Celebrating Some Fine Moments

     Celebrating with Ruth Ayres and others today.  It's a good thing to celebrate the pieces of our lives.
      Celebrating writing and art and snow!
      Many of you know I'm writing a haiku a day, Mary Lee Hahn's #haikuforhealing challenge started last year in December and now perhaps a tradition. It is one I love. It's that quiet contemplation in the early morning that is so good for waking up. Here's a recent favorite, really a 'haiga' because it's written to an image.

        I shopped in a favorite shopping district last Monday. It happens to be on the street where my husband ran his store, so I've walked this street many times. It holds good memories. My favorite shop is The Artisan Center, not all local, but with all original pieces by artists. The shop and the area are filled with beautiful and whimsical art, one of which is this lion, whose bold, royal look pleases me a lot. 

       Though I do like warm weather, we've gone two months without moisture, so waking to this "coverlet" of snow one morning felt like a big gift. We were in the fifties again today, cold tomorrow, then warm, etc. They say that winter is coming, on Thursday to be exact, and we might have more snow! Happy Holidays to everyone. May your days be bright and if possible, all your gardens be white.

Slicing and Seeing

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Beth, Anna and Betsy for this Tuesday Slice of Life!  

Tweet at #sol15

        Whenever I discover the chance, I like to emphasize that writing and reading involves lots, LOTS, of visualizing. Sometimes I find that students don't exactly understand. Some students through the years have been surprised to learn that when others read, they imagine the scenes, the characters, the action. They plod along, understanding much of a plot, but really don't appear to have the facility (or have never developed) the making of pictures in one's mind. I "imagine" that many of you have lessons in your repertoire that you use to help students visualize what they're reading, which also aids them in improved comprehension, prediction, and connections. I have a few, too. 

What Does Place Mean To You?

Tara Smith at A Teaching Life is starting a new meme, Social Studies Wednesdays, which can touch so many kinds of teachers.  In some way or another, we all teach some social studies in our classes.  Please join her by posting your blog with ideas of work with students.  

       How hard it is to escape from places.  However carefully one goes they hold you - you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences - like rags and shreds of your very life.  ~Katherine Mansfield


When I taught my middle school classroom of mixed 6th, 7th and 8th graders, we spent a great deal of time exploring the sense of place.  This includes characteristics that are unique to that place, involving what humans have brought, their local knowledge and folklore.  It is important for humans to identify oneself in relation to a particular place on Earth.