#SOL17 - 28/31 - House Ghosts

 


         #SOL17 28/31 I'm writing for the March Slice of Life challenge with the Two Writing Teachers community for Day Twenty-Eight of Thirty-One.  Thank you, Stacey, Beth, Deb, Betsy, Lanny, Kathleen, Lisa, and Melanie.   

I read all kinds of essays/columns, poems, too that are like slices, an author's musings about small things. Somewhere in my mind as I was pondering Sunday’s post about the word “slice”, I remembered a mention of "house ghosts." I don't mean those old houses and sometimes hotels that have claims to hauntings, but the definition of ghosts that haunt one’s memories. 

          Years ago, my husband and I were browsing a furniture store looking for a new chair for our family room. We discovered this small sofa in the bargain room, a bit larger than a chair, but the color and the price was good. Plus, it was so soft and felt very comfortable. We actually managed to fit it into the back of our jeep and took it home. I never thought it would hold so many memories.  Of course, there are other ghosts hovering, the one that holds a special brown coffee cup and that one that lies beside me under a blue comforter. There are the babies that slept with a blue and white checked blanket, and the mother who stitched a star quilt in the guest bedroom. Yes, they’re all here, keeping me good company, just like the brown sofa. 

Arvie with Ingrid, reading favorites!

Monday Reading #SOL17-27/31 - All About The Kids

    I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community for Day Twenty-Seven of Thirty-One.     #tweet SOL17
           

          


Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to discover books you'll love!        tweet #IMWAYR

         "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today." Stacia Tauscher        Here are four stories that celebrate  children who are thoughtful and silly, resilient and joyful. 

       This brief book has been on a shelf for a long time, and when someone mentioned it, I knew I should read it now. The beautiful thread running through the story comes from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope Is The Thing With Feathers.” A loving family has had their heartache with lost babies, and Frannie, the young eleven-year-old tells the story that includes her older brother Sean who’s deaf, a friend Samatha who brings up interesting religious questions, and a few classmates who are not always nice create the setting in which Frannie lives and in which she begins to look at things in a new way. Much seems normal, kids being kids, some play, scenes at school, family meals. A new boy who looks white arrives (this is a segregated community) and adds to the way Frannie looks at others. He claims he doesn’t belong across the bridge (where the white people live and go to school). And with his long hair, he takes on the name Jesus. Adding more pepper to the pot of a story is what Jacqueline Woodson does so well, and this boy certainly adds that spice.   The book is divided into four parts in which each one reveals the feelings and hopes of Frannie and others in her life. As a read aloud, this will start some great conversations.

SOLC17 26/31 - "SLICING"

SOLC #21/31 - 

      I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community on Day Twenty-Six of Thirty-One of the Slice of Life Challenge in March.  Thank you Stacey, Beth, Deb, Betsy, Lanny, Kathleen, Lisa, and Melanie.  

       Perhaps someone has written about this topic, I'm not sure. I was playing around with what to share today and thought I would see what I could brainstorm about "slices".


       I'll draw for my giveaway last Wednesday later in the day and notify the winner!
       

SOL17 - 25/31 And Celebrating Action

         SOLC17 25/31 Thanks for the March Slice of Life challenge with the Two Writing Teachers community.  

         Today I also celebrate with Ruth Ayres and others at Discover Play Build. It's a good way to end the week sharing our celebrations.

           When a hard thing happens, sometimes it's equally hard to celebrate. Over the recent months, my neighborhood has had several cars stolen, and a couple of break-ins. One happened about three weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon! It was sunny, people were out and about walking dogs, visiting neighbors, and kids were playing. I actually saw them, a group of what seemed to be young boys who were running by but in the middle of my front yard. I had gone to get a drink of water and glanced out the window. I didn't think anything but "silly teenagers". They might have been older than teens, but that's what I thought. A couple of hours later my group neighborhood e-mail posted that these boys had broken into the home about a block away, kicked in the side door, did some damage inside, but took nothing. The woman who lives there later shared that she was out and had her laptop with her, owns no TV, so there wasn't much evidently that they wanted except "quick" grabs. Or perhaps it was a dare?

Poetry Friday & #Sol17 - 24/31 - New Morning

Number twenty-four of thirty-one, over two-thirds through the month of the Two Writing Teachers March Challenge.

And today, celebrate Poetry Friday with Catherine Flynn at Reading To The Core who's our lovely host. This time she's sharing a new book by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, illustrations by Ekua Holmes. The title is Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. Be sure to read her post about it and then visit others who are sharing poetry too.

       I've mentioned the weather in my posts more than once these past months. We've had unusually warm and dry weather, and although we live in a semi-arid climate, we've set records this year for the lack of moisture. But, our news is that a storm is actually moving in and I'm supposed to wake up to snow or rain and cold. It'll certainly be a differently-dressed me tomorrow! Here's a poem I wrote about this kind of day.