Literacy Learning Zone

Slice of Life Stories hosted by the  Two Writing Teachers Come here.   Come closer.   I have a secret to share with you.   I'm really excited about it and I haven't told anyone except my mom , my hubby, and my friend, colleague, and writing buddy . I receive notifications of comments on my blog on my email at school.  I think all of you will agree, it's always exciting to see that a new comment was left behind.  It never gets old.  Everyone loves a visitor, a voice that let's you know that you've been heard, and a comment that keeps you writing. I know I don't say it enough, but I really appreciate when YOU stop by and YOU leave a little note because YOU matter to me.   Most comments pour in on Tuesday as slicers are doing their very best to read and leave a supportive note that day.  A few comments tr...

I love stumbling upon new techy what-cha-ma-call-its. Ok.  It may not be new to the world, but it's new to me!  I hope you find it helpful as well! I read many blogs.  Thank you to GoogleReader for sharing new posts every day! (Another great creation!)  There are probably hundreds of blogs that I've retracted from reading because the blog page itself wasn't visually pleasing to my eyes. Too much. Busy, busy. Buttons all over. Advertisements. Hate the font. Small print. Dreadful colors. I'm sure I missed out on valuable learning and thinking because I didn't read the blog. Guess what?  No more! I discovered the "Reader" button in the address bar in Safari. (Click to enlarge. See purple Reader button.) Click on the link to the blog.  Click on the "Reader" button and it's easy on the eyes!  It brings forward just the blog post, darkens the background noise, and is perfect for your reading pleasure! You can also zoom in, zoom ...

Ok.  I haven't been living under a rock.  I did recently have twin daughters a little over a year ago, so my research and professional development were centered around different topics (i.e. newborns, multiples, what do I do, how do I survive, when will it get any easier.  I'm still trying to find answers to some of those questions.) Last year I was just trying to balance life at home with life at school.  (I think that is a never-ending struggle.)  I stumbled into the blogging world late 2010 - must have been during the girls' nap - and joined the blogosphere in February of 2011 from a little nudging from Ruth over at the Two Writing Teachers .  (No, it was a personal nudge, but it sure felt like she was talking to me when she declared it: "Stop waiting to start a blog day" .) Little did I know that I was missing out on so many knowledgeable colleagues and authors that share oodles and oodles of great resources and ideas!  I'm sure I'm still missi...

Not only have I encouraged my mom to start a blog, but this week a friend/colleague/Twitter junkie  joined the club!  How very exciting!  Over the weekend, she shared her blog with me.  Only a title and background, but it was a great start.  Slowly, she added more and more. Fear, excitement, curiosity.  I remember having those feelings a little over a month ago, when I created my blog.  I struggled with a name that was important and meant something to me.  I played around with the format, layout, colors, etc.  Then I wrote that first post.  Wait.  Deep breath.  Reread.  Reread again just to be sure. "Hey, hon, does this sound okay?" I'd yell to my husband in another room. Then I just did it.  I clicked the orange "Publish Post" button.  I was "out there" for others to read. Well, friend, you are out there!  I'm so thrilled that I'll have another e-colleague.  Even though we work together, we don...

I wanted to create a list of some of my favorite slices that I read last month during the Slice of Life Story Challenge .  I've been digging in the archives.  I was captivated by these slices (and countless more) for many reasons:  It could be the story, it could be the words the writer chose, it could be the style and rhythm, or it could be that I felt the honesty, sincerity, or strong emotion emanating through the words. Or, maybe I just loved it just because . . . ! Thank you for your brilliance and mentor texts! A Jarful of Minutes Bad Hair Nightmare Comfort Zone Crime Scene Investigators Do A Lil Dance Empty Space First Grade and Fence Posts Good Morning I Lost the Instruction Manual I Need to Clean Up my Brain It's a Memory It was Meant to Be Laughing at Lightning Lucky Physical Education Puppy Kisses Standing Tall Sunshine on a Plate The World Needs You This Was Supposed . . . What I've Learned ...