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Traditions...
Rituals...
Routines...
These are the words that tumbled through my mind as I contemplated the slice for today...I was able to live in two worlds today! The new and the known. It was a smooth blend of fulfilled expectations and hope for future connections.
I got to work with first graders on their writing today. I loved this because their pictures and writing were so sincere. We started our new unit on informative/expository writing today. The students shared experiences where they have seen people writing. One of the little darlings shared that he saw his dad writing the taxes! And another shared that he watched his mom write a grocery list. One of the rituals we've worked to improve was our "stretch it out, write what we hear, underline it and move on" routine for figuring out words we don't know how to spell. And we're getting better at it!
A new tradition was started today as I worked with some fifth graders who started to blog for the first time. They approached the new routine confidently as I showed them what to do. They decided the topic of their posts for today. The kids wrote about books, vacations, TV shows and the first day of school.
After school, I met up with fellow slicer Julie Johnson at Raising Readers and Writers for coffee while she's in town at her parents' house. She shared how coming up to visit during her spring break has become a bit of a tradition. We had a nice visit...talking about all things teaching, family, writing, and books. I am most excited to read A Snicker of Magic...Julie highly recommended it!
And the Ohio winter tradition we can't get a break from-more snow made its mark as well. As we chatted, the snow began to fall once again in pretty, large flakes. I thought that if this had been one of the first snows, everyone would have commented on its beauty...under the circumstances at this point, most would say "Not again!".
I headed for home and arrived in time for supper, clean-up and reading...but breaking from homework. And still the words tumbling in my mind...how do we keep these feeling fresh and new? Or is there more joy found in keeping things the same?
Routines...
Rituals...
Traditions...
Loved hearing about your first and fifth grade writers! Routines, rituals, and traditions are all important, Amy, but I think trying new things is one way to keep things fresh. It's a challenge, though, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt is all about balance isn't it? The need for routines, rituals, traditions is strong, yet keeping them fresh somehow is the key to their longevity I think. . . but my mind is rambling tonight :)))
ReplyDeletewww.parentingandpedagogy.blogspot.com
I just ordered that book! It is supposed to be here tomorrow but may have to wait for my spring break, which is next week.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we got to meet today. I had a great time catching up with you. Enjoy Snicker. :)
ReplyDeleteI enJOY reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely that you and Julie got to meet up today.
ReplyDeleteWe got snow here yesterday and overnight. Shockingly, I wasn't as annoyed as I expected to be with it. And now, it has all melted.
I love that you and Julie got to meet in person today and spend some quality time getting to know one another even better.
ReplyDeleteHow fabulous that you think about those 3 words - routines, rituals, traditions - these signify for me the very core of a solid workshop structure.
Yay for all the writing successes today!