Thanks, Marni for the Bookmark!

So here's the story of this lovely little bookmark,

Marni, a former grad student,

Now super teacher,

made this,
She knew it was special,

She sent a Tweet to Scholastic,
She posted it on Twitter,
She linked it to Facebook,

I read it on Facebook,

I copy it from Pinterest,

I share it on this blog,

I share it on Pinterest,

I share it on Facebook

I share it on Twitter,

Social media sharing,

21st Century sharing.

Thanks Marni, for the bookmark!

Routines

For many nights, 

Children's voices echoed

 "Lyrics" from Goodnight Moon. 

I did not need to "read" them,

Every word was part of our routine.   

 Good night, kittens. Good night, mittens.
Good night, clocks. Good night, socks.
Good night, little house. Good night, mouse.

 

Every day,
Students' voices echo
"Lyrics" of Fundations, 
I do not need to "read" the chart,
 Every sound is part of our routine. 

a apple /a/
b bat /b/
th thumb /th/

 

On Tuesdays,

Thanks to TWT,

Our voices echo a writing routine.

I do think about it, all week,

Every small moment,

A potential SOL. 

As the great writing gurus,

Donald, Lucy promised,

Readers, writers,

Eaters, sleepers,

Students, teachers,

All of us,

Are at our best,

With routines.

TWT: Encouraging Writing At Home

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/ten-suggestions-for-encouraging-kids-to-write-at-home/#comment-59502

Elizabeth Moore, over at TWT wrote a great letter to parents the other day on the TWT blog (above).

It's lovely just as it is to share with parents, or make your own version and share with parents.  I love that it is not judgmental and does not require parents to sit side by side with students.  In fact, it embraces my own movement: Fostering independent readers and writers! 

Text Levels Should Not Be Labels

I knew at that at some point Irene or Gay Su would have to write something about the text level controversy and the CCSS.  We've talked about this subject in my grad classes and I've alluded to it at school.  But here is the first article I have read that addresses it head on, Text Levels-Tools or Trouble?  Fortunately, it is by Irene herself! 
http://lesleyuniversitycrrlc.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/text-levels-tool-or-trouble/
  

She makes some very good points:
We did not intend for levels to become a label for children that would take us back to the days of the bluebirds and the blackbirds or the jets and the piper cubs. Our intention was to put the tool in the hands of educators who understood their characteristics and used it to select appropriate books for differentiated instruction.

In our best efforts to use assessment indicators, we want to be sure that our purposes best serve the children we teach and give families the important information they need. This may not mean using labels such as book levels that hold more complexities and are intended for the use of the educators as they make day-to-day teaching decisions.

Point made.  Point taken.  Lesson learned. 

Choices

Choose joy.
Choose to be happy.
Choose to live every day as if it was your last.
Choose to smile.
You have read these proclamations.
We see them plastered on Pinterest and see them voiced on Facebook.
I certainly want to be the person who sees the best in people and looks for the silver lining in every cloud.
Yet, it is so easy to get caught up in the negatives of work and the hassles of every day living.
It's so easy to just go along with the negative flow of the crowd.
Often, it is hard to look on the sunny side of things.
I've been on the negative side of things lately.
I could blame the cold weather or the cold I've been fighting.
I could blame the financial quagmire of care giving in which I spend countless hours,
I could blame the dust balls that berate me as I await my coffee to brew.
I could blame the aches and pains of aging.
I don't like to be here.
It's hard to write when you can't see the sunshine
It's hard to smile when you don't choose to be happy
All in all I live a blessed, full and wonderful life.
So I'm trying to dig myself out of the black hole of negativity.

I saw the magnificent colors of the leaves just now rather than the sign of impending winter.

I saw the chance to write just now rather than another endless wait at the bank!

I choose to work hard to keep this climb out of the deep hole going. 

I choose to go up.

Without Air

Watching the world pass by,

From the side of the road.

It's what you do

When you are out of air.

 

Bike tires, car tires,

Worthless mismatched shoes

Taking you no place,

Without air.

 

Watching the world pass by,

From the side of your chair,

It's what you do

When you are out of air.

 

Heart, lungs, bronchial tubes,

Powerless organs,

Taking you no where,

Without air. 

 

 

 

 

 

You Look Like The President-General

"You look just like the President," his classmate observed.

"Nah," said another boy earnestly, "he looks like a General."

"A President-General would wear a camo-tie like that," another child, one who can summarize things succinctly, observed as he studied the not-typical-for-school and just-for-photo-day outfit.

I looked closely at them, sort-of-lined-up, yet moving constantly like human Gumbies dressed in their photo day best, yet disheveled by the joy of outside recess on a fine, fall Friday.

The child, whose outfit was the source of their conversation, was indeed wearing a very wrinkled, before-recess-white shirt and the remains of his clip-on-camouflage-tie hung precariously from his collar. 

I smiled as I headed the Gumbies into a sort-of line down the stairs and back to their classroom thinking the "look" might indeed have been like The President after a long, hard day in office; however, the energy level of 6 year-olds is something The President (and the rest of us) can only dream of finding! 

#Slice of life 2013 This giant pizza oven makes you wonder, rather than full

"It's a giant pizza oven!" 

 

Not really,

Yet I found the roots of brick fired pizza ovens

 On a trail that provided footings for the Brooklyn Bridge!

 

Perhaps you already know this,
I didn't. 

Long ago, the glacier carved mountains
of the Hudson Valley (NY),

Were a source of dolomite,
natural cement.

Mined deep in the earth,

Baked until powdery,

Mixed with water,

To become the foundations of cities.

 

I thought of many things as I rode past,

Those lost to the pillars,
Within the deep, dark mines,

Those scorched by the fires,
The widows,

Those carting the cement to the river,

Those who built bridges across mighty divides. 

 

When I leave today's pizza ovens,
I'm full, satisfied,
As I left these giant cement ovens,
I wondered,

How much of America's story,
Do I not yet know?

http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/July-2013/A-History-of-Rosendales-Natural-Cement-Industry/index.php?cparticle=2&siarticle=1

http://www.hvmag.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=10472&url=%2FHudson-Valley-Magazine%2FJuly-2013%2FA-History-of-Rosendales-Natural-Cement-Industry%2F&mode=print

 

 

  

Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen | Edutopia

Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen | Edutopia

A Community Effort to Improve Literacy

A Community Effort to Improve Literacy