#sol18 March 10 Life Is Not Always Fair

Sadness enveloped me

Before I opened the link.

It would not be happy news.

A battle with an unrelenting foe

Leaves a family fatherless

Leaves a family bereft.

Leaves friends empty.

Leaves us 

With reminders

Embrace life.

Enjoy today.

Celebrate your love.

Be kind.

Life is beautiful

But

Life is not always fair

We are not promised tomorrow.

#sol18 March 9 Women's Day

With storms ravaging, trees falling, power lines dangling, and school openings pending (along with limited talk/advertising), I almost missed International Women's Day (yesterday)!

Last year, I found out about this event via radio on my commute to work.  I learned we (women) should not shop on this day to show the power women have on the economy! I had already purchased a coffee; thus I was already in violation.

This year, there was a last minute school cancellation so I was still at home when I was reminded of the "holiday" watching morning news anchors wearing purple!  I was wearing my at-home-wear of an old pink sweater. Sigh, I was in violation with this holiday again!

Now, I respect women's rights and definitely want to empower young women with images of strong, confident women who are changing the world; however, wearing purple and not shopping is not the way to the road to "equality," in my humble opinion!


So, I Googled  and found this day has a logo!  Then I found images from around the world of women seeking not only equity, but also an end to gender based harassment. Instead of feeling like a failure, I was proud of women seeking to end sexually based harassment and work place inequity.

This is an important cause, but one that somehow is on the fringe of my life as a mother, teacher and professor.  I hope next year I will not only be prepared, but also inspire women (and maybe men) with my actions (not my coffee purchase, not my purple dress). Next, year, I hope to be working towards an International Women's Day that inspires women rather than making them feel like failures!

#sol18 March 8 Seasonal Confusion

There seems to be some seasonal confusion in these parts!  February was supposedly the "warmest" February on record!  I wore my spring jacket for much of the month!  I was outside riding in Cozy Coupes and dreaming of spring! 

Yet, March, the month that ushers in spring, came in like an angry lion dumping ice and snow and pelting trees and power lines with hurricane like winds. Before all the power was restored, another wind, snow and ice event caused "States of Emergency," halted all unnecessary travel, brought down even more power lines, and demanded the chorus of snow blowers! 

I must admit that ice encrusted trees framed in what I am certain is spring sunshine creates an image I wish I could paint!  The juxtaposition of winter's wrath and spring's promise provides me with hope that this seasonal confusion may give way to buds on trees and daffodils in flowerbeds!

#sol18 March 7 I'm a Great Reader

As we headed over to the computer to do our weekly progress monitoring, he leaned in close enough to to share with just me, "I'm going to do better this week because I am getting to be a really great reader!"

I smiled and acknowledged his growing confidence.  Certainly, while his progress had flat-lined during the first few months of the year, the last few months in a focused multi-sensory focused intervention group had provided both strategies for unfamiliar words and opportunities to build confidence. 

"Just do you very best," I assured him as I typed in the password hoping he would see his line "jump" when we finished.

He started confidently and fluently reading two syllable words like Marvin and respect as if they had always been part of his reading vocabulary. Then, around word 45 in the passage he came upon the word exact in a sentence that provided minimum grammar and meaning support.  He wrestled that word to the ground working through the sounds, "es.trects, ex.ists, ax,ecsit." while I held my breath and hoped he would either get the word or move on.

Then, "G" reread the sentence one more time.  "He was going to find the exact answer to the question." As he finished, my timer signaled his minute was over. "I really wrestled that one to the ground!" he smiled from ear to ear!

I was pretty sure that the time he spent wrestling the word "exact" to the ground would negatively impact his score.  I was pretty sure that his score today would not "pop" his line or even move his line in a positive direction.

So, I did what a teacher who knew positive feedback  was needed would do  I picked another student who I knew had popped his line this week and showed "G" THAT score.  He cheered as he saw the line pop and told me we were a great team! 

He'll pop that line himself very, very soon.

 

#sol18 March 5 Peas and Trucks

"And they lived hap-pea-ly ever after," I sigh as I finish Little Pea.  I must admit I really love the cadence and humor in Amy Rosenthal's board book and reading it a few times brings me as much (or more) joy to me as it brings the toddlers in my reading audience.  Clearly, it is written for adult enjoyment as well as for child enjoyment!  For now, I can usually sneak Little Pea in between readings of the crowd favorite, Trucks!  

"The busy yellow digger moves heavy rocks and dirt all day long," I sigh as I finish the first page of Trucks! I must admit I bought this book for my toddlers who love trucks, but reading it a few times does not bring me as much joy as it does my reading audience!  But, I read it again and again because those toddlers love to turn the flaps, find the ambulance driver, and wave to the mail truck!  If I want them to be readers, I have to meet them where they are.  Right now, that's in a world ruled by trucks!  

sol18 March 5 Table Setting

When you ask a 2-year old

To set the table,

You will probably get 

Lots and lots of spoons.

You will probably get 

A soup spoon, an egg spoon, 

A cheese spoon, a grapefruit spoon

Even if you are not having

Soup, eggs, cheese and grapefruit.

After the table setter finishes,

She will be proud of her work

And, you will clap and cheer

Because, you asked

A 2-year old to set the table.

*Thanks to Laura Numeroff for her mentor text, If You Give A Moose A Muffin

#sol18 March 4 Stories

I wish I had written down all the stories and all the quotes of students during my career. I've told many of the stories and shared lots of students' thoughts over the dinner table.  I've written many of them down since joining this sol community. Many days, when I blog, these stories are the fuel; however, many, many stories are lost to the recesses of my memory vault!

So last night, when I went to see "paid-story-tellers" do their thing, I was not at all that surprised that teachers were on stage sharing their stories.  Yes, there are people just like us, telling stories of lesson plans drafted during heart attacks and visiting students at home to hook them into school! And, there were people who are NOT teachers smiling and laughing along!

I smiled more than once as the teachers shared the small moments of their teacher-lives but my thoughts drifted to this community!  I only wish I had started to write these stories sooner!  It might have been a retirement career! 

#sol18 March 3 A Wild, Wet Day

As I put out the trash, the sleet punished me for thinking I could go outside on such a morning.
The sleet turned to a drenching rain when I stopped for coffee a few minutes later.
It was ice pellets as we stood outside greeting parents and students in the early morning.

I heard the windows rattle as I read with third graders.
I saw a thick snow shower in the late morning as I returned second graders to class.
Picking up first graders, I realized the ground was covered with snow.
As I read with kindergarten students, I realized there were pellets of ice hitting the windows.
At dismissal, there were branches and even trees falling putting students, drivers and houses at risk!

As I headed home, there were multiple tractor trailers on their sides on the big new bridge.
As I headed to the old reliable bridge in the big city, the roads were flooding.
There were branches, trees and warning lights littering my path.

Eventually, after a long, wild and wet day, I was back in my driveway staring at the battered and bruised trash can I left hours ago. I was one of the lucky ones on this wild, wet day.





  

#sol 2018 March 2 Why write every day?

"Seriously, are you really going to write every day?" the astonished grad student asked as we finished our salads in the moments before class.  "I could never do that." 

"You are already writing 3 times a week for this class and I'm not hearing complaining! Writing is a habit just like exercising or meditating," I smiled. "Writing every day for this SOL challenge is some of the best PD I've ever had!" I added.

As I I fired up the slides for the class and classmates filed in to explore writing practices and poetry, I quietly added, "You could save a lot of money by doing this SOL challenge! This is where I learned what is important!"

On the drive home, I reflected on seven years of slicing every day in March.  I thought about writing posts in an emergency room, in a nursing home, and while I was home sick.  I remember finishing posts in the early morning before heading to work and in the moments before students arrive.  I remember finding posts in my classroom and finding slices while driving! I remember the thrill of that first comment and power of reading other's post.  

So hard as it will be, I'll try to write early or post late between babies, concerts, grad students, struggling readers, paying bills, doing laundry, and estate management!    

sol18 March 1: March Madness

I woke 

Ready to publish the first slice

Written before sleep

Ready to read old friends

Ready to find new friends

Memories of March Madness

Then....

I noticed

An eerily beautiful

Red morning sky

Conjuring
Memories

A poem memorized long ago,

"Red sky in the morning..." 

Then....

I heard

An early morning

Prophecy

"Nor'easter is a'coming"

Conjuring

Memories

March's Other Madness.