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Review of Zachary’s Dinnertime – Multicultural Children’s Book Day #ReadYourWorld
Zachary’s Dinnertime, a picture book for elementary aged children, written by Lara Levinson and illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright, highlights traditional meals from several different cultures. Zachary, the main character, doesn’t like taking part in the daily preparation and clean up of his family’s dinners. He is also bored with having to prepare the same dishes… Read more
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10 minutes of uninterrupted writing
Once a week, on Mondays, my students have writing homework. They write, anything, for at least 10 minutes without stopping. A parent used the term “uninterrupted writing” in an email message to me earlier this year, and so the phrase has stuck. 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing My students keep track of their writing on… Read more
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House Hunting
This post is crossposted to the Two Writing Teachers Tuesday Slice of Life. My husband, my son and I have been in the market for a house since November. We have seen over 50 houses at this point. In fact, we’ve seen so many that we have a pretty good idea of what we want and… Read more
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2018
We are now two days into the New Year. I have selected and blogged about my #OLW here. (Disclosure: my #OLW is TRUTH.) I have committed to controlling my presence on social media without tuning out altogether. I am choosing carefully what I do and what I don’t do on @Twitter, @Facebook, @Voxer, etc. I… Read more
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One Little Word 2018 – #OLW18
For the past few years I have participated in the social media initiative around One Little Word or #OLW, but if you were to ask me TODAY what words I’d selected in previous years, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Those words were clearly unimpressionable. Choosing #OLW was supposed… Read more
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I have never been the kind of teacher who…
I have never been the kind of teacher who makes kids sit in rows. But I have been the kind of teacher who has assigned seating in the classroom. Now, I use flexible seating arrangements. I have never been the kind of teacher who insists on using writing prompts to get students to write. I… Read more
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A Sitting Kind of Day
Today was a sitting kind of day. The snow returned. It blew in whiffs through the playground leaving a thin, white blanket over everything. The temperature dropped a bit. The building of the forts continued. There was a tiff between two groups about whose fort-is-this-anyway? And, then we sat. We sat while one girl shared… Read more
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Reflection on a Monday Night
The new school year is well underway. My students and I have had about six weeks to learn about and understand each other pretty well by now. We survived the so-called honeymoon phase. We’ve gotten past the “who-the-heck-are-you-and-why-are-you-acting-this-way phase”. We have had our share of ups and downs. Many, if not most, of our routines… Read more
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Single, Working Parents
I have a new found respect for single, working parents. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always known that being a single parent is not easy. But knowing something and living it are two different things altogether. Recently, I spent 2 1/2 weeks as the only adult at home. So, I was glad when my husband returned from his… Read more
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Grade 5 Moving On Ceremony – June 2017
I wrote the following letter to my students at the grade 5 Moving On Ceremony this year. Dear Fabulous Fifth Graders, You know who you are! We have had an amazing year. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’ve always taken care of each other. Reluctantly, we’ve said our goodbyes to Layla, Cata, and… Read more
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Elisa Waingort 