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Squirrels and Bears in the Minneapolis Airport

Posted in Creativity, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #NCTE15, story, student writing on December 8, 2015| 6 Comments »

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After four days at NCTE, my brain was mush. I made it to the Minneapolis airport just fine with about an hour to spare before my flight. So I moseyed to my gate, stopping off at a cute shop. I decided to buy a squirrel for a new class pet. Not to replace Jack the lemur, or Ernie the penguin, but to add to the bunch. I took this picture outside of the shop. I planned to tell my students that I found the squirrel who needed a home.

Little did I know I was taking my time getting to my seat number, not my gate number. I got to terminal B and realized that my seat was 8B, but my gate was C5. I backtracked and made it to the gate with few minutes to spare before my flight.

When we returned to school last week, I told my students all about this adventure. I challenged them to write a story about the squirrel. Of course, we needed a name, too. Two of my creative writers took the challenge. I want to share them both because they are just too cute.

The Squirrel Anthony and And Bear Mowgli that got Lost at the Airport

One day not too long ago, they had a stuffed squirrel at the airport. The name of this creature was Anthony. Anthony had a friendly bear for a friend. His name was Mowgli. Mowgli and Anthony had been left at the airport for years, desperate for a home. One day many years after they had given up they found a nice, friendly, lost lady. Her name was Margaret. She was trying to get to Minneapolis but she got lost. Desperate for a new class pet for her kids that she teaches, she found Anthony talking to Mowgli in the crack of Mowgli’s arm. She asked Anthony if he would go back to Louisiana with her. Not being hesitant Anthony said yes! She finally recognized Mowgli. With a sorry and a, ”Will you come home with me and Anthony?” Mowgli said no! The reason he said no was because Mowgli was a statue and all Margaret had was a tiny little backpack. The bear also said that he wanted Anthony to be happy and that maybe someday he will get another offer to go home with somebody else. With a shrug and an, ”I wish you could come!” Anthony and Margaret set off into the depths of the airport and finally found the gate and set off to Minneapolis and came back to Louisiana to a nice Thanksgiving break and a room full of happy kids that is also the home of a pet squirrel named Anthony. They all loved him…(Lani)

Meredith, the Squirrel, and Smokey and Bruno, the Bears

Once upon a time there were two bears, a big one named Bruno and a small one named Smokey. And, they were the airport bears.They were statues and they stood there all day greeting people. But, one specific day Bruno and Smokey saw a rushing business lady, running to catch her flight and her bag was half-way open and as she ran a little grey squirrel fell to the cold airport ground. Then, a little girl picks up the squirrel and waits on the bench by the bears, when the child’s mother said that she couldn’t have the squirrel because they don’t know where it has been. So the mother places the squirrel in the crook of the arm of Smokey. Then they left to get on their flight. So, Bruno and Smokey started talking to the squirrel and found out that her name was Meredith. And, over the period of about 5 days they became good friends much better friends than she was with the business lady. And the most special day was when Margaret a GT teacher from New Iberia was on her way to Minneapolis when she found Meredith, and she took Meredith with her. Smokey and Bruno were sad , but they knew that it was right. So Margaret brought Meredith back with her class and they loved her very, very much. THE END (Emily)

Are you smiling? All the best stories end with “they loved her/him very much.”

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Write Beside Them

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged A&E Art Gallery, ekphrasis, The Shadows on the Teche, Writing to art on December 1, 2015| 8 Comments »

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Write Beside Them was the title of the NCTE panel of Donald Graves winners from the last three years. I felt so proud and privileged to be on this panel along with Heidi Weber, 2013 winner, and Emily Elizabeth Smith, 2015 winner. Donald Graves’ philosophy that the teacher of writing is a writer herself drives my interaction with my students.

On Monday, the first day back after a week long break, we had a field trip. Not usually a good idea, but I signed up for the first rehearsal spot for our play at the Shadows, a local historical home. The gifted students in grades 4-6 practice the parts and perform for first graders. They tell the story of one of the boys, Charles Conrad Weeks, his sister Harriet, and his friends Riley and Caroline who lived and worked in the home in 1840. My students look forward to this play every year.

In addition to the play practice, I led my students down Main Street to an art gallery. There they looked at local art. This is where we wrote together.

I wrote beside them. Each of us chose a painting or other piece of art to inspire our writing. I wanted to leave behind little snippets on the artwork, so I found miniature brown bags for the kids to write on. We left them next to the art pieces. When the owner walks in this morning, he will have words waiting for him.

I wrote a poem for the work in progress on the easel.

An empty frame
waits
layers
of color
build
a world,
a circus
of imagination.
–Margaret Simon

Writing and art mix well together. My students described the artwork as well as found some inner truth to express. I don’t have any of the poems to share here today, but check back on Poetry Friday.

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Kindness Comes Back to You: NCTE15

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #NCTE15, Wonderopolis on November 24, 2015| 12 Comments »

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“I write to know what I am thinking.” Someone said this. Someone wise. I can’t remember who because there are days and people and ideas between hearing these words and today. But this is exactly what I am doing. Trying to process my thinking from NCTE15 through writing.

My trip home from Minneapolis was long. My brain is full to overflowing with words, ideas, love, and hope. At NCTE, teachers are honored. Teachers are fed. Teachers are inspired.

At NCTE15, I discovered…

Teachers are rock stars to authors. The work we do in the classroom around books is why authors do the work they do. They love hearing the stories of what we are doing with their babies (books).

Allow students to explore what they are passionate about. Real authors like Kate Messner, Laura Purdie Salas, Laurel Snyder, and more are driven by their endless curiosity. We need to allow wondering and wandering to ignite passionate research for our students.

Kate DiCamillo says to give young writers the gift to be themselves. “Break the rules and find yourself.”

Sharon Draper says, “Words are Power!” We need love–connections–peace, and books are how we do that.

The books authors write are their babies, and when you love their babies, you love them. I watched author after author brighten up when I talked to them about how their books affected me and my students.

“Literature can empower young people. Books are like amusement parks. Sometimes you have to let the kids choose the ride.” Kwame Alexander.

Schools should be scavenger hunts, places where students can feel safe to wonder, wander, and discover. Georgia Heard, Wonderopolis breakfast

When I look through my notes, I notice that most of what I heard affirmed my teaching philosophy: Open the door. Be safe. Be curious. Expand the horizon. Reach for the stars.

At the Children’s Literature Awards Lunch with Julianne Harmatz, me, Laura Purdie Salas, Catherine Flynn, and Heidi Mordhorst.

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Mother of the Bride Serial 2

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Magic Mike, Michael Doucet, mother-of-the-bride, wedding on November 3, 2015| 20 Comments »

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I continue to be the worst mother-of-the-bride. This time I laughed until I cried.

My daughter Katherine is planning to get married next fall. She has put me in charge of music. She wanted her father and me to choose a band that we would enjoy dancing to. This is very thoughtful of her because she appreciates that we are Zydeco/ Cajun band ~~snobs~~ experts.

I, too, love classical music and especially the violin. My grandmother for whom I was named was a violinist. Even though I never met her or heard her play, I feel a chill on my spine when I hear a violin solo.

In both the Cajun and Zydeco traditions, the violin, called the fiddle, is a prominent instrument. One of my favorite Cajun musicians is Michael Doucet of Beau Soliel. He is also one of my favorite people ever since I taught his son 18 or so years ago.

borrowed from Facebook

Michael Doucet is fairly famous in the music world. He’s won a few grammies. He’s recorded umpteen albums. He performs at local festivals, but also on stages all over the world. Garrison Keillor has dubbed Beau Soliel “the best Cajun band in the world.”

I decided on a whim to send Michael Doucet a Facebook message expressing my sincere wish that he would be available to play for the ceremony. Even though I feel he is a friend, I was nervous about asking such a famous musician to play for our little wedding.

A day or so later, I got a response, “Well you have certainly given me enough notice.” Hmm, I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He hadn’t said yes or no. I just didn’t respond.

The other night on the way home from the movie, I checked my Facebook messenger on my phone. Still feeling weird about his response, I decided to look at it again. It was then that I realized I had messaged Michael Dardant, not Michael Doucet.

You know how FB predicts who you are writing a message to? I’m sure that’s what happened. I typed in Michael D and clicked on the first name that came up. Duh! (head thump!)

Michael Dardant may be planning what he will do for Katherine’s wedding. Apparently he has done a wedding before. I have written about him here on this blog. He’s Magic Mike, the world famous MAGICIAN!

I sent Katherine a text, “How would you feel about having a magician at your wedding?”

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Text to Self Connections

Posted in Blogging, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Fish in a Tree, Global Read Aloud, Padlet, text to self connections, Voxer on October 20, 2015| 15 Comments »

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I largely believe that my blog audience is fellow teachers, but sometimes I meet readers on Main Street, and sometimes they call me on the phone. Both happened to me this weekend. I saw Mac at a local art gallery for Art Walk on Saturday evening. He started up a conversation about reading aloud and how he was happy I was doing that with my students. He told me about how his family read aloud, and he passed it on to his kids and grandchildren, and now even great grandchildren.

I got a phone call from a friend who wanted to tell me that she appreciated the work I was doing with kids to connect reading to their own lives. She shared that she is going through something very difficult, and my posts help her. What? Really? I was moved to tears.

Receiving praise for writing reaches farther and deeper than any other kind of praise because writing is so personal. I want to bring this type of understanding to my students along with the joy and pride of knowing their writing touched someone else. I work to build connections for them. On our kidblog site, we have connected to other classes. I encourage them to find a student from another class to connect with.

We teachers talk with our readers about making text to self connections. Usually these connections seem false. When we make those connections together around a shared text and then share them globally, this writing holds more meaning. The stakes are higher. The voice is authentic.

On Padlet, I posted this question for students to write about in connection to the Global Read Aloud, Fish in a Tree: “In Fish in a Tree, Ally doesn’t tell anyone about her trouble with reading. She has an opportunity in Mrs. Silver’s office and even with her mom, but she resists out of fear. Have you ever had something so troublesome that you just didn’t know how to or were afraid to tell the truth?”

To get them started, I posted my own story.

When I was very young, maybe around 6, I was playing with matches outside with the neighbors. Before we really knew what was happening, the yard was in flames. The blanket for our “campout”, my favorite doll, the pillows from my brother’s bed…in flames. Fear sent me inside. I climbed in my mother’s lap and cried and cried. She got very angry because she was on the telephone. Finally I squeezed out the word “Fire!” and she went running. I don’t remember much after that moment, but to this day I feel very guilty about that accident.

When my students read it, they immediately gasped, “Matches? You played with matches?” My mother now knows the whole story, but I still cannot shake the guilt and trauma of burning the front yard. That spot in the grass seemed to stay black forever.

I sent out a Voxer message to colleagues in California, Ohio, and Illinois. They responded by writing their own stories. So my students had 4 adult models to read Monday morning before writing their own. Thanks Julianne, Julie, and Phyllis.

Click on the image to see the Padlet.

I am excited our writing is becoming richer and holding more meaning. Making connections with text, then having someone else connect to our own writing is a powerful way to communicate and spread kindness and understanding.

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Authors are my Heroes

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged A Handful of Stars, authors, Cynthia Lord, reading connections on October 13, 2015| 16 Comments »

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Last week I wrote a Slice of Life post about the injustice of reading levels and my dear student Emily. Cynthia Lord, author of A Handful of Stars, saw my post and commented that she wanted to send Emily a signed copy of her book. I was overjoyed, but I kept it a secret. The package arrived Friday with a few added trinkets Cynthia sent straight from her desk. She sent a small rock bearing the words “A little extra brave.” Cynthia wrote to me that she carried this rock around as she worked on the book. So personal. So special. She also added a little star hanging on a string to symbolize “star friends” like the characters in her book. Another personal touch.

I brought the care package with me to school on Monday. Emily is an early arriver. She was walking down the hall when I got there, so I took her aside to share the package with her. To say she was thrilled is almost an understatement. She just kept repeating, “I feel so special.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to share this with the class. I didn’t want any of them to feel jealous or left out. I talked to Emily about it. I told her my concerns and asked her to decide if she wanted to share or keep this to herself.

When her art teacher arrived, Emily took the package with her to show her. When she went to library, she took the book with her to show the librarian. Then we had read aloud time. Emily whispered to me that she wanted to share it with the class. I started off by explaining that Emily lost her mother last year. Then I explained how the character in A Handful of Stars also lost her mother. After I told the students about my blog post and tweet out to Cynthia Lord, Emily showed her prizes. No one spoke. No one was jealous or bitter. They were respectful and happy for Emily.

These gifts cannot replace such a huge loss, but I believe that Emily’s heart is full. She has a rock to carry with her every day that will give her strength and bravery and will always remind her that authors are heroes and that one day, she may be a hero, too.

A gift of love and bravery

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Reading Level Injustice

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Accelerated Reader, Choice Literacy, Cynthia Lord, Reading levels on October 6, 2015| 20 Comments »

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I opened up my Choice Literacy email newsletter on Friday afternoon, and the subject heading caught my eye, “The Tyranny of Levels.” Exactly what I had experienced that day. For my post title, I did a thesaurus search for a not-quite-so-volatile word and found injustice. My students have been suffering the injustice of reading levels.

Last year one of my gifted students lost her mother. This is a difficult loss for anyone to endure, but Emily was nine. Now she is ten, and the wound is still very fresh. She doesn’t talk or write about her mother. Last year she wouldn’t read any book that was sad. She is not an avid reader anyway and to find books for her has been difficult.

This summer I read A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord. I worked with an online book club, so I did writing work with this book. I knew the book. I have connected with Cynthia Lord on Facebook. She even tweeted to us during our Twitter book chat. Needless to say, Cynthia, A Handful of Stars, and Emily are all close to my heart.

I never once thought to check the reading level. Emily read Rules and wanted another Cynthia Lord book. I did not tell her that the character in A Handful of Stars lost her mother. The book centers around a developing friendship. But Lily’s loss is always there, in the back of her mind, and especially when her new friend Salma’s mother does something motherly. Emily was struggling to finish the book, so I called her over and we read a few chapters together. We both teared up at the line, “It was a mom thing.”

The next day she came in triumphant, “I finished the book!”

I asked, “Did you take the AR test?”

AR is Accelerated Reader. It’s a program designed to test students on their independent reading. I’ve never been a real proponent of the program because the questions are all low-level comprehension questions, but the students receive points and the school has incentives for these points. Since my students read independent books, and it is something they can receive rewards for, I try to encourage my kids to take the tests.

Emily’s eyes looked down. “No, I can’t. My reading level is 4.6 and the book is 4.4.”

I understand the purpose of finding out a student’s reading level, but I do not understand limiting a child’s reading choices by requiring they read within their level range. The school (not the district) bought a testing program that sets the levels and blocks tests that are not within the level.

I believe… I know that reading is not about levels or tests or points. Reading is so much more. I will continue to find books to meet my students’ needs and interests. I have sticker charts up for each child to track the number of books they read. We have a pyramid poster with a whole class goal of 175 books this year, and we are well on our way to meeting that goal. I will not let reading levels limit my students’ choices.

From Choice Literacy, in the words of Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris (with hats off to Kate DiCamillo), “Moral of the story: Holy bagumba, don’t let reading levels flush away common sense.”

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Mother of the Bride

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged daughters, mother-of-the-bride, wedding on September 29, 2015| 15 Comments »

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I will not be winning this year’s prize for the best Mother-of-the-Bride. I forgot to buy the book, and all of a sudden, I have a daughter getting married. I know that a mother with three daughters should be some sort of expert. I think I have a brain block or some other force at work keeping me from doing the right thing.

On Thursday, daughter number one, number two, and I rented a Ford Explorer in New Orleans and over two days drove to Chicago to pack up daughter number three and haul her back to South Louisiana. In early August, Katherine (daughter two) and Wayne became engaged. She pinned a designer dress and thought why not go try on wedding dresses while we are in Chicago. She made the appointment for 4:30 PM on Friday. So we had to leave Memphis in the early morning to make it.

What I didn’t know was we first had to check in at the hotel. We made it through crazy traffic (I was not driving, thank God.) The girls had to freshen up and change for the occasion. Maggie (daughter one) said, “Are you wearing THAT?” I was in my cropped jeans and a t-shirt. Proper traveling clothes, but apparently not proper shopping-for-a-wedding-dress clothes.

“What’s wrong? I didn’t know I was supposed to dress up.”

“Where have you been, Mom? They may serve us champagne!”

“Well, all I have are these hospital pants.” I call them my hospital pants because they are so comfortable that I wore them overnight in the hospital.

“That’s better than jeans.”

“How was I supposed to know this was a dress-up occasion?”

“Don’t you watch TV? Bridesmaids, duh!”

We head over in an Uber to the appointment and make it only 5 minutes late.

Another thing I forgot to read in The Idiot’s Guide to being the Mother of the Bride was how to properly respond to your daughter in a wedding gown. Apparently you are supposed to know which one is The One, and you are supposed to cry when you see it. I didn’t cry. In fact, I made a comment about lace. This first comment cannot be taken back. Over and over I have said, “If this is the one you want, you should get it.” But it doesn’t help. She cannot erase my first response.

For the record, I did tear up when she put on the veil. I properly held my hand over my mouth and exclaimed, “Oh my!”

In the end, we all had a good time. No champagne, but the other daughters got in on the fun and tried on dresses they loved. I texted a picture to my husband, and he responded, “Scary.” Scary, and crazy, and fun.

Martha and Maggie try on wedding gowns that they loved. (The actual bride to be is not pictured. That’s a no no. I’m learning.)

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The Memory String

Posted in Books, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Eve Bunting, personal narrative writing, The Memory String on September 22, 2015| 13 Comments »

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I was in the library looking for another Eve Bunting book and came across this one. I sat right down on the floor and read it. Then I had an idea. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I thought of all the buttons I had collected in a box in my closet. What did I need them all for?

One of my goals for my teaching this year is to bring in more picture books. I am reading one each week. In The Memory String, the character Laura has a string full of buttons. Her mother died three years before, and her stepmother is trying to win Laura’s heart. Laura’s memory string is her way of holding on to the memory of her mother.

I brought my cigar box of buttons into class and after reading the story, the students each selected 3-5 buttons. I told them they would be writing a memory for each button. We sewed the buttons on a string, and the students began writing. This was a great form to prompt writing.

Here are some student samples:

The fourth button is a blueish greenish color. It reminds me of the first time I swam in the ocean. It was 2011 and I was 7 years old. I was still living in Minnesota, and I had never even gone near the ocean. We were going on a road trip to Florida. The first time I swam in the ocean was in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a pretty beach with water that looked clear and bright. I loved it, but I never got to swim at a beach like that again. (Vannisa)

This is the story of the button that is gold and black. This button reminds me of my brother. This button reminds me of him because when we all brought him home from the hospital, it was cold and he was wearing a jacket that had a button that looked like this button. This button also reminds me of myself because that was the same jacket that I wore when I was brought home from the hospital. That was the story of the button that is gold and black. (Lani)

One button is absolutely clear, and its very small. It reminds me of how I feel when my dad is gone, and when he is usually gone for months. One time, he didn’t come back for half a year. I missed him very much, but when he came back, I was happy to see him.(Tobie)

Any one of these button memories could be a longer personal narrative (or Slice of Life) story. I hear the lament often, “I don’t know what to write about.” A picture book story and a box of buttons can open up a string of memories.

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Slicing Life with Students

Posted in Blogging, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Anne Frank quotes, Sept. 11th on September 15, 2015| 8 Comments »

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“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn. –Anne Frank”

I have been writing a Slice of Life post every Tuesday (most Tuesdays) for years. Four years, I think. And in March, I write everyday for the Slice of Life Challenge, thanks to the Two Writing Teachers.

I want to pass on a love of writing to my students. The Slice of Life habit works many writing muscles; and yet, I can package it to my students as a way for us to share little tidbits of our lives. I can make it sound like fun, not a chore-like writing assignment.

On Monday, I ask the question, “How was you weekend?” As the stories start materializing through talk, I respond, “That would make a good Slice of Life story.”

Yesterday, Kielan came to my desk wanting to share all about her weekend. I asked her if she wanted to share it with the whole class, and she responded, “No. They can read about it in my Slice.”

I love how after only a few weeks of school, my students are immersed in blogging. I was checking the blog this morning and found a post from Tobie about Sept. 11th. I hadn’t brought up the date. They had an art enrichment activity that morning, so we didn’t have time to properly cover it. Actually that was my excuse because it’s always more difficult for me to talk about than it is for the students.

But Tobie hadn’t let it go by. His posts are usually rather silly, but here he shows another side, the strong sensitive side. He never said anything out loud about the date. Blogging gave him a way to express his thoughts.

Today is one of the worst days in American history. We are marking the day of the nightmare of the terrorists of September 11, 2001. Today marks the day that terrorists have crashed our own planes, gotten by hijack, into the World Wide Trading Center. Thousands injured or killed, kids without parents. We must remember the men and women lost, and the ones who fought for them. Only few were pulled from the chaos of fire and barrier, plane parts and glass. All of this at the hands of terrorists, who do this for fun or money. They don’t care for the lives of many innocent Americans. Let us have a second of silence, for the men and women, and even children lost, injured, or no family to take them in.

America has suffered much from this day, and we must not forget this day, 14 years ago. Our parents have been alive during this tragedy, in school or out of it. The Towers have been rebuilt, or are being rebuilt. We will never want another 9/11.
–Tobie, 5th grade

On Mondays, I am posting a quote for response, “Mrs. Simon’s Snippet of the Sea.” This week, I posted a video of Anne Frank quotes and asked the students to select one to write about. Lani expresses well her feelings about writing in her response.

The quote that I chose was, and I quote ”I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” I think this quote means that when you write you can get everything that is bothering you off of your chest. For example, Anne Frank must’ve had courage before she went into hiding, so she is saying that now she has sorrow, but when she writes her sorrow is gone and she then has courage. I personally think that this quote has the same meaning today just like in the past because when I write my courage comes back if I am writing about a time when I had sorrow.
–Lani

Slicing and blogging with my students gives them the platform and audience for making meaning with their writing. If you are not blogging with students yet, I suggest you try it. And if you are and you want to connect on kidblogs, let me know.

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