Quite a "glass-full" week! Chalk-A-Bration too!

Join Ruth Ayres for Celebration Saturday! Tweet at CelebrateLu  Link up here!  Thanks Ruth!

             Celebrating today and every day with words and pictures. A beautiful quote for you this week: "Memory is the scribe of the soul." Aristotle

This is the day of Chalk-A-Bration.
Thanks to Betsy Hubbard for beginning the tradition.
Check other poems out at her blog. Teaching Young Writers.

         It's been a terrific final work week with the class I've had the pleasure of working with. I will finish the year with them on the last day, next Thursday, but my time with them is over, and I'll spend the first days of next week cleaning/straightening/organizing my office, making plans with our librarians for next year. I'll miss the students, but it's also exciting to think of the next year and what might be! Almost time for summer! I posted writing from the group I've been writing with here.

End of Year - Grateful for my student workshop

            Diane Mayr, at Random Noodling, is our host today for Poetry Friday. Visit there to find all kinds of poetry inspiration! Thanks Diane!    

           In remembrance of Maya Angelou, I wonder if you've seen the hashtag #MayaTaughtMe, and read some of them. It's filled with tiny memories that can only be because of twitter's structure. Here, less becomes more as one reads. She taught me that being older is okay, that thriving at any age is the purpose. Have you thought about what Maya Angelou taught you?

         It’s been a pleasure working almost all my time in the past weeks with one classroom. I’ve continued to meet sometimes with other teachers, but this time it’s like being back in the classroom again. My colleague has planned numerous kinds of projects, including writing in a workshop-type atmosphere where students have the chance to make their own choices in writing.  In this kind of group, I usually have students bring some examples of texts they think is good, and we respond to those. Then, when they have writing to share, I copy all the pieces into a packet so each can “see” the words as well as “hear” them. It gives everyone a chance to think first, then give some ideas for revision to their group members. I think of myself as the facilitator, bring up different ‘craft’ skills that I notice in the words shared, and take a few minutes to give a mini-lesson, hopefully that will help each writer improve.

Wednesday Non-Fiction

        I’ve found some great non-fiction books at my library and at the public library. Here are three of

them. If you haven’t seen them yet, they are beautiful, inspiring, and fun to hear about. Thanks to Alyson Beecher at KidLitFrenzy who hosts this community.

         Happy Reading everyone!

Have You Heard The Nesting Bird – written by Rita Gray and illustrated by Kenard Pak

             Using couplets, Rita Gray takes us on a journey of the sounds of many birds, so beautifully shown by Kenard Pak. Yet, in between those pages, the title’s question is asked: Have you heard the nesting bird? And we discover that this bird is quiet, and the reasons why, too. It’s a predictable mystery, but so enticing to see where the story will go next, with an ending of wonder. There is a creative two pages of backmatter as well, with an interview of the nesting bird herself! I enjoyed the book and believe it will entice younger students to pay attention to bird calls and what to do when they do notice a real nesting bird. The double-page spread of one night is so gorgeous, a quietly beautiful piece of art.

Where I Work at Home

Time for Tuesday's Slice of Life Sharing at Two Writing Teachers
                     Come join us!  Tweet at #SOL14
        Hope all is going well in your days left at school. And if you're out, happy for you, but I have two more very busy weeks, and I know some of you have more than that. Soon, summer for all of us!

Last Friday, Stacey shared her newly organized work space and asked others to blog about theirs. So here is where I work at home. I forgot to take a couple of pictures of my office at school. Let's just say that it is also filled. I ought to have an auction when I retire just for the teaching materials, and some of the books! 

It's Monday

 Thanks to Jen at Teach.Mentor.Texts and Ricki and Kellee at Unleashing Readers for hosting our Monday Reading community where we discover wonderful books for kids, the youngest up!

          Tweet at #IMWAYR

          I loved this long weekend, finding time to spend Saturday with one of my granddaughters, to plant flowers at last, and to read! I reviewed Views from A Window Seat, Thoughts on Writing and Life by Jeannine Atkins last Friday, and finished The Mark of The Dragonfly today!

The Mark of The Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

           This is a perfect middle grade read. It's set in an imaginary world that appears strangely dystopian, with elements of the middle ages although there are machines. It's different, which leads one to be extremely curious as to how this 'life' works for the people, especially Piper, the main character, who lives in a "scrap" town, where after strange meteor showers, people run to grab what has been left by the shower. They seem to be the leftovers from a long ago earth-intriguing-and perhaps another book will tell that story? Piper is a machinist, able to repair some of the objects found, and also has been left to fend for herself, although she's just 13, because her father has gone to work in a near town factory to help earn a living, and has died from the pollution emanating from those awful factories. But that's just the start of this story that propels the reader very quickly into the action, takes Piper, and later "new" friends into a train adventure that never stops with heart-stopping action, suspense, surprises, and even a little romance. This was recently published, and I imagine some will be talking about it for a while.