Ordinary Magic

I'm Celebrating this Past Week!

Writer and educator, Ruth Ayers at https://ruthayreswrites.com/celebrate-link-up/ created Celebrate This Week, a community of writers that write about their week’s celebrations, whether ordinary or extraordinary. I decided to gather some of my celebrations from this past week here, today.

Poetry Celebration #1!

Each Friday, not only on my blog, but at school, I like to take the time to celebrate poetry. I share a “Poetry Break!” with the entire school, by reading a poem on the morning announcements. Yesterday, to wrap up Random Acts of Kindness Week, I read Eileen Spinelli’s “How to Love Your Little Corner of the World.”  It’s one of my favorite poems. It's one I've copied into my Poetry Journal and created a collage for. It was appreciated by many staff members as well as some students who commented that they liked the poem that I shared on the announcements. I love that I can reach the whole school by sharing a “Poetry Break!” on the announcements!  It's a great way to begin our day.

Poetry Celebration #2!

A second celebration around poetry also occurred yesterday. I call each Friday, Poetry Friday and share poetry with my Book Clubs (also known as my reading intervention groups). I read aloud poetry, have s collection of poetry books for students to peruse, give out poems to read and sometimes illustrate with a sketch, and many other activities that involve poetry. Students love Poetry Friday in my Book Clubs!  I know this because they tell me so each week. As a matter of fact, yesterday, one of my fourth grade boys commented, “Why do we only get to have Poetry Friday?  Why not Poetry all the time?”  My response was that we also had many books that we would be reading.  Another student replied, “Yeah, we should have Poetry Friday and Poetry Monday!”  I thought about how excited these kids were to have time built into their day to spend with poems. I decided that I will add poetry into each day that I see my Book Clubs. After all it takes a minute or less to read aloud a poem.

I Won a Scholarship!

I'm so excited that after applying for a scholarship, I won!  The scholarship will allow me the opportunity to attend the New York State Library Association’s annual Conference!  I've not yet been able to attend one. So this May I'll be attending the NYLA SSL Annual Conference!  Here's a link to the list of amazing speakers https://sites.google.com/view/nyla-ssl2019/home. I love learning from authors, educators, and other speakers!  I also submitted a proposal to present at the conference. I'm still waiting to find out if it was accepted.

New and Improved Reader and Writer!

To wrap up my celebrations for this week, I'll add that I signed up for two writing courses through SUNY Broome’s  Continuing Education program. I can't wait to participate in them!  I've also been in touch with a couple of authors regarding the NYSRA Charlotte Book Award and not only considering their books for the Ballots but also to set up interviews that I'll feature here.

I feel as though each day I come closer and closer to the reader and writer that I once was. Not only do I feel that I am nearer to her, but I feel as if I am a new and improved improved reader and writer. I'm a better version of each because all my experiences from the last few years have had a tremendous impact on my growth and learning.