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Archive for the ‘Slice of Life’ Category

Slice Challenge #27: March Heart Map

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged on March 27, 2018| 12 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

I started an art journal in January (a slice about it here) and decided to select a color for each month (March is yellow) and to collage a heart map for each month.  Yesterday with some free spring break time I completed my heart map for March.

Perusing magazines is part of the fun.  Cutting and pasting can be creative, relaxing work.  This map captures snippets of March including Slice of Life blogging, our Plein Air guest artists, and Saturday’s march.  Some messages are hidden, like the popping out sticky note “South Louisiana.”  It’s hiding the title of my forthcoming poetry book.  Still working on proofs.  Cover reveal coming soon!

On Twitter, Leigh Anne posted this:

My table was not as covered as hers, but I took a few snippets for a quick poem in my art journal.

I’m still working with the line The Shadow Defines the Light.  I’m trying it out in different poems.  Sometimes you just find a great line.  Copy, paste, make it yours.

 

 

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March Challenge #26: So Much Depends Upon…

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged , on March 26, 2018| 8 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

How can you resist a child who says, “I can perform my poem!”

She stood in the front of the room with no inhibitions.  She read her poem with expression.  She filled my teacher heart.

I’ve played the video over and over.  I smile every time.  This child, so full of joy and love and life, wrote a poem.  All she needed was “so much depends upon” then off she went on a ride of rhymes.

So much depends
upon this little girl.
This little girl is so cute.
She puts the TV on mute.
She plays the flute
all the time.
I am a rhyme mime.

by Kaia, 2nd grade

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Slice Challenge #24: Dear Spring Break

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , on March 24, 2018| 19 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

 

Dear Spring Break,
I am celebrating your arrival today.
You have entered my life like a soothing breeze.
When the birds call, I will be here to listen.
I will take long walks with Charlie. (First sight of the leash, and he is ready to go!)
I promise to read a book in your honor
and share it with my students when we return.
I hope you will invite me outside to explore.
I’d love to have lunch with a friend.
I promise to practice my ukulele, cook dinner more than once, and crochet in prayerful meditation.
But most of all, I promise to be grateful for every quiet moment you give me because I know that April and May are slippery slopes to summer.
Thanks for coming, spring break, you are a welcomed guest.
With love,
Margaret

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

I borrowed this writing idea from Michelle Haseltine at One Grateful Teacher.

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Slice Challenge #23: Golden Shovels and Chalkabration

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing on March 23, 2018| 20 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Laura at Writing the World for Kids.

This month’s Ditty Challenge on Michelle Barnes’ site is from Nikki Grimes.  Nikki Grimes has made the golden shovel an infamous poetry form.  I shared her book, One Last Word, with my students.  Michelle worked with boys in a juvenile detention center. She posted Lil Fijjii’s poem blurred lines.   This poem spoke to my students.  They could relate to the strong emotion.  To write golden shovel poems, each student chose a line to respond to.  At first Faith placed her head in her hands.  “This is too hard. I can’t do it.”  I set the timer and said, “Just give it a shot.”

My students were pleased with the results.  I’ve posted them on Michelle’s padlet.  Scroll for Students from Mrs. Simon’s Class.  

 

Spring is in the air here in South Louisiana and no one wants to stay inside, so I took my kids out for a chalkabration.  View their poems in this slide show.

 

 

chalkabration

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Slice Challenge #22: Outside my Window

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged on March 22, 2018| 10 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Outside my window,
wind chimes
percussion the air.

Outside my window,
sun sinking
flashlights the trees.

Outside my window,
sweet olive blooms
perfume my breath.

Outside my window,
baldcypress needles
paintbrush neon green.

Outside my window,
still bayou
mirrors spring’s dance.

–Margaret Simon, (c) 2018

wind chimes photo by Margaret Simon

 

 

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Slice Challenge #21: First Day of Spring

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , , on March 21, 2018| 10 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

 

 

Inspired by Violet Nesdoly’s blog post Welcome Spring, my students and I wrote a collaborative poem about spring.

At first, I talked about the spring equinox and how it’s related to the rotation of the earth (to get in a little science content).   Then I opened a blank document on the screen.  Jayden said, “I hope we are going to write a poem.  I love when we write poems.”  My heart swelled.

We read it aloud to hear the beat.  We rearranged stanzas.  Landon suggested that we end the poem at night with fireflies.

First Day of Spring

by Jasmine, Kaia, Landon, Jayden

(edited by Mrs. Simon)

Happiness everywhere.
Let’s go to the Spring fair.

Easter is near.
Wind tickles my ear.

Green grass growing.
Dad lawn mowing.

Mom is cleaning.
I am dreaming.

Cherry blossoms blooming.
Sun’s light booming.

Bees buzz.
Dandelion fuzz.

When daylight ends,
fireflies descend.

 

On Sunday, our choir held an Evensong service.  My fellow choir member and friend, Brenda, recorded the service.  There were only 9 of us, but we made a joyful noise.  Here, she put one of our hymns on YouTube.  Enjoy Benedictus, one of my favorites. I sing alto.  Listen for me.

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Slice Challenge #19: The Aurorean

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged on March 19, 2018| 7 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

 

I’ve had a poem accepted for publication in the journal, the Aurorean.  My poem is titled, “Aubade to a Tulip.” The journal is currently taking pre-orders at this link. 

Years ago I submitted to the Aurorean and was published in the Fall/ Winter 2009-2010 issue with the following poem.

December 27th: Putting the Old Dog Down

On this cloudy humid morning I watch
a great blue heron swoop toward the bayou.
He jumps in like a child in summer,
emerges with the catch of the day.
Standing on the bulkhead, he swallows
the fish whole, looks left then right,
rises–his blue wing-tips all the bluer.

Fog lifts over the road to the vet’s office.
Wrapped in a shred of flannel sheet,
I hold her close, look into eyes of trust
while the poison needles in.
I let her go.

The camellia’s first blossoms blanket
the lawn in pink, resurrection fern fans the air.

Margaret Simon (c) 2010

I am grateful to the Aurorean’s editor Cynthia Brackett-Vincent for placing her trust in me as a poet and once again giving wings to one of my poems.

Bayou Teche blue heron, photo by Margaret Simon

 

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Slice Challenge #18: On Being an Introvert

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , on March 18, 2018| 25 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Years ago I took the Myers-Briggs test for personality analysis.  It did not tell me anything I didn’t already know internally.  I am an introvert.  I have fought against this part of myself all my life.  I’ve tried to attend the party, the parade, the picnic, but I never really understood why I would leave exhausted.

Now that I’m in my 50’s it’s time to realize that my basic personality is not going to change.  It’s time to embrace the introvert in me.  On Facebook this morning, someone posted this article.  The article explained that, as an introvert, I have different needs.  That I may feel like I have to hide those needs.  Nail on head! Duh!  How long have I been fighting against my own “needs”?

As the time gets nearer to spring break, my mind is revolting.  I am craving time alone.  Time alone is not only a luxury, however, it is one of my basic needs. I need to walk alone in the woods.  I need to sit with a book and read.  I need to watch the sunset.

Another of the 12 points listed that resonated with me was #8: A deeper purpose to their work.

I attended the regional SCBWI conference on Saturday.  This morning I am trying to process why the business of finding an agent and marketing your work is unsettling to me.  Why did that particular presentation leave me feeling defeated and hopeless?  Because I need a deeper purpose for my work.  That’s it.

When one of the presenters asked us to write down a purpose statement about why we write for children, I wrote, Children fill my world every day.  I love being with them. I love watching them grow into who they are meant to be.  I want to be a part of their world. I can be there with my words.

This post is one of those writing-to-discover-what-you-think posts.  Maybe that needs to be added to the list of needs for the introvert.  Writing is a way to clear the cobwebs to find the root of my thinking.  Today, that root is being an introvert.

Introverts are not wrong.

We are different.

Embrace this difference.

Be confident in who you are.

I am sending this message to myself today and any other introverts out there.

I’m OK.  You’re OK.

 

Azaleas blooming on St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans

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Slice Challenge #16: Found Poetry

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , on March 16, 2018| 18 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Linda at Teacher Dance.

Have you thought about found poetry lately?  This week my friend Linda Mitchell posted a found/ black out poem on Facebook.  A day or two later Janet Wong posted a found poem from an article about the Parkland shooting. These two posts inspired me to try my own.

I’ve been reading aloud Tuck Everlasting to a group of students.  Natalie Babbett’s writing is so descriptive and beautiful, so I copied a page from the book and made a black out poem to use as a model poem for my students.

When I shared this with my students as a writing choice, two of my girls chose favorite pages from favorite books to create their own black out poems.

The day was absolutely gorgeous.  Highs in the 60’s, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky.  Who wants to stay inside?

My science kids are doing projects about plants, so I printed an online article for each of them.  We took the articles and clipboards out to the garden to write.

Circling words to create poems, these students enjoyed “finding” poems in nonfiction text. Poetry can be found anywhere!

Jayden’s poem about camellias:

Prized beauty of
exquisite blooms,
splendid evergreen foliage
attractive shrubs
burst into flowers
rest little prodigious garden.

Where will you find a poem today?

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Slice Challenge #15: This One Stings!

Posted in Slice of Life on March 15, 2018| 19 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Wednesday was not going well.  Hump Day. Pi Day. Family Reading Picnic Day. National Walkout Day.

But that’s not what got me.  It was a bee…in my hair…that I grabbed…it stung…I said s*%#t…all the kids heard me…I cried for help…get the stinger out…Noah to the rescue…I left to get ice.

When I returned, the boys were perched at their computers typing like mad.  They were not just being good boys.  They were slicing!  Something exciting had happened, and the first thing that came to their minds was “This is something to slice about!”

Today in class Mrs. Simon got stung by an unidentified insect but when she got stung it sounded like she was sneezing but when you sneeze you don’t curse out loud on accident. When she got stung she said “I got stung someone come take the stinger out” and as soon as I heard her I was there like the flash. As soon as I saw where she got stung (which was pretty easy because that was the only place on her hand that she wasn’t covering at the moment) I yanked it out and the stinger came out pretty easily but the stinger was super long and at the end it had some of the end of the bee on it.

   It was super cool because as soon as I took it out Mrs. Simon went to the lounge and get some ice for it and when she came back she put loads of Germ-X on the cut and then she kept the ice pack on the cut for like ten to twenty minutes on her hand. We all suggested to Mrs. Simon to go to the doctor but she said that it would be alright. As soon as I put the stinger down instead of writing the post I was about to start I started this post about how Mrs. Simon got stung.

Noah, 6th grade

Because it was Pi Day, we were writing Pi-ku.  I used the 3.14159 syllable count. Here’s my silly one about the sting:

That bee stung
me!
my ring finger.

Ouch!
Pull the stinger out!
Put ice on the red bump swelling fast.

At the time of this writing, my fingertip is sore but not too swollen.  I think I’ll live.

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