My Dream For You

I can't believe it, but it's my 100th blog post today!  Thank you  to everyone who has stopped by to read over the last year or so.  Thank you for the thoughtful comments that have fueled my continued writing also.  This community has meant a lot to me!

Thank you to Ruth and Stacey at Two Writing Teachers for hosting the Slice of Life Challenge that really got me into blogging.  You are both inspiring ladies!

And...last but not least...thank you to Betsy at Teaching Young Writers for nudging me to create a blog and participate in the SOL challenge.  You are an awesome colleague and a wonderful friend; a true blessing.

My Dream For You B-Fly

On the wings of a butterfly…

You soar free

Flitting here and there

Only to things that hold happiness

Life is precious short

To live in discontent

Your worth is countless

There is strength in you

Beyond what you see

Above the expected

Because you deserve it and so much more

You glide to freedom

On the wings of a butterfly



 

A Peek At My Week

I'm not a huge fan of Sundays as an adult.  As a child, Sunday was an enormous expanse of free time.  Homework was done, chores were done and Sunday was my day to do whatever I wanted.  As an adult, Sunday is so much more, or less, depending on your perspective.

I always face Sunday with a long to-do list.  Usually that list spans over the whole week, not just Sunday.  Maybe that's why Sundays feel more overwhelming?  I never have my chores completed before Sunday (are they ever really completed?).  I always have some sort of school work that needs to be done, grocery shopping to do, homework to help with, dinner to cook, and baths to give/demand.  And the list goes on and on and on...oh wait...here is my SOL!

A peek at my week to come...to-do list style.  It's just the highlights really...but it's enough.

Sunday

1. groceries
2. school work - parent teacher conference prep
3. laundry - putting away what my husband spent all day washing
4. homework with the kids
5. cook dinner
6. baths x4
7. bedtime routines x4

Monday

1. drop 3 kids off at school, one with the sitter
2. work - normal day
3. 3 hours of conferences after school (hopefully hubby has cooked dinner)
4. bake and individually bag muffins for daughter's school snack day
5. help with homework 
6. WRITE MY 100TH BLOG POST!
7. bedtime routines x5
8. collapse  

Tuesday

1. drop 2 kids off at school, 2 with sitter
2. work - normal day
3.  3 hours of conferences after school (hopefully hubby has cooked dinner)
4. help with homework
5. baths x4
6. Bedtime routines x4
7. collapse

Wednesday

1. drop 3 kids off at school, 1 with sitter
2. work - normal day
3. pick up 2 kids at school, 2 kids from sitter
4. cook dinner
5. bedtime routines x4
6. individually bag grapes for daughter's snack day (two in the same week? who planned that one?)
7. maybe treadmill before I collapse today?

Thursday

1. drop off 2 kids off at school, 2 with sitter
2. work - normal day
3. pick up 2 kids at school, 2 kids from sitter
4. cook dinner
5. bake 10 dozen cookies for Friday's bake sale
6. still baking
7. still baking (already told hubby we are ordering pizza for dinner...not cooking!!!)
8. probably still baking
9. baths x4
10. bedtime routines x4
11. COLLAPSE!!!

Friday

1. No School today!!!!
2. Daycare drop off - child #1 and #4
3. School drop off - child #3
4. Run bake sale with child #2 
5. Pick up child #1, #2 and #3
6. hibernate at home for the rest of the day/night, knowing it will start over again all too soon

The Squeeze

Sometimes it's the little things.

I was standing in the crowded hallway, herding children into the classroom,when he approached me. He isn't my student but I know him a little bit.

"Hi Mrs. S," he said.

Before I could even respond, he threw his arms around my waist and squeezed. I don't mean he hugged me.  I mean he really squeezed!  He didn't let go, just adjusted his grip from time to time and squeezed harder.

I told him thank you for the hug and that I hoped he would have a great afternoon. He looked up at me with his big blue eyes and melted my heart.

"You give the best hugs Mrs. S!"

I'm still not sure which one of us needed the hug more at that moment, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

Moments Missed

 Slice of Life Challenge hosted by Ruth and Stacey at Two Writing Teachers.


I'm pondering the moments missed today.





 Moments Missed

Two babies you never met
graduations you couldn't attend
Christmases you didn't celebrate

Seven years is a long time
forever, so it seems
or sometimes like just yesterday

I was supposed to be older
before it happened
but no age is good

Relief in knowing you were free
didn't dull the pain
it grips me to this day

Peace that your struggle is over
we will carry on until
someday we meet again

Spent

 I didn't think I had any words today.  But then I did. 

Visit the Two Writing Teachers blog, hosted by Ruth and Stacey, for more Slice of Life stories.  Join in the fun!







Spent

The blank page mocks me
it's cold stare laughs at me
nothingness

Where have the ideas gone
they fled beyond my reach
snuffed

Did my eyes not see today?
my ears tuned out?
empty

I have nothing left to offer today
my thoughts have departed
spent

You Learn Something New Every Day

Come on in and join the Slice of Life Challenge!  You can write or you can read.  Either way, head over to Two Writing Teachers, a blog hosted by Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz.



My dad had a lot of favorite sayings.  One of them, that I remember hearing often as I was growing up, was:

"You learn something new every day!"

As a kid, it often resulted in an eye roll from my siblings and I.  However, as an adult, I often think about how right my dad really was!  I do learn something new every day.

What did I learn today?  Plenty.

I learned:

• The same children that evoked a happy Slice because of a wonderful writer's workshop experience can chew up and spit out a student teacher in a matter of two hours.  No joke.

• The same children that wrote amazing endings yesterday to their stories barely put pencil to paper today.

• When accompanying a group of fourth graders on a trip to the zoo, it is sometimes hard to distinguish between the children and the animals.

• Fourth graders are as needy as kindergarteners.

•  Giraffes like to eat carrots.

• A giraffe's tongue can grow to as much as 18" long.

• An hour seems extra long when standing in 30 degree weather with a group of fourth graders.

• I remember why I choose to teach the early childhood age group.

See? I learned a lot today.  I'm sure my dad would be proud.

As you can also tell, I had an interesting day!  I spent the morning in my kindergarten classroom like normal and the afternoon at the local zoo with my son and his forth grade class.  Our duties this afternoon included watching our designated animals, prairie dogs, for one hour while recording our observations.  His class is lucky enough to be able to spend the entire week at the zoo.  They are having a lot of fun and learning a lot. And...in spite of the last item on my list above, I enjoyed spending time with them today.

A Little Writing Magic Today

Today was a good writing day in the classroom.  It was the kind of day when there is a good hum of work and very little off-task behavior.

It started with K being the "teacher" and sharing her newest book on the document camera.  It was a long time coming for K but we celebrated her brilliance today as a class.  Her story:

Title: Reading
Page 1: I like to read books at school.
Page 2: I like to read books at bedtime.
Page 3: I like to read books in the morning.
Page 4: Reading makes me feel happy!

Boy, page 4 is the kicker isn't it?  This girl finally found a topic that really means something to her, she was able to put together three pages of related items and then she was able to wrap it up with a pretty little ending.  Her pictures match beautifully and she really took her time to spell sight words correctly and stretch the sounds of the words that she didn't know off the top of her head.

She was so proud to share her story and we had a wonderful lesson about the importance of endings.  (We followed K's story with a quick reading/retelling of two favorites books, No David by David Shannon and I Am Invited To A Party by Mo Willems.  I purposely left out the endings of both books to further demonstrate that a good ending is necessary to help our readers understand our stories.)

----------------- Fast forward 20 minutes into writer's workshop --------------------

Another child brought his finished book to me.

A: Can I read you my story?
Me: Yes, let's hear it!

Title: My Grandma's House
Page 1: I went to my Grandma's house.
Page 2: We had doughnuts.
Page 3: We made jello.
Page 4: We played outside in the snow.
Page 5: Spending time with my Grandma was great!

Me: A! What a great ending for your story!
A: [smiles]
Me: I think we better share this with the class tomorrow.  Would that be ok with you? Will you read it to your friends so we can show them the great ending you wrote today?
A: [smiles ear to ear] YES! [He walked away with an extra spring in his step!]

---------------- Reflection Time ------------------

My student teacher and I were talking about writer's workshop...how things went, the plan for tomorrow, etc.

L: Wasn't A's story great today!  Did you read that ending?  He did that all by himself!
Me: I know! He's going to share it tomorrow and teach the class about endings again.  It was perfect!
L: I noticed several other kids talking about their endings today too.  I think that conversation really helped them out today.  Their writing seemed so much better today after that 5 minute mini lesson!
Me: I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!