Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.
Join the Chalk-a-bration at Betsy Hubbard’s site Teaching Young Writers.
The last day of the month is Chalkabration time, a time to celebrate poetry and chalk and creativity. My students love Chalkabration, the brain-child of Betsy Hubbard. Yesterday was a bit chilly for chalking outside, so we did an inside art/poetry project with torn paper.
On Thursday, Paw Pride, a leadership group at my school, went to a local low income housing for the elderly to deliver socks we had collected. The apartments are housed in an old school. Outside where we gathered, there is a draping old oak tree with palm trees underneath. When Jacob arrived with his sister, he looked at the tree and said, “Mrs. Simon, can we write a poem about this tree?” Gotta love him!
“Yes, Jacob, tomorrow is Chalkabration!”
A Palm Looking Tree
At the end of February in southern Louisiana,you’ll most likely find a palm looking tree.
by Vannisa
Ancient Chickens
hiding among trees
spreading wisdom
running from tree to tree
in secret.
These are Ancient Chickens.
by Tyler
Paradise by Matthew
Coconut Tree
The top of peeled off coconuts.
With green roots coming out.
Sun shines on the coconut peels.
I want to be inside of it.
by Jacob
Palm tree haiku
by Margaret Simon
Shades of Grey
Posted in Digital Learning, Slice of Life, tagged #gray, comments, Digital photography, Slice of Life Story Challenge on February 22, 2015| 11 Comments »
Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts
I hope my title was not misleading. You will only find G-rated media here. My cyber-colleague, Kim Douillard, puts out a photo challenge every week. This week her challenge was shades of grey. An appropriate color for February. I took a walk with my favorite grey pooch, Charlie.
The sky was grey with a little blue trying to peek through. The wind was blowing, but the temperature was mild.
The Japanese magnolia is in full bloom. The blossoms are fragrant and vibrant pink. The trunk and branches are all grey, no green leaves. The grey backdrop makes these flowers pop and please.
Grey moss hangs from the live oaks year round. Watching the moss sway in the strong wind, I came to the conclusion that grey is beautiful.
Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.
This format of themed images with descriptions could work well for a Slice of Life post. If you are not familiar with Slice of Life, it is a monthlong writing challenge created by Stacey Shubitz of the Two Wiring Teachers. I believe, like Stacey, that a teacher of writing must be a writer. We must practice what we preach. The SOL challenge gears up in March. Today is the day to make your commitment. Be sure to go over to the site and sign up. I testify that slicing has changed my life. The daily practice of meeting a blank page and knowing I have a kind, like-minded audience waiting has made me a better teacher and a better writer.
Along with SOL month, it’s time to make plans for Digital Learning Day on March 13, 2015. Join me in a super-duper comment challenge. My students will be in their second week of the Slice Of Life Story Challenge. (Go to Two Writing Teachers for more information.) They asked me if we would be doing a comment challenge this year. So I want to declare Digital Learning Day, March 13th as Crazy Comment Challenge Day. My students slice on Kidblogs. We can only access other Kidblog sites. So if you have your students blogging, send me the link. On March 13th, we will try to visit as many sites as possible within our class time frame. Let me know if you want to take the plunge.
Tara Smith wrote a great post about preparing your students for the Slice of Life Challenge. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with other classrooms across the globe and to get your students writing daily in an authentic way. I am one of the classroom concierges for the challenge. Do not hesitate to contact me with questions.
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