Revising Bulletin Boards

Thanks to my partner-in-learning's deep search on the Fundations Web site, 

We have an academic, interactive, and "wise" bulletin board!  

These October-themed "Echo" characters really were buried deep on the site, 

under Wilson Academy, Prevention/early Intervention, 

Expert Tips, Archives School Year, Don't Be Tricked By Trick Words!

 http://www.wilsonacademy.com/default.aspx?p=PLC_MR_ET_AR_SY_Don%E2%80%99t_Be_Tricked

It's worth the hunt if you are using Wilson/Fundations
And Baby Echo is on your "friends" list!

Thank you Mrs. Fulgieri!

UPDATE*
We had a "Wow" or two on that first bulletin board of the day;
however, late in the day, we began to Revise that bulletin board!
We may be Wilson/Fundation aficionados;
however, we are still deeply rooted in the Reading Writing Project thinking.
Thus, we Draft, Revise, and Edit many times,
even when we are "writing" a bulletin board!
Perhaps this should be referred to as
"A Fundations/Writing Project Merger!"
I 

#SOL2014 - The day the slices piled up too high

I really wanted to draft a SOL back on Saturday after I spent an energizing day at a conference in the city watching wise and learned people grapple with the CCS, APPR and other new initiatives that challenge us to think beyond our experiences and to make the most out of parts of our profession that are not congruent with our thinking!

I was going to draft a post on Sunday night describing hunting for hours through mounds of old mailing labels, birthday cards, and bank statements (in vain) for a deed that it turned out could be easily found at Town Hall in a matter of moments.  It's what we do out of respect for those we love, even if the work is fruitless.

I started to draft a post last night before I headed to bed. One of my students plopped himself down in his seat yesterday and announced with great pride that his teacher had ALL the Frog and Toad books in his classroom  HE was going to read them all before the end of the year.  His excitement and commitment made me smile all day.  He may have been a struggling reader at one time; however, now he was an excited reader!

Yet, when I sat down to write last night, my mind raced to all the posts above (and a few others) that were circling in my head waiting to be written.  How could I decide what to write? Which post was most worthy?  As I tried to write about one subject, the others scurried about like dust bunnies on the floor.

SO, this post is partially my "planning" notebook page so that I can go back and provide due diligence to my stories waiting to be written.

BUT, this post is mostly where I reflect on WHY we write every Tuesday and WHY we need to have our students write EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Back in March, I did not have this problem.  Every day I wrote slices of my life. I looked at my life through a writerly lens - every day.  Now that it's May and my SOL posts are fewer and far between; thus, the slices pile up like laundry waiting to be put away.  When the baskets are filled and the piles are so high, you can't even figure out where to start and so (if you are like me) you might not do anything for days and days hoping the disorder will somehow correct itself!

The central message of my post is clear to me as I bare my piled-high thoughts and the discord in my writerly life.  Writing, like exercise, reading, and even doing laundry, is easiest when it is a regular, anticipated and expected part of our daily routine.  When we put it off....or when the piles are too high, it's hard to get started!  

Where Does Poetry Fit? A Common Core Dilemma Part 2

There are no specific CCS mentions of poetry in primary standards for reading or writing

however, there are specific references to stanzas and poetic language.  In addition,

approximately 15% of the NYS add-on part of the CCSS includes poetry, as in the sample

below.

So, where does poetry fit?  Everywhere! 

               Phonemic Awareness

           Close Reading 

           Central Message

           Partnered with Mentor Texts  

           Grammar  (parts of speech)

           Responding to Reading

           Oral Presentations