Today, on Poetry Friday, I want to celebrate the poet Jack Prelutsky. I own several of his holiday poem books, gifted to me by my mom who used them for years in her third grade classroom. Subsequently, I used them for years for my third grade writer’s circle. Jack Jack Prelutsky is an American born…
What gets you up and going in the morning? Routine? A special project? Work? A commitment? Something else? This morning my youngest was up and out before 6 a.m.! He was going to see visit his girlfriend at college. His motivation to go was obvious. He wanted to see her. When I looked at my…
Today, the school year kicks off in our local communities here in the Coulee Region of Wisconsin. Most, not all, are entering this year on a virtual platform as opposed to in-person, classroom learning. While the majority of students were exposed to an online learning environment last spring, it was brief if you consider how…
My poem this week is inspired by all the children returning to school. It is a time of year that I am fond of because of the sense of newness and anticipation for the year ahead. While this year will be a year like no other, I think the sense of anticipation can still be…
Words need more substance than just inclusion in verbiage. There needs to be meaning AND intent behind them. While in grad school for my Environmental Education degree, we were asked in one of the theory courses whether education (about the environment) is enough (for community members). Is knowing about environmental problems and issues like the…
This is an unusual time, of that there is no doubt. But, in some respects, life must move forward. I have a son moving out, he’s 20 and going to start college again in the fall as a transfer student. He attended a college two states away for a year, as a 2018 HS graduate….
Sunday was a gray, overcast day and as it went on, my mood soured. I attributed this change in my emotions to the weather until I went on an errand late in the day. A father, presumably of a 2020 graduate in a neighboring town was in front of me in line at the fabric…
We have to learn to allow for mistakes. During this time of the COVID 19 pandemic, we’ve seen teachers quickly change gears from one learning platform to another. Students had to follow suit, just as quickly, as classes went from in-person to screens over the course of a weekend. But, are we allowing for mistakes? …
My post today was inspired by another blogger that I follow, M.B. Henry. Her posts are usually historical in content, well written, and enjoyable to read. I read a recent post from her yesterday in which she was touched by the kindness of a stranger. Like her, I was also touched by kindness but that…
At 3:30 a.m., I arose from my bed after lying there for over an hour, not sleeping. Nights are sometimes hard for me. I go to bed and my mind refuses to shut down. Or, it shuts down for a short time and then ramps back up again as bothersome issues rise to the surface…