Clan Donaldson: Theme Thursday: Boys
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Boy Cubs
It is always fun to play with Cari Donaldson of Clan Donaldson. I miss playing with her in real life since she had the audacity to get up and move to CONNECTICUT!
She stokes my artistic spirit which I am afraid stays dormant most of the time now.....
Theme Thursday is a subject I know a lot a lot about - BOYS! And what is cuter than a cub scout....
Here is the original....
Ryan's most amazing photobomb! And his big brother ( on the left) is obviously used to it and doesn't flinch....
Here is is again, cropped, brightened a bit and given a Sketchedy frame from the picmonkey.com site where I edit and jazz up my photos.
Here is is again, with a little grain for effect.....
And my favorite part....doctoring!
Boys are fun.
She stokes my artistic spirit which I am afraid stays dormant most of the time now.....
Theme Thursday is a subject I know a lot a lot about - BOYS! And what is cuter than a cub scout....
Here is the original....
And my favorite part....doctoring!
Boys are fun.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Yes, YOU need to come to RISE!
I am popping on to share information about the Tennessee branch of the IDA's terrific annual conference. I am heading to Knoxville this weekend to iron out all the little pre-conference details with the other board members and thought I would spread the word.
RISE CONFERENCE
Our conference is our biggest outreach to parents, teachers, paraprofessionals and anyone else affected by dyslexia and its related learning issues. There are workshops for the new, nervous parents and workshops for trained professionals - everyone can find something to expand their awareness and find out ways to help the people in their lives.
Knoxville.
Who needs to come?
Look at all the places within 300 miles! An easy drive to beautiful Knoxville!
And if you are wondering if it would be worth your time and money, spend a few minutes checking out this information presented on his website by our keynote speaker, David Boulton ( "Children of the Code")
Why should I care about reading?
Please share with any teacher or parent you may know who would be interested. They can email me if they have questions.
Pam
RISE CONFERENCE
Our conference is our biggest outreach to parents, teachers, paraprofessionals and anyone else affected by dyslexia and its related learning issues. There are workshops for the new, nervous parents and workshops for trained professionals - everyone can find something to expand their awareness and find out ways to help the people in their lives.
Knoxville.
Who needs to come?
Look at all the places within 300 miles! An easy drive to beautiful Knoxville!
And if you are wondering if it would be worth your time and money, spend a few minutes checking out this information presented on his website by our keynote speaker, David Boulton ( "Children of the Code")
Why should I care about reading?
Please share with any teacher or parent you may know who would be interested. They can email me if they have questions.
Pam
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas Eve 2012
The day started with me rolling out of bed, checking the oven and the Forgotten Cookies. This year, the bottoms burnt on one tray. HUGE BUMMER! I only make once batch a year, so yeah, bummer!
Daniel, realizing I haven't been tormented enough with the song " Christmas Shoes" this year, makes it his quest to drive me crazy - I keep finding it playing on laptops, embedded in links in my email.....he also sings it in his funny elf voice.
We found out that Evan's elf name is Squeezy McJingles, and no one can say it with a straight face. Speaking of Squeezy, Evan spent all morning helping me clean and cook and hugging me out of his sheer excitement about Christmas. Ryan on the other hand, keeps leaning on me because he has a cold. He was feverish the other day, but I know he is on the mend because he cannot.stop.complaining.about it.
Tonight is our annual Christmas Eve party. We basically invite a bunch of neighbors and friends that stay in town alone. It is great fun, it is a group of people who never cross paths except at our house Christmas Eve. Grammy makes her meatballs, Evan makes Rotel dip, Daniel makes deviled eggs, Ryan wraps the last of the gifts for me, and Mike goes out on the last errand run before the party. You know, the one where I call him 6 times and say, " Oh, one more thing, honey......" He really loves that. NOT.
Every year, the activities change. Some years, the kids play board games, other years they make a fire in the fire pit and run around playing hide and seek in the dark. One year, many moons ago, they all took turns running a plastic knife thru a candle flame in the dining room until I smelled burning plastic, caught them, and chased them away. They are now teenagers and laughed about this tonight. This year the activities seemed to be garage floor hockey and video games....
The gang hanging out.
The dads played a game called "Try to describe the Johnny Walker Using the Same Words That are on the Box's Description." Who would have guessed "dark chocolate" is an undertone? Not me!
The last friends left about 11pm and everyone changed their clothes and headed out to Midnight Mass. It was beautiful. We are so blessed to be able to see the face of God in Jesus. Such a simple gift, yet so profound. I was very blessed to have had my family and friends around me tonight at Mass.
After Mass, the kids convinced me we really could just stay up and open presents and that would be AWESOME! So we did.
Brothers give brothers the best presents!
Photobombing Evan's swag pile!
Every Christmas, I try to enjoy every minute and complain about nothing. For so many years, we added people to our Christmas. Babies were born, people married and we gained aunts, uncles, and cousins. We made new friends. One year, it dawned on me that one day, we would have to celebrate a Christmas with someone missing. Every year I worked really hard to enjoy all of it and be happy to have everyone around us. Last year was the first Christmas with someone missing and it was super hard. My goal was to make it whiz by and just get through it. Keeping up the tradition of a Christmas Eve party was a huge crutch that helped me get through last year. This year it was nice to be able to enjoy fun again.
I am now, officially too tired to edit my ramblings...Merry Christmas everyone!
Daniel, realizing I haven't been tormented enough with the song " Christmas Shoes" this year, makes it his quest to drive me crazy - I keep finding it playing on laptops, embedded in links in my email.....he also sings it in his funny elf voice.
We found out that Evan's elf name is Squeezy McJingles, and no one can say it with a straight face. Speaking of Squeezy, Evan spent all morning helping me clean and cook and hugging me out of his sheer excitement about Christmas. Ryan on the other hand, keeps leaning on me because he has a cold. He was feverish the other day, but I know he is on the mend because he cannot.stop.complaining.about it.
Tonight is our annual Christmas Eve party. We basically invite a bunch of neighbors and friends that stay in town alone. It is great fun, it is a group of people who never cross paths except at our house Christmas Eve. Grammy makes her meatballs, Evan makes Rotel dip, Daniel makes deviled eggs, Ryan wraps the last of the gifts for me, and Mike goes out on the last errand run before the party. You know, the one where I call him 6 times and say, " Oh, one more thing, honey......" He really loves that. NOT.
Every year, the activities change. Some years, the kids play board games, other years they make a fire in the fire pit and run around playing hide and seek in the dark. One year, many moons ago, they all took turns running a plastic knife thru a candle flame in the dining room until I smelled burning plastic, caught them, and chased them away. They are now teenagers and laughed about this tonight. This year the activities seemed to be garage floor hockey and video games....
"Don't worry that I am all dressed up nicely to serve Mass, I can play garage hockey in my suit, my mom doesn't mind!
The dads played a game called "Try to describe the Johnny Walker Using the Same Words That are on the Box's Description." Who would have guessed "dark chocolate" is an undertone? Not me!
 |
| Chris needed to phone a friend I guess. |
The last friends left about 11pm and everyone changed their clothes and headed out to Midnight Mass. It was beautiful. We are so blessed to be able to see the face of God in Jesus. Such a simple gift, yet so profound. I was very blessed to have had my family and friends around me tonight at Mass.
After Mass, the kids convinced me we really could just stay up and open presents and that would be AWESOME! So we did.
Brothers give brothers the best presents!
Every Christmas, I try to enjoy every minute and complain about nothing. For so many years, we added people to our Christmas. Babies were born, people married and we gained aunts, uncles, and cousins. We made new friends. One year, it dawned on me that one day, we would have to celebrate a Christmas with someone missing. Every year I worked really hard to enjoy all of it and be happy to have everyone around us. Last year was the first Christmas with someone missing and it was super hard. My goal was to make it whiz by and just get through it. Keeping up the tradition of a Christmas Eve party was a huge crutch that helped me get through last year. This year it was nice to be able to enjoy fun again.
I am now, officially too tired to edit my ramblings...Merry Christmas everyone!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
"Readicide"
I am currently reading the book Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher. It should be a must read for every parent sending their kids to school, no matter what the grade level. I am about halfway done and it has already hit all so many of the problems I see daily with my students.
1) Accelerated reading. This is the ultimate is setting kids up to fail.
2) Completely inane and contrived stories in reading texts.
3) Completely inane and contrived follow up questions with ridiculous multiple choice answers.
4) Novel studies that pick and pick and pick out every minutia in a great story until it becomes completely unbearable to read.
5) Reading logs that want me to record said minutia. This would seriously tempt me to write crazy things just to see if my teacher read them at all.
6) Teaching kids deep meaningful topics in a very shallow way, super fast......whoosh!........ so there is no time for them to develop an interest in a subject.
It is a very compelling book. Sadly, for some reason, educational practices are rarely founded as a result of good research, they are founded as fads. This hurts our kids and it kills their spirit, especially the ones who need help. Reading this book just put it into an even clearer perspective.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Books and Spinach
I loathe cooked spinach. When I used to watch Popeye cartoons, I would literally feel like gagging when he'd down the stuff right out of the can. I avoided it like the plague until I was an adult and had an amazing salad with these tasty green oval-shaped leaves...spinach. After discovering that maybe ALL forms of spinach aren't abhorrent, about 5 years ago I let my husband convince me to try Italian spinach, covered in cheese and garlic. YUM!
For a lot of kids who have reading issues, books are a lot like spinach. The thought of reading makes them ill, for some kids, literally, they get so nervous and stressed out, they make themselves sick. In order to learn to read, you have to read. If you can get kids reading SOMETHING enjoyable, it is a lot like the spinach - they might be willing to try again and could actually grow to enjoy it!
Once kids hit about 5th grade, I find that kids with reading issues tend to have a hard time finding things to read independently. They are very conscious of not reading "babyish" things, and it can be challenging to find reading material that is high interest and low stress. Here are some of my older students favorites...if you have any to share, post them in the comment section!
MCI Leveled Readers Notice the covers are not babyish, the topic matter is not babyish, but the reading level is about 2nd-3rd grade.
I have bought several of these Graphic Historical Stories from Timberdoodle. Kids often find the comic book format easier to read and the subjects are interesting and geared toward older kids. The students really like them and sometimes Timberdoodle has titles on sale for $2.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret was a HUGE hit in the 5th and 6th grade one year. The book was passed around and around and around. The librarian ordered more copies for the school. It was like a dare to finish because it is 550 pages long. The secret? Few pages are words, mostly pictures tell the story. Huge confidence booster to be able to carry around a gigantic book.
Series! Sometimes getting a kid to like one books, excited them enough to read the whole set. Rick Riordan has three series, two of which feature Percy Jackson, a dyslexic main character. Two of the most reluctant readers I know (one who belongs to me) started this series and is now motivated to read every one. As the series progresses, the reading level gets higher. Most of the time, the kids don't even notice and are thrilled when it is pointed out to them.
I am not biased on this just because I know the author personally, I promise! Michael Mullin writes a series of stories called TaleSpins. They are original, modern twists on familiar fairy tales written in verse. Verse! Yes, they rhyme! Young adults love them because they are edgy, honest and a little dark. Young adults who might not love to read love them because they are edgy, honest, a little dark - and SHORT. Characters stand out because they are smart, quirky, and nonconformist. One of them, Princess Penny, is also....guess what? Dyslexic! Mike is working on his next book, a twist on Jack and the Beanstalk. I am looking forward to that one - I always thought the Giant got a really bad rap!
A cushy sofa and fuzzy blanket go a long way to encourage reluctant readers :)
For a lot of kids who have reading issues, books are a lot like spinach. The thought of reading makes them ill, for some kids, literally, they get so nervous and stressed out, they make themselves sick. In order to learn to read, you have to read. If you can get kids reading SOMETHING enjoyable, it is a lot like the spinach - they might be willing to try again and could actually grow to enjoy it!
Once kids hit about 5th grade, I find that kids with reading issues tend to have a hard time finding things to read independently. They are very conscious of not reading "babyish" things, and it can be challenging to find reading material that is high interest and low stress. Here are some of my older students favorites...if you have any to share, post them in the comment section!
MCI Leveled Readers Notice the covers are not babyish, the topic matter is not babyish, but the reading level is about 2nd-3rd grade.
I have bought several of these Graphic Historical Stories from Timberdoodle. Kids often find the comic book format easier to read and the subjects are interesting and geared toward older kids. The students really like them and sometimes Timberdoodle has titles on sale for $2.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret was a HUGE hit in the 5th and 6th grade one year. The book was passed around and around and around. The librarian ordered more copies for the school. It was like a dare to finish because it is 550 pages long. The secret? Few pages are words, mostly pictures tell the story. Huge confidence booster to be able to carry around a gigantic book.
Series! Sometimes getting a kid to like one books, excited them enough to read the whole set. Rick Riordan has three series, two of which feature Percy Jackson, a dyslexic main character. Two of the most reluctant readers I know (one who belongs to me) started this series and is now motivated to read every one. As the series progresses, the reading level gets higher. Most of the time, the kids don't even notice and are thrilled when it is pointed out to them.
I am not biased on this just because I know the author personally, I promise! Michael Mullin writes a series of stories called TaleSpins. They are original, modern twists on familiar fairy tales written in verse. Verse! Yes, they rhyme! Young adults love them because they are edgy, honest and a little dark. Young adults who might not love to read love them because they are edgy, honest, a little dark - and SHORT. Characters stand out because they are smart, quirky, and nonconformist. One of them, Princess Penny, is also....guess what? Dyslexic! Mike is working on his next book, a twist on Jack and the Beanstalk. I am looking forward to that one - I always thought the Giant got a really bad rap!
A cushy sofa and fuzzy blanket go a long way to encourage reluctant readers :)
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