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Slice of Life Day 27: Finding Pinky

Posted in Books, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged , , on March 27, 2025| 10 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I have been reading aloud Kate DiCamillo’s new book Ferris. I’m a huge fan of Kate’s books. I stood in a long line to get a copy signed by her at the Mississippi Book Festival in the fall.

Pinky, Ferris’s sister, is an outlaw.

I’m reading the book to my combination 5th and 6th grade gifted class. Two of my girls got together and decided to create a sort of classroom game.

First Kailyn drew a poster of Pinky, Ferris’s crazy younger sister.

Marifaye made a wanted poster.

Together they made “aura” bucks.

They put me in charge of hiding her.

There is a list of rules, of course.

So far this game has been going on for two days. They’ve had to make a new rule that if you find Pinky, you can’t tell anyone (or even make gestures).

Pinky hid behind a photograph.

Today I put her in between books on the shelf.

So far no harm has come from this game and most of my students are playing along.

I don’t think I could have single-handedly come up with a better plan for engaging my class in a read aloud. I highly recommend Ferris. The basic theme that repeats throughout is “every good story is a love story.” With a sprinkle of Kate DiCamillo magic, my students are falling in love with this book.

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Slice of Life Day 20: 1,000 Words

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , , , on March 20, 2025| 6 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

How many words do you write in a blog post? Have you ever counted?

My students write on a blog site, Fanschool. (Some are doing the daily Classroom Slice of Life Challenge.) One of the cool features on Fanschool is the word count. I usually tell my students that 200-300 words are the best for blog posts. I use word count to encourage my young ones to elaborate on their topics. I also tell them that no one really wants to read more than 300 or so words at one time. Without my priming them, students will sometimes get competitive with themselves and others over word count. I’ve learned that while word count doesn’t really matter, it is something I can leverage if I need to. “Let’s set a goal for at least 100 words today.”

Chance didn’t need a word count limit or a competition; he was ready to pour out his heart and soul on the blog in the first quarter he landed in my class. He had things he wanted to share. At 4th grade, he’s not real adept at punctuating complex sentences, but when he writes, words flow. I was thinking of him when I wrote this poem.

The Space He Needed

On the blog space,
he wrote
and wrote.
I asked him “What are you writing?”
He said, “1000 words about my brothers.”

So many words, like a dam had been opened
to his life, his words.

A space to write
away from the constraints
of a paragraph about the Declaration
of Independence. The blog
opened his independence,
his need to tell the world
all he had been through.

For ten long years, he held
inside who he was, all his secrets,
waiting for this space
to declare his freedom. 
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life Day 15: Pi-ku Day

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , on March 15, 2025| 12 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Yesterday on March 14th, I received this text from a colleague who teaches gifted math:

Every year my students and I write pi-ku on Pi Day. I literally have to look up the definition each year. I’m a writing teacher, not a math teacher and for that matter, not a math person.

Some of my gifted students want to show me (in full song) that they have memorized the first 100 digits of pi. This year I banned the song. It’s a complete ear worm.

But I did encourage a pi-ku poem. These are short form like haiku except the syllable count follows the digits of pi. (3, 1, 4, 5, 1, 9)

Circumference
Earth
a peppermint
pizza
diametric ride
all of us have Pi Day every year
(Carson, 3rd grade)

Happy Pi
day! 
March the fourteenth.
Hey
come with us to
celebrate the day with some good pie.
(Kailyn, 6th grade)

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Slice of Life 1: Brainrot Words

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , on March 1, 2025| 16 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I am a “Baby Boomer” while my students are all in “Gen Alpha”. Admittedly they would have a totally different slang system that I don’t know and honestly, don’t care to learn. Two of my students, a 5th grade and a 6th grade girl, teamed up to make an instructional slide show. They also made a multiple choice quiz.

I think they were surprised at how well I did on the quiz, but I pointed out that while I won’t remember any of this tomorrow, I know how to study for a test: Take notes! I wrote each word and the definition on a sticky note.

While we were watching the slide show, I continually asked, “If the principal walks in right now, would he be OK with this?” I kept getting the feeling from them that they were doing something wrong, and I was oblivious to it. They assured me that there was nothing above PG rating in the slide show. But there were a few that were cringy.

Here is a list of the words. (Let me know in the comments which ones you knew.)
1. sigma
2. hyperpigmentation
3. nonchalant
4. cap
5. rizz
6. girl math
7. goat
8. delulu
9. baddie
10. low taper fade
11. mewing
12. bussin
13. Ohio
14. aura
15. skibidi toilet
16. fantum tax

How did you do? I only knew 4 of them because they are words that have been around a while. The most cringy for me was “girl math”. I think it’s time to stop this stereotyping of girls. In truth, all of them have a bite of stereotyping and sass. They don’t give me confidence in our Alpha generation that are way too tech savvy and on their phones 24/7. I guess that’s why the title of the slideshow was “Brain Rot Words.”

What did impress me was the level of time and work these girls put into creating the slideshow and how serious they were about informing me. I hope I made a decent grade on the test. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to take a test.


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Slice of Life: Heart Maps

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , on February 11, 2025| 9 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I subscribe to Georgia Heard’s Heart map newsletter, Heartbeats. Last week she inspired me to use her print outs with my students on Poetry Friday.

We usually analyze a poem and write in the form of the poet or steal a line, etc. But on Friday, after the AR dance, we needed a break. I turned on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. My students spread around the room and played with paper. I was surprised at how focused they became on a Friday!

We’ve returned to our heart maps to write poems from them. Some wrote as Georgia suggested, a letter poem to the thing you love most. Some wrote a poem like Danusha Laméris’s poem The Heart is Not.

James’s heart map

Dear pillow,

You comfort
My head
Every night
And
Keep me warm
Until
It is morning
Where the sun
Rises.
When I go to school
I miss you
Because 
You’re my
Object with a story.
James, 4th grade

Marifaye’s Heart Map

I love how Marifaye took the map idea to a literal design making her heart look like a map. I sent this one to Georgia through Instagram. Marifaye wrote about her cat Carson. I feel partial to this poem because I was involved in matchmaking Marifaye to Carson. Carson was a stray kitten in my mother-in-law’s yard this summer. He was fostered by my friend Corrine. Then Marifaye’s family adopted him. He has found a soft place to land.

My Cat Carson:

How I love you so so much
makes me smile every touch
you make me happy
when I’m sad
hearing you purr
and watching your tail flap
hearing you meow, begging for pets
then you take off,
as fast as a jet.
as soon as someone comes get me
I just can’t wait
to see my baby
my baby cat,
Carson.
Marifaye, 5th grade

My messy heart map with letter poem draft.

Avalyn was drawn to the model poem by Danusha Laméris.

The Heart is Not

a bowl
it’s not something you could just place
your thoughts,
emotions, 
memories in
until it overflows.

The heart is not a bowl
it’s not something you could just
discard

The heart is not a bowl
it’s not just a 
pretty
decoration.
Avalyn, 5th grade

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Slice of Life: Students Find Their One Little Word

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , , on January 7, 2025| 5 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

The first day back from our holiday break, my students were excited about the idea of beginning the year with 100 Days of Notebooking (à la Michelle Haseltine) and One Little Word.

I saw an Instagram post by Jen Vincent (2024 Donald Graves Award recipient and all around fabulous writing teacher) about using question-storming for discovering your One Little Word. @storyexploratory

Jen graciously sent me a pre-made Google slideshow to use. (Ah, I love a free gift.) My older students, 4th-6th, responded well. The younger ones in 2nd grade needed a bit more guidance. But the basic idea was to write down questions about how you could make 2025 an awesome year. The answers to the questions would lead them to a One Little Word.

I chose a word last week and posted about it for Spiritual Thursday. Jen’s question-storming led me to a different word. I was surprised by this. Is it OK to change your word? As I look to retirement at the end of this school year and wonder about my future, the word Believe came forward.

After the question-storming activity, I allowed some creative working time. Some students made a sketch of their word. Some wrote an acrostic poem. I encouraged them to post on Fanschool. A few came up with their own idea: Make a whole slideshow. At the end of class, we were all sharing eagerly.

If you haven’t found your One Little Word yet, try asking yourself some questions. I was impressed with the sincerity of my students and how they wanted to explore and share their ideas. I feel we’ve started off the second half of our year together as a community of thinkers and writers.

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Slice of Life: Small Problems

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching on December 3, 2024| 7 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

How do you deal with small problems? I tried so hard to walk in gratitude this morning, but Albert pulled constantly on the leash and wanted to pee on everything, so I lost my patience. Then once we were home, he got out, off-the-leash, and chased the cats. I was so mad that I screamed the f bomb at him and put him into his kennel…forever!

This is not how I wish to start my day. I want to find peace. I want to drink a hot cup of coffee and read poems.

Thanksgiving break for me was a whirlwind of travel and then family. All great things! Yet yesterday at school, our first day back after the week off, three students were brought to tears. For different reasons, the stress of following directions, the stress of “let’s relate to the character in a deeper way”, and the stress of “I went camping and forget to take my book with me.” It seems to me that kids in general (myself included) do not handle stress as we used to.

What are some ways you handle the little things? I anticipated this time of pre-Christmas frenzy. But it doesn’t help when you are deep into it.

I know that I am okay and normal and my dog is “just a puppy!” Thanks for being here with me on the good days and the bad. As Alexander’s mom wisely said, “Some days are like that. Even in Australia.”

Photo by Bianca Gasparoto on Pexels.com

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Poetry Friday: Perspective

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing on November 15, 2024| 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted by Karen Edmisten.

With my students, I am using the recent Ethical ELA book 90 Ways of Community for writing prompts. This week we used two different prompts. The first was from Leilya Pitre about taking a break, a walk, and writing a narrative poem.

Veteran’s Day Walk

Finally, a chilly wind
blows my white hair
into my eyes
reminding me that winter
is on its way.

Leaves dapple the playground mulch
like confetti left over from a football game.
This is how fall is…
coming in on a wind
soothing my severed soul
into a peaceful,
place of presence.

Margaret Simon, draft

Photo by Yuri Yuhara on Pexels.com

The second prompt I used was from Jodi Opager asking us to step into the shoes of another person or object. Avalyn has been exploring putting tone and emotion into her poems. She wrote from the POV of the TV. This poem she wrote breaks my heart for her, but she assures me that she is OK and handling things.

Broken Memories

I turn on again
watching the mom
and her daughter.

I remember it
as clear as day.

I remember how the daughter cried
because her mom was fussing
for the third time
that day.

I remember how the dad
stomped upstairs
packed his bags
and left

but everything was fuzzy
because now
I sit in the hallway
empty
dead
waiting to be fixed.

by Avalyn, 5th grade

My sister texted me this photo of my mother from the 70’s. I remember this photo and that my mother was pretending to sleep. My perspective writing is from her point of view with memories of a life full of love.

I remember holding Raggedy Ann
pretending to sleep
next to you
after story time.

I remember riding in the backseat
of the Delta 88 because you
got carsick through the curves
of Zion National Park.

I remember roses blooming
on the “island” alongside our cypress tree,
how your father sketched all day
watching our heron fishing.

I remember you
when you come,
I smile and say,
Thank you.

Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life: Book Character Day

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , on November 12, 2024| 9 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I teach at two schools, so I have a hard time keeping up with special dress-up days on the calendar. Yesterday, I got a free dress coupon from my second school, so yay! I could wear jeans and a t-shirt. I chose my Peter Reynold’s Dot Day t-shirt and my happy face sweater.

In morning carpool duty, I opened doors to Harry Potters and Belles. I asked my colleague what was going on. He said it was Book Character Day. Ha, serendipity! I was dressed as The Dot!

My classroom bulletin board quote from “The Dot.”

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Poetry Friday: Ode to the Satsuma

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged , , , on November 8, 2024| 16 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Cathy at Merely Day by Day

With my fifth and sixth grade students, I am reading Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I’m amazed at the parallels of the Dust Bowl to our current climate crisis in Louisiana, but that is a post for another time. Today I am determined to focus on beauty.

The poem Apple Blossoms was our mentor text. I wrote alongside my students about our favorite fruits. Mine is currently overflowing on a tree in our backyard, the satsuma.

Photo by Davut ERDEM on Pexels.com

Ode to the Satsuma

after Karen Hesse “Apple Blossoms” Out of the Dust

Not just an orange,
you are the ultimate
citrus,
hanging like golden ornaments
on our tree near the fence
where butterflies play
and spiders web.

Your easy-to-peel goodness
makes anticipation grow
in fall, until by Halloween,
the tree is full, overflowing, drooping, dripping
inviting me to basket
a gift for you
to share juicy sweetness
and smile! 

Margaret Simon, draft

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