Things I Know For Sure

As I read my Christmas cards this year, I saw a reoccurring theme: "I miss your Sunday Message". Yes, I stopped writing it. Yes, I began blogging--irregularly. Yes, I'm way too busy. I decided that I, too, missed my Sunday Message...and writing. I can't promise I will write weekly, but I can promise to write once in a while. Who know, maybe it will be better this way. For right now I want to write: Things I Know For Sure, thoughts to end 2007 with. The idea is from The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. (A good read about mothers and daughters.)

1.I know for sure that I am in love with my husband. I know because after 25 years of marriage, I'd still rather spend time with him than anyone else. We have so much fun together and think alike about so many things. He really is my best friend.
2. I know for sure that I was born to be a teacher. There is no greater feeling than to see a child love to read or write after you've shown him/her about your love of books.
3. I know for sure that I will never get done reading all the books I've bought. I can't help it, I just keep buying them. Even when I went to buy Darrell a book as a gift, I had to buy one for me, too! That was my favorite gift for Christmas: Barnes and Noble gift cards!
4. I know for sure that I have a deep love for my pets. Why else would I drive my orange tabby cat to the vet once a week for blood tests? Or why would I massage my elderly golden retriever's back legs after a two-mile walk?
5. I know for sure that I have the best friends anyone could ask for. Vacation is so wonderful because I get to catch up over breakfast or lunch.
6. I know for sure that I am blessed with a loving family. From a sister to cousins, to an aunt far away, to a brave, smart son and wonderful stepchildren, to all eight grandchildren, how fortunate I am.
7. I know for sure that I am blessed also to be working with the brightest and smartest people in my profession. That includes my facilitator buddies, who are so willing to share their knowledge and encourage me daily. It includes the teachers I work with in the classrooms around the district who share their knowledge as easily as their students. It includes my All Write mentor friends who provide a network for not only teaching but life itself.
8. Finally, I know for sure that I have a Savior who loves me unconditionally. Without His guidance and direction, love and companionship, I would know nothing at all for sure!
Have a wonderful, blessed New Year 2008!!! Think about what you know for sure!

Seven Things About Me as a Reader

My friend, Jen, has tagged me for this meme. Here's what I think:

1. I absolutely love reading...anything, any time, any where!
2. I have several books going at the same time: professional and personal.
3. Currently I am reading Love...the sequel to Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, plus about 3 professional books.
4. I bought my favorite read for my mother-in-law's Christmas present: Thousand Splendid Suns.
5. The main thing I miss about not having my own classroom is the read alouds.
6. I am a member of a great book club. It is made up of writing teachers and we can talk forever about our current book. Our last book? See #4
7. My favorite saying: I spend my check on books, if there is any left we buy food and clothes!

There you have it. That was easy, since I read, read, read! I will tag Ruth and Lou Ann. Now, it's off to finish Love, Oh, yes, I keep a reader's notebook, too!!!

Can you spell that?

I promised you more stories. I will give you one. For the other one I was going to tell you, go to my friend Sarah's blog. The story I will tell here, is again about a kindergarten class. It was the same day that the Bradley story happened.

The kiddos were writing their stories. I had been circulating around the room. I stopped to work with Jessica. She is a tiny, blond cherub with expressive blue eyes. As she was putting her words to her story, she stopped and looked up at me.

"How do I spell we?" she asked.
"Can you find it on your word wall?" I asked her. She wasn't sure where to look.

Just then a little girl from the table behind her spoke up confidently. "I know how to spell it!" she announced.

"You do? Then go ahead and help Jessica," I encouraged her. She moved over to be close to Jessica and proceeded to give her all the help she could.

"Jessica, you spell it like this: w-i-i!"

Then the little girl moved on to her table. I guess the techological age is here!

It is a Workshop After All!

It has been a long time since I blogged. Life happens! It happens in rushes, it seems. But now, I'm back. Sometimes in my teacher-life things go by fast, but nothing earth shattering, or so it seems. This last week was different. So many little moments leaped out at me. Once again I thought, I HAVE to write! So this is my message board, my outlet to the world, my space to express my inner-most feelings about kids, teachers, and adventures in their lives.
My favorite experience happened in a kindergarten class. I love those babies. They are so fresh. They expect nothing from you except your attention and honesty. They give so much...hugs, smiles, and whatever is in their pockets at the moment. On this day we were going to work on basic stories. They had been reading a lot, but not their own stories. It was time to begin that. It is December after all!
I gave my mini lesson on how they read and listen to books all the time. They have stories, too. Say, why not write them like the authors do. I shared my story and wrote it for them on one sheet of paper. Didn't want to overwhelm them after all. Then I sent them out to write.
They scurried off to their tables and passed around the paper. They grabbed their pencils and began to sketch (not draw) their pictures. I went from table to table conferencing with these new writers. They didn't hesitate to begin. They all had stories. Stories about their pets, about the snow that had recently fallen, Christmas trees that had been put up the night before. They were great stories and they were eager to tell them.
But then I came to Bradley's table. Bradley had used the Magic Word of Story: ONCE on his paper. Then he had designed his picture. It was three stick figures. Two were larger that the other one. The smaller of the three was in the middle. There was a line running between all three of them.
"Tell me your story, Bradley," I said. He looked up at me with big, brown eyes.
"Well, Once I took a walk with my grandma and my grandpa, " he told me. I complemented him and then he looked up at me again.
"I need another paper," he stated.
"Okay, what do you want it for?"
"I have to add another page." I told him to go get it and he scurried off to find the paper.
Soon he came back with two more sheets of paper and began writing. As I watched, he added two figures to the second page and then three like the first page to the last.
"Tell me your story, Bradley," I said, while smiling with a heart full of pride.
"Once I went for a walk with my grandma and my grandpa." He turned the page. "Then grandma was lost. See, right here? She's gone." He turned the page. "Then she came back and we all held hands." He looked up and smiled.
He wasn't finished though. He started to search the room. When his teacher and I questioned him, he told us he now had to find scissors and a strip of paper. Why? Well, his book had to have a binder, didn't it?
Naturally, I had Bradley share with the class his book! Guess what most of the kids were making the next day! That is what workshop is all albout!!!! I LOVE IT!
I promise to tell you my other stories tomorrow!

Meet and Greet Time

Last night I hurried from the building I had facilitated in that day. It had been a full day of read alouds, All About books and comprehension talk. I had a full evening planned. But first I needed to make the stop at Haley Elementary. They were having their first "Meet and Greet" time and I was invited. I couldn't miss it. You never know what that group will come up with at any time. I wasn't disappointed. The teachers all piled into a first grade room that was ready for us with wonderful snacks. I saw Kindergarten teachers, first grade teachers, second grade teachers, third grade teachers, fourth grade and fifth grade. AND two principals! How awesome. They were all there to share and learn. How could they be disappointed? The air was full of comprehension lessons, writers notebooks ideas, new professional books as well as picture books. I even shared an All Write conference coming up soon. As I headed out to drive my 35 minutes home, I had a smile on my face. I was so proud of these teachers taking the risk to open themselves up to who knows what from their peers. But what I saw was a true school community: sharing and learning from each other. Isn't that what it is all about! Great job Haley Elementary. ALL of you are doing amazing things. I am so blessed to be part of you.

Notebook Celebration

The day started off with sprinkles coming down as I tried to unload my heavy cart from the back end of my car this morning. I pulled it behind me as I made my way into the building to set up for an 8:00 meeting I was presenting. No time to unpack my computer or check out my email. I had a last minute set of papers to run off for the extra teachers I was sure would come to the training.

That was the way the day started. It was scheduled full of ISTEP prep work, teacher visits, and other last minute details to handle. Then I got an invitation I could not refuse. One of the fourth grades was having a celebration of writers notebooks. I was invited to celebrate with them. How could I refuse?

I made my way down to the classroom. As I approached the doorway, I heard soft music coming from inside. The room looked dark. Did I make a mistake? What was going on? I carefully entered the room. The teacher was explaining the procedure for the celebration.

Each child had decorated their own writers notebook. The notebooks stood open on every desk with a child standing behind their chairs looking expectantly at the teacher. Their eyes were full of wonder. Their faces were glowing with anticipation. She told them they would wander the classroom and stop by someone's desk and leave them a little note of what they liked about the notebook cover. This was followed by their initials. A sticky note was stuck to the front of the desk just waiting for compliments.

I rushed out of the room and down the hall to grab my camera. This was too good to miss. It had to be captured. I got back just in time to watch them carefully walk from desk to desk. They would stop, write, smile and move on. No rushing. No pushing. No talking. The teacher was not standing back yelling out orders. This was totally child led. They oohed and ahhed over the pictures, stickers, individual designs that their friends had used to decorated.

"Where did you get the picture of that cat?"

"That is MY cat!"

Aww. he's cute."

This really was a celebration. Soon they will have the special day when they will enter their first writing into these notebooks. Another day to celebrate. Isn't that what school should be...days of celebration. Celebration of Learning.

Who care if the state test is in a few weeks. Our learning is for a life time...not just one week of testing! This is what learning and teaching is all about: Learning for a Life Time!

Marriage

I got tagged for a meme from Sarah. Since my husband is gone right now visiting his very sick mother in Utah, I miss him, so this will be an easy assignment. It is just 8-10 facts about your marriage. Here goes:

1. We have so many, many things in common. We both love to walk/run and go for long walks every morning. We even get up at 5:30 in the morning, just to walk together. That time is so wonderful for discussions, jokes, and review of our life apart.
2. We are totally in love with each other. I always wanted someone who was madly in love with me and I have that. But the neat thing is: I am madly in love with him, too.
3. We have been married for 25 years...as of November of this year. It hasn't been easy. We have had our rough times. But it has been worth every minute of it. I can't imagine my life without him. We have blended into two people who compliment each other with our strengths and weaknesses.
4. He helps me grow into a better person. He challenges me. He won't let me just take the easy road. He is always there questioning my thinking and my view points. I love that because I DO have lots of viewpoints!!!
5. He is my biggest supporter and cheerleader. He is ready to listen to bad days and good days. He will listen to things I have written or stories that kids have written. I am sure he has other things to do, but he is always ready to listen to me. (Even though he calls me Chatty Cathy).
6. We both love to help coach people with interview skills. We do this mostly within the area of pageantry. We are judges for both the Miss America preliminary pageants and Miss Indiana State Fair preliminary pageants. The funny thing is, we usually agree on how to help these people become better. I guess that is why we work so well together.
7. We love working with our golden retriever, Murphy. We both take him to do his Visiting Dog work at Nursing Homes and Hospitals. Most people do it alone with their dog, but Murphy has two parents who love him. So, we both go.
8. We have raised four very different, very wonderful children. Three of our children work for the state: firefighter, teacher and police officer. Our youngest is a server at a local well-known restaurant and he is awesome.
9. We have six adorable grandchildren: two girls who will be in kindergarten this year, and four boys. Our oldest just turned 12! YIKES...almost a teenager.
10. Even though we both have different religions, those beliefs are very important to both of us. We have always agreed to disagree on some issues but the issue of God being the center of our lives is important to both of us. We know this is a hard spot but we feel we handle it well.

Thanks, Sarah, for making me sit down and think about this. I challenge ALL married people out there to try it.