GUEST BLOG POST: Needing To Take Care of The Nice Students, Too

A NOTE FROM STACEY: “Nice” children are often overlooked in the classroom because they go with the flow. I’ll admit, I was one of those teachers who often sacrificed a conference with one of the “nice” children in my class and met with a student who was having greater challenges in writing.  When I looked [...]

A Wintertime Read Aloud + A Giveaway

One of the little words I’ve been thinking about adopting as my One Little Word for 2012 is wonder.  Wonder, as defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary, means: 1won·der noun \ˈwən-dər\ Definition of WONDER 1 a : a cause of astonishment or admiration : marvel <it’s a wonder you weren’t killed> <the pyramid is a [...]

Winner of Chanukah Lights

Many thanks to Candlewick Press for sponsoring a giveaway of Chanukah Lights.  #14 was the number that came up using Random.org.  Jill Schalet was commenter #14 so she’ll receive a copy of Chanukah Lights. If you missed the original post about this incredible new book, then click here to read it now.

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One Little Word

We’ve posted quite a bit about having one little word to live by since we began blogging in 2007.  If you’re unfamiliar with the idea of one little word, then type “one little word” into the search bar on the top right of this blog and you’ll find a bunch of posts that explain it [...]

Merry Christmas

Around our house we’ve been preparing for Christmas. For weeks we have been celebrating advent, keeping our eyes on the meanings of this holy season. We named our four advent candles: kindness, respect, gratitude, and compassion. We looked for needs and found ways we could fill them. In this world, where Christmas is as much [...]

My Latest Writing Project: A Blessing

Yesterday I read an incredible blog post by Edgar M. Bronfman in The Washington Post‘s “On Faith” section.  I believe Bronfman’s article, “Create a holy Hanukkah,” was penned with the sole purpose to encourage North American Jews to think more deeply about the gifts we choose to give our children on Chanukah.  Rather than summarize [...]

Happy Chanukah + a Book Giveaway

There are no shortage of books on Chanukah.  Despite the fact that Chanukah is not one of the major Jewish holidays, there are lots of books, some of which aren’t so good, written about the holiday.  I suppose it’s because Chanukah almost always begins in December and sometimes overlaps with Christmas (like it does this [...]

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The Book Stack…

Or maybe this post should be called: “The Book Stack?” with a big bold question mark. Seriously, I have stacks and stacks and stacks of books we’ve read, books we want to read, and books we are reading again and again. The problem is getting them from the stack to the blog. (Which is a [...]

A Special Visit

The more things change, the more they stay the same. –Alphonse Karr Last Saturday my cousin got Bar Mitzvahed in New York.  I tacked-on a few extra days to my weekend away so Isabelle and I could spend some time with my parents.  In addition to spending lots of time with family this past weekend [...]

Want to hear some thoughts about celebrations?

Recently Franki Sibberson interviewed me about the importance of writing celebrations. It was posted on Choice Literacy this week and you can listen here. While there, sign up to receive the Choice Literacy newsletter. Choice Literacy is one of my go-to sources to stay up to date with the current thinking in literacy education, as [...]

The Carpenter’s Gift Giveaway Announcement

Many thanks to Random House for sponsoring this giveaway.  Tracy Austin will receive a copy of The Carpenter’s Gift by David Rubel.  If you missed the original post about this incredible book, then click here to read it now.

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Writing Groups + Classrooms

My writing group is an important part of my life as a writer. It’s more than just accountability, but feedback and camaraderie and, well, if I’m super honest, fun. When I was a classroom teacher, I didn’t do a very good job of establishing writing groups, or crit partners, for my students. I see now they were [...]

I’ve been studying sentence structure…

I was watching or listening or reading something this week — I don’t remember what — but the message was: You can’t be a writer if you’re not a reader. True. (And probably the reason I don’t remember who said it since this little tid-bit is fairly common knowledge.) The person went on to say: [...]

A Blogging Secret

I have a little secret about blogging. Sometimes I don’t feel like blogging. Sometimes I want to avoid the little post box. Sometimes, like right now, I’m so far behind on my email that I wonder if I will be eaten alive when I do open my inbox.  But I blog anyway. I’ve realized I [...]

Write –> Publish –> Touch Other People’s Lives

Annie Campbell, some of whom you know from the “Write Now In Room 204″ Blog is a master third grade teacher.  I met Annie at the TCRWP Summer Writing Institute in 2008.  We were both taking Carl Anderson’s upper grade revision session.  I haven’t seen Annie in person since July 2008, but I’ve been in [...]

QR Codes

My kids are junkies when it comes to QR Codes. They love spotting them. They are addicted to the thrill of scanning. They like the possibility of where the QR Code might take them. Today in the Tech Workshop (which should be renamed to Taking Time to Tackle Technology), we talked a little about QR [...]

SOLSC + Thinking About Slicing in a New Way

Last week my friend posted a link on her Facebook page to a blog called Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.  Specifically, it was a link to a post entitled “Public Toilets vs. Newly Potty Trained Girls and Boys.”  I clicked on the link and was transported to a post about public bathroom experiences with toddlers.  [...]

Infographics

Words + pictures have always intrigued me. As a scrapbooker I use words + pictures to document life. As a blogger, I know when an image is included it always impacts me more. (I’ve been thinking of making this a goal — to include more images in my posts.) As a teacher I’m well aware [...]

And a Copy of Every-Day Dress-Up Goes to…

Many thanks to Random House for sponsoring a giveaway of Selina Alko’s new picture book, Every-Day Dress-Up.  If you missed the original post about this fantastic picture book, then click here to read it now.

The Carpenter’s Gift + A Giveaway

Every year, just before December sets in, I ask the publishers who are kind enough to send review copies to me for books about Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza so I can inform readers about some of the best new books that are out there.  This year The Carpenter’s Gift came from Random House and touched [...]

Mission Complete

I have to be honest, I thought I could do it, but I just didn’t know that I would be able to pull it off.  Thirty days of writing during my busiest month of the year.  (In case you missed my first post on the 750 Words November Challenge I took on you can click [...]