we’re supporting them and giving them the practice they need, but are we? Or has the pressure we feel to get everything done by yesterday caused us to make decisions we know aren’t in the best interest of our students?
Have we given them the time they need to pore over books, to study how authors put sentences together, and really talked with them about the power of our words? Or have we judged every word choice and sentence structure? Have we made them change their words to conform to our vision of what their writing should be like?
These questions are really a reminder to myself. I know the conditions kids need to grow and succeed. But I also need to remember what it feels like to have a vision that’s just out of reach. It may be that I need a cheerleader with an encouraging word to keep me going. Or maybe I just need time to figure it out. And that’s what kids need. They need time, lots of time, to play and experiment until they find the right combination of words that are the perfect fit for them.
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
Does procrastinate have an antonym? If it does, that should be my OLW. Because although I’ve been thinking about my “one little word” for at least a week, and have made several attempts to write about a choice today, here it is 11:30 on Tuesday night and I’m still on the fence about my decision. (Maybe decisiveness should be my word.)
Choosing just one word seems like it should be such a simple task. Maybe part of my hesitation comes from the fact that last year’s word, balance, wasn’t such agreat choice. I often felt like one of those circus performers who balance plates on the end of a pole while riding a unicycle. Except in my case the plates were just about to drop and I was going to fall off the unicycle any minute. Why I never crashed is beyond me.
Yet last year was also one of accomplishment and adventure. I’m excited to find out what 2015 has in store, both personally and professionally. And so I’m choosing discover as my OLW for this year.
One thing I love about this word is that it implies or incorporates words I considered. For example, I rejected curious because it seemed like more of a personality trait than a guiding mantra, yet it’s essential when making discoveries.
I have a number of goals I’d like to accomplish this year, goals I’ll have to strive towards. Strive didn’t make the cut, however, because when I looked it up I found that it had many negative connotations. Which isn’t really surprising when you remember the fact that strive and strife are derived from the same word. Conflict is not what I was looking for. Aspire was a contender, as was persistence.
Search is another word I considered. I decided against this word because it sounds like you know what you’re searching for, whereas discoveries usually take you by surprise. This element of finding the unexpected was important to me. Over the past year, many of my happiest and most memorable moments occurred when I was specifically not striving or persisting or aspiring. I was just being in the moment, paying attention to the world around me. In her book Wanderlust: A History of Walking, Rebecca Solnit states that “the random, the unscreened, allows you to find what you don’t know you are looking for…”
I’ll keep you posted about what I discover, both in and out of the classroom.
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
“Our childhood experience of the world is a deep well that we keep turning to again and again in writing.”
Joyce Sidman
Isn’t it funny how some memories lie buried for months or even years, then suddenly two or three things happen all at once to remind you of some long-forgotten event or person? A visit to the library yesterday started me thinking about going there as a child. Then, this morning, there was a story on NPR about the important role libraries play in helping parents and caregivers develop their children’s early literacy skills, and more memories came flooding back.
I actually don’t remember going to the library before Kindergarten. But I do have very fond memories of the library once I started school, even though our school didn’t have it’s own library. We had something better.
Every week, each class would walk 100 yards or so to the town library next door. There we were greeted by Mrs. Rothschild, a tiny woman with a white bun wrapped tightly on the top of her head. We quickly settled into one of thethree or four red-cushioned window seats, or found a spot on a narrow wooden bench. Then Mrs. Rothschild began to read.
She read Where the Wild Things Are and The Little House. As we grew older, she introduced us to Pippi Longstocking and Ramona the Pest. I loved being transported out of our tiny town to the wide world beyond, all while sitting in the cozy children’s room in the basement of the library.
This painting, by John Clymer, was part of the children’s room for as long as I could remember. I confess there were a few times when this cat making tracks through the snow was more interesting to me than Mrs. Rothschild’s read aloud. Where was he going? Where had he been? Was he carrying a mouse home? Where was that house, anyway?
When Mrs. Rothschild was finished reading, we searched the shelves for books to check out for the week. I loved Charlotte’s Web, and was always searching for stories about animals. (Hence the interest in the cat?)
So I was pleasantly surprised to see it hanging over the main circulation desk when I walked into the library yesterday. I immediately thought of Mrs. Rothschild, and the stories she read to us, all those years ago.
Saturday Evening Post cover by Bridgewater resident John Clymer, 1956. Burnham School is on the lower left, Burnham Library is the stone building in the center.
Many people read to me throughout my childhood and helped me become the reader I am today. Thank you, Mrs. Rothschild, for being one of them.
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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.
Baking breads, pies, and cookies for the holidays is a huge part of my family’s holiday tradition. Both of my grandmothers were excellent bakers and each had special holiday recipes we looked forward to. My father’s mother, my nana, baked delicious spritz cookies and decorated them with colored sugar and silver balls. She always had a plate of them ready for us by the kitchen door when we arrived on Christmas day.
My mother’s mother baked pies: apple and pumpkin and mincemeat. We lived next door to her when I was growing up and I was often at her house to watch or, when I was old enough, to lend a hand. This was years before Pillsbury pie crusts, so my grandmother’s crusts were always homemade with Crisco. There was always extra dough and she made delicious little crescent-shaped treats filled with raisins, cinnamon and butter. I don’t remember if she called them anything, but I’ve since seen a similar use of leftover dough called a pinwheel.
After college, I began my own baking traditions, which I’ve added to over the years. Candy cane cookies (sugar cookie dough dyed red and green with food coloring, then twisted into candy cane shapes) is a universal favorite, as are “Kiss” cookies, chocolate cookie dough wrapped around a Hershey’s Kiss, then dusted with confectioners sugar.
Each year I try to make at least one new type of cookie, but this year I haven’t had time. A jelly-filled sugar cookie recipe keeps popping up on Facebook and I may make that tomorrow. Tonight I’m writing this while making traditional Toll House cookies to take to my son on Thursday.
Baking is one of my favorite holiday traditions. Some years I’m able to bake with my sister or daughter-in-law; other years, I’m in the kitchen with my favorite Christmas albums for company. But whether I have company or am on my own, I look forward to continuing for years to come. I wish I could share a loaf of pumpkin bread and a cookie or two with all of you!
Pumpkin bread ready for gift bags.
Wishing you all a joyous holiday!
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for 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 
