Celebrations Everywhere - Really!

         Every Saturday (or Sunday) I celebrate with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  and link with others who share their celebrations, too. It's always lovely to read everyone's posts. I am grateful to Ruth each week for her thoughtful creation of this community.

           A good week to me feels like a week with family and friends, time to read and time to write. It was a good week! I'm always writing poems, but have paid special attention recently to a picture book story in poetry. I had time during the week to "really" work on it, and I celebrate that. Also, I had the last meetings with the teacher with whom I've worked all year, a final lesson and conversation, and a celebration with all the "new" teachers hosted by the school that manages the licensing program. I am so proud of the teacher he has become, and wish him much success and happiness in his teaching. He has a job already!
             Last week I celebrated all the "mothers" in my life, including those special grandmothers. And this week, lilac blooms spread over our city. I saw, and smelled, them everywhere. I wrote this for David L. Harrison's website which has a Word of the Month to write to. The poems are shared in comments on a specific link on his blog. If you'd like to join, please take a look. He also has a link for students to share poems from the Word of the Month. This month's word is May, and the variety of kinds of poems already shared is marvelous. I like some of the poems that I write, and love others, maybe not that they're perfect, but some "please" more than others. Here's a poem I celebrate, because it's about grandmothers and lilacs, two of my favorite things.

Poetry Friday-Surprise Poetry

Here are all the poetry Friday posts, hosted by Violet Nesdoly who shares a terrifying poem connecting to the fire that's burning in Alberta, Canada. Be sure to find a way to help those who've lost their homes and possessions in Fort MacMurray and elsewhere. 

          I want to compliment Jone MacCulloch for the yearly joy she helps students in her school bring to so many of us from her Poetry Postcard project.  I've seen numerous articles recently about the importance of poetry for students of all ages. Here is one from Edutopia. When my former students re-connect, one thing they often remind me of is the good times we had when we wrote and read poetry. I KNOW that it's important, to read and write it, to share it with others. And so want to thank Jone and "my" poet Braeden who gave me  a surprise "smile" in my mailbox!

          There is serendipity too! My poem has a special connection. Before my husband and I moved to Colorado, we lived on a lake. It was a wonderful time. We had a dock, swam off the dock every chance we could, taught our son to swim there, canoed often. In the winter we ice skated. I never minded the fish, but several times in the summer as I sat lounging on the dock, I would see a head pop up, a turtle head. And those who had lived at the lake a long time said to watch out for the turtles, to be sure to keep moving when swimming because they bit toes. I still swam, but I also never forgot that advice. The turtle head was big!

           Here is my wonderful poem, thanks to Braeden and Jone!

Click to enlarge!

Non-Fiction - Must Reads

  
              Thanks to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy, everyone shares wonderful non-fiction picture books. I am fortunate that my library had both the following books, and that I didn't have to wait long for them. 

Will’s Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk - Jane Sutcliffe and John Shelley

          It’s a simple format, author letter at the beginning and the end, and in between, lots of information presented clearly. Each double-page spread overflows with people, those living in London, on their way to the theater, especially to the Globe Theater. On the left, a small explanation of some part of life connecting to Shakespeare’s writing and the theater. For example, explaining that the Globe was more like a football stadium than our traditional thoughts of theaters today. And there were no restrooms. Jane Sutcliffe shares that looking for one “would have been a wild-goose chase,” which is a phrase that Shakespeare gave us. It is found in Romeo and Juliet, Act Two, Scene IV.

        On the right sits another box explaining the words, what they meant then, and now, and where they can be found in one of Shakespeare’s plays.  

A Slice At Eventide

           I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community today, sharing a part of my daily life. 

         It's the first time I've ever lived with a locked bank of mailboxes. They sit about half a block away. And, the mail doesn't come till after five pm, or later.  Sometimes I run into the mailman, and when it's cold with blowing snow, I appreciate this person who has worked all the winter's day to bring the mail. I do say my thanks.
         This time of year, it may be chilly, but it is still light when I go, or I wait until after dinner. I love this in-between time, dusk with synonyms so lovely: sundown, twilight, sunset, eventide, gloaming. How can one not love the idea of a walk in the gloaming? And so I go, and enjoy the final outdoor air of the day, cooling as it settles into night. I hear the last of the children running down the sidewalk toward home, slamming the door shut, playtime finished for the day. Yesterday there was a rain shower, and the sprinklers have begun,  perfuming the air with "fresh" and "new" and "green"! Birds murmur goodnights as they fly into their nests, and lights fill the house windows. I peek to see people moving into their evening lives. I'm almost back home, and my short walk has wrapped up my day like a gift to savor. Hope you enjoyed a peek at the gift, too.

It's Monday-Lots to Love

  On Mondays, it's a pleasure to link up with a group that reviews books they want everyone to know about. If you visit, you'll be sure to find a book or more that you know you'll want to read! 

          Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.   Tweet #IMWAYR

The Raven King, The Raven Cycle, Book Four - Maggie Stiefvater
               I cannot write much about this book because I don't want to spoil any of it for anyone. It's one more book by Maggie Stiefvater that I loved thoroughly. The main characters have grown, are getting ready for graduation. The story felt even edgier, if that's possible, with more adult language, much creepier than the earlier books. New things happen, new people appear, old familiars return. Deepening the layers of the characters feels comfortable because they are maturing, and they each have new ideas to consider about life, and the magic that surrounds them. The extraordinary complexity of the plot thread makes close and enjoyable reading. (FYI-my friend reminded me that across the four books in the series really only nine months have passed, and I didn't remember that. It does seem that through all that has happened, years have passed, but also considering the events, they have matured in their judgment of what is really important in life.)

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         These first two, both wordless, tell stories full of details, forcing the reader to look so closely, find what is there that surprises and delights.