The Books of May

May has been an absolutely crazy month for me. The good news is, in two weeks I will have finished my student teaching and my teaching credential! Phew!

In any case, reading is still my therapy, even in reduced doses. Here was my prescription for May:

Magic Study - Maria Snyder - This is the second book to Poison Study that I read last month. I wasn't sure if it could be as good as the first one, but it was! Still had a few adult moments it could have done without.

Love, Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli - A wonderful sequel to the original book Stargirl (which is fantastic). Very fun, very deep. Easy to read and makes you really think.

The Higher Power of Lucky - Susan Patron - This book won the 2007 Newberry Award so I've been wanting to read it. I'm sorry to say it was a bit of a disappointment. It's a good story, but it really didn't wow me at all. It's similar to Because of Winn-Dixie (one of my all-time favorite books) only it wasn't as good.

The Grand Tour - Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer - This is the second book to Sorcery and Celia that I read last month. It was unfortunately not as good as the first (loved the first one). It was a good story and by about half way through the book I was into it, but it started rather slow.

Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff - I loved this book! It was a Newberry Honor and I can see why. The narrator has a great voice and makes you love her. It's a quick read and I've heard they made it into a movie. Now I've got to watch it!

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony - Eoin Colfer - I have been a huge Artemis Fan since the first book came out. This is the latest book (#5) and the next book is due out this summer. If you haven't read this yet, and you like Harry Potter, get reading! They are great.

That's it for May. Now I need to start gathering my vacation books. Thanks to all of you who have given me some good ideas. Keep sharing!

Be Present

I read something recently that I've been thinking a lot about. It talked about really being present in the moment instead of dwelling on the past or imagining the future. I'm horrible at this. I am regularly dwelling on the past, imagining the future, or not in this dimesion at all.

This article talked about stopping every once in a while to see what your senses are telling you about the moment you are in. Just stop and actually take in what your eyes are seeing. Then focus on anything you are smelling. What are the sounds around you? What tastes are in your mouth? What is your skin feeling?

By nature the human brain has to filter out everything our senses are sending us every minute of the day or we'd go stark raving mad. But every once in a while, see what they're telling you about the minute you're in.

I've done this a few times over the last little while and it's so interesting. I'll hear something I didn't know was there. Or I'll notice the sun warming my skin. It's a good way to tune into the present moment and just exist there.

Dance!

It's back! My other favorite tv show, So You Think You Can Dance, begins Thursday May 22 (yes, that's tomorrow!) I absolutely love watching the amazing choreography on this show. My kids and I have a tradition. When we watch the show, during commercials we turn on music and DANCE! Who says tv isn't an aerobic activity?

Check out more HERE.

Found Poetry

I did a lesson with my juniors this week that turned out quite fun. I introduced them to "found poetry" which is taking existing texts and refashioning them and presenting them as poems. It's the literary equivalent of a collage, and can be made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

To give my students examples, I made two found poems of my own. The first one is taken from page 111 of The Catcher in the Rye. All I did was pull out phrases, and voila!

The Catcher in the Rye – page 111

Oh, Romeo and Juliet
I liked it a lot
I didn’t like it
It was quite moving on the whole.

I never liked Romeo too much
It was Romeo’s fault
It drives me crazy if somebody gets killed
And it’s somebody’s fault.

Romeo and Juliet
At least it was their own fault.

I then tried to use a more random text and opened up to page 95 of my Hawaii tour book. Here's what I ended up with:

Frommer’s Hawaii 2008 – page 95

Hawaiian kahuna
North Shore
Windward side
White-sand beaches
Across the barren blue of the Pacific.

Beyond Waikiki
Polynesian heritage
Slack-key guitar
Big blue sky
Snorkel in a crystal clear lagoon.

Once you have that, the rest is easy.

Isn't that fun? (Yes, English nerd, I hear you say.) My students were really surprised with the cool poems they came up with. I thought they did a great job!

Try it yourself. Grab a book, magazine, newspaper and pull phrases out of it. You are a poet and don't know it!

The Ten Tenors

I found a new favorite group - The Ten Tenors!

My favorite TV show is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I am a faithful watcher. Last night was the season finale and they built a home in New Orleans. During the course of the show, they had a Hero's Dinner for a large group of people that have been working tirelessly to return New Orleans and its people to the pre-Hurricane Katrina glory. During this dinner The Ten Tenors came out and sang the song "Here's to the Heros" and it was unbelievable!

I guess I'm out of the loop, because I've never heard of this amazing group from Australia. They are now my new favorite. Their music absolutely melts my socks!!!

Here's their video for "Here's to the Heros" - Prepare to melt.

Can You Smell It?

My kids and I got on this kick a couple of days ago. We were talking about strong smells and the memories they produce. For example, all I need is a whiff of a pine tree and dirt and I feel like I'm camping in the mountains as a kid. There's actually a spot at my daughter's school, right by a beautiful redwood, that I like to stop by and open the window. Takes me right back to Princess Campground.

We started thinking of other smells... What do you think of when I say, "sunblock"? Did you smell it? I'll bet you did! Did you think of the beach? The pool? How about chlorine? Did you just smell that too? Isn't this fun?

We've been thinking of smells and randomly telling them to one another. Here are some of the ones we thought of (I'll let them bring back your own memories):

Fresh baked cookies
Eucalyptus (Vicks?)
Oranges
The theater (sawdust and paint!)
The school gym
Gasoline
The ocean
Cedar wood
Dirt
Rain
Dad's fishing car
Watermelon
Lavender

Did you smell them as you read them? We think it's cool that the brain can do that. What are some of the strong smells you can think of? What does it remind you of?

Hello Heat!

Hooray! It was the first real hot day of the year! I'm so very excited. I've waited for this day for months. It doesn't get hot here very often. It sort of drives me crazy. Even in the middle of August you have to wear a sweater in the mornings or evenings. Some people may like that. But I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley and I'm not warm until it hits 80.

It hit 90 today! And it's supposed to be hotter tomorrow. The kids and I spent an hour at the pool this afternoon to celebrate! Besides, we all have to work on our tans. We don't want to scare anyone with our pasty whiteness in Hawaii. OK, my kids look fine, I'm the one who looks ghostly. But not for long!

Sanctuary at the Secret Beach

Once again I spent an entire Saturday morning working on lesson plans. My kids finally grabbed me by the face and said, "Let's get out of here!" They insisted that it was Mother's Day weekend and they needed to spend time with their mother.

So I left my books, my computer, my laundry, my worries (I wish) all at home and we hopped into the car. We headed over to the coast and found a magnificent place! We took a hiking trail that wound around the cliffs of the coast for about a half an hour until we found a path that went down to a secret beach.

There were cliffs in a crescent shape around a cove of cream sand (and lots of seaweed - the tide was out). There were a couple of caves and a really cool fern grotto. It was just like something smack out of Pirates of the Caribbean.

The kids played in the waves and on the sand. My son found a 10' long rope of seaweed that was 4' thick on one end and tapered to a point on the other. It was progressively a jump rope, Indiana Jones' whip, and a tail. My daughter found sea glass and decorated a sand castle.

I sat on the warm sand and breathed. Breathing is good. Breathing outside is really good. Breathing outside on a secret beach staring out over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean is unparalleled.

I think I can make it through another day.

Brilliant Books to Movie Magic

I got a list today from a fellow English teacher that made my socks go up and down! It's a list of brilliant books that have plans to be made into a movie. There are some really good ones coming up and I'm so excited! Here are a few of the good ones...

Chasing Vermeer
City of Ember
Dragon Riders of Pern
Ender's Game
The Giver
I'd Tell You I Love You...
Inkheart
Life of Pi
Magic Kingdom for Sale
Peter and the Starcatchers
Stargirl
Tale of Despereaux
Twilight! (of course)

Some of these have information on them on www.imdb.com.
Isn't that an awesome list! I can't wait!

The Power of Chocolate

My goal for May has been to get myself bathing-suit ready for Hawaii. I've been really good for 7 days now - eating more healthy food and exercising!

This afternoon I've been majorly stressing over the fact that I have to introduce "The Catcher in the Rye" to my Juniors on Friday and I have no idea what to do. (OK, I could just hand them the book and say "go for it" but I don't think that's particularly inventive.)

Finally fed up, I did what I do best under stress, I marched to the kitchen and looked for chocolate. I found half a brownie in plastic wrap that I stuck behind the crackers a week ago. I promptly inhaled it and (seriously!) within 5 minutes I had an earth-shakingly good idea!

Why do I limit my intake on this brain food? Think of how creative I could be if I ate stock in See's candy. (OK we won't mention that my "creativity" could go up a few sizes!)

However, I felt the need to write this blog and proclaim the power of chocolate. I'm living proof it works.

I Wanna Trade with the Cat

Yeah, I'd like to do this for a while.

The cat doesn't have to do hours of lesson plans a day. The cat doesn't have to do an overwhelming portfolio for a credential class. The cat doesn't have to clean the condo from top to bottom because the landlady just called to say she's selling the place.

The cat could care less if the garden needs watering, the t.p. is getting low, the fridge is empty, and the laundry could probably eat a small child. Nope. Just give her a place to flop and she's happy. And she can be happy because that's all she's expected to do.

OK, this is from the person who can't sleep in past 7:30 am and who can't go to bed if the kitchen isn't clean. If I laid down on the carpet to flop, I'd last about a minute and a half. But only because I can see the dustballs under the couch from there.

It's just been one of those days... uh, weeks... hmm, months. Six more weeks of student teaching. Then move over kitty... because I am seriously going to flop.