Celebration - Tuesday Slice of Life

I'm delighted to be continuing my membership in this writing community that meets every week for Slice of Life Tuesday. I decided to write this slice in honor of my wedding anniversary.

This past Friday was a celebration

of sorts

On April 20, twenty-seven years ago,

I got married

That April was incredibly

hot and humid

Bridal party awash in 

perspiration and sweat

air conditioners at hotel

weren't working 

but it mattered not;

The day was a celebration

My bridesmaids and I

gathered in the choir room

putting final touches on makeup

 hoping our updos didn't go flat

after the many ministrations of the stylist

We toasted with champagne

as we donned our dresses

preparing to begin our walks down the aisle

to celebrate a new beginning

Dad escorting me
my arm clasped tightly through his

as I prayed I wouldn't trip in my heels

Glimpsing my soon-to-be husband 

waiting for me

at the end of the aisle

Huge smile on his face

I knew this was truly a celebration

"I now pronounce you man and wife"

Where have all those years gone?

We've been celebrating in other ways

during the past 27 years

The births of two beautiful daughters

Building our first home

Decorating it just-so

Buying our second home

and making it our own

baptisms, first communions, confirmations,

graduations, dance recitals, sporting events,

many family vacations

friends and family

new jobs that came with new responsibilities

Yes, these past twenty-seven years

Have flown by

And there are so many, many

reasons to celebrate today!!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 23

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a regular basis.   I love the idea of being an active contributing member of this reading community. Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your reading lives with me.

This entire week, I read hardly anything, and then the weekend came, and I managed to get several books read, and really enjoyed all of them.

First off, I read Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine.  I chuckled my way through the entire book and all the poems.  It was fun connecting poems with their original literary context, and it was also quite amusing that Levine played with the sequencing of the book as well.  As I read, it seemed to me that she must have had a blast writing these poems.  While I'm sure they were all hard work to get just the way she wanted them, Levine infused each poem with great humor.

Next came The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart.  I have enjoyed the Mysterious Benedict Society series, and this book was a prequel to that.  In it, the reader gets a behind the scenes look at the events that shaped Nicholas Benedict's life.  They are really quite telling of things to come.  I wrote in my GoodReads account that I originally picked this book up to have something that wouldn't take all my time and attention; I figured because of its length, it would take me awhile to finish.  Stewart does such a great job with the pacing of the story and the multiple plot lines, that I just couldn't put it down.

I've had the 2nd book in the Mal and Chad graphic novel series, Food Fight!, for a few weeks, but finally made time to read it.  It is very similar to the first book, and I know my students will love it.  On a personal note, I really wish the other kids in the book wouldn't be so unkind to Mal.  I noticed that it really bothered me this time.

My final book has a back story I'm embarrassed to admit: up until this weekend, I hadn't read any of the Swindle series by Gordon Korman.  My blog partner here, Bill, has read/reviewed each one of them, and for some reason, I was just not motivated to do so as well.  But I read Showoff (the 4th book in the series), and I enjoyed it immensely.  I am predicting that my students will get excited as I highlight these books now.  I am planning on rereading the three books that came before so I can get an understanding for the evolution of each character.  I enjoyed them all so much in this book.



I currently have no specific plans for reading this week, except I may be rereading Divergent to prepare for Insurgent's release next week on May 1.  Hope everyone has a great week of reading!

Cranky - Slice of Life Tuesday

I'm delighted to be continuing my membership in this writing community that meets every week for Slice of Life Tuesday.  And even though Stacey and Ruth are taking a well-deserved break from blogging this week, I didn't want to get out of the habit of writing on Tuesdays, so I decided to post a little something today, anyway.



Yesterday I realized:

• Classes are both taking 4 minutes for each transition / 7 transitions per block / 28 minutes a day for each block
• Reality is that's just too much learning time to lose
• Assignments are being turned in late or
• Not at all
• Kindness to classmates not always the norm, even during our empathy unit
• Yet I look forward to today, eager for a fresh start, a new day

And now I'm better.  Thanks for letting me get this out of my system.   Hoping for a new adjective to describe today! :)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 16

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a pretty regular basis. But like most things I undertake, I do so incrementally.  Last week, I got a post up and linked.  This week, I plan on not only posting, but spending time reading other linked posts, seeing what friends are reading, and leaving comments for people.  I love the idea of being an active contributing member of this reading community.


I did not read a great quantity of books this week, but the quality was amazing!!  Recently, my adult book club read South of Broad by Pat Conroy.  I really enjoyed it, and a friend recommended one of Conroy's books I hadn't read: The Lords of Discipline.  All week long, I have managed to read little pieces of Lords of Discipline at a time on my Kindle Fire, but on Saturday evening, I got to a part that I just couldn't stop reading.  I had to know how the story was going to end.   So I read until 2:30 in the morning.  I was exhausted all day Sunday, but it was so worth it. Lords of Discipline was a great inside look at what it is like to attend a military academy as a male, and the different meanings the word "honor" has to the graduates of the academy.  I found myself both fascinated and repulsed by the unique initiation rituals performed at the military academy in this book.  The academy in this book is based on the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina (the setting in the book as well).  This is a piece of fiction, but I'm betting many of the events run very true to actual events.

The other book I read Sunday is more of a middle school / high school read.  The title is If Only, and it centers around a 13 year old girl who is trying to work her way through the grieving process.  Her mom died very quickly and unexpectedly of cancer one summer.  One of my closest friends lost her battle with breast cancer, and she left behind two daughters very similar in age to the girl in the book, so this book felt very personal for me.  The question "if only..." is one the main character asks time and time again as she tries to deal with her mother's death.

What I'm looking forward to reading in the near future:

• The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard
• the 2nd in the graphic novel series of Mal and Chad -- Food Fight by Stephen McCranie
• Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine
• The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill (a 2011 book I never got around to reading)

That's it for me.  Hope your reading is wonderful this week!!!

Sharing Writing with Others - Slice of Life Tuesday

Two Sundays ago, after 31 days of posting some type of writing daily for the Slice of Life Challenge, I went back and reread what I wrote.  I especially focused on all the comments people in my writing community left for me.  How blessed I felt to have all of them be part of my writing life, enriching and encouraging me. 

It made me realize how much I appreciate writing for an audience.  I write for myself, but I really appreciate the feedback of others.  But, on further reflection, I also realized that some of the posts I wrote during the month of March never reached the audience that inspired them, so I decided it was time to share.  I wrote many emails in the past two weeks, sending links of certain posts to people who motivated me to write those pieces, or to people who knew the topics about which I wrote. 

•  I sent several posts to my parents, about my grandmother and how my mom was both my reading and knitting mentor.  
• I sent an email to both of my daughters, sharing with them the posts about side view mirrors, drip castles, side by side conversations, and how our reading lives are so incredibly intertwined.
• I dedicated my book club poem to both of my book clubs and sent them the link to let them know how much they mean to me.
• My post on how what I have learned in yoga has been translating into my own life was sent to my close friend, who is also my yoga instructor.  Her wise words brought that piece to life.
• I shared my post about Monday Share with both of my language arts classes.  They got a big kick out of being featured in my writing.

The list goes on and on.  I hope that all these people enjoyed knowing how important they are in my life, and that these posts were just one way of paying it forward from me to them.  I know I appreciated the opportunity to share specific posts with specific audiences.  How fortunate I feel to have words as a medium for expressing my innermost thoughts and feelings.

The slices continue each and every Tuesday with Ruth and Stacey at Two Writing Teachers.  Please check it out for more great writers and their writing.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? - April 9

My goal is to participate in this challenge (hosted by Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts) on a pretty regular basis.  I know that as I've dropped in and read some of the blogs others have written about what they're reading, I get some great ideas for where I can go next with my own reading.  And this weekend was full of great reading, so here we go!!

I started the long weekend (we weren't in school Friday) by finishing an ARC of Remarkable.  What a delightful book that was.  I loved the concept of a young girl who was surrounded by gifted parents, siblings, acquaintances, and townsfolk.  The big message of this book was that we all have gifts to offer to the world, regardless of how inconsequential -- important message for our students to hear.

On Friday afternoon, I visited my favorite children's bookstore, Cover to Cover.  While there I bought this wonderful stack of books:

books from Cover to Cover

Some of these books were "destination books" -- they were the reason I traveled to Cover to Cover.  Others, like Take Me With You and Kindred Souls, were purchased on the great advice of Beth, one of the incredibly knowledgeable women who work at Cover to Cover.

From Friday evening to Sunday evening, I was able to finish Fake Mustache, Humming Room, Take Me With You, and almost finish Kindred Souls.  What a great weekend of reading!


Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger was a hoot from start to finish.  While I have thoroughly enjoyed his Origami Yoda books, I enjoyed this one even more. 

Take Me With You is a story set in Italy and revolves around the two main characters just wanting to belong to their family or be adopted by a family who would want them.  The idea of belonging is a key component to this book. 

Kindred Souls is the latest book by Patricia MacLachlan.  I love how slowly she moves her plot and action so we can appreciate both the setting and the characters.  Another tear jerker for me.  But a great book because the language is accessible for many abilities. 

Humming Room by Ellen Potter was another great recommendation from a tweep.  I love Ellen Potter; I currently have many children reading SLOB.  The parallels between The Secret Garden and the Humming Room might be a great bridge to get students into a classic like that.


I'm so excited to be part of the Monday group!  See you all next week!

3 for 3 on 2012 Titles

If the rest of the 2012 books I read are anything like the first three of the year, it's going to be a banner year for kids' books! My first 3 reads were The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis.

I was made aware of The One and Only Ivan when Michael Grant visited Bailey and told us his wife was working on another free verse book about a gorilla and an elephant. At the time I was a bit confused by the concept, but when it showed up on the book fair shelves in February I had to read it. I wasn't disappointed. Told in free verse through the eyes of a shopping mall gorilla, The One and Only Ivan is one of those books you love immediately. Ivan's voice is so strong and human that the reader can't help but feel sorry for him and his situation. Ivan has dreams of seeing the outside world that he has watched on the TV in his cage and heard of from his friend Stella the retired circus elephant. When a new baby elephant, Ruby, is introduced to his mall world, Ivan makes a promise he must keep. Amazing!

My second read was Wonder by R.J. Palacio which came recommended by...well...EVERYBODY! As much as this one has been written about I really don't need to give any sort of summary, but just like Ivan, it will make you sad and happy with every turn of the page. Auggie is such a strong character facing adversity each time he leaves his home that the reader can't help but cheer for him most of the time. However, R.J. Palacio makes him human by giving him flaws. There were times when Auggie felt sorry for himself, deservedly so, but I still got frustrated and thought, "Come on Auggie, you're better than that!" The different perspectives of Auggie make for a read that made my opinions of the people around Auggie change with each chapter. If I was still in the classroom this would be my first read aloud of the year. The discussions about accepting people for who they are, regardless of their shortcomings would be so valuable to setting the tone that it would be time well spent.


Finally, I read The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis. I'm a huge fan of Bud Not Buddy, one of my favorite Newbery winners so I had to read this one. Curtis takes a minor character, Deza Malone, a smart young lady growing up in Great Depression Michigan and develops her and her family by telling of their survival. Deza is proud of her intelligence and doesn't want anything to get in the way of her education. Her parents and older brother are proud of her too and know that she is capable of great things. However, the Great Depression had a way of getting in the way of dreams and the Malone family is no exception to this rule. Out of work, Mr. Malone sees the only way to make things better is for him to leave the family and look for work. Due to a traumatic experience on a fishing trip, his judgement isn't very clear and the family is left in worse circumstances than before and Deza must put her plans on hold. As always, Christopher Paul Curtis mixes humor, compassion and wonderful characters to tell an engaging story.

All three stories have strong main characters that require the reader to cheer them on and hope for the best all the time knowing that things will get tough before they get better. Any of these will make excellent Grand Discussion books for next year but I'm afraid to commit because I can't wait to see what else 2012 will have to offer!