Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day.
** We had a Scholastic Book Fair this week. It is a lot of work, but the students love wandering through to see the books and gadgety things. The books that sold out were Sisters, Bugs in My Hair, Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel, Emperor Pickletine and Creepy Carrots. The most popular gadget was pens that write on things without showing up until you shine the light on the writing and erasers that were mini smart phones. I was informed that they were the perfect size for American Dolls.
** Parent teacher conferences were this week. I enjoyed my revised schedule because I had long, slow mornings before work. I wrote about that for my Slice of Life on Tuesday.
** My writing group is still meeting at school. I don't think we have more than 20 students anymore, but we still have double digits of kids and they are starting to form mini-groups. They gravitate toward writing partners or small groups of students that they feel comfortable sharing their writing with and chatting about it. On Thursday, I introduced word wars. NaNoWriMo takes advantage of the spirit of competition. You agree on a set amount of time and then all involved write furiously during that time. The winner is the person who wrote the most words. Yes, this may seem like a strange method, but it is so freeing. Personally, I have a very obnoxious inner editor that keeps me from getting words on the page. A word war is one way that allows me to push past that noisy editor. I spew words onto the page. Some are good, some are not so good, but once they are on the page I at least have something to revise. A handful of students thought it sounded fun and gave it a try. They loved it.
** Our public library is supporting NaNoWriMo with programming this year. On Nov. 1, they are having a Write-In. I am hoping that some of my students will be able to participate. My daughter and I will spend some time there. They have planned six hours of comfy chairs, snacks, giveaways and time for writing.
** I had a lovely bone scan this week because of pain in my foot. Yay! I do not have a fracture. Now a little bit of physical therapy and I should be good to get back to running and zumba.
I hope that you had much to celebrate this week. Have a great weekend!
** We had a Scholastic Book Fair this week. It is a lot of work, but the students love wandering through to see the books and gadgety things. The books that sold out were Sisters, Bugs in My Hair, Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel, Emperor Pickletine and Creepy Carrots. The most popular gadget was pens that write on things without showing up until you shine the light on the writing and erasers that were mini smart phones. I was informed that they were the perfect size for American Dolls.
** Parent teacher conferences were this week. I enjoyed my revised schedule because I had long, slow mornings before work. I wrote about that for my Slice of Life on Tuesday.
** My writing group is still meeting at school. I don't think we have more than 20 students anymore, but we still have double digits of kids and they are starting to form mini-groups. They gravitate toward writing partners or small groups of students that they feel comfortable sharing their writing with and chatting about it. On Thursday, I introduced word wars. NaNoWriMo takes advantage of the spirit of competition. You agree on a set amount of time and then all involved write furiously during that time. The winner is the person who wrote the most words. Yes, this may seem like a strange method, but it is so freeing. Personally, I have a very obnoxious inner editor that keeps me from getting words on the page. A word war is one way that allows me to push past that noisy editor. I spew words onto the page. Some are good, some are not so good, but once they are on the page I at least have something to revise. A handful of students thought it sounded fun and gave it a try. They loved it.
** Our public library is supporting NaNoWriMo with programming this year. On Nov. 1, they are having a Write-In. I am hoping that some of my students will be able to participate. My daughter and I will spend some time there. They have planned six hours of comfy chairs, snacks, giveaways and time for writing.
** I had a lovely bone scan this week because of pain in my foot. Yay! I do not have a fracture. Now a little bit of physical therapy and I should be good to get back to running and zumba.
I hope that you had much to celebrate this week. Have a great weekend!
Glad to hear your bones are fine. I hope your foot will get better soon. The wild and furious writing during word war produces possibilities. Happy writing!
ReplyDeleteThanks! The ones who like word wars are having a lot of fun with them now that they know how to do them.
DeleteGreat celebrations, because really it's the little things in life that matter the most!
ReplyDeleteI am going to try word wars. And I have been thinking of combining partnerships into small writing groups… you inspired me to try. I like the idea of giving them some choice.
ReplyDeleteHave fun. Because I am just their writing group facilitator and not their classroom teacher - I have a lot of freedom to try things. It's a neat experience.
DeleteThe word wars idea sounds fun - I can see the kids getting really into it! Hurray abut your foot and the successful book fair.
ReplyDeleteI love book fairs, but I'm disappointed at the gadgety things that sell at the expense of good books. Glad for your good news from the bone scan. Now all you have to do is fit in the time for physical therapy! Good luck with writing for NaNoWriMo.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, I"m glad you are faithful in celebrating each week. Good news about your bone scan. Running is on the horizon!
ReplyDeleteRuth