Literacy Learning Zone

Slice of Life  hosted  at the Two Writing Teachers Join in and share a slice of your life. Finally, school ended. And summer arrived, starting with a vacation away ... So much planning, organizing, packing, and loading the days before a long, long drive from Illinois to Florida.  With four year olds.  Did I mention that's TWO four year olds? Time away from the go-go-rush of life.  No thought or needing to balance home and work life.  It was all 100% family time.  No worries.  No stresses.  No responsibilities to think about at home.  Unplugged ... almost. Laughter and relaxing.  No rushing, just savoring moments.  Beaching-going and building sandcastles.  No to-do list waiting, just wish-list saving.  Live musi

Slice of Life  hosted  at the Two Writing Teachers Join in and share a slice of your life. These last few weeks of school have been tough.  Summer is almost here. Everyone in the family has been sick the month of May and now into June.  (Yes, even my husband has all the bronchitis symptoms as of Sunday.  Off to the doctor he goes today!)  Summer is almost here. At the beginning of the school year, I always feel like I'm off and running, already months behind before the students even arrive.  Summer is long gone. The end of the school year feels quite the same.  The final to-do list grows before the students leave and the building is closed and I'm feeling months behind.  Summer is almost here. Howe

With almost ONE hundred different PD book titles shared, our #cyberPD crew scoured and sorted and finally narrowed it down to ONE book.  There were so many great titles suggested and so many books that would have made the perfect backdrop for #cyberPD learning.  But ... There was just ONE title that was mentioned that continued to come up in our  #cyberPD   book title selection conversations.  Repeatedly. ONE book that we will read together. ONE book that we will discuss our thinking. ONE book that will encourage us to ask questions. ONE book that will allow us to wonder some more. ONE book that will push us to think and act differently in our classrooms. ONE book that will help us change the culture of reading in schools. ONE book that we will learn and grow together over the month of July. That ONE book that is the perfect book to reread and learn more through conversations. And that ONE book is ... Drum roll please ... Reading in the Wild: The Book

I'm here to  {celebrate}  with  Ruth Ayres   and  YOU ! Finding the little moments of joy in life. Today I am celebrating: {celebrating again} {healthy} I'm finally back with some energy.  My girls and I were burdened with acute bronchitis over the last three weeks.  It was not a fun way to spend the month of May, especially when trying to wind down the school year and plan/pack for our vacation.  But we are all back on track to be completely healthy for our trip! {school} Two. More. Days.  But so much to do!  I'm still trying to connect with students to encourage reading and writing all summer long.  Here's a book.  There's a notebook.  Keep your reading and writing brains awake!  Looking forward to the Summer Learning Nights we planned for 9 weeks this summer to stay connected to students.  More to come on this event! {#cyberPD} I have participated in an online summer PD book discussion the last three years.  This year two of the hosts, Cathy M

It's that time of year.  School is ending and there is a little extra free time.  Time to do more of what you love.  For me?  Reading.  Reading all kinds of books.  And more time to read professional development (PD) books of my choice. I have quite a collection of PD books stacked at home and at school.  Some have been tasted.  Others fully digested.  And yet some books are still waiting.  Waiting to be discovered and read and talked about.  My book stack (so far) for the summer.  They won't all be tasted or digested this summer, but there will be ONE that I can't wait to read -- alongside YOU ! My 2014 Summer PD Stack Over the last three years, I have participated in an online summer book study discussion group called #cyberPD . This year I am helping host this aweso me event    with Cathy Mere and Laura Komos .      In a previous post I reflected on the importance of this awesome PLN community: Reading any PD book grows my thinking and gets me wonderin

Slice of Life  hosted  at the Two Writing Teachers Join in and share a slice of your life. Sick. The girls in our house were all sick. Three weeks sharing it. I'm tired of being sick. I'm done feeling achy. I'm over all the coughing. I'm finished feeling the fever. I'm tired of laying around. I'm done doing nothing. I'm over being no fun. I'm finished being Sick. The doctor says take this for acute bronchitis. You should feel better soon. What?  What's that? What's that you say? You say it's almost summer break? Yeah, well, then why am I still sick today? I look forward to the day when I can say, "I'm feeling good and