November is National Novel Writing Month

Okay, so I am now going to make an attempt at writing a novel.  Pfffft.  I am shaking my head at myself.  Unbelievable.  I start a blog and all of a sudden I am jumping into a novel.  Way crazy, but it should definitely be a learning experience.  Notice I didn't say a wonderful or fabulous learning experience.

I heard about this event, affectionately called NaNoWriMo, on NPR a few years ago and thought it might be a fun experiment someday when I have a lot of time.  Right.

Here is the official press release about this bizarre insanity they describe as Novel Fever. There are six days left before the craziness begins.  We will have one month to write a complete novel of at least 50,000 words.  My courageous daughter has just decided that she wants to join too.  Wahoo!  Wish us luck.

Crazy Time of Year

I realized that I haven't posted for awhile.  It is really a crazy time of the year for me.  Last week was my first full marathon, I had an evening class to attend, I had a workshop to teach aside from several after-school meetings, and we celebrated Read for the Record (see my student blog here).  This week, I am volunteering at a local high school one evening, teaching a class one evening, setting up our book fair, and going to a cross country meet on another evening.

So when am I going to get to read books?!?  Hopefully, I will always have a book with me for those few spare moments in between events.  I have a few Babymouse books waiting in the wings along with the sequel to Killer Pizza and The Fourth Stall.  It will be a miracle if I read them all, but maybe this is my lucky week.

Dot Day Pictures

Wow, time has gotten away from me.  I was planning on posting some pictures a long time ago.  We had a great time with our Dots.  I hope you enjoy seeing some of our pictures.  We sure had fun making them.

Dot Week

We had a great time celebrating the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  Around 300 students used their creativity to design dots.  We had little dots, big dots, and all different colors of dots.  You can see some of the fun in the slideshow below.

I will post a few pictures tomorrow. I had some great fifth grade students give up their recess and come paint huge dots to put up around the school.  On the official Dot Day we all took home a "dot" that looked suspiciously like a pompon to remind us to use our creativity and make our mark.

I am so glad that I found out about Dot Day because it is a wonderful way to encourage creativity and reaches out to the artist in all of us.  I send out a huge thank you to Peter Reynolds.  He knows that a lot of us get caught up in that thinking that tells us we just can't draw or we just can't ... (fill in the blank with whatever you might be afraid to try). He reminds us to go ahead and make that first mark and see where it takes us.  Be bold!  Be brave!  And above all - have some fun!  We did.

Dot Day Here We Come

Have you heard of International Dot Day?  It is scheduled for September 15.  I had read the book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds many times in the past, but didn't know there were activities connected to the book until recently.  I am looking forward to celebrating and exploring our creativity next week in honor of this special day.

If you want to be involved, please visit this page for some great ideas and videos of students that will inspire you.  Another great inspirational place is Mrs. Molishus' page.  She has samples from previous years, suggestions, and fun activities to use.

Go forth and make your mark!

Pete the Cat and Penny Dreadful

Just as I suspected, Pete the Cat was a hit tonight at our Open House.  I wore my red tennies in his honor and bought the Nook version of the book.  Parents and students wandered through the LMC and tried out the Nook Colors.  They loved to hear the story of Pete and his colorful shoes.  The greatest part was when the singing would start.  Their faces would light up and there were smiles all around.  I am getting super excited about sharing Pete with my classes next week . 

It's getting late, so I am off to bed to curl up with Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder .

 I am almost finished and it will be the perfect way to end the day.  This book has an old-fashioned sweetness to it, but isn't icky sweet.  Penny comes from a wealthy family and is rather bored in her beautiful well-kept home.  She wishes for some kind of change and certainly gets it.  Her father abruptly leaves his job.  Now with a limited amount of money and a load of bills, they move to a ramshackle old house in the country with a crew of quirky tenants.

I really loved when Penny and her friend were talking about fiction and non-fiction.  Penny's life seemed a lot like the fiction book she had just been reading.  Her friend's response is that she should read more non-fiction (biographies about scientists, explorers or magicians) because they were "...more interesting. Less like real life."  I am off to read and snooze. 

Yoda and Darth

A desolate space landscape with many moons awaits its moment of glory.

 

A battle has begun in our LMC.   Origami Yoda and Darth Paper are using all of their power and skill in the ultimate showdown!

The kids loved Origami Yoda and I am sure that there will be a waiting list for Darth Paper Strikes Back! by Tom Angleberger