This week, I had the great pleasure of working with our 2nd grade students. I did a short, guided listening activity in which I gave them multi-step directions and then they drew from memory. The object they were creating was a girl, a simple shape by shape little girl with a party hat on her head and a present in one hand. They all followed the directions perfectly. Then I asked them: What is the girl’s name? Who is the present for? What happened at the party? Then on the back of their paper, they were asked to tell a story. It is still amazing to me what young children can do with a simple prompt.
Category: reading
A Grateful Writer
Thanksgiving gave me time to pause, time to reflect on the changes happening in my own life and all around me. It made stop and think about what I truly hold as important. Blogging for the past five years, has given me the space in which I form and share ideas. I write about books, art, people, and concepts that intrigue me, that I want to learn more about. By writing, I come to understand things at a much deeper level.
Put Learning in Their Hands
I’m at a point in my life when I look back and reflect on my decisions, I think about all the steps (and missteps) I’ve made that brought me this far. The one thing that stands out for me is how working with my hands has been a major theme throughout my childhood, teenage years, and all the decades of my adult life.
Revisiting a Young Writer’s Practice
As a child, I loved to write. The pencil was an extension of my hand and mind. I found that all the stories in my head could be released onto beautiful blank white paper. This revelation was exciting to me. I couldn’t wait to jot down my stories. It took me some time to realize that not everyone in the world finds writing fun and adventurous. It wasn’t until I became a teacher that I learned that there are children who have trouble getting their stories down on paper.
Mapping the Imagination
Much of my preparation for writing takes place in action. I walk in the various woods nearby my house, and as I walk, words come into my head and form a description of what I’m seeing. Each step takes on a cadence, and the words sort themselves out into a rhythm.
Shifting Focus: From Work to Art
This week, I found the Alie Ward’s podcast “Why Humans Require Hobbies” on her Ologies website. The podcast featured the writer, Julia Holtz, who wrote The Connection Cure, which centers on what matters to you in treating and preventing illnesses. Julia is a salugenologist – simply meaning she studies what makes us healthy. Her book explains the science behind going into nature, what makes you happy, and making time for hobbies. This topic got my attention because I am gradually, and I mean grad…u…al…ly shifting from school being the center of my life to art being the center of my life.
Summer Song
Now, this summer, when there is so much to grieve, so much to be anxious about, I have been reminded to keep singing, keep that summer song in my heart and share it with others. We only have a precious short time on this little spinning planet, I know I must keep searching for small joys and sing them out loudly.
Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman
Recently, a good friend told me about Nell Painter’s book, Old in Art School. I knew immediately that I had to push it up to first on my summer reading list. I am indulging in Nell’s journey from Princeton history academic to an BFA at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of Visual Arts to an MFA from the prestigious Rhode Island School of design. Much of Nell’s book is familiar because she is a Jersey girl and I also attended Rutgers as both an undergraduate and graduate. The essential questions of what is art and who is an artist repeat as a refrain in this memoir. I took a long slow read, trying my best to experience what Nell had lived.
Poetry & Pasta: Kindergarten Wordplay
My love of poetry extended into May this year as I read aloud to our Kindergarten classes. I had read my poetry and facilitated poetry writing with students in 1st through 5th grades in the month of April. Finally, I had a little more time to bring the joy of verse into Kindergarten. I found the perfect picture book to share, Pasta, Pasta Lotsa Pasta by Aimee Lucido. Since I am of Italian heritage, I found this book to be particularly fun and engaging. Ms. Lucido’s wordplay is exquisite and invites young children to join into the rhythm of the story.
Handmade Mother’s Day
Sometimes, I think - "No one cares, this is a lot of work, maybe I should stop doing this." But then there are days, when I see fifteen eager faces at the front door clamoring to get in and start their work - their work of mess and industry and love.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 