Saturday, October 29, 2011

Creative Writing Resources


For materials specific to poetry, please see this post.


And, on to some fun online resources...


Letters About Literature has a great lesson plan and teacher resources







Friday, October 28, 2011

Super Sniffer Dog Needed!

Please help this family. Their son, Lincoln, has life threatening food allergies. His reactions are getting worse and worse...he could die because of something the rest of us take for granted.

I have a life threatening food allergy to milk, and I know the terror of eating something that you think is safe, only to find yourself in an ER with a doctor and team of nurses debating another round of medications versus intubation. Thankfully I've never been intubated due to my allergy, but I've been lucky. I've had close calls...

A food allergy reaction can happen in seconds, and can be deadly. Lincoln's family is trying to raise funds for a specially trained service dog that can detect certain allergens hidden in foods. This dog could literally save Lincoln's life. These dogs are expensive...and to make things more complicated, Lincoln can only have certain breeds of dogs becuase, you guessed it, he's allergic to dogs too. This adds to the cost as the least allergenic dogs happen to cost a lot of money.

I know this family, and love and adore them. Please consider a donation to their super sniffer dog fun. If you aren't sure, just imagine your own child laying lifeless on an ER bed as doctors and nurses try to revive your child. It isn't something any parent should ever have to face. My son has food allergies, but thankfully they have gotten less and less severe, unlike Lincoln's. Even if you can only help with a few dollars, they will appreciate it.

Next week, I will share an interview with Lincoln's family.

To donate:

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Writing assignment....The Autobiography of a Place...

I have a writing assignment for you...or for your children...or for anyone you think might be interested.  This idea came to me while I was in the car, listening to the radio, but I have no idea what sparked the idea...

Write an autobiography of a place

Autobiography of a place?  Yep...choose a location - it could be as simple as your home, or a bar stool, or as expansive as your country.  Choose your bed, the space immediately in front of the bathroom sink, or the highway.  Choose a place.
  • If you were to embody that place, what would your autobiography say?  Would your story be about how you came into existence?  Or the people that have traveled through or on you?  If you choose your house, who has lived in you (both now and in the past)?
Be creative, be wild, but be believable...  
  • If your place could speak, what kind of voice would it have?  What kind of tone, or language, or vocabulary would your place use?
What would be the highs and lows of your place's existence?  What would your place cite as its reason for existence? 
  • What are the core truths of your place?  What would your place's beliefs be?  (I am curious to know if your place's beliefs are also your beliefs, or would your place have different ideas?)
Let your imagination run wild, but keep it your tone and language for continuity.  Use the voice you imagine for your place, and try to keep your own voice in the background.  Create images with your words.  
  • Choose a specific incident in your place's history, or write broadly about your place's entire existence.  But, write in the voice, or from the point of view, of your place.
Keep in mind that an autobiography should be written in the first person (I was born... I went...  She walked over me...).  Write as if you are the place.
  • Share your response here in a comment, or on your blog and leave the link in the comments here.  I'd love to read what you come up with!  And, use any genre or style that you think best suites the story you wish to tell...

Imagine mosaic in Central Park, New York City

Friday, October 21, 2011

In the kitchen...









From Belarus - a Russian fairy tale scene

The Baltic Sea, Poland

Hilarious card received from a girl in Great Britain



Get the kids involved in the planning!

Gnorm, updating our map.
Decide on materials to bring along...


Mt. Shasta in California

On the road, you see lots of interesting vehicles.

When possible, visit historic sites...



Mt. Rushmore!




Don't drive through Idaho at night...scary!
Gnorm the Traveling Gnome helped us keep track of our travels.

Parting tips...

Montana -gorgeous!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Geography - Landforms Notebook

As part of his Social Studies curriculum this year, I decided to have JP create a Landforms Notebook. When I was in the 3rd grade, we did a huge project on landforms. We learned about peninsulas, archipelagos, isthmuses, and more. Somehow, my son didn't get all of those lessons. I don't recall what land form he didn't know, but I was recently shocked when he asked for a definition. Since I learned all of those things in the 3rd grade, I assumed my son had to. Wrong! So, we are filling in a gap! Feel free to use this landforms notebook page for your own students. All I ask is that you not sell, or distribute the page, and please give credit where credit is due. This is my own creation, and I retain copyright. Feel free to refer people back to this page to print out the notebooking page themselves. Thanks! Clicking on the link will take you to where you can download and print the worksheet.

Landforms Notebook

On to other you enjoy popcorn? Do you buy those prepackaged microwave things to pop your own? Don't do it! Instead, grab a clean paper bag and popcorn kernels. Measure out 1/4 to 1/2 cup of kernels, and pour them into the bag. Fold the top over tightly several times, and put it in the microwave. Hit your "popcorn" button, if you have one, or set the time, and push start! Stay nearby so you can listen (and smell) for the popcorn to be done popping. I used a paper bag that was a bit bigger than a lunch bag size and 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels. I had to pop my popcorn an extra minute (our "popcorn" button is 3 minutes), but it turned out terrifically! Light, and fluffy! I sprinkled nutritional yeast (gives a cheesy flavor and is perfect for those of us with a dairy allergy) over a bowlful, and JP melted some margarine and put that plus a bit of salt over his popcorn.

I have read that you can do the same thing with a bowl instead of a paperbag.  We don't happen to have any bowls the right size, with lids.  Forget those contraptions that are purposely for popping popcorn in the microwave too.  They are nice, but why bother when a paper bag or regular (microwave safe) bowl will do the job?

Sprinkled with nutritional yeast.
Did you catch my post on my crazy reading spree? If not, I'll briefly fill you in. I counted all of the books I have been reading, plus my haul from the library, and have 37 books on my reading list! As of today, I am done with three and have 34 more to go! My goal is to read them all (or at least the vast majority) by December 1st. As I finish books, I am putting a line through them, and adding the finish date in the original post. I'll periodically be posting my thoughts on what I've read...expect a post in a day or two about Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire, Jack Kerouac's Heaven and Other Poems, Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree, Ian McEwan's black dogs (lack of caps intended...), Jill Smolinski's The Last Thing on My List, and perhaps a few others...  What are you reading?