Celebration Saturday

 I'm so happy that Ruth Ayres started a Celebrate Link-Up on her blog!!!  I will be joining the celebration every Saturday!!

 

Celebrations this week:

 

1.  On Sunday I put Christmas decorations up - even though I felt slightly nostalgic for when Christmases were a bit more chaotic with young children around and visiting parents, I can also look forward to a quiet celebration of the holidays.  The mixed reactions to my Slice of Life on Tuesday made me realize that while some readers understood my bittersweet feelings, others were jealous of my calm surroundings. ;-)

 

2.  My fifth graders and I celebrated our Scholastic Pajama Drive by wearing slippers and cuddling with favorite stuffed animals during a D.E.A.R. day on Monday.  There's just about nothing that my students love more than a class period devoted to silent reading.  Each class is holding up the pajamas the students donated and showing off their slippers and stuffed animals.  The last picture captures the joys of silent reading - everyone in his/her own world. I look forward to delivering the pjs to our local drop-off center for the Pajama Program.  I reported the number of pjs collected (45), and they'll donate 45 books to the charity.  That's a reason to celebrate!!

 

 

 

 

3.  Snow day!  Need I say more?  I love all the snow this December.  I sure hope it lasts until Christmas!

 

4.  My first Christmas present from a student - a book!  I love that one of my sweet fifth graders got a book signed for me called Lost and Found: Stories of Chirstmas by Reverend Wendell E. Mettey. 

 

5.  I love the activity in my classroom this week.  In fifth grade we're working around the theme topic FEAR and having great discussions over articles and video clips that expand our thinking about fear.  The kids are also writing scripts adapted from their small group books that were chosen around the same theme topic.  In sixth grade, students chose partner/group books from the multiple copies in our school library, and we're close reading for evidence of how an author creates mood and conveys a theme.  I'm also reading Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli aloud to my 6th grade classes.  Spinelli provides us with such rich discussions about point of view with his narrator, who is a young orphan boy living through the Holocaust.  Because he doesn't understand fully what's going on, it provides a challenging text - lots of inferences needed!  The kids are fascinated with this topic, and I love the talk that's coming out of it. 

 

6.  I mentioned in an earlier Celebration blog post that my oldest daughter, Libby, landed a summer internship with Smuckers.  They sent her and the other upcoming interns a Christmas gift full of their products to welcome them to their team.  I thought that was so generous!

 

7.  Christmas cards are starting to arrive.  I LOVE receiving Christmas cards and display them on a wall in our house.  Seeing all those pictures of friends and family makes me happy!  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten our cards made yet!  On my list....

 

8.  It was fun celebrating  friend's 50th birthday this week.  I chose to do that instead of my #nerdlution goals that day - it was worth it!  Bravo's food, great wine, and good conversation!

Speaking of #nerdlution, it's still going strong!  I love reading the Tweets about it each day, and all the encouragements and celebrations - even the struggles are inspiring.  None of us grows without struggle.  For anyone who hasn't heard about it, it's not too late to join in!  Read Chris Lehman's post to catch up on what it's all about.  Kevin Hodgson's tweets and blog posts are awesome, too! I've loved the writing and exercise time I've increased since setting my goals.

 

9. I learned Megan Ginther and I will be presenting at the Dublin Literacy Conference!  Yay!  This is one of my favorite conferences, and I'm so excited to be a part of it in this way.

 

10.  College daughter is home for the winter break!  The funny thing is, I haven't seen her yet!  She was gone on a date with her boyfriend by the time I got home from school and got home late at night while I was asleep.  She still hasn't woken up this morning.  There is concrete evidences she's home though....all her stuff is piled up in the hallway and kitchen! ;-)

 

What are YOUR celebrations this week?