Poetry Friday-Anticipation

               Thank you, Matt Forrest, at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme for taking on the Poetry Friday Roundup today.  Come visit to fill up with poetry!  
              And Sherry, at Semicolon, is co-hosting with a gorgeous 'found' poem!
The Vacation

Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.

He went flying down the river in his boat

with his video camera to his eye, 

                You can find the rest of Wendell Berry's wise words about vacations here.  I'm off to the beach Saturday for a week with my family, and looking forward to being right 'in it'!  Getting ready is half the fun!

Slices On My Mind

       The Tuesday Slice of Life is hosted by Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers.       Here is where many link their posts to share what's going on in their lives, personal and educational. Come visit everyone's posts to read their summer slices!                   
                               Tweet at #slice2013!

         My slice this week has much to do with support.  Many of you know that I’ve had some tough times these past few years, but I am so grateful for the support I receive from everyone.  Just the way people show they care with a smile and a ‘How are you?’ is like a big hug.  Here are three things that happened this past week that are the things I keep in the grateful scrapbook of my mind. 

Lots of Catch Up Reading-Delicious!

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  And shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.  These sites host a meme where many link up to share the book's reading the week previous.  It's always fun to visit other's sites to hear what they're reading!  And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers more reviews of all kinds of books, adult and children. 
           Don't forget to tweet!  #IMWAYR

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Jen, at TeachMentorTexts is participating in a big giveaway for a Kindle Fire HD.  Check there for more information!        

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  “If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one’s chances of survival increase with each book one reads.” — Sherman Alexie

The Breadwinner Trilogy – written by Deborah Ellis

        Reviewed here! 

                                                       Picture Books

Can I Play Too? – written and illustrated by Mo Willems

What can I say, another wonderful Elephant & Piggie book that I hadn't read! And it's full of laughs, and like all of them, it shares some lessons for living. How does one adapt play when one of the friends isn't able to do everything? It celebrates differences in a wonderfully lighthearted way.

The Purple Balloon - written and illustrated by Chris Raschka

             There is a preface to this story that says, regardless of religion or cultural background, children who are ill and dying often draw some kind of balloon, thought to mean that a part of them will stay forever in our world.  Chris Raschka has used potato prints and colorful balloons to tell a story of feelings when death is in our world.  They represent all the different people involved who help, the young child who is ill, and the various feelings swirling around. If one has a child in one’s life, friend or student, this is a wonderful book to support you, and to use with young children who need help understanding what’s happening to a friend or a relative. 

The Breadwinner Trilogy-Heartache and Admiration for Children

At the blog, Gathering Books, Myra, Fats and Iphigene share so many wonderful books for and about children from all over the world.  They also host a reading challenge, to read and review books that have won some award in their history.  Today I am happy to review a trilogy I just completed.

The Breadwinner Trilogy – written by Deborah Ellis

This trilogy contains three separate books:  The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey, and Mud City.  The Breadwinner has won several awards, including the Peter Pan Prize and the Middle East Book Award in 2002.  Deborah Ellis herself has been honored with several prizes according to GoodReads: The Governor General's Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award.  Deborah Ellis spent several months in refugee camps in Pakistan interviewing  women and girls to discover their stories.

The first book, The Breadwinner, tells the story of Parvana, an eleven-year-old Afghan girl who, because of her father’s arrest and disappearance, ends up pretending to be a boy so she can be free to earn money on the streets of Kabul.  During this time of making the only money the family has, Parvana makes a friend, Shauzia, also living on the streets as a boy.  And the family is helped by their former physical education teacher, a Mrs. Weera. This book for middle grade readers explores the harsh realities we can only imagine in living with the Taliban restrictions.  Women and girls have been kicked out of their jobs, cannot even walk the streets without a male accompanying them.  The family’s home has been destroyed and they now live in one room in one part of a bombed-out building.  Without telling the ending, tragedy occurs and Parvana ends up alone, on her own, and the reader moves into book two, Parvana’s Journey.  Finally, book three, Mud City, tells the story of Shauzia, whose biggest wish is to get to the sea, and to a France that has lavender fields like the magazine picture she carries always. 

Parvana shows the courage and resourcefulness of a young girl as she wanders, ending up with a young boy with one leg, a baby, and then a younger girl.  The four have a dream-like existence in a valley until it too is destroyed by bombs.  Shauzia’s story shares the heartbreak of refugees in a camp in Pakistan, the challenges of surviving in a city, Peshawar, that has thousands of children and adults on the streets begging or trying to get work in order to buy food.

I admire Deborah Ellis for leading us on a journey of these children’s stories.  I don’t think I will ever understand how people can be so cruel to one another.  And Ellis shows so well the resilience and resourcefulness of children, who, when needed, can step forward at a very young age to do what is needed to help themselves and their families/friends survive.  Walking in Parvana’s or Shauzia’s shoes can be a powerful experience if you choose to use these books as readalouds.  I imagine many conversations about survival and hope, even in the face of extreme hunger.  There is quite a lot of violence in the books, but I would recommend them for 5^th grade and up.  

Tara Smith, who blogs at A Teaching Life in this Nerdy Book Club post, wrote an excellent review of these books, including the 4th one, continuing story of Parvana.  She has used the books with her 6th graders and shares why they are an important group of books for students to read.

If you wish to see more about the tragedy of Afghans living in Pakistani refugee camps, here is a photo article from the New York Times, April 2013.  The Breadwinner was first published in 2000.

Opportunity Knocking

                Jone MacCullough (MsMac) is hosting Poetry Friday today on her blog, Check It Out!  Thanks very much, Jone.

              I live in the former Lowry Air Force Base, released from the government, then re-developed about 1998-2000.  My school is here too.  On one street where I drive often sits an old bowling alley, long abandoned by the military, appears to be lost in the way some buildings are.  Someone owns the property, on a street commerce-busy, but no one has wanted to do something with it, until now.  I’ve seen a HAZMAT team enter, and lots of workers going in and out with trash bags to fill the dumpsters.  Yet nothing so far has been done to the outside. I wonder if it’s going to be reclaimed as a factory or something like that?  It’s as large as a box store, probably had the alleys, snack bar and the old game machines, like pinball.  I’d love to peek inside! 

#CyberPd-WOW!

    In the past two Wednesdays, Cathy Mere at Reflect and Refine hosted the first week of the #cyberPD title:  Alan November’s  Who Owns the Learning?:  Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age, and Jill Fisch hosted the second discussion of chapters three and four on her blog, My Primary Passion.  This discussion of chapters five and six is hosted by Laura Komos at Ruminate and Invigorate.  Stop by her blog to link your posts or visit to see what all the excitement is about! Thanks Laura!

                 I'm so excited, and much of my excitement comes from finally taking the time to sitdown to see what creating a search engine is all about, which comes from Chapter 4, page 58.  
                  I started one that may be helpful to teachers who write with their students, and who may want to search for specific lessons from sites I recommend.  I find it challenging to have thousands of sites come up when I'm searching for different kinds of writing lesson ideas, and often search the same sites, so those are what I chose to include in my search engine.  If you want to check it out, it's at the bottom of my blog site.  At the same time, I came across a blogger tip site here, that gave instructions in setting up a search engine for my own blog, and you can find that search to the right.  That enabled me to get rid of the cumbersome, taking-up-too-much-space cloud of tags in my layout.  

Company-Less Reading

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  And shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.  These sites host a meme where many link up to share the book's reading the week previous.  It's always fun to visit other's sites to hear what they're reading!  And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers more reviews of all kinds of books, adult and children. 
           Don't forget to tweet!  #IMWAYR

       I have had company recently so have had little time to read, but I am halfway through the Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Ellis, an excellent novel for the middle grades that focuses on a young woman's life in war-torn Afghanistan.  One wonders how young children can have such resilience when they face such challenges, but they do, and Deborah Ellis writes a story that sometimes seems unbelievable.  More when I review after finishing.

     The Matchbox Diary, by Paul Fleischman, and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
      I've owned this book for a while, but never took time to read it until this week.  I immediately wanted to create my own unique diary. Wonderful teller of stories Paul Fleischman tells about a great-grandfather showing his own story through small objects saved in matchboxes like a ticket from his first baseball game or an olive pit his mother gave him to suck on to try to alleviate hunger when there was no food. It's a story made even more real by Ibatoulline's beautiful full page illustrations. I can visualize using this as a text in writing in a variety of genres.  

I'll try to read and comment later in the week.  I'll be finishing The Breadwinner Trilogy, and then, who knows?  I have been participating in the cyber PD group who're reading Who Owns The Learning, by Alan November, so that's definitely next.

A Different Kind of Fishing

Michelle at Today's Little Ditty is hosting Poetry Friday this week.  Michelle shares a poem today about breaking bad habits, but I don't think anyone wants to break the good habit of Poetry Friday, unless they're on the beach, or in the mountains, or ?   Thanks Michelle!

Some days I want to write children's poetry, and on other days, I want to write about children.  I've been a teacher too many years not to have kept numerous ones close to my heart.  David L. Harrison's blog posts a word of the month to write from, and it's great fun to see such a variety of poems from one word.  A couple of months ago the word was "fishing", and here's what came into my notebook.  Before you read, is your brain already thinking about that word?  Do you have a story 'hooking' you?  

Exciting Chapters in Cyber PD!

                 Last Wednesday, Cathy Mere at Reflect and Refine hosted the first week of the #cyberPD title:  Alan November’s  Who Owns the Learning?:  Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age.  Jill Fisch hosts today’s discussion of chapters three and four on her blog, My Primary Passion.  Stop by her blog to link your posts for today's reflection or just visit to see what all the excitement is about! Thanks Jill!

      Laura Komos at Ruminate and Invigorate will host next week.

Chapter three – The Student As Scribe

         Important words: The student scribe work represents low-hanging fruit for educators and students alike.  I like that the book helps educators who need easy-to-use ideas in order to implement these new ideas into classrooms.

A Great Finale for All-Write!

        The Tuesday Slice of Life is hosted by Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers, where many link their posts to share what’s going on in their lives, both personal and educational.  Come visit everyone's posts to check out their writing about their summers!

                After all the earlier sessions, all the talk at breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I attended one more session, that of Dr. Tim Rasinski, now teaching at Kent State University.  You can access his website here!  He also sent other sources of readings for students to use.  If you are interested, let me know.  I have them on Google Docs and can easily share them.  

Heavy Reading!

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  And shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.  These sites host a meme where many of us link up to share the book's reading the week previous.  Although my list grows longer, it's always fun to visit other's sites to hear what they're reading!  And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers more reviews of all kinds of books, adult and children. 

Eleanor and Park – written by Rainbow Rowell

         I haven’t read a chapter book this fast in a long time.  It’s a love story, but my immediate expectation as I read was that it is tragic.  It’s a love story between two older high school-aged kids, definitely written for that age, and it’s romantic, really, really romantic.  It’s a love story that shows two quite different kids loving each other, but the tension in the story that includes Eleanor’s mother who’s borne 4 younger siblings with an abusive stepfather does not lessen.  It’s a love story that should be offered to both male and female students, although some will not like it.    The author lets both Eleanor and Park tell the story, alternating between the two, and builds the story beautifully.  I enjoyed the writing very much, showing the two characters’ feelings deepening along with their thoughtful introspection. For example, after a conflict, Park admits to himself that, “he kept finding new pockets of shallow inside himself. He began finding new ways to betray her.”  In another part, Eleanor cries, “I don’t want your mom to see me like this.  I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”   There are so many wonderful, heartfelt places.  And we get to see just enough of background characters that give a lift to this sad story: Park’s parents and two girls in Eleanor’s PE class show that some will step forward to do what is right.  They are not perfect, however, and neither are Eleanor and Park, and perhaps that is what is so great about the book, showing that lives are not perfectly lived, but there are those sparks of goodness that keep us going.

Visiting Another Blog - Sharing Our Notebooks!

            I've used writer's notebooks for most of my life.  Some call them diaries, some say daybooks, but whatever they are named, for a writer, they are important!  I'm honored to share a bit of how and why I use notebooks over at Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's blog, Sharing Our Notebooks! Amy, of Poem Farm fame, has many guests on this notebook blog, and I've enjoyed so many who have written about their love affair with writers' notebooks.  This time I get to share!  Please come visit!  

              And thanks to Amy for the opportunity!  

Poem Swapping - a summer delight

               Join everyone who shares about poetry on Poetry Friday this July 5th, hosted by Keri at Keri Recommends.  Thanks Keri!

     Thanks to Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference, some of us are again enjoying the pleasure of swapping poems this summer.  In the first week of summer, I was surprised by a summer solstice welcome poem from Anastasia Suen.  See her blog here!  I suppose there are lists and lists of things we think of when we hear the word summer.  Yet the one that may be first on the list is sun.  Here is Anastasia’s lovely haiku:

Anastasia Suen, all rights reserved

Discussing Who Owns The Learning - #CyberPD

See this post at Cathy Mere's Reflect and Refine for what's going on with this summer's #cyberPD.  She's also hosting the first conversation of chapters one and two and linking up!  Today, join us here!  Cathy's friends, Laura Komos (Our Camp Read-a-Lot), Jill Fisch (My Primary Passion) are our two other hosts.  Join in, or at least visit to see what others think of this book, Who Owns The Learning, by Alan November.

A thread that appears to be running through the book is the idea that this proposal, the Digital Learning Farm, is based on the idea that in the past, kids who lived on farms had much more authentic work to do with their chores.  And they had to learn the why and how of those chores at least some of the time in order to be effective in their daily lives as contributing members of the family.  They couldn't decide to skip their 'homework' because lives surely depended upon it, the animals they fed, the plants cared for, etc.  He also sites the 'teacher's helper' role of students in one room schoolhouses, and states "The power of purpose and meaningful contribution has been missing from our classrooms and our youth culture for some time."

More From All-Write - Summer Reading?

Slice of Life, first week of July.  Hosted by Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers, many link their posts to share what’s going on in their lives, both personal and educational.  Time is moving too, too fast.

                I wrote about the camaraderie of everyone at All-Write last week, and covered some bits of the first day. I had such a great time getting to know my fellow bloggers in the short time we had together!  

               This wonder-filled time the first day ended at dinner with friends enjoying Kate Messner speaking.  Her talk was about mentoring this time, the importance of it both for teachers and for students.  I realize that others have already written about the evening.  One important take away that I will repeat is this advice:  “Writing for my students provided them with a mentor text.  Writing with my students made me a mentor.”   And this night, I had a copy of Kate’s book, Real Revision, autographed.  I’ve already used parts of this in the past, and this night led me to the first session on Friday, Kate’s session about revision.

Some Good Books This Week

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It's Monday! What are you Reading? is hosted by Jen at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  And shared with Ricki and Kellee at UNLEASHING READERS.  These sites host a meme where many of us link up to share the book's reading the week previous.  Although my list grows longer, it's always fun to visit other's sites to hear them read about books!  And, also visit Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers more reviews of all kinds of books, adult and children. 

        I thought I would accomplish even more reading this week, but several different things kept me busy with other things, like workmen at my house fixing my air-conditioning!  It's repaired, but took a long time!  I did finish Capture The Flag and loved it, therefore now must find Hide and Seek.  The list of "must-reads" grows!