Slice Day Twenty Two

Walk the walk and talk the talk has often been a favorite phrase. It's easier said than done. I've been doing home visits all week (my favorite part of the year). Going to my students' homes is such a gift. I get to record the family interview and hear so many stories.

While driving to one this afternoon, I realized this week, I've fallen off the slice writing. I've been so busy with visits, meetings at school and family concerns that needed my attention that I've been unable to keep up with my own personal projects.

This gives me pause. I've got to slow a few things down so I can do some of the things I love, writing being one of them. When life starts going this fast, the exercise gets postponed, the personal projects get back burnered and things feel wonky. Time for a life balance reboot!

Perfectly timed given I soon have the weekend to refresh. My plan beginning tomorrow morning will be to: Write every day, exercise every day and time spending in mindful actions where I'm completely present.

Slice of Live Day Twenty One

Sundays are simply the best. I think they are better than Saturdays in some respect. The Sunday papers arrive. Often I spend a Sunday in some sort of reflection, sometimes at church, sometimes reading about faith, often reflecting on my personal goals, my family and my week ahead.

Today my Sunday included a 4 mile walk. I've been doing those for a month now. Peter and I bundle up, walk along the beach and share our thoughts with each other. It's great exercise but it also is carving out time to spend together. We've probably walked this stretch of beach, either on the roads or on the beach itself over 300 times. Perhaps more. We've talked through our worries, solved dilemmas, planned weddings and funerals and sometimes we just take in the sights. Today we spent a few moments searching for the return of the color green to the seaside. Covered in dune grass that has gone brown over the fall and winter months, we looked across the marsh for signs of spring.

It's happening slowly. We noticed little specks of green on the edge of the water above the high tide line. It's beginning. We eagerly talked about watching it get greener each week moving forward.

Next Sunday, Easter, is the celebration of life after death in my religion. Peter and I will walk to the beach and look across the tidal river to the bank on the other side for the rebirth and return of green to our world. Winter is harsh in Maine. WE spend months in the white with gray skies looming overhead.

We need the arrival of spring and the hope that it brings that the color will return to our world. Oh how I've missed the green

Slice of Live Day Twenty

My son Kevin turned 25 today and one way to celebrate my son is to write. Kevin is a writer. He loves words, he loves word play and one day I have no doubt he will write something that the world will get to enjoy. For now he shares his writing with a smaller audience: a professor at school, me, the father of a deceased friend.

Kevin's writing can move you to tears or make you choke on your laughter. Thinking about that makes me think the same is true about Kevin himself.

25 years ago, I couldn't have imagined a son that would grow to respect the written word the way I do. I couldn't imagine we'd discuss song lyrics and share art forms with one another. I couldn't imagine the feeling of pride that I have when I read his writing. It's a gift to connect with each of my children in a way that is unique to the child. I think motherhood offers that gift in a way no other role in my life could.

I get to see a child grow to be an adult, to discover their inner talents and to see them grow to have the courage to share them with the world. Kevin is heading off to a two year writing program in the fall. Who knows what he will discover when he works alongside the master storytellers? As his parent, it is with great hopes that I will send him west this fall.

Congratulations Kevin on this 25th birthday. Congratulations on setting your mind to the future. Congratulations on the leap of faith it requires to follow a dream. I know you will accomplish great things.

Slice of Live Day Nineteen

99 problems....or is it 25 wishes or 10 promises to myself and others.

For today I'm going to go with 10 promises to myself and others.

I promise to think about my health every day

I promise to think about what I do well when I'm thinking about what I didn't do well

I promise to dream about the possible

I promise to continue to learn everyday

I promise to share what I've learned with my students

I promise to keep an open mind even when I think I have an idea that is different from the one I'm hearing

I promise to contact a family member everyday

I promise to think about what I should be grateful for every single day

I promise to remain positive in a world filled with negatives

I promise to think and act with kindness even when I might be angry

Slice of Live Day Eighteen

hmmm...Walk like an Egyptian...we walked and danced and had a fantastic day. We finished our essay and are ready to present it to the school board. I'm so proud of our class. We rocked this essay unit.

Today we also enjoyed spending the time getting to really think about kindness and treating others the way we hope others treat us. It was wonderful to see the happiness spread.

We also had a tower building contest. Congrats to those who built towers that could stand. Forgive me if I forgot what teams were able to do that. I think there were two out of the eleven. A tower needs to stand and not lean unless of course you are in Italy. (Note to self show students that photo and wonder about it)

I've held seven parent conferences so far. I've learned a lot about families and what you want to share about our year so far. I've really loved seeing the difference between the first conference and this one.

I'm already missing this group of kids.

Do the funky Chris Walk

Walk like a a good teacher

Walk like an Egyptian....

Slice of Live Day Seventeen

The Bare Necessities

Look for the bare necessities

The simple bare necessities

Forget about your worries and your strife

I mean the bare necessities

Old Mother Nature's recipes

That brings the bare necessities of life

will come to you...

We had a great discussion about the bare - not bear - necessities today and what this song meant. It was a great start to our day, I think ( my dancing might have made students gringe).

This song is one I reference often. It's about materialism, understanding what is really important and what happens when one doesn't understand things fully.

My son had never heard of the word strife and thought the song said, "forget about your worries and your stripes"

That would be a problem if measles or some strange page from a Dr. Seuss book had a stripe issue but that was not the case. My son simply didn't understand the word and thought 'stripe' and whatever......or to give him credit maybe thought stripes represented something else (like problems and then - well he is a genius)

I'm trying to explore the need to figure out words all them time with our students. Sometimes you have to make a working definition but sometimes you might need to look up a specific word.

In Danny's defense he didn't see the word in print, he simply heard it.

Here is the definition

strife: angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict.

So maybe Danny got it -

Stripes are something similar to :

polka dots, patterns , things out of order, red, white or brown, tall, short, skinny or fat, great at math, awful at sports, an athlete that can't read.... forget about those fundamental ways we qualify ourselves and let's get along and be happy with our bare necessities.

Slice of Life Day Sixteen

sometimes a slice of life isn't sweet...like an orange or a piece of chocolate.

sometimes a slice is bitter like a sadness or a nasty word overheard.

sometimes children can overwhelm and underwhelm.

sometimes I need to remember I work with children - ones who make mistakes

sometimes I need to remember that the children that do the most unloving things need our love most of all..and are asking for it

sometimes I go home from a school day thankful

thankful for students who show compassion

thankful for family that understand that I need to continue to 'work' after I'm done at school

thankful for fellow teachers and colleagues that offer a kind heart and mind

thankful that tomorrow we get to start anew.

Slice of Life Day Fifteen

Mondays are a special day. Often a day of drudgery but often a day where new commitments are made and resolve is tested. While many consider Sunday to be the beginning of the new week, teachers in particular look at the start of the week as beginning with Monday.

This is the day we hope to launch the plan for the week and set goals to accomplish by the end of the week. This is the day we regroup after a weekend away and a day when we return to our routines.

A famous poem speak of the promise of spring and with that the new life to come, flowers that will bloom and the return to days filled with light. I believe Monday offers us that same hope and promise.

We are looking into mindfulness and a practice of being present. Monday is a day to be present. To be mindful of all the hope and joy the week has to offer.

This week spring will at long last arrive (and if the weather forecasters are correct so will more snow). We Mainers, know that is often possible but we also know where we are headed. We are going to be rewarded for the perseverance we've shown during the long dark months of winter. We will be rewarded with sunny days, the sounds of birds returning, the melting of snow and the arrival of mud season. Mud season is followed by the first blossoms, perhaps a crocus peeking through or a forsythia leading the charge. All that has been covered in a blanket of white will reappear, as if refreshed under of mask of soothing ointments.

Life will take hold, laughter will be heard outdoors and we will as Mainers do, begin to talk about something else annoying other that the long dark days and the cold weather that comes with spring. Perhaps it will be the 'no see ums', perhaps it will be the potholes that have arrived after the freeze has let go of our back roads, perhaps it will be the leaves that we didn't get cleaned up before the first snow fell. We will complain and we will bemoan the little inconveniences but we survived the winter and with that we rejoice.

Slice of Life Day Fourteen

Looking back on the past is always an interesting voyage. I pulled out a video I shot back in March 2002. My father in law was ill and we wanted to send him something to cheer him up during his chemo treatments. I lined up my five children ranging in ages from five to thirteen and we crafted a St. Patrick's Day variety show. I filmed it and sent down a vhs for him to watch at home.

Years later, I decided for my husband's Christmas gift to convert some of the old vhs tapes onto dvd. On St. Patrick's Day, I was determined to find the dvd and celebrate by watching my children sixteen years ago.

Time and optimism colors one's memories in gold. Looking at the dvd, I couldn't remember all the details of the night of filming. My husband would have been out of town, I somehow had managed to have the time that evening (and the kids too) to spend the night shooting and filming the little concert for Tom. The children all seemed to give 100 percent. Surely there must have been some arguments and squabbles but none of that is evident. Perhaps on some level my children knew that in six short months the cancer would take hold and they would be saying goodbye to the man who taught them to sing a few Irish songs. the man who taught them to love life and the man who always told them to keep smiling.

In the film their smiles are indelible.

Slice of Life Day Thirteen

And on this day may the luck of the Irish be with you. We got a delayed start to the slice and I think it's great that our 'unlucky' thirteenth post is on March 17th.

I was fortunate to go to Ireland with my family three and a half years ago. My father turned 85 during that summer and as a celebration of his 85 years and living a life filled with incredible stories of perseverance and rising against the odds. He planned a trip and took 28 of us to Ireland to enjoy the place where he and my mother made more than 30 trips.

Each trip brought them joy and closer to their heritage and the music they loved. When my mother passed away, he couldn't imagine returning to Ireland alone. He brought all of us and there we enjoyed the most idyllic of weeks. As the Irish would tell us "We only get 6 days of good weather a year and you got them all in the week you were here!"

My dad took us to the familiar spots that he and my mother enjoyed during their annual three week sojourn to Doolin. We stayed in the same cottages and me the people they came to know and love. The people that came to know and love them too. When Geraldine sang a tribute song for my mother one evening in McGann's we realized the life my parents created on the visits.

We learned about the Burren, took a trip to the Islands, visited Galway and the Cliffs. We ran a 10k road race and visited the school where my grandmother attended school.

I had the honor and privilege to go into the school and visit with the children (many looked like my own). I donated a copy of the first book that I published with my fifth grade to the school library. The poem I wrote remembering my mother and her mother appears here.

Barbara

In her final days

we spoke easily

I asked, she answered

I learned of her naming

her fears, her triumphs

her love of country

her politics

her commitment

to addressing injustice

her undying love

for her mother

and her mother’s story

Ellen

In her young days

she boarded a boat

left the old sod, came searching

for opportunity not available at home

She took her faith, her courage

her brogue

her love of country, old and new

she met injustice

“No Irish Need Apply”

but she brought her work ethic

and she worked

and she worked

and left my mother too soon

but before leaving

she gave her

an undying love

for her mother

and her many family stories

Nancy

In my middle days

I teach Grade Five

each day I greet students

who are searching for opportunity

to learn, to laugh, to grow

to change the world

I carry with me my mother’s

love of country and politics

the duty to address injustice

my grandmother’s work ethic

and her undying faith

I carry their undying love

and my knowing

that is in understanding

their stories

while writing my own

while helping my students

write theirs

I influence the future.

Slice of Life Day Twelve

Today was a great day in ClubSmith - we combined two chocolate chip cookie recipes and took our knowledge of fractions to the test. (Instead of taking a test on fractions). We had to convert fractions to discover how much total brown sugar was needed for our ClubSmith Cookie recipe. The cookies were delicious! To me the real application of mathematical understanding is putting it to use. I wish I had more understanding of building and sewing as I think students would love to do more projects involving math.

At the end of the day report cards were handed out to the common phrase of "When I say report card, you say "cookie". Students all had a great time on round two of our cookies when they had to express something they enjoyed from the school year. Activities such as snow tubing and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute were named along with learning more about writing (participating in the Slice of Life Challenge, reading (several named favorite books) and one very funny student listed a mid-module assessment as highlights thus far. When it comes to comedy no one does it better than ClubSmith!

My favorite few responses were when students valued the interaction with their classmates. "I love his humor." and I think the kids in the class are just great." And I agree. ClubSmith is a great group of learners.

Slice of Life Day Eleven

I'm watching my students writing life take over. It is a thrill to pop online and see a student in real time (on google docs) typing a Chuck it list. For those of you who don't know it's a list of things you'll never do.

I'm watching impassioned students, conduct research, write essays on topics that matter. I'm reading fiction, memoir, poetry and narrative. I'm watching writers blossom every day.

The slice was an idea that I've had to bring into the classroom for a long time now and I only wish I did it sooner. I guess I needed a few of the other components in place - a class web page, technology to be available and time.

I have said to my students often, "If you want to be a better reader, read." I also believe if you want to be a better writer, write.

I'm excited for this group of writers to become published authors this year. Yesterday after school, I met with a few teachers to discuss this years volume of Our Many Stories. This will be my sixth year publishing student work. This will be my first year leading four other teachers through the project with me.

One of my favorite moments was having my classroom feature in a case study about the project. You can find information about that here.

The end of our school year will be marked by the milestone project. The work is long and grueling. Editing 23 pieces of student writing is no easy task. Taking students through the writing process, vetting stories, holding conferences, working with publishers, graphic designers and finding the funding can sometimes feel overwhelming. Yet the moment I see the face of the students, when they see their writing in a book, it is worth it all.

Slice of Life Day Ten

Today we were given another day to read, indulge, write, exercise, clean the house, organize things we never get around to - and yet, the thought of making up this day in the end of June leaves me less than thrilled. Looks like we will be heading into school the last week of June. Keeping 23 fifth graders interested when the temps often hit the 80's or 90's in a building not equipped with air conditioning is an impossible task. Last year when my classroom reached a balmy 96 degrees, we went to the lower level of the building to lay on the cool linoleum as I read a story aloud. One the second day of the heat, I got creative and took a walk to city hall to take in the sights and enjoy the air conditioned space.

I look around now at a vast white landscape and the thought of 90 degree days seems distant and yet, before I know it, June will arrive and with that the thought of saying goodbye to this incredible group of students. They will leave their elementary school days behind and enter the world of middle school. I know they will be ready. They are thinkers, activists and dreamers. They care deeply about the world around them. We have this poster hanging in our classroom. We found it in the New York Times. It reads in part :

• The truth is kids want to be part of the conversation
• The truth is kids can handle the truth

My students insert this into our daily conversation about topics that are wide ranging. What a gift I have each day that I get to spend with a ten or eleven year old. They are hopeful, creative and excited for the future. They are concerned deeply about topics as diverse as they are themselves.

Today when thousands of students speak up and walk out or walk up, I am proud to be a teacher. I read today about 5th graders that organized a march in Ohio. They compared today's march to the Children's March in 1963 . When I read that I knew that those fortunate children got to read The Watson's Go to Birmingham, 1963. I've read that with my students every year for the last five and this year when a student announced her teacher read it to her in 3rd grade, I hastily decided to read something else. I choose another Christopher Paul Curtis book and figured I could still teach my unit on historical fiction with this text. Today, I decided I'm going to go back to my favorite. The children need the message. Even if they've heard it before they will get it this time with a 5th grade mind.

Slice of Life Day Nine

Typing from the den after reading the daily news, watching all the American Idol auditions, making a fabulous lunch (left overs from last nights pork roast with mango salsa - turned into Cuban sandwiches today) and reading lots of ridiculous things found on the internet.

I spent two hours today writing a piece that I really like. I even submitted it to a publisher. At first I put it here but then I decided two things. One I'd like my husband to read it first and two - if it is already published, why would someone else want to publish it.

Tomorrow is National Write Your Story Day. We are so on top of things at ClubSmith! What story will you tell? I am excited for the challenge.

Today I read a quote that is actually in my home office and will one day (when all this snow melts, it will melt right?) get hung in my writing shed.

It reads, "Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." Louis L' Amour

Wow you have to love that quote. Also that the writer's last name literally translates to love, Louis of Love I think. I'm connecting that to my little knowledge of French but Stevie Wonder once wrote a song for someone, a far off love, and in it he writes : My cherie amour, pretty little one my heart adores, how I wish that you were mine." I've linked it here.

Stevie Wonder is a national treasure, an amazing songwriter and musician. This song is almost 50 years old and is what we call a classic. Everybody loves to sing along to it. The la, la, la, la...part is a crowd pleaser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Gu-CyE-NQ

Slice of Life Day Eight

My first thought is Eight is a weird number. One we expect kids to learn but it follows no rules

Perhaps this should be titled

Day ATE

and that would be more appropriate. Today I ate a delicious girl scout cookie. Is that a proper noun?

Perhaps...new lesson in writing

Slice of Life Day Seven

Oh the luxury of Sunday...a day to have fun, be silly, read, watch tv, walk the beach and take long drives. On Sunday I got to take a drive to Kennebunk beach to see uncovered 3,000 year old tree trunks, now seeable due to the storm that wreaked havoc on the coast.

Most of the day was spent however, developing silly jokes about vacations.

You know the vacation where you don't leave the house is a staycation.

The vacation in the month following April is a Maycation

The vacation when you do a lot of board game - playcation

The vacation when you get the dog neutered is a spaycation

Visit the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame- A Willy Mayscation

Staying home watching Mean Girls and 30 Rock - A Tina Feycation

Slice of Life Day Six

My son David - my child born at 11:12 on this day 22 years ago ( inside info it took them a minute to read the clock - it was 11:11) is with me. We are ready to watch Saturday Night Live, a comedy show that we both love.

What traits to we share with our children? A love of literature, movies, all things literate - radio, music?

I'm not sure...

I guess they grow up watching us and we shape them. Much like whatever I do in my class shapes what my students experience.

I'm glad that I bring current events, great literature, humorous comics, pieces of art, opinions into our classroom.

I'm happy I have learned to teach children to see different view points.

Slice of Life Day Five

22 years ago on this day, I was expecting my 5th child to arrive sometime in the coming month. I had moved back to the Northeast.

My 4th child was born in Alabama. When I lived in Alabama, I was many thousands of miles away from family so this return home to a place where my friends and family were was welcome.

The snowstorm had dumped 15 inches of snow on Kennebunk. I was homebound with four children and another on the way. My good friend, Stephanie, a nurse, suggested a long walk on the beach the following day. As coincidence and good fortune would have, Stephanie's husband was my doctor.

I stayed home the day of the storm with my children. I did all the usual at home in a storm things with my children: we baked cookies, watched tv, played games, perhaps did a performance or two.

I remembered thinking, I just hope this child, this baby, loves the crazy of this family, this big family, once two then three and soon too be seven as much as I do.

I grew up one of five children and always imagined I would have the same. I married a wonderful husband, Peter, who felt the family the way I did. He was one of four children so a large family (by today's standards) was our goal.

As a mom of four at home, the first order of thinking about going to the hospital is who is going to watch the children. My parents were on vacation - avoiding the snow until spring when they would happily return to Massachusetts. Peter's parents, were in Boston and would be available in a couple hours notice.

When I think about it now, I think grandparenting must be really great if at a drop of a hat (a moments notice) you could (willingly and with great pleasure) stop your life to go hang with your grandchildren while another was on the way. This must be the joy of retirement when you can spend time on what you find truly important. You've planned and saved your money so you have that opportunity to NOT work to draw an income but to use your savings to do exactly what you want.

That sounds pretty cool and when I write about it now, I think my parents and Pete' s parents must have loved every minute.

Day Four

There is nothing more exciting than the unexpected thrill of a snow day. A day off in the middle of the week that you hadn't expected. As I was leaving school yesterday, I heard Mr. Pendleton, another 5th grade teacher, ask a student "What are you going to do on your day off tomorrow?"

"Absolutely nothing." was his reply. Then he quickly added, "play video games all day".

This morning I woke up a bit later than usual, having stayed up later knowing that we wouldn't have school. Last night I watched The Great Gatsby movie starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. I don't recall ever reading the book, neither did Mr. Smith, so we watched it wondering why it is often listed among the great books of all time. I think the themes were: money can't buy you happiness and that greed and indulgence can lead to ruin. Today, I have a list of several things I should get done. I should finish my report cards, I should do some work around the First Amendment Unit I'm developing. I should find the resources for our collective essay on Columbus Day or Indigenous People's day. I should do a lot of things: clean my office, write overdue letters, take a spin class in New York City virtually from my Peloton bike or organize the laundry room.

There is a lot I could do but I've written my 3rd Slice this week and I'm fine with that.

Day Three

I dropped the ball a bit but talked with my students about life. Sometimes if you have family in from out of town - the more important thing is to be WITH them not plugged in.

I spent the day with family. Telling stories - not writing them.

It felt like love.

Day One

I've always like the site Great Big Story. I learn new wonderful things from around the world. As a teacher one thing I want to encourage is that my students remain curious. The world has so much to wonder about and that wonder should remain with you and guide your thinking your entire life.

Today that curiosity to me the Great Big Story and I discovered that of all places, it turns out Germany might be on my bucket list. On one level I know that Germany is filled with beautiful vistas and lovely people. However, I often associate it with Nazi, Germany, the atrocities of World War 2 and then the two get muddled.

But today I realized that I have a strong desire to visit Hamburg, Germany.

I love music. Turns out that when brilliant minds, lovers of math and a lovers of music come together they can create a concert hall that gives the best sound on earth.

I've often heard Red Rocks outside of Denver, Colorado is fantastic. It is an outdoor amphitheater but this is an indoor newly constructed phenomenon. This concert hall, Elbphilharmonie, is designed using algorithms. Lots of them.

One of my pet peeves is listening to music on a speaker that is distorted. In fact, even if my favorite song is on, if the speaker is giving feedback or is over amplified, I just can't enjoy it.

Learning that this concert hall is designed to guarantee perfect sound makes me want to go there to experience it.

I'm not sure who has given concerts there or if it is used mostly for symphony but I would love to see any of my favorite singers and songwriters play there. That list will have to wait for another slice post.