#sol14 March 2 “I ran”

March 2, 2014#nerdlution, Slice of Liferunningonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Check it out here. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

I know I’ve had a good workout when the soreness starts later that night, and gets worse as the next day goes on. I know I’ve had a really good workout when my friend is also sore enough to text me about it.

I also knew I needed to exercise through the sore. So I whined about it most of the day, trying to figure out what kind of exercise would be the least painful. (I knew for sure I wasn’t doing squats today, for instance!) I finally decided to go on a walk. The snow had stopped, and the temperature was holding steady at a balmy 32 degrees. So I grabbed my sneakers, my fleece and my trusty iphone and made my way outside for a brisk walk.

Don’t tell anyone, but there is something about the chilly smell of late afternoon to evening around here. I don’t know what it is: burning leaves, or wood, or ??? Whatever that amazing burning charcoal cozy smell is that permeates my neighborhood in the late afternoon and evening makes me want to go on a run. I’m sure this is because I started my running life* by going out after my children were asleep in the middle of a winter not too long ago. So I took a deep breath, turned up the tunes, and I ran.

Wow. It’s hard to take a picture of your own feet running, even if you are motivated by a future slice of life post!

As I ran, I was trying to capture the run through my neighborhood . . .

I run

Smell of fire smoke
cozy warmth mingles with 
brisk snowy wind
Music fills my ears
so I don't hear my own breathing
I'm sure this makes me 
less
of a 
runner
I feel my feet hit the ground 
and I get lost in thinking
and smelling
and feeling the cold air on my face
but not so lost
that I don't keep checking my phone
to see how fast 
how slow 
I am going

* “running life” is a laughable expression for sure, since my running life is slow and short, and not at all worth bragging about!

#sol14 March 1

March 2, 2014Slice of Lifeonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Check it out here. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

Saturday.

A weekend! Catch up days: catching up on work and quality-time-snuggles with my children. Well, that’s the idea anyway.

Today is Saturday. The sink is full of dishes that nobody wants to do. The week’s worth of laundry has piled up and up, and last week’s laundry is still waiting to be folded. There are toys all over, and cleaning needs to happen. However,

Today is Saturday. I brought home a bag full of grading to do, and next week’s plans are still just shells. But, like most Saturdays, my plan doesn’t pan out.

trains

Today is Saturday. After a week of packing lunches and sending everyone on their merry way to schools and babysitters, I can’t wait so spend quality time with my 3 kids. But, like most Saturdays, we spend the greater part of the day trying to remember how to all get along in our shared space.

Today is Saturday. Like most Saturdays, I spend the morning grumbling about the mess, trying to plan my day, and attempting to catch up on some relaxation. Then, like most Saturdays, the afternoon finds me realizing I just need to get my act together. Duh. Finally my Saturday feels like a weekend. Meeting a friend to exercise, getting my grocery shopping done, sitting down to just color with my children, giving baths, reading Harry Potter to my sleepy snuggly kids before bed. . . Today is Saturday!

Sometimes just a tall Starbucks can be the celebration. — Sometimes a tall Starbucks can be just the thing to get a Saturday back.

4 year old "E," celebrated Saturday by requesting 3 drinks to go with his gourmet pb&j. — 4 year old “E,” celebrated Saturday by requesting 3 drinks to go with his gourmet pb&j dinner.

#nerdlution check in

February 17, 2014#nerdlution#nerdlutiononathought

So.

I forgot to exercise today… Oops.

It isn’t the first time during this second round of #nerdlution. (I’m not even counting the week I was sick. . . )

But, I learned some things this year. . . and I think I have #nerdlution to thank.

I’ve learned:

It’s okay. It’s okay to be sick, to forget, to not be great at it. It’s the practice that counts, and the taking care of yourself.
Be gentle with yourself. It doesn’t help to be mad about a missed day of exercise. It doesn’t help to think badly about yourself.
Get back on the ~~horse~~ elliptical. There’s always tomorrow!

So tomorrow after school, I’ll climb back on the elliptical, do some intervals, and hope that this week’s meetings and grading and planning don’t make me skip my #nerdlution.

Oh – and tonight? Tonight I’ll probably do a plank or two – just because even though it’s okay to forget. . . it still bothers me. Which is something I would never had said about exercise before. Ever. Never. Ever. Never. Ever. Just ask my high school gym teachers. (But that is another post!)

Here's to more days, where I don't forget to exercise! — Here’s a day when I didn’t forget to exercise!

Reflections on Teaching: Choices

February 5, 2014Reflections on teachingchoices, responsive teachingonathought

Choices.

I’ve always had choice as a part of my classroom, but sometimes I forget how powerful giving choices can be. Our Social Studies unit has a lot of information packed in to the year: All you ever could learn about Ancient Civilizations in 180 days! We do a lot of great nonfiction reading strategies; we talk to the text, we discuss and gather information, metacognate and share our thinking with each other!

But sometimes I forget. I forget that I would need a break if I were a student in middle school, that I would want a chance to learn about things that I choose to learn about. (In reality, I’d probably want to just plan the whole curriculum if I were a student… but I’m taking baby steps here!)

Nobody is really pressuring me from above in terms of my pacing… I mean, we have a curriculum, and essential questions and a scope and sequence. There are activities for me to choose from, and everyone is very understanding. The last civilization we are supposed to learn about is Rome, and the general consensus is… Rome shouldn’t be but usually is taught in a week…. in June…. The real point is that we are teaching students those big ideas about Ancient Cultures and the pieces of what makes a civilization. But I still feel a certain amount of self pressure with my pacing – I’m perpetually behind.

But still… It’s a lot of reading, and note taking, and It had been awhile since I had “pirated it up” with cave painting and famous archeologist visitors… Our time in Egypt was limited, but I figured I could give the kids a day of choice. I took some of the activities that were in the unit, sent the kids a google doc, and let them loose. They could learn about Pyramids through a web quest that ends with a lego challenge, read about hieroglyphics and try their hand at writing some, or learn about papyrus and make some of their own.

Talk about an a-ha moment that I should not have to have over and over again. Forgot is the wrong word, lazy still doesn’t hit it. I have been trying to be engaging with the curriculum and the reading strategies, the content and the understandings… but that isn’t what engagement really is. Engagement is more about sending students on quests to their own understandings, getting out the glue, mixing up some quick papyrus, and sitting on the rug to build lego pyramids.

It is powerful to watch the student choose and engage in the curriculum. It shouldn’t be a treat really, it should be a normal. It is a goal of mine to find more times to step aside from the planning and have my students take the opportunity to direct their own learning.

It is sitting on the floor with the kids (or helping them dip paper bag strips into wet glue… ) that you find out who has a million legos at home, who doesn’t, who did the web quest, who didn’t, and who is understanding content, who isn’t. I’d say it’s a vital part of formative assessment, really.

"papyrus" made with paper bags and glue. — “papyrus” made with paper bags and glue.

Why is it that every time I remember to give choices, sit on the floor and build or create or read with a student I am reminded that I should do it every day. Get on the floor, dump out the legos and listen to all that my students know.

I say I’m doing it right when the principal walks in and she can’t see me right away… I have to raise my hand and say hello. That’s me, down on the floor with a pile of legos and a group of 6th graders who made their own choices about what and how to learn.

A SLICE of the message

January 24, 2014Family, Slice of Lifeonathought

This is a very late Slice of Life, a link up started by Two Writing Teachers. It’s late, but I say it counts! I wrote it for Tuesday, and just now had the chance to actually post it.

Slice of Life: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

My children’s school puts on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day play each year on this day. This was the second year my daughter participated in the play, and the first year they did a performance at night – which means it was my first chance to watch it.

I thought I had everything planned and figured out. Mr. Thought will do school pick up, karate preparation, and karate drop off. When I come home and change from my #nerdultion exercise attire back into regular clothes, I will pack the kids sandwiches for a “van picnic.” Mr. Thought will pick kids up from karate, bring them home to change back into regular clothes (or in L’s case, dressy clothes). We will race to the school just in time for L to join her classmates, and the rest of us to join the audience. We will sit peacefully and enjoy the play and the singing. If the boys get restless, they will surely color with the crayons and paper I have dutifully remembered to bring.

I forgot. I forgot that H will be tired, and will have already seen this play during school. I forgot. I forgot that E will be overtired, having not had a nap. . . I’ve been a parent for over 10 years, and it’s incredible how much I can forget.

H walks in from Karate and says, “I’m not going. I already saw this play, and just like Martin Luther King says ‘Ain’t going to let nobody turn me around,’ I’m not going to let you make me go.”

Well, then.

I am mad, and I am proud. He could very well ruin this evening for L, and make us late, or be rude during the performance if we make him go. However, he obviously watched the play at school if he can make such a clear connection to his life. He is feeling unfairly treated, and he has a point. So, I call my mom and see if by chance he could hang with her.

Of course he can. We have to leave in 5 minutes, and L is still changing, H is deciding if he should stay or go. (Please sing it) E catches on, and now he wants to stay with Granny. And after lots of screaming, crying, and figuring out, it is decided that both boys will stay.

Somehow we are still on time! As the performance begins, I am drawn into this story of the non-violent Civil Rights Movement as the middle school students tell it, and the Peace Choir sings it (that’s where L is, singing with vigor). The story is moving, the songs are heartfelt, and the message is beautiful. To hear these students speak of freedom and equality brings tears to my eyes.

When the students sing “Ain’t going to let nobody turn me around,” I think of H, and how he should win some “house points” from Dumbledore. If “…It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends…” it must take even more bravery to stand up to your mom. I’m glad he understands that part of the message – stand up for yourself and your rights!

Celebrating Grandpa(s)

January 11, 2014CelebrateCelebrate, grandpa, mentor textsonathought

So glad to be participating in the Celebrate link up. Thank you, Ruth Ayres for this awesome Saturday tradition.

Knowing I was planning for my memoir study with my 6th graders, my instructional coach shared some mentor text ideas she found on Choice Literacy. There were so many to choose from, and my librarian was able to find a big stack for me. On Friday, I read one of my (new-to-me) favorites to my class: Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith.

I connected to this book. My grandpa, 97 years old and now starting to slow down, has been staying with my parents recently. Reading this book, I reflected on how lucky I am to be a mother myself with living grandparents. My children have been growing up with two great-grandparents (My grandma on the other side of my family will be turning 92 this year). I was trying to pinpoint memories of my grandfather, and the first thing I noticed was that to me, my grandparents have just always been a part of my life. My childhood memories are full of time with each of them. This is the first thing I’m celebrating today: How lucky I am to have these grandparents as solid parts of my whole life. I watch as my mom helps my grandpa, and I hope they are both finding time to celebrate his 97(!) years.

My connection seemed specific when I first read the book, so I thought closely on the subject. My grandpa who grew up on a farm continued through this past summer to work in his garden, like the grandpa in the book. He was born “…before computers or cell phones or television.” Like Grandpa Green, my grandpa has started to forget things. However, he was a scientist, not a war hero like Grandpa Green, and he only has 2 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. He didn’t meet my Grandma at a cafe (I don’t think!) and my mother pointed out that my grandpa got his chicken pox in his thirties, unlike Grandpa Green. So perhaps the book was just as a memoir is supposed to be – a story that resonates, not in its specific facts, but in its universal truth. Grandpas were “…born a really long time ago. . . ” and are now “pretty old…”

Tonight, I plan on reading the book to my own children, and I wonder what their connections will be. They have a grandpa and a great-grandpa. I’m sure to my children, both of these men were “…born a really long time ago. . . ” and are now “pretty old…”

Although I had this immediate connection, I wasn’t sure what my class would think. I shouldn’t have worried. This story sparked many memories for them. They have grandparents, and parents who have exciting and interesting pasts, and I heard all about them.

“My grandfather was in a war. I’m not sure which one, but he was in the Army.”

“My dad’s first kiss was in high school with my mom.”

“My grandpa likes to garden too.”

It was one of those times I like to celebrate in my classroom. I thought we’d read the book, do a quick write in our writer’s notebooks: something to add to our writing territories and look back on when we are ready to dive into writing our own memoirs. But, I was wrong. This book inspired much more. What they all needed was discussion and sharing and it took at least double my time estimate. The majority of the class wanted to share something. So, we celebrated GrandpaS. (And dads and uncles and memories) The last things I am celebrating: Kids leading the way during literacy, and amazing mentor texts.

Celebrate (late)

January 5, 2014CelebrateCelebrate, Donalyn Miller, readingonathought

So glad to be participating in the Celebrate link up. Thank you, Ruth Ayres for this awesome Saturday tradition.

I am celebrating. . .

1) Back to school reading excitement! I spent a nice chunk of my winter vacation reading. I attempted to do a #bookaday challenge, but that was a little too ambitious for my life-with-small-children. I did read every day though, and I loved the consistency and immersion. I shouldn’t admit it, but it also was a good excuse to not fold laundry or clean up (it helped take my mind of things like bats too!) I went back to school on Thursday with a small pile of the young adult books I had read, and my students devoured the pile. I told them about my #bookaday challenge, and how even though I didn’t accomplish that goal, just trying it made me read more – which I loved! On Friday I went to school with my new “to-read” pile, and most of those books were taken as well. It’s sometimes hard for me to give my new pretty books away for students to read first, but I do it anyway!

My “to-read” pile

2) Speaking of reading. . . I finished this:

I have gotten so many ideas from this book for my teaching, and that is something to celebrate! I have already implemented many Wild Reading strategies in my classroom, and now my job is to go back through to all of my post-its and implement some more! I think Donalyn Miller should be celebrated daily. Her books and her confident attitude about what’s important has really given me the go-ahead that I need in my reader’s workshop.

3) My best friend, K. I met her when I was 3 and she was 4. She lives far away now, but I got to spend (a little bit of) time with her during the holidays. Today her mom came over to drop off a Christmas present. A framed picture of us from back in the day eating our pudding pops. Do you remember pudding pops? They had a little figure 8 of ice on the bottom, and they were The. Best. Summer. Snack. Ever. What I’m celebrating, aside from that icy treat, is the fact that I have K. She may live far away, and our lives may be busy, but we are each other’s childhood memories and our friendship has lasted over 3 decades.

Worry. Detailed Worry (aka, the bat story)

January 1, 2014FamilyCat, Rabies, worryonathought

Worry can overwhelm me. As my husband so bluntly tells it, it can be hard to live with. The days leading up to Christmas were worrisome ones. It started the week before with a bat, and our cats (Susie & Billy).

In the middle of the night, L comes in for a snuggle. She stops at our door, and starts to cry, “Susie’s chasing something!” I do a “there-there” kind of mom-in-the-middle-of-the-night response, vaguely noticing that the cat did jump off the bed, but it’s the middle of the night, and it seems so quiet. Somehow, we are calm and we sleep.

Fast forward 30 hours or so, and husband lets us know that he found a dying bat on the pantry floor. He took care of it, and all is fine. L cries a bit – feeling sad for the bat, and I feel the same way. Cats are not nice to their prey, and the bat was now in a plastic bag in the trash. It’s not a nice story.

Fast forward another 30 hours or so to Saturday night, when husband mentions something about the bat: “Yada, yada, bat, yada, house, yada, yada, rabies, yada, yada, everything is okay now!”

Wait. What? Rabies. Rabies? Why didn’t I freak out about that before? I know you aren’t supposed to google, but it’s night time and husband is asleep, and all I have is google.

Did you know that rabies is 100% fatal? That you don’t know you have it until it’s too late? That bats found in your house in the winter usually mean that there is a colony? That rabies is 100% fatal? That you can get bitten by a bat in your sleep and never know it? That bat bites don’t always leave a mark? That rabies is 100% fatal?

Sunday morning. I call the one vet that I can find that is open. She completely freaks me out about my cats and bats. “Vaccinations aren’t 100%. . . You need to keep your cats away from your kids . . . You need to call the Game department, the Health department. . . This is a big deal.” Sunday is not a good day to try to reach any of these people. But, she gives me another direction as well, “Take the dead bat to the animal diagnostic lab. It will be hard to find, but there is an after hours drop-off refrigerator. Don’t be freaked out if you walk in and there’s a cow in there.” So because I don’t want to go myself, and I feel guilty sending husband by himself, we all pile in the car for a family adventure. Fun times for the family for sure.

After the drop off, we begin the waiting game. I alternate between trying to forget about it and have holiday cheer, and being absolutely unable to stop freaking out imagining the horror of what rabies would mean. We all want to pet Billy & Susie, but we don’t. At night, we close all the bedroom doors to keep the cats away, and I hear every noise: every meow, every squeak of our old heaters(hopefully), every creak of our 100 year old house. And I worry. I am very good at worrying.

Monday morning the lab is open, and they tell me they will send the bat out for testing. I should hear by Tuesday. I now have only one Christmas wish. The animal diagnostic lab worker says “You don’t need to freak out and get shots yet.” Yet. Monday is a long day. I call my vet, who says to watch the cats for weird behavior, and also I am their first bat call. I call my doctor, who is in the middle of moving offices. He’s not there. I call his new office, and they say that if I need to, I should go to the ER. I wait. I pray. I imagine rabies, and children getting foamy and dying. I read more about bats than I ever wanted to. I wait. I pray. I call the ER doctors to ask if the 2 week incubation period is really 2 weeks, or could it be sooner? I am told it is usually 2 weeks or more. I am also told, “Well, first of all, you shouldn’t ever freak out about anything.” Really? Rabies? Death? Doctors, nurses and vets act like I am crazy for being so freaked out but the only available information is very scary. So which is it? I try to temper my worry, and that works sporadically.

Tuesday I call several times until finally they have an answer for me. The conversation is odd though. The woman is rushed, and annoyed and after saying “Negative.” she talks quickly to her coworker, and things sound confusing. “There was another bat that tested positive in your area, but yours is negative.” I make her repeat my reference number, and the results, and hang up. I am not feeling the relief I thought I’d feel because of the oddness of the phone conversation. I know it’s Christmas Eve, and I shouldn’t, but I call again. It’s been a long few days of worry and I need 100% reassurance. She is even more rushed and annoyed, which I totally understand, but when I get off the phone, I wonder if she really double checked or what. My friend nicely says “Checking twice is understandable, but three times is a little crazy.” She’s right, so I ask Husband to make the call. I can’t explain why I can’t get off the freak out train – but it really has been a long few days of worry.He calls. The woman is even more annoyed, “I think I just gave this information to your wife.” But his triple checking makes me feel a little more confident. Baby steps, I guess.

I guess it is just weird. You find a bat, killed by your cats, you freak out, vets freak you out. You drop the dead bat off in the back of a building with a piece of paper with your information. Then you wait for other people to transfer your bat and your information. People tell you to not freak out, but that it can be very serious. Where are the experts?

On Thursday I got the call from the local animal diagnostic lab. “Your bat tested negative for rabies.” I called them back, thanked them and did another double check.

I think I’m finally off of the freak out train. Now we need to figure out how to check for more bats, and what to do with them if there are. . . because if our cats get another one. . . we will have to go through this whole waiting game, freak-out train again.

Here’s to less worry in 2014!

Celebrate!

December 29, 2013CelebrateCelebrate, Christmasonathought

This is my first time participating in the Celebrate link up. Thank you, Ruth Ayres for this awesome Saturday tradition.

This week is full of celebration!

1) The bat our cats caught tested negative for rabies (I’ll post that story when I can pull myself together enough – talk about stressful waiting!)

2) I have been continuing on my #nerdlution goals and as a bonus, I keep getting to spend time with an amazing friend during work outs. Win-win!

3) Christmas. I try to take mental pictures a lot as a mom- and Christmas time deserves a million. The magic is alive in this house, and I love watching it in my children’s eyes. H watching the Santa tracker, kids working together to leave cookies and milk (E says “2 kinds, mama. Cow’s milk and almond milk just in case Santa isn’t dairy.”) L seeing the American Girl snack cart on Christmas morning (she knew I wasn’t getting it for her, so she’s very thankful for Santa)

4) My birthday present from my husband and 3 kids. It was a beautiful song they had practiced in secret for days, and then sang for me. With lyrics like: “Mommy, you’re a great cook/Mommy, you read great books./Mommy, You help when we fuss/Mommy, you take care of us! It was beautiful. The best present ever.

I hope your last days of 2013 are full of things to celebrate! Soon – 2014! (Whoosh! How did that happen?)

Finally

December 18, 2013Slice of LifeChristmas Tree, Holidays, Slice of Lifeonathought

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers

It was Christmas decorating time this weekend. Finally. We waited until the snowiest Saturday morning we could find to drive to the Christmas Tree stand… Husband (a.k.a. Mr. Thought) trudges outside to get the van all heated up, and ready for the great tree insertion, when it becomes alarmingly apparent that we need gas (because the van putters to a stop) The snow is piling up, the kids are anxious for the tree, and we wait as the van engine is turned over, turned over, turned over. E refuses to get his boots on, H is still playing, L wants to watch a show. I want to go get the tree, or at least to know we aren’t going, so I can adjust my day’s aspirations.

The van starts. Finally. Kids are loaded in and we slip and slide to the stand, where we pick the tree as quickly as we can, (“It’s freezing, this one is perfect!”) pay, and stuff the tree into the van. We realize we have blocked L’s access to her seat, so we insert her feet first as well.

The tree is up. Finally. H and E decide to water it using a funnel system that somehow requires a shelf, a giant bin, some sort of metal tube, a funnel, a few pitchers of water and my glass lemonade dispenser. Nothing like a little physics with your Christmas spirit. Ornament boxes need to be dragged in, and space needs to be cleared, and kids need lunch (every day!) and somehow the day goes by with messes to clean, work to do, and play dates. So tree decorating is put off until Sunday.

Decorating happens Sunday morning with all the favorite memory-inducing ornaments. Finally. Have you ever decorated a tree with a 4 year old? I am okay with odd ornament placing and I fix some things while his eyes are off of the tree. However, the hanging of the beaded garland is the last straw for E, as he feels he should be the one to climb the ladder and place the string around the tree…

And then it is bedtime. Finally. So, I do something that I wish I could do more often: I ignore the mess (and there is quite the mess of train tracks and crafts and have I mentioned that Mr. Thought is remodeling our kitchen?) and I turn out the living room lights, and just enjoy the quiet, and focus on the Christmas tree with lights. Finally.