What Will You Bag Up Today?

Today,
a day
to end the year.
A day to review
with spirit and cheer!


I always say, "It's a short chapter." All those things that linger and nudge us to do better, those battles we fight, the moments of laughter; they are all short slices of life. However, they make up chapters of lasting memories. I look at today and I see snow falling, children playing, a day of possibilities ahead but it will all be over tomorrow. What will I do today to shape the next? I don't know yet! I hope celebration and happiness is in my future. Life is full of decisions and I find myself at the start of this day with many decisions ahead of me and many good times to follow.

I hope you will have many slices of happiness in this last day of 2013 and share them at Two Writing Teachers for Slice of Life.

My SOL today:
My day began with a discovery. The house was an icebox this morning. We had all slept in a bit and the heat was still in "leave" mode since we are not usually home on Tuesday mornings. I turned up the heat, turned on the coffee and prepared for a relaxing morning. I had to go downstairs to the basement for a moment to get something for my son when I realized something wasn't right. As I rounded the corner of the stairs there in front of me was a huge garbage bag ripped to bits with all its contents strewn everywhere! NOOOO! See, we have been doing a lot of cleaning in our basement: getting my writing space back in order, going through toys, papers, books all the things that accumulate in a space that doesn't get used the way it should. That is our basement. A dumping ground for lost things and things that need to get lost! But, there it all was again. Everywhere. My first thought, "WHERE IS THAT DOG!" My next thought...there it is (not the dog) but my year, all over the floor. Utter chaos spilled all over my basement of this and that. Here I was, picking up my year and putting it back into a new bag...a new bag. The old bag was torn and ripped with holes and many imperfections. The new bag, well it was shiny, bright, fresh handle ready to take all that garbage, baggage and battle left from 2013...I was ready to pack that up again. I had done it once but over time. Today I would bag up 2013 in one moment. One sitting. One bag that I will not leave in the basement but will take to the trash can and move on. So much good to celebrate from the year but there is always garbage that comes along. I hope you can take out the trash of 2013 today and focus on what you loved, how you loved and what doors are opening for you in 2014.

Have a Great Day!

How is it that as the kids energy level and excitement goes up mine somehow starts to decline. I feel like a tank that is slowly being emptied of its fuel with no station in sight for refill. I laugh a little as I write this because I know I am not alone, but geesh! It is the little things that fuel me in these moments. Today, I have been trying to text level students before we head to break. I want to know exactly where they stand in terms of reading. I want to know before they go away for over two weeks to slide back. As I was working I noticed a sticky note on my clipboard. I didn't give it much of a look. I thought one of the kids had gotten in my stash of stickies again. However, upon closer inspection this is what I saw:

"I hope you have a Grate day Ms HuBrd."

Well thank you little one who sent me this note. I am having a great day and it is thanks to all of the little cherubs that are excited and high on energy. They make each day easier as we get closer to a break. The hugs. The faces. The smiles. These little things are my station and I am filled.

Celebrating

Celebrating writing about my children today. Christmas trees. The season's magic. Growing. They are growing so fast. I found myself leaning up against the wall as I prepared my living room for a huge green tree invasion. My children, full of energy, began running in circles around the house. I wrote a poem about my son and I know I will treasure it.

I am treasuring the moments I had with my students this past week as we really dug into revision. Students enjoyed using a different tool to go back into their writing and really make it better. Can't wait to see this go further.

I am celebrating the #nerdlution with Chalk-A-Day. I am having so much fun chalking a little poem each day @Betsy_writes.

A new computer was cause for celebration this week. I can finally work on my, Where is Poetry? It's Everywhere, presentation for the Dublin Literacy Conference. Will you be there? I can't wait!

A Funk

I'm sitting here. In my classroom. It is quiet. I have a slight headache but a break from the chaos for the next thirty minutes. I'm sort of having one of those moments where I finally feel like I can breathe. It hasn't been a particulary stressful day with students, but I am feeling stressed. Monitoring student writing this week has me questioning whether I want to switch to "How To" books next week, like I am suppose to. Looking at my reading block, I feel like things are starting to fall apart a bit...could be the holidays. I think I am reaching that point where I am just tired and need a break...wait, didn't I just have one? It is frustrating to me that I feel this way after having a nice long weekend off. I should be revitalized and ready to tackle the week. Instead I feel run down and out of it. Don't you just hate that? I hope to crawl my way out of this funk by this evening when my BRAND NEW LAPTOP  arrives in the mail! That might just do it!

A Week of Celebrations!

Celebrating? Yes!
I am celebrating a short work week that deviated from the normal. When this happens everything gets the shaft a bit and I love that my students, though they love a little deviation, get upset when Writing Workshop is cut short. There are groans and moans and my boys say, "It's already over?" or "When do we get to finish? Can I do it during open choice (playtime)?" Yes, I celebrate this. Even though we were making pilgrim hats in one room, watching Charlie Brown in another and learning about popcorn in my room, when my class returned from their crafty projects they wanted to write. I live for this.

I had a student write a story about being an author, the title was, "When I Become an Author." Ummm, yes I celebrate this. I celebrated so much I interviewed her on camera to express to her how much I love that she feels she will accomplish this goal. Then I reminded her she already was an author, of many many books.

Celebration also flew in this week when I spent time with my children on a less than busy Thanksgiving day. We ate spaghetti! We laughed. We played. We deviated from the normal Thanksgiving traditions and it was fun.

I chalked the other day with my kids, at night. My daughter kept asking, "When are we doing Chalk-A-Bration?" I kept telling her, "Oh, yeah, we'll get to it." Then it was suddenly dark. Well, so what, get a flashlight and let's go! So we did and we loved it.

Today we spent the day with my husband's family. It is always nice to reconnect and we laugh...a lot! My cheeks hurt a little.

Tomorrow I get to see my family and celebrate my mom's birthday. I can't wait. My sister and I bought a very special necklace for my mom that symbolizes an important part of life, a life that lacks nothing. Most of us live this truth. Our lives really lack nothing if there is love shared. I hope you have love to share in your lives and can find time to celebrate that love.

Thanks to Margaret for sharing her students Thanku! Check them out here. 

Bedtime Stories

Tonight my daughter has been plagued with a bad dream and can not shake it. It reminded me of when I would have bad dreams and go snuggle down with my mom and dad in their bed. I remember climbing right in between them and feeling the warmth and love that is so comforting when you are scared.
My daughter wanted me to tell her a story. I came up with many. One about Janie the fish. Janie the teddy bear. Even a story about Janie the puppy who had an owner named Pennsylvania. All my silly stories did the trick and got her mind off whatever scary things were lurking in her little head. She is now in my bed, resting quietly. Which means someone will need to move her before my bedtime comes. Then again, maybe I will just leave her there to keep me company in case I have any bad dreams tonight.
Happy snuggling. :)

Evidence

Why do I tempt her? Why is it even within reach?

My husband, Shawn, collects typewriters. Yep, he does. We have four of them. He's always looking for one that is more ancient than the last one he's purchased. One of the typewriters sits in our living room and is "untouchable." Shawn will occasionally type on it but otherwise it is basically a decoration. Last night my daughter was plucking away at it and we reminded her not to touch. She stopped and we thought it was handled.
After the kids went to bed we noticed a paper next to the typewriter. An old large sticky note with several typed letters. At first I thought, "Was it my son this time?" Um, no it was little Jane. She had typed JHubb in several spots on the paper, basically labeling the evidence that she had touched the typewriter AGAIN. Then I looked up and noticed what was at the top of the paper, "mmoomm I Love you." Kinda made it hard to be upset with her...how do they manage to do that?