A Bobby Pin

I've been looking for small things all day. It all started with a bobby pin. I had one but I needed one more. I searched. Each place I looked I was surprised that there wasn't at least ONE bobby pin.
I gave up.
Then I looked again.
Gave up again.

To be continued...

The search for small things went on. I noticed that one of my students who has had a very difficult couple of weeks looked brighter today. I pointed this out to him and told him how happy I was that he was happy today. A once small smile grew big. I was proud of him.

I have been working daily with a small group to recognize and supply rhymes. It has seemed impossible but today three of the four did it and I'll get that last one yet. :)



I was looking for something on my desk and found a card with a small hand drawn heart and the word love written inside. My eyes ached as I held back all my tears.

I can't find any small way to process the events that occurred last week. I am reminded of the fragility of life when I take the small hands of my kindergarteners and lead them down the hall.


I've been searching for my one little word of 2013. I haven't found it yet...but...

I did finally find a bobby pin. In fact when I went and looked the last time I found a whole package. Sometimes when you are searching for something, even a small thing, you get more than you expected.

Smiling at Lions

Dandelions are on my mind lately even though snowflakes were filling the sky today. My new notebook appears to have dandelions sketched on the cover. I think that is what caused me to become a little wrapped up in the symbolism of a dandelion. For me a dandelion symbolizes a gift from little hands. A reflection of the light that gives me and everything around me life. A reminder that even though they all look the same each is different. Dandelions are special. Don't you remember blowing on a dandelion? Remember the excitement? Just for a moment, close your eyes and imagine blowing one into the wind. You'll smile. 
 

Link a slice, grab a slice and enjoy serving after serving over at 

Two Writing Teachers with Ruth and Stacey. 

A Summer Dandelion

Poetry Friday is hosted by the animal loving poet and author herself, Robyn Hood Black (her name is so cool). Visit her at Read, Write, Howl to check out more poetry and touches of many topics, seasons and an animal or two I'm sure!

a seed
it sees
it breathes
the air
and varies
every breath
on wind
it glides
past the corn field
hi and bye
birds eye view
it dives and hides
an eventual
pull to end
the ride
it pops and drops
and droops
and slides
it stumbles over
blows right by
then rests on grass
a blade
or two
and doesn't
know just what to do
but lay and wait
for drops of dew
to sun itself
from noon to two
then burst and grab
and stretch
and slide
along the blades
above to ride
again the wind
will have its turn
but firmly planted
it will learn
to hold and
bend and
weave
and play
until it blows
its seeds away.

Random Doodling Thoughts

Serve up your slice over 

at Two Writing Teachers with Stacey and Ruth.

  

New notebook
new stories
new pen
new pourings
of poems
things and doodles
marks sharing
the page
visions and thinking
soon to be
perfectly imperfect
just like me. 

Sneak Attack Follow-Up

Finally an update on our finished products!
This was one of our first published pieces. I rarely have students re-copy a piece when publishing, but it was so early in the year it seemed okay. I do look forward to the day, oh let's say in mid-March, when they are writing buckets of words and their stories are full.
But, I will take their random letters and amazing watercolor illustrations that they are producing right now. It is a nice peek into what will be!
Here are some photos of the process.

 












A happy pile of drying artwork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took those watercolors and their writing. I typed their stories and mounted all of it onto some black paper. We talked about what a sneak attack of kindness does for someone else and for ourselves. 

It makes our hearts happy. 

Each student wrote their name on a heart to display with their work. 

 

A portion of the display...oh so happy am I!

Peanuts, Thanks and Memories

Lots of poetry bliss is dancing about in the blogosphere today.  The Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by the radiant spinner of words, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater down on The Poem Farm. 


Jama Rattigan has been celebrating all things peanut butter this November. I am excited and honored to be in good peanut buttery company on the finale of this celebration at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Go read mine along with the peanut butter spread of poems by Linda Baie, Cathy Ballou Mealey, Mary Lee Hahn Renée LaTulippe and J. Patrick Lewis. 
 
And Finally...
Teaching Authors is sharing the roundup of Thanku today. You can find mine and many other haiku that share a thankful theme.



The tone of my poem today is a bit less peanut butter, a little bit thankful and mostly a memory.

Not a Condiment

I have this bag.

We called it my mayo bag.

Mayo, but not for mayonnaise.

Rather, Mayo, the clinic.

When preparing

to go to THE clinic, you prepare a bag.

You prepare every documentable symptom.

You want every moment to be clear

and you want to look serious

smart and worth hearing.

When I look at the bag now I just see

a bag

expanded by fear.

I was so afraid.

That bag

had a hold of me.

Parts of me want to open it

take out the binder and file folders

the timeline of those years in my life.

I want to relive it through the documents

because I think it might make me

feel more grateful.

But I can’t do it.

Because I don’t want to relive it.

And I can’t get rid of it because

that bag

has a hold of me.

So it sits on a shelf in my basement.

So full it can’t be closed

only concealed by a large flap with dangling clips.

I glance at the bag,

breathe and walk past.

A part of my past that will remain

but is detained.

A Thanku for Thanksgiving

My Thanku is a thanks to the communities that have become a driving force in both my learning and growth as a teacher of writers. I would not be sprouting into the teacher I am without your kind words. It is truly gratifying!


Sprouts of happiness
Words collect sunshine and rain
Communities grow

Yesterday I heard about a two week challenge at Teaching Authors on Linda's blog Teacherdance.

THE CHALLENGE:
Write a poem of thanks in any form, but haiku are especially welcome. I wrote one in the comments of a fellow blogger and from there wrote a new one to post here as my Thanku submission.
I hope you will submit your own Thanku and check out the roundup at Teaching Authors on November 30th!