24/31 It's Monday - Reading and SOLC

“I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss—you can’t do it alone.” 

― John Cheever

          Happy Reading everyone! Day Twenty-Four of the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers!

           Tweet at #SOL14  

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS, and shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.   

         And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS for more reviews.  Great books shared!

           Tweet! at #IMWAYR

                    Here are my reviews of two books for Non-fiction Picture Book Wed. at Alyson Beecher’s Kid Lit Frenzy, including another book about a librarian!

         The following book meets the 2014Latin@s in Kid Lit Reading Challenge – the link to find out about it is HERE or the right sidebar. Even if you don't join the challenge, there are terrific posts and connections to books you may not know about.

Tomás and The Library Lady – written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Raul Colón

           It’s not easy to keep connections when you have to move two times a year to 

follow crops, as the family in this story does. They’re in Texas in the winter, Iowa in the summer. The story is based on the true experiences of Tomás Rivera, who became a university professor, a writer and an education leader in his life. The Univ. of CA at Riverside library is now named after him. Tomás loved stories, and loved listening to his grandpa tell them. One day his grandpa told him to go to the library to read more stories so that he could come home and tell different stories to the family. Tomás did, and found a kind librarian who fed him books and books and more books. It’s another wonderful story about a librarian who makes a difference in someone’s life, showing Tomas often getting lost in the stories. These particular pages are made even more wonderful with Colón’s beautiful woodcut illustrations of this reader’s imagination as he reads. It’s a very sweet story.

22/31 It Is Always Those Little Things That Bring Smiles

       Celebrating the week thanks to Ruth at Discover, Play, Build, and !! It's a pleasure to look forward to Saturday Celebrating!
         Thanks to Tara, Stacey, Anna, Beth, Dana and Betsy for slicing on Day Twenty-Two at Two Writing Teachers, and for all you're doing during the challenge.

     Celebrating pieces of my life, and words that complete them.

after swimming
dinner plans invite smiles
happy evening

21/31 A Poem Connection & March Madness-not the basketball kind

          21/31 Slice - Poetry Friday, too!  There are still many people writing for the March Challenge at Two Writing Teachers - go visit!

          PLUS! It's Poetry Friday and Julie Larios of The Drift Record is hosting today. Thanks Julie!

        I grew up visiting relatives on farms--one set of grandparents, an aunt and uncle. Good memories live from that time. During this Slice of Life Challenge, I  have started to find and read regularly Holly Mueller's posts at Reading, Teaching, Learning. She has been recording some memories of growing up on a farm, and I've enjoyed them. Yesterday she wrote about rising in the dark with her dad in the cold, cold winters and helping to milk the cows, breaking the ice in the buckets. 
         All of us have been yearning for spring and warmer temperatures, yet Holly talks about loving the cold and the snow, yes, even after this past particularly hard winter. Because of her writing yesterday, I remember rising with my own grandfather, in the dark, so we could go milk the cows. I didn't do it every morning, but this was my two-week summer visit, and I had begged to go. He woke me, gave me a biscuit with jam, and a warm, milk-drenched cup of tea. Out we went, and that might make another story.

20/31 Dusting Is A Good Time To Think

  Still writing and finding ideas for the Slice of Life Challenge at the blog, Two Writing Teachers.   

While dusting…

In a grouping of pictures in my front hallway hangs a drawing of what looks like an older man; it is inscribed with the quote:  “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”  Recent months have brought the saying:  50 is the new 40.  According to USA Today, March 3, 2010, “Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, make up about 26.1% of the U.S. population, or an estimated 78 million people.”  I am one of this group, actually a little older, surprised that I might now be called ‘old’, but celebrating the one thing about aging that holds positives:  anonymity. 

19/31 Non-fiction Picture Books Are Better and Better

   Great to be writing for the Slice of Life Challenge at the blog, Two Writing Teachers.   And today I'm also posting at Alyson Beecher's blog, Kid-Lit Frenzy for Non-Fiction Picture Book Wednesday.

        Here's a shout out for my colleagues who are slicing for the first time this year:

    Teaching From Behind - Max (bringing along his students)

     Under Construction - Susan

     Me & My Soliloquy - Suparna

                  I'm glad they're here with me, and proud for sticking to the challenge! It's not easy for anyone with so much going on at school!

           It's amazing what wonderful non-fiction picture books are available for us as teachers and for students today. I used to love reading the encyclopedia (yes, I did!) and loved even more when the topics had good pictures. I'm not old enough to have had this textbook on the left, but someone did! Here are two good books that tell different and interesting stories that kids will love. 

18/31 What I did in February

       Wow! It's Day Eighteen of the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers! I hope everyone is so proud of themselves! Thanks again, Dana, Anna, Tara, Betsy, Beth and Stacey!
                In addition to all the writing of posts, and writing assignments for my work, in February I was intrigued and a little batty because when I started responding to Laura Shovan's birthday month celebration, I just couldn't stop. Laura, among her many other responsibilities, writes a terrific blog titled Author Amok, and each February she creates a challenge during her birthday month. Last year she connected to postcards, and this past month it was all about Pantone colors. You can find all about it here! There were a few days skipped, either because Laura was out of town or because I couldn't seem to connect with the color of the day, but I wrote 21 poems for Laura's celebration last month. There were others who participated too, like Diane Mayr at Random Noodling who won the prize for most written with 26 poems and Margaret Simon, whom I think many of you know at ReflectionsOnTheTeche. Others joined in occasionally, all with wonderfully written poems connected to a color or the color's name. I am proud of a few poems and not so proud of others, but it was great fun to write this time to a prompt, and to write fast!  I'd like to share one of the poems written because so many of you are teachers and you will connect to it, especially if you teach older students. The color's name was Stormy Weather. The idea is to write to connect to the prompt and one must include the name somehow in the poem, or at least something close to the name. We took a few liberties on occasion.

17/31 It's Monday - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

          Happy Reading everyone! Day Seventeen of the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers!

           Tweet at #SOL14  

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS, and shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.   

         And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS for more reviews.  Great books shared!

           Tweet! at #IMWAYR

       I hope you noticed that there is a little more green in my post today, because I want to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's quite wonderful about my reading today because I'm reviewing Irish novelist John Boyne's recent children's book that is coming out on March 25th! 

     Here's the website of Children's Books Ireland (CBI).  And here is a list of 10 great Irish children's authors.  Finally, here is the shortlist and the winner of their big award, the CBI award - best children's book of the year.  There are a few I've read and recognize in the list; you will, too!

         Find my review of Water Can Be by Laura Purdie Salas, coming April 1st, here!

chapter book

Stay Where You Are And Then Leave – John Boyne

          I am thrilled to have had an advanced copy of this from NetGalley. This latest war story by John Boyne, whose book The Boy In The Striped Pajamas has touched so many, begins on the day that World War I begins, that ironic “war to end all wars” that still feels like tragic loss in different ways from today’s war in the middle east, but it also connects with those who are now suffering from PTSD. They didn’t call it that in the first world war, starting in July of 1914, almost a century ago now! In fact, they had few names for it, but hid those afflicted in hospitals, sometimes still believing that the soldiers were faking it to get out of fighting. But in this book, that is what occurs.

16/31 -Weft, Warp, and the Shed - Weaving Update

Visit Two Writing Teachers to read other posts this Sunday, number 16 of 31 days!

            Here's a photo of accomplishment this past week, not as much as I would like, but a lot of trial and error, passing the "shuttle" stick back and forth through the "shed" (the space between the "weft" strings). Up and down, up and down the lines go as the weaving builds and I imagine what it will become. In my mind's eye, it will not be a usual weaving of bars of color, or a pattern, but this time I am thinking of spring, and will attempt a spring picture. I can cut out the black at the bottom, but thought the picture should have a bottom starting line for the picture to sit upon. 

15/31 - Celebrating More Than One Thing

     

       Celebrating the week thanks to Ruth at Discover, Play, Build, and slicing on Day Fifteen thanks to Tara, Stacey, Anna, Beth, Dana and Betsy at Two Writing Teachers.


Tweet at CelebrateLu             and                      SOL14

       I relish the sweet moments this week, despite the loss of my daughter's family's dear cat, Le Roc on Tuesday, or perhaps more because of it. I wrote about it that day, and it certainly has colored my week although I haven't even been to their home since. The tragedy has shown again the importance of celebrating each day. There is a plaque outside my school which quotes A.A. Milne: A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.  It was so lovely to receive everyone's kind words after that evening. 

14/31 SOLC and Poetry Friday-Lucky Me-Sunshine Makes Shadows

It's Poetry Friday. Hosting is the Rogue Anthropologist, Kara Newhouse. Stop by Kara's blog for today's poetry links.

And stop by Two Writing Teachers also to read other posts this Friday, number 14 of 31 days!

          We do have many sunny days in Colorado, but last Saturday was a day that offered a true taste of spring. It was in the seventies, and everyone was out, walking, jogging, bicycling in shorts and tees. It was that wonderful kind of day! So I went walking too, with my phone (my only camera), and in the late afternoon to see if I could catch some shadows.  I started being interested in shadows because one blogger that I read joins a meme called ShadowShot Sunday. I don't participate, but I love to see Beverley's photos every Sunday! You can find one example here!

13/31 - Hurrah,It's A Palindrome!

           All the wonderful writing this month can be found at the Slice of Life Challenge at the blog, Two Writing Teachers.  

          As a literacy coach, I wear a lot of hats: book groups, lessons with classes, lessons for small groups, book talks, meetings with teachers, special things like the Newbery club with the librarian. I am always happy to work with students and enjoy that bit of ‘being back in the classroom’.  What cannot be helped, even with a talk with the teacher, is that I can’t know all that has gone before. I can’t know how much students are used to revising, or if they’re in and out with a couple of drafts, and then moving on.  I do ask both the teachers and the students, yet still nagging in the back of my brain. What's different is that they're not my students and I have not spent hours with them.

12/31 New Book Coming - A Must for Nature Lovers

           Great to be writing for the Slice of Life Challenge at the blog, Two Writing Teachers.   And today I'm also posting at Alyson Beecher's blog, Kid-Lit Frenzy for Non-Fiction Picture Book Wednesday. I've had the pleasure of viewing an advanced copy of a book I know everyone will love, and want to share it with you.

           On April 1^st, Laura Purdie Salas’ new poetry picture book, Water Can Be, will arrive on your doorstep if you pre-order now! You can find all about Laura here at her website. You can find her blog, Writing The World for Kids, information for writers, for teachers, for students, and for visits to your classroom.  Most recently, Laura became a new "teaching author" at the blog, TeachingAuthors. She is a busy writer, and writes wonderful books for children.   

11/31 Slice of Life - Living the hard moments as well as the good ones

           Thanks to everyone who enhances this community by writing for the Slice of Life Challenge at the blog, Two Writing Teachers. 

Tweet #SOL14

                  There was another slice, and then this evening my daughter called. One of their cats, their favorite actually, had been hit by a car. Her husband was going to stay with the girls, and would I wait to see what the emergency vet said? Well, you know how this will turn out. Dear LeRoc, sweetest cat even for toddlers, stayed near the girls when babies, seemed to take good care of them always, was too badly injured, and we said goodbye to her a little after ten. Dear pets are not easy to let go, and this "grand-cat" was dear. I have a poem that I love that is about a cat, but really about all of the pets we've had to say goodbye to. 

              I'd like to share in Le Roc's memory: 

My Old Cat by Hal Summers, begins:

      My old cat is dead,

      Who would butt me with his head.

       He had the sleekest fur.

       He had the blackest purr.

       Always gentle with us

       Was this black puss,

                      You can find the rest here.

               

        And here is LeRoc, lounging on the vcr for its warmth, a year or so ago.

It's Monday!

10 of 31 Slicing And Time to Share What I've Been Reading (aside from blogs)!

Cross-Posting-

Happy Reading everyone! Day Ten of the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers

           Tweet at #SOL14  

 It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS, and shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.   

         And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS for more reviews.  Great books shared!

 Tweet! at #IMWAYR

Finished FanGirl by Rainbow Rowell that met two challenges on the sidebar this week.  Week by week this year, I hope I can find time to read all that are on the list in a page posted above.  Go to Carrie Gelson's post here to discover what it's all about and who's participating (tweet at #MustReadin2014), or go to Gathering Books with Myra, Fats & Iphigene to see their CORL challenge!    

Fangirl – written by Rainbow Rowell    

          I fought my way through this book, consistently wondering, about where and who and why. It took me a few weeks to finish, just busy with other things, but I looked forward to reading pages at the end of every single day. After liking Eleanor & Park so much, I wasn’t sure that Rainbow Rowell could write another with characters so fascinating and loveable. She did. It really is a book for older adolescents because even as old as I am, the college girl still in me was so touched by the connections I made with the characters’ thoughts, relationships, and their earnest struggle to make things right.  While the reader might think that these are characters who are a little bit quirky, I think that they were just honest with their needs and wants, and didn’t hide behind what’s deemed as “cool”, like those who resist anyone seeing who they really are.

Weaving Update - A Bit of An Argh-h!

          Thanks to Anna, Beth, Dana, Tara, Stacey & Betsy, we have the fun of writing every day for the Slice of Life Challenge at the blog, Two Writing Teachers.

Tweet at #SOL14.

"We sleep, but the loom of life never stops. And the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down, is there when we wake up in the morning." Henry Ward Beecher  

          I started my weaving project last week. I'll show you pictures in a while, but first let me speak for my students, or ALL students. It is hard to learn something new! How many time do you say "Go read the directions, then see if you understand. Come back if you have questions."

           I read the directions, often. I took notes, many. I watched Youtube, for various things, but mostly how to warp a loom. Some of you will understand and others of you are already mystified. 

8/31 - Celebrate the Week!

Slice of Life - Day Eight 

Celebrating the week with Ruth at Discover, Play, Build, and slicing on Day Eight with Tara, Stacey, Anna, Beth, Dana and Betsy at Two Writing Teachers wraps up like a pretty package!             

             From Robert Brault: "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

*Students sharing about their name research

*Book groups excited to share about the latest reading

*Phone call from my daughter

*Work with a young group practicing show/don't tell

*An afternoon with a granddaughter, feeling too sick to go to school

*Dinner with all the family at the end of the day

*Crepe lunch prepared at staff work day- strawberry, banana, Nutella delight

*Discussion with a colleague-possibilities for coming book groups

*Finishing a wonderful book

*Writing a few poems

*Listening to a live stream of my grandson's band's performance at contest

*Text from my grandson sharing that they earned all 1s

*Phone call from my son

*Green things showing up in the garden

*Sunny - t-shirt day

*Snowy - quiet day

Have a wonderful "next" week everyone!

7/31 Slice and Poetry Friday, too!

Hi Everyone, a shared post again. It's Poetry Friday and Margaret Simon of ReflectionsOnTheTeche is hosting today. She and I, and other marvelous poets have been writing poems to Laura Shovan's Pantone Poetry birthday celebration for the past month. She shares the finale poems and the total collection at her blog, Author Amok. It's been a treasure of a time. 


And, it's DAY SEVEN of the Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers!  Over 300 are slicing each day, including students. We've now completed the first week! Time for big pats on the back!
        So many have had a tough winter, and more seems to be on its way again, so I thought it would be good to try to express the general sentiment at this time about winter. Here's a picture of hope from my garden, and a poem.

Before Spring

I want

I want

more warmth than a hot bath

gives me,

more color than seed catalogs

show me,

more light than Edison invented

for me.

         I want spring!

I want

I want

fewer clothes than Winter

allows me,

fewer curtains keeping nature

from me,

fewer colds requiring tissues

around me.

         I want spring!

         Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved