Celebration Saturday

Archive for the ‘Celebration Saturday’ Category

Celebrating Digital Connections

Posted in Blogging, Celebration Saturday, Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing on May 17, 2015| 7 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Today I am combining posts, Celebration Saturday and DigiLit Sunday. This was a weird week because my students sporadically attended class due to all the end-of-the year stuff. This was my last official week with my students. This next week with be half days, splash days, awards days. I’ll spend time packing my room to move to another classroom. Such a bittersweet time of year, saying goodbye and taking inventory.

What I want to celebrate is connections.

Connections to the Community: Our 6th grade gifted students created a display at our local museum showing the wonders of Iberia Parish in art and poetry.

Mr. Al art and poems on display at the Bayou Teche Museum.

Connections to the World: On Monday, the local newspaper featured the 6th grade project and invited everyone to view the YouTube video.

Connections to parents: Some teachers hesitate to use Facebook to connect with parents. I am not friends with all of my parents, but the ones I am connected to appreciate and celebrate our connection. I’ve never had a parent abuse this venue.

Connections with other educators: I am not on Twitter much. I find it a bit overwhelming. But I have a small community of educators who tweet with each other. When someone tags my name, I feel delighted. The notification comes in on my phone. Like a text between friends.

Connections through blogging: Some days I don’t feel like writing. But knowing there is an audience waiting, I push myself to sit in the chair and “Just Do It.” Someone is always there to read, comment, and connect.

Cathy Mere and Julie Johnson led a Digital Makers Playground. The classes are over, but the connections continue. I’ve borrowed Carolyn Carr’s graphic she made about all the ways she connects digitally.

Digital Connections by Carolyn Carr

Connect with others about Digital Literacy:

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Celebrate Today

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Writing, tagged Billy Collins, dog walk, nature poetry, sky writing on May 2, 2015| 7 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Today by Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

Read the rest here.

Today was just this kind of day. Open the doors and windows and let spring come in. The weather in South Louisiana has been incessant rain for two weeks. The sun finally came out. Every green thing is happy. The birds are happy. The dogs are happy.

This morning our local humane society, Angel Paws, had a dog walk in the park. Charlie loves other dogs. He enjoyed meeting new friends. He got a Cane’s kerchief and is wearing it still.

I watched a group of girls climb a huge live oak. I ran into friends and other children that I know. A great community event to enjoy a beautiful spring day.

I found this poem I wrote after Billy Collins in the spring of 2011. I have to say this is my favorite time of year.

Burst into Spring

**After Billy Collins, Today

If ever there was a spring day so perfect,
so stirred up by a cool crisp wind

that you wanted to breathe more often
to taste the wisteria blossoms,

and throw open all the doors,
lift them clear off the hinges,

a day so bright the pink azaleas
pop open like a birthday balloon bouquet,

seemed so delightful that you felt like
running naked among them,

released from all inhibitions taking flight
outstretched arms playing airplane,

so you could fly on steady wings
balanced for lift and drinking nectar,

yes, you can imagine it,
today is just that kind of day.

Yesterday my daughter was texting me pictures from New Orleans of an airplane painting words of hope in the sky. She told me it was a response to the unrest in Baltimore. We should all write our hope into the sky.

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Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Shining Light Foundation, Sing that Poem, student leadership, The Poem Farm, young musicians, Zydeco on April 25, 2015| 5 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

This morning, I’ve been cleaning and doing chores like kitty litter and laundry. My hands smell like bleach. I kinda like the smell, tingly clean, but I should’ve worn gloves. As I swept the kitchen floor, what else was there to do but reflect on my week. Do I really have anything to celebrate? The list got longer and longer.

The logo for SCBWI is a kite. I set out my kite last weekend. I found out it needs a few repairs, but it may fly one day. I have hope. The Houston conference gave me hope, but I also connected with other writers on this journey and that is what I celebrate today: Connections. I wrote about the conference for Slice of Life Tuesday.

On Tuesday night my husband and I attended a fund raiser for a fairly new nonprofit called the Shining Light Foundation. The organization provides financial assistant to children who have a dream. The event offered a roundup of local Cajun and Zydeco bands. I was particularly taken by a young girl playing the washboard. She has such a natural rhythm and a sense of confidence. I celebrate young talent and passion for going for it.

Chubby Carrier and students

This week our gifted sixth graders finished up their project on Wonders of Iberia Parish by painting sets for an original play. Their performance was held at our Gifted by Nature Day for all elementary students, and the three boys that I teach felt proud of the accomplishment. I can see how this experience changed them into confident leaders. I celebrate student leaders.

My students continue to enjoy singing poems with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater over at The Poem Farm. Some of them are going to the site on their own between class meetings. One of my groups created their own song this week. See if you can figure out the tune. Here is a matching form from Amy’s site. Like Amy, I will post the Soundcloud tomorrow for you to see if your guess was right.

Written by Matthew, Tyler, Noah, Jacob, and Vannisa

Tree Song

Apples fall from apple trees
Watch out! Watch out!
Syrup comes from maple trees,
Sweet, a sticky mess!

Acorns fall from old oak trees.
Squirrels eat them.
Squirrels and humans both alike
all depend on trees.

All depend on trees,
All depend on trees.
Squirrels and humans both alike
All depend on trees!

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Celebrate Black Cowboy Boots

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry, tagged #DigiPoetry, Heritage Blues Orchestra on April 11, 2015| 9 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

My friend, Carolyn (aka Bayou Warrior), invited me to go to a performance of a blues band on Thursday night. I don’t usually do these kinds of activities during the week, but I wanted to experience this group and welcomed the opportunity to spend time with my enthusiastic friend. When we walked into the Acadiana Center for the Arts, a woman about my own age looked at my black cowboy boots and said, “Someday I’m going to be brave enough to wear cowboy boots.” This comment struck me because I don’t think of myself as brave when I wear my boots. I wear them when I am celebrating.

When Carolyn and I sat in the balcony, I pulled out my phone to save the line in my notes. As I typed it, I thought how it would make a good first line of a poem. I passed the phone to Carolyn and said, “Add a line.” She quickly caught on that we were writing a collaborative poem. The performance inspired chair dancing and more lines for our poem.

Chair Dancing to Heritage Blues

One day I’m going to be brave enough to wear black cowboy boots,
black leather skirt too. Maybe a peak of red hidden under lace.
A flower covered scarf around my neck.
A spray of real perfume,
dark winking earrings.

I’ll do some chair dancing
Listening to catfish blues.
Witness watery reflections on the baby grand.

Two dapper hats
Four guitars…
Creole singer flying free

Sunset drummer setting the stride
Remember when you’re walking up to heaven.
Don’t let nobody turn you around.

Sometimes you gotta stand up and dance
Like here … Louisiana crossroads
Sometimes you gotta shake it out.

–Carolyn Hidalgo and Margaret Simon

For more musical fun, go to Amy VanDerwater’s site, The Poem Farm, to hear my students take the challenge to Sing that Poem.

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Celebrate Religions and Traditions

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Digital Learning, Poetry, tagged #DigiPoetry, haiku, Laotian New Year, Palm Sunday, Travel, video poem on April 4, 2015| 6 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Since this is Easter weekend, and I will be celebrating with my family, I am combining my weekend posts into one. Continuing my April commitment to digital poetry, a weekly celebration link up, and DigiLit Sunday all in one.

I think I am getting the hang of Nutshell now. You have to take the pictures on the spot because that’s how the app knows to take video. You have to keep in mind that after you take the picture, the phone is still capturing video.

I did not go on an exotic trip to Laos, but very close to my own town, there is a Laotian village complete with a Buddhist temple, Wat Thammarattanaram. This weekend they celebrate Songkran, the Laotian New Year. Yesterday we attended the opening prayer service.

For us in the Christian tradition, it is Holy Week. I began the week with Palm Sunday and a procession led by bagpipes to celebrate Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem. This video I took while participating in the procession of the palms at my parents’ church, St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson, MS. I uploaded it into iMovie and wrote a simple haiku using the title slides in iMovie.

There is stark contrast here in these two traditions. We felt uncomfortable seated on the floor in the Buddhist Temple; however, Bea, a Laotian woman with good English, welcomed us to sit with her and turned to tell us the story of what was happening throughout the service. This kindness made us feel more comfortable.

Today I celebrate the many religions of the world.
I celebrate that traditions are passed on generation to generation.
I celebrate resurrection and renewal.
I celebrate celebrations.

Link up your Digital Literacy posts. Happy Easter!

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Celebrating Queenliness, Friends, and Family

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Berry Queens, family, Hunter Gibson, Sweet Potato Queens on March 28, 2015| 10 Comments »

SOL #28

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Tulips from the grocery store. A gift for my mom.

I am at home. My parents are surrounding me and my friend, Cathy, with love, kindness, and laughter. I love seeing my parents through her eyes. We are eating breakfast this morning having lively conversation about personality types and stories. The stories! I hear stories again that I have heard before, but with my friend, the stories have new meaning. I am celebrating friendship and family.

Last night we ventured out to an oyster bar to hear my brother’s band play. What live music does for the heart and soul should be celebrated. One of his band members, Monty, has been playing with him for 36 years. I celebrate my brother, his music, and Monty.

My brother Hunter, me, and Monty, his longtime friend and bass player.

Cathy and I are in Jackson for the Sweet Potato Queens weekend. The theme this year is Braveheart, so we wore plaid tutus to the Big Hat Brunch. Cathy made the skirts as well as our hats which reflect our own personal theme of “birds of a feather.” I celebrate Berry Queens, friendship, and Cathy’s creativity.

Me with Cathy in our Berry Queen finery and big hats

View of the lake from an upstairs window.

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Celebrating Saturday

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, tagged MMPoetry, Prayer Shawl Ministry on March 21, 2015| 22 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

SOL #21

Today is Saturday! Charlie knows this, somehow. He greets Saturday with enthusiasm and anticipation. “Maybe we will take a walk?” he asks. I celebrate this bundle of joy.

This was testing week. While I was proctoring, I was able to finish this prayer shawl. It will go to a friend with breast cancer. I celebrate the gift of time and prayer.

I celebrate my blogging community. I read many blogs daily and gain insight and inspiration, make connections, and feel loved and appreciated. Your posts inspire me. Your comments sustain me. On Tuesday, I felt my writing was dried up, so I went on a hunt for lines and wrote this found poem. Your words came together into beautiful poetry. I celebrate words.

I celebrate poetry. My students have been reading and voting in the March Madness Poetry (MMPoetry) at ThinkKidThink. Yesterday, while we were reading and voting, my 3rd grader Lani wrote this post.

Today in class we voted on thinkkidthink.com. We had to listen to Mrs.Simon read A LOT of poems. Some of them were good poems, but some poems were VERY confusing. Like this one that Reed is reading, ”How To Be A Big Bad Wolf.” I did not understand it but, I still voted on it. Some poems, you think will be non-understandable based on the title but, the poem turns out to be understandable.

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Saturday Celebration

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #crazycomments, #DLDay, MMPoetry on March 14, 2015| 10 Comments »

SOL #14

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

I had a rough week physically, fighting congestion and cough and feeling generally yucky. Yet, there are still many moments to celebrate. I like to collect these moments on my phone and look back to see that this has indeed been a week to celebrate.

I have been eliminated from the MMPoetry 15 in round one. I gave it a good shot and now, according to Ed, I am part of the “club.” My students knew I was going to get beat as soon as they read the competing poem by Tiffany Strelitz Haber. It’s hard to compete against Mr McStuffins baking muffins. I am proud of my Poetry Friday friends who moved on to the next round. Good luck! Be sure to follow the next brackets and vote. It’s a great learning activity to do with your students.

My students are slicing away. Friday was Digital Learning Day. Our activity was a crazy comment challenge. I offered candy prizes for comments. (Skittles for single comments and Dum Dums for 10) Two students wrote 50 and got a treat from the lounge. I offered the challenge on Twitter and Holly Mueller’s class took it on.

Because I have small groups of students, I am able to celebrate birthdays with a special treat. Vannisa wanted cinnamon rolls and apples and the apple peeler. I have an old fashioned apple peeler that spins the apples and slices in a spiral. My students love it, and it’s become a favorite for birthdays.

Book gifts are always a reason to celebrate. We had a book fair this week, and Emily’s grandmother bought 3 books for my class library. Two of my boys, Reed and Nigel, knew I wanted Terrible Two (teachers make a wish list), so they went in together to buy it for the class. How special!

On one of my lowest health days, I got a card in the mail from my friend, Jen. She made it herself. Isn’t it lovely? Despite the incessant rain, my nagging cough, and the loser poem, I feel lifted by my students and my friends. Celebrate!

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Celebrate March!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged acrostic poetry, chalkabration, Dr. Seuss on March 7, 2015| 15 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

SOL #7

March has come in like a lion, and I have made it through the first week of the Slice of Life Challenge. Time to celebrate!

Some of my students missed Chalkabration last week. So we made winter acrostics. Lani, 3rd grade, says she’s not a poet and yet, she used the word metamorphosized!

Metamorphosized butterfly
Arrives vividly
Rising
Caterpillar
High flying.
by Lani

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! This is our brave librarian who dressed up every day this week as one of Dr. Seuss’s characters. We had special days to celebrate, crazy socks, crazy hair, and mismatched.

Jacob’s mother teaches across the hall from me. She occasionally texts me things he says. This text is an all time winner! My heart swells!

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From Mardi Gras to Meditation: Celebration

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Writing, tagged celebration, Mardi Gras, meditation on February 21, 2015| 6 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

This week started with a celebration. My daughter, Maggie, is turning 30 this month. She created her own party to celebrate on Monday, Lundi Gras, in New Orleans. Friends and family came and enjoyed meeting each other. The greatest gift for me was having all three of my daughters together and happy.

Mardi Gras has a reputation for being quite the wild party. I hung out with my sister and her family. (See Slice of Life post from Tuesday.) We found a spot on St. Charles where families gathered. Everyone around was considerate while cheering for a happy celebration. My daughter’s boyfriend saw a prized LED mask fall at his feet. He knew my nephew would love it, but when he picked it up, he saw this girl atop her father’s shoulders. He handed her the mask. She put it on and wore it for the rest of the night. Practice random acts of kindness.

Nephew Jack sports a celebration mohawk and dangles beads in his father’s face. All part of the fun.

Lent has now begun. I had the traditional ash cross smudged on my head. I am preparing to celebrate a holy Lent, 40 days of reflection and meditation. A quiet celebration.