Tag: Slice of Life

Slice 2013 3 of 31: A Sunday Drive Down Memory Lane

Catherine Flynn7 Comments

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I am in awe of the talent on display in the Slices I’ve read over the past two days. I’m sorry to say I’ve only read a small portion of the many posted. Be sure to visit Stacey and Ruth and their Two Writing Teachers blog for links to all this amazing writing.

In her “March Manifesto,” Christy Rush-Levine shared  that “writing begets writing.” This is undoubtedly true, but I also think that reading begets writing. When I read Melanie Meehan’s thoughts about her father coming along for the ride when she goes out to do errands, I was reminded of the drives my family used to take when I was little.

I grew up in rural Connecticut in the 1960s. I know we didn’t have a ton of money, but I never lacked for anything I needed or wanted. We never went on vacation, but, because I’d never been on one, I didn’t know I was supposed to want to go. Instead, we went for drives. On Sunday afternoons, after my sister and I climbed into the back seat of our 1965 Chevelle (no car seats or seat belts to be buckled!), my parents settled into the front seats and off we’d go.

We drove the narrow, windy back roads past woods, ponds, and pastures filled with cows. I loved looking out the window at all there was to see. I remember when one of the first “developments” was being built in the town next to ours. We drove through looking at all the raised ranches in various states of completion. I think we even went in and explored some of the half-built houses.

Sometimes we’d stop and visit friends, or go to one of the two stores in the area that were open on Sunday. Both had a limited selection of toys, and I usually came home with a coloring book or some small treasure.

Those small trinkets are long gone. Looking back, I realize the real treasure was the time with my parents. They both worked hard during the week and looked forward to these drives as much as I did. As we got close to home, I’d lie down on the seat and close my eyes. Feeling the twists and turns of the road, I’d try to guess where we were, willing the car homeward.

Slice 2013: A Snapshot of My Reading Life

Catherine Flynn8 Comments

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Yesterday was a very busy day, and by the time I sat down to write my first Slice of Life Challenge, I was exhausted. But I was also energized to share my wonderful day with people. So the post was written and online before midnight. Goal accomplished. However, in my sleep-deprived state, I failed to include the Slice of Life logo or thank Stacey and Ruth for organizing this incredible adventure. Thank you, Stacey and Ruth! After reading other people’s Slices last night and this morning, I am more committed than ever to writing every day.

I also noticed that other people were combining their Slice with Poetry Friday. This makes perfect sense, as we are all busy and there are only so many hours in a day. With that in mind, my slice today is my response to the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge, to share a snapshot of my reading life.

ImageThe only rooms in my house that don’t have a bookcase are the bathrooms. (Of course there are books, though!)  Yet, I still have a stack by my bed, by my desk, on my desk. ARRRGH! I do my best to read them all, but I’m not going to hold my breath that I’ll ever finish them all. Then there’s the added problem of new books constantly being published. There is an organizational plan, but it’s flexible. During the school year, I do most of my work-related reading on the sofa or sitting at my desk when I’m at home. I do read in bed, but only novels or poetry. During the summer, I love to read outside. I have a wicker love seat on the front porch that I share with the cat. We’ve spent entire afternoons out there, me reading, him dozing. (Okay, sometimes I doze, too.)

As the literacy specialist at my school, I feel very lucky to have a full classroom. It is filled to the brim with books! All our guided reading books are housed here, as are many, many professional books. The bulk of my collection of picture and poetry books are also kept here. Not surprisingly, my reading at school typically consists of journal articles, blog posts, e-mails, etc. Of course, if I’m planning lessons, I’ll read and reread the text I’m sharing.

This all adds up to lots of books in lots of places. How lucky am I that I have such a rich reading life?

Poetry Friday/Read Across America/Slice of Life Mash Up

Catherine Flynn6 Comments

At school today, we kicked off our month-long celebration of Read Across America. Usually we adopt the theme promoted by NEA, Read Across America’s official sponsor. Last year we made truffala trees out of butcher paper to decorate the hallways. Throughout the month, students created book jackets based on books they loved to decorate the trees. We also had a read-a-thon to raise money to purchase a tree in memory of a student who had recently lost her year-long battle with aplastic anemia.

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Truffalas waiting to be hung up.
Completed truffala tree
Completed truffala tree

A few years ago, we encouraged everyone to literally read across America and read books from all 50 states. This was harder than you might think. To promote the theme, (Here comes the poetry part of this post!) I wrote a song, with a little help from some students.

See the USA

(Sung to the tune of Dinah Shore’s old Chevrolet commercials)

See the U.S.A., read a book today.

America’s got lots of tales to tell.

From Paul Bunyan’s woods,

to the engine that could

Reading is the way to meet them all.

On a couch or on a chair in the library,

Travel out west,

Meet Ramona the Pest.

To many new sights you will be carried.

So make a date today 

to read the U.S.A.

Pledge to read a book today!

© Catherine Flynn, 2009

It was lots of fun, and we still sing it. Here’s Dinah in an old commercial if you don’t remember the tune.

Which brings us to today. While I love this year’s “Hats off to Dr. Seuss” theme, last October our school accepted Rachel’s Challenge. Rachel Joy Scott was killed in the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. After her death, her parents decided to share her story and writings to inspire people to prevent bullying. As Rachel said,

“I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.”

As soon as I heard this, I thought of Auggie and Dr. Wayne Dyer’s precept, “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.” The dovetailing of these two messages made doing a school-wide read of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder seem like the perfect theme for our Read Across America celebration this year.

Because we’re a K-8 school, we had to find a related text for the lower grades. Jacqueline Woodson thoughtfully wrote the powerful Each Kindness late last year, which filled that bill perfectly! Our PTO generously funded the purchase of a book for every classroom, and today we kicked off our month-long celebration.

Books waiting to be distributed to teachers
Books waiting to be distributed to teachers

We began the morning with each upper grade homeroom visiting a lower grade classroom. Teachers read Each Kindness aloud, and then the students paired up to create and illustrate Kindness is… statements. These will be displayed on bulletin boards throughout the school. Each homeroom in grades 4-8 will be reading Wonder aloud throughout the month, and the lower grades will be reading other picture books related to the theme of kindness. The whole morning went off without a hitch, and we have many fantastic Kindness is…statements. By the way, we wore hats too!

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Sixth graders and Kindergarteners creating Kindness is… statements

Happy Read Across America, everyone!

Reflections on One Year of Blogging

Catherine Flynn22 Comments

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Today is Reading to the Core’s first birthday! Although my posts have been sporadic at best, I’ve learned a lot over the past year. Since birthdays and anniversaries are always a good time to look back and reflect, here, in no particular order, are my thoughts on becoming a blogger.

The blogosphere is filled with friendly, supportive and generous people. While this may not be true of all corners of cyberspace, this describes the kidlitosphere in spades. I’ve been inspired by you all! Kate Messner’s Teacher’s Write summer camp prodded me to write more. While not everything I wrote in response to her prompts ended up here (trust me, that’s a good thing!), she and all the writers who joined in encouraged me to stretch myself and take risks. Thanks, Kate!

It’s Monday, What Are Your Reading (Book Journey), Tuesday’s Slice of Life (Two Writing Teachers) and Poetry Friday (various hosts, but you can always find the line up at A Year of Reading) have also been especially motivating. Thank you to all you equally busy bloggers who’ve found your way here via one of these memes.

I’m also thankful for the kind words people have left in their comments. I especially appreciate my loyal commenters Colette, Betsy, and Elizabeth. Some people may despair that the internet is changing the world as we know it, but I am incredibly grateful that it allows me to connect with faraway friends so easily.

One of the most eye-opening realizations I’ve had from blogging is just how difficult it is to sit down and compose a half-way intelligible piece of writing. Not one of these posts has been completed in less than an hour, and they have usually been rolling around in my head for a day or two before I begin writing. Why we think our students should be able to sit down and hammer out a fluent story or essay in 45 minutes is beyond me. They should have at least an hour! Seriously, without regular, sustained writing practice, it simply isn’t fair to subject our students to the kind of writing assessments that dominate today’s instructional landscape. As a result of this insight, I have been more mindful of my own writing instruction and my support of teachers implementing writing workshop this year.

Over the next year I’m really going to make a concerted effort to post at least once a week. I have lots left to say about books, teaching, and life in general. Which brings me to the name of this blog. In one sense, the “Core” of the title refers to the Common Core. I think about the implications of the CCSS on instruction almost all the time. (Sad, I know.) And yet, much of what I wrote about over the past year had nothing to do with these standards. They were more about what’s at the core of me: curiosity about the world around us and a passion to help all kids find their own true self, to find their own true core.

Auld Lang Syne–An Old Friend Not Forgotten

Catherine Flynn7 Comments

Halloween 1978I graduated from high school in 1978. This was the era of that old perfume commercial with the song: “I can bring home the bacon; fry it up in a pan.” When I arrived on the Orono campus of the University of Maine in September of that year, this was the very hazy vision I had of my future. And that is, for the most part, how it’s turned out. The route certainly hasn’t been direct, but 35 years later, here I am with my family and career.

That hazy vision of the future led me to the first friend I made at UMO (as we called it then). My favorite posters had made the journey from Connecticut with me, but any way to secure these to the walls had not. Fortunately, the girl across the hall had a little kit full of thumbtacks, nails, and other odds and ends. By another stroke of good fortune, she was kind, friendly, and generous, and shared her thumbtacks with me.

Over the next two years, we shared much more, and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. When my first son was born, she was one of the first people I called. And despite the distance between Maine and Connecticut, her career-track life vs. my detour  at home with my kids, and the fact that telephones and snail mail were the only means of communication, we stayed close for the next ten years or so.

I last saw my friend in 1990 or 1991, when I met her in Boston for a Monet exhibit. Nothing in that visit led me to believe it would be our last. Even though our lives were very different, we spent the afternoon talking about our lives, and laughing at memories of our younger selves. We said goodbye as if we’d see each other again in a year or so, but would be in touch by phone or letter long before that.

And then, before, I knew it, more than a year had passed since I heard from her. My Christmas card was returned, the forwarding order expired. I called a mutual friend to see if she had a current address. She hadn’t had any recent contact either. I even tried locating her parents, but it seemed they had moved also.

More years passed with no word to anyone she had known at UMO. By now, the internet was ubiquitous, but somehow it never occurred to me to search for her. After 9/11, I scanned the New York Times daily for her name. Boston had been the last place I knew she lived, after all. Thankfully, her name wasn’t there, but it was as if she had vanished into thin air.

When my high school class was organizing our 25th reunion, I volunteered to locate addresses. As I sat at my computer one afternoon, it occurred to me to try and find my long-lost friend. Suddenly, there she was. A Very Important Person at a Very Important Company. There was even a picture! I was overjoyed. I wanted to phone her immediately. Because it was Sunday, I didn’t, but I did write her a letter and sent it to her work address. I didn’t expect a response immediately, but I did think she would respond.    Months went by. I even asked my cousin, who also works at a Very Important Company, if I’d breached some rule of etiquette. She didn’t think I had.

Friends come in and out of our lives every day. I know this. But somehow, my loss of this friend seems more personal. I’ve always had a nagging suspicion that my choice to stay home when my children were little or to be a teacher were unworthy, that I wasn’t good enough for her glamorous life. These thoughts come from my own insecurities and are completely unfair to her, but there they are.

I often I think of my friend at this time of year. Because any and all information is available every minute of they day, sometimes I Google her for the heck of it. She’s still at the same company, where she’s now an even more Important Person. But I haven’t tried to contact her again. Nor will I. I have my memories of the many happy times we spent together, and those are enough.