Pretend it is Friday

So I was planning to try a new kind of post last Friday. And then Friday came and went. How does this happen? So right now, let’s just pretend it is Friday. Or bookmark this post and save it for a Friday. I thought it would be fun to start a Friday Favorites post. So here we go…

Favorite #1

I recently received this book in the mail to review. It intrigues me. The story line is riveting. The story haunts me. And it’s wordless! I’m dreaming up all kinds of ways to use this with writers. Check out the website to get taste of this book.

Bluebird by Bob Staake. Random House, 2013.

Favorite #2

Recently I helped launch opinion writing in first grade. I taught them the meaning of opinions: An opinion is how you feel about a topic. Then we talked about how we have opinions about many different topics. In order to help them consider a wide range of topics, they began to gather their opinions. I designed this think sheet to double as a cover for a book if they wanted to dig in deeper about their opinions. Here is one of the think sheets after the day they received them.

Starting at the top and moving clockwise, Lex collects his favorite opinions:

• I like my dog because she is nice.
• My family is the best forever ever family ever.
• My mom and dad are the best parents ever.
• Chicken strips are the best ever.

Favorite #3

I like Urban Legends. I really like the $250 Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie Urban Legend. For the tale and the recipe, check it out here. It was probably 1997 when this recipe was emailed to me and I’ve been making them ever since. Last week I realized it had been a very long time since we made these. I picked up a couple of fair trade chocolate bars to use instead of the Hershey bar and realized these don’t last nearly as long as they did before we had kids!

Favorite #4

This quote:

“I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.” 
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh