Non-Fiction - Picture Book Joy

          Each Wednesday I'm happy to link to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at her blog, Kidlit Frenzy. I love finding good non-fiction picture books available about varied topics, for all ages, too. Here are three books with stories and illustrations that just might become favorites. 

        Thanks Alyson!

No One Saw - art presented by Bob Raczka

              Beautiful book of well-known art, with comments by the author. Each piece illuminates the art, would be wonderful to use as a starter for an art project. For example, the book shows the art piece “A Basket of Apples” by Paul Cézanne, and Raczka writes, “No one saw apples like Paul Cézanne.” And for “One Hundred Cans” by Andy Warhol, the words are “No one saw soup like Andy Warhol.” There is a list of the paintings in the back matter and short biographies of each artist.

One Slice of Every Overnight Trip

The Two Writing Teachers blogs hosts a community every Tuesday who share parts of their lives, both professional and personal, always a gift to read the words! Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Beth and Anna, we keep going!

           My class and I are back, this week starting the final things: trip response, trip board, field journals, portfolios, writing collections, final blogs. The list doesn't want to end, but school does in eleven and a half days! If you'd like to see a few pictures, see my Saturday Celebration post here. We did so much in the ten days we were traveling. In this slice I want to share about this city part of the trip that mirrors others I've experienced. To save money, we nearly always stay in the center of the chosen city, where the action is, at a hostel. This time in Washington D.C. was not different, and our stay was delightful at Hostel International on 11th Street, the link here. 

           When I've stayed with my classes at hostels, it's filled with more learning. Students learn to navigate the building, where the hang out places are, how to use their own room keys (they stay in groups), how to share a common bathroom, how to rise, get ready and meet in the dining area for breakfast, ready for the day--all with only the help of classmates! For those who've not been on these extended trips as older students, it is probably a new experience, and a growing up one. Younger classes also go on overnights, but are given less independent time. 

It's Monday-Reading Pleasures

Link up with Jen at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders. and Sheila at Book Journeys.  Come visit, and tweet at #IMWAYR. Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki for hosting!

Wow, I haven't posted since April, but I haven't read much either, except thousands of words in Washington D.C. Museums! Most of the following books were read before my class trip. Lately I've had the pleasure of a NetGalley copy of Rebecca Stead's new book, Goodbye Stranger and am enjoying it very much. 

Here's what I want to share:

All The Bright Places - written by Jennifer Niven

              Two characters traveling in different high school circles, Violet and Finch, are thrown together by an unlikely occurrence. They both stand on the edge of the school’s bell tower, unable to move, ready to jump? And then we the reader are thrown into the story of this pair, each taking a turn at sharing their lives, with all the joy and hurt that happens to high school seniors, and a bit more tragedy than most. Bullying and death of a sibling enter the mix, too, along with a geography teacher whose assignment offers a beautiful backdrop to Violet’s and Finch’s lives and relationship. The discoveries made about life and about each other bring tears. The families juxtaposed against one another seem to be reflections of our society’s challenges in facing death and mental illness. It’s a book hard to read and equally hard to leave. One quote: “The air is already heavy with summer.”

There and Back Again

              Celebrating those little and big things from the week each Saturday (or later) with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.                      Tweet at #CelebrateLu

           It's been two weeks since I posted here to celebrate, anticipating the big class trip to Washington D.C. and the Chesapeake Bay. Well, we did it, twenty-two sixth, seventh and eighth graders, four adults plus my head of school joining us during the first half in D.C. We arrived home  late Thursday afternoon. All, I mean all went well, no glitches, beautiful weather, even a rainstorm is something we all enjoyed being in on the bay. 

           Late nights, at the monuments and another at the Kennedy Center seeing the National Orchestra, meant tired people, yet we trudged on, sleepy sometimes in the am, ate breakfast and did the next "thing". In every trip, I wonder why we can't spend "all" day at one place, especially in the city, in the museums, but we believe that it's our job to offer students what is possible, and then hopefully they will return again some day. Students got lots of freedom in small groups, some playtime especially before dinner, and so much information from so many wonderful experiences. Here's a glimpse of things to celebrate, including some of my own journal sketches. I'll share more specifically about our field journal work in another post. Now, I'm celebrating "there and back again", and time alone!

           One regret: I am sorry that I was unable to connect with Michelle Haseltine. Another time Michelle? Busy times!

on the plane, the wire chairs at the hostel in D.C. help me remember that
special place, Pogo at the Newseum, sketching after the boat on the Anacostia River,
and of course, the White House!

two students wait to get into the simulator-space museum
annex at Dulles Airport

We are HERE!

Celebrating A Busy Week

              Celebrating Each Saturday with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build. It's a good time to welcome Saturday! Come join us!                      Tweet at #CelebrateLu

        I'm leaving with my class next Tuesday for a ten day trip to Washington D.C. & then the Chesapeake Bay area. Sorry to those of you who've read the news before! Any week before a big trip is huge, with so much to wrap up, so much to settle, and so on. Here are the highlights: 

       Students love to create machines out of discards. This time they had to be less intricate because there were only 2 weeks to work. The assignment was to use a ping-pong ball as part of the kinetic energy in order to accomplish one simple task. Everyone shared their work Monday afternoon. Here's one picture.