Many Thanks

Spanish

 Ojibwe

Chinese (also a Korean celebration)

Mohawk

These are some of the books I have shared with my second grade students. We talked about how people of many cultures and religions give thanks at different times of the year. In these books we saw that people may give thanks on any day too, not just on holidays. We talked about things that we are thankful for and we also learned how to say thank you in other languages like Ojibwe and Spanish. Then, we found out that some of the students in our school know how to say thank you in even more languages including sign language. Some of our students became teachers. One class learned how to say thank you in Albanian and all of the classes learned how to say thank you in Hmong. It was so cool to see students that know more than one language get to proudly teach everyone else and be the experts.

Another cool thing was having a student rush up to me the first thing in the morning to give me a list of  ways to say thank you in Hmong. She had checked with her grandmother the night before because she knew there were other ways to say it besides the one she taught us. She also wanted to make sure we were spelling it correctly. A bonus was with her list of thank yous she had written titles of her favorite books. I loved seeing her excitement.

We are working on making a video of us practicing our new ways of saying thank you. These lessons have been a great learning time for all of us. 

miigwech (Ojibwe) - gracias (Spanish) - ua tsaug (Hmong)

 faliminderit (Albanian)  kamsa hamnida (Korean)

Today I'm Thankful

1. I have been waiting to post that video all month. I am thankful that I finished National Novel Writing Month this afternoon. Whew! I enjoy participating, but it is also a huge relief when it is over and I am thankful that I am still alive.

2. I am also thankful to have my son home from college so we could all be here for the holiday. I love having time with all of us sitting around talking and laughing together.

3. Of course, I am thankful for books. I have read and interacted with so many great new books this year. Here are some of my favorites:

4. I am also thankful for the many wonderful professionals that I work with at my school everyday and the many additional people in my online professional learning network who inspire me and help me become a better teacher and person every day.

I have many more things to be thankful for and would likely write more if I sat here longer, but after 50,000+ words this month, I am a bit tired of typing. Have a wonderful weekend!

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2011

As a Thankfully Reading participant, my first challenge is to write about a book that I am most thankful for from any time in my life.  This should be an easy task, but there are so many books that I am thankful for that I am having quite a difficult time focusing in on just one.

I think back to the early books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar that helped me learn and practice my own early reading strategies.  I remember books like those in the Ramona series that showed how my little sister was not the only pest in the world.  I remember Are You There God it's Me Margaret that assured me that I was perfectly normal and that growing up was tricky for everyone.  The Hobbit completely blew my mind and Gone With the Wind made my little heart break.  Robin McKinley and Anne McCaffrey both managed to show me that women can be strong and intelligent despite what most literature displayed.  

There have been so many wonderful books in my past, that narrowing it down to one that gets my thanks is just impossible.  If I have to name the book that has shown up repeatedly in my life that I am thankful for, it would be Little Women.  I first read a children's version of it in elementary school.  I read it over and over again.  Then, in middle school, I read the real deal.  I have read it many, many times and always cry over Beth, am annoyed by Amy and Meg, cry with Jo and adore Marmee.   The way the family cared for each other touched me in the midst of my difficult years.  I really related to Beth, since I was painfully shy myself, and I longed to be more outspoken like Jo.  We owned the book, so it was available to revisit and I lived with the Marches anytime I felt lonely.  I am thankful that Louisa May Alcott wrote that and many other books that were childhood and teenage friends of mine.  She brightened many a day for me and helped me in my quest to overcome my shyness and to deal with my temper (the one area of myself that was very much like Jo).