I would build sandcastles in my home state of New Jersey, but would also build them on our family vacations in California, Massachusetts, and Florida. The sand quality of each state was very different, ranging from sugar white to pebble-dense smoky gray. It didn’t matter the quality or color of the sand, I just loved to imagine and build.
Category: The Arts
Mindfulness Mandala
There are moments that we will never forget in our lives, some are traumatically stamped there, and some, like this one, are placed indelibly as a mile marker of hope. As I age, I find myself searching my memory more and more for those hopeful mile markers.
Exploring the Wonder of David Wiesner
I have been teaching for two-thirds of my life, and I am now looking back over those years and thinking about how we learn and what makes some of us life-long learners. I am especially interested in how some people love to read and some do not. I can’t imagine my life without stories. Since … Continue reading Exploring the Wonder of David Wiesner
Small Wonders
I am constantly attuned to the little things stirring: the beetle, the butterfly, the inch worm, and the ladybug. I sit and watch them, meditating, slowing my breath, taking in all they have to teach me. I want to learn their ways. I want to be completely in their world even for a moment. When I become them, I become more myself.
Working in the Wonder Studio: Sewing up Some New Friends
The girls learn about sewing, making mistakes, and perseverance. I learn about how these students approach a task: how they plan, how they organize, and how they problem solve. I also learn how to help them when they are stuck and what motivates them. I have come to understand how important this half-hour is for them as students and for me as a teacher.
Working in the Wonder Studio: Finding Our Dreams & Voices
This month, the 4th graders have taken over the studio. Some of them are painting on small canvases, some are making spring wreaths, some are learning to sew pillows, and a few of them are exploring how to turn boxes and tubes into working machines.
January Watercolor
of spring, I love the crisp, clean colors of winter. The cold air seems to freeze every form in place: the red berries on the evergreens, the sleek black of the crows, and the silver icicles hanging from rooftops. I want to capture these images in watercolor, but I haven’t painted in a long time.
Small Joy: Things to Look Forward to
But the truth is I’m mentally and physically exhausted. Where writing usually energizes me, I found it to be a daunting task. So I let myself take a break, and now I find it’s hard to get back into the flow. What do I write about? What uplifting story can I tell? I do not know.
Sew Easy: Lessons in Perseverance
There are three rites of passage in the Wonder Studio: using the hot glue gun, working a hack saw, and learning to sew. The joyful expressions on students’ faces as they learn these skills are salve for my weary teacher’s soul.
Inside the Wonder Studio: Life in Miniature
This month in the Wonder Studio, the 5th graders have been working on a small scale. No one mandated that they do so. They all just started making tiny projects.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 