Unrealistic expectations #SOLSC23

Dear March,

We want you to be something you are not, and we are sorry for that. I know. Our expectations are too high! But here’s the thing. You get us all excited when you warm up, but then there you go being all raw and windy again. What’s up with that? You can’t do that to us! Our sugar maples are chugging along doing their job, and then they get stuck.

You’re such a tease. You let our spring bulbs and forsythia think they have a chance and then WHAM! You bury them under snow and ice. Pretty soon they’re gonna give up trying, you know. And don’t get me started on the poor spring peepers and wood frogs. Come on! The poor things just finished up their state of torpor, and they’re all excited to get their spring thing on. The skunk cabbage is out, so it’s so confusing. Stop messing with them!

So what do you say? Keep being winter until it’s time to be spring. OK?

Sincerely,

New England

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

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Currently #SOLSC23

Today I was out of town attending a teacher conference, so I’m serving up a Currently Slice, one of my go-to quickie Slices when I’m short of time and/or brain power, but I want to keep up my writing streak.

I am currently…

Reveling in my first in-person educator conference today. It was my first Massachusetts Environmental Education Society Conference, which was energizing!

Watching “Walking Hadrian’s Wall with Robson Green” on PBS this evening. I worked on an archaeological dig at a Roman supply fort along Hadrian’s Wall back in 2012, and I’ve been waiting for this program to air in the U.S.

Reading Murder in Old Bombay: A Mystery by Nev March. I love period true crime and mysteries!

Listening to “You’re Dead to Me,” a hilarious podcast from the BBC for history lovers.

Hoping our teacher’s union and School Committee can agree on a contract with our assigned mediator. We’ve been working without a contract all year, and it’s really taking a toll on morale.

Waiting for Spring!

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

A Day of Firsts #SOLSC23

Tomorrow is a day of FIRSTS.

I will be attending my FIRST in-person educator conference in three years — first since “the before times.” I have to admit it feels a little something. Not sure what yet. I’ll let you know. The last conference I went to was NCTE in Baltimore in November 2019 — “the before times.” That feels so long ago!

I will be attending my FIRST Massachusetts Environmental Education Society Conference. As one of my colleagues jokingly said, “So you are hanging out with tree huggers for the day.” Yes, exactly. And I’m looking forward to it. I’m a tree hugger, bird nerd, frog fanatic, and vernal pool enthusiast, what can I say?

I will be driving to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA for the FIRST time, and by myself, I might add. It’s about a 45-minute all-highway drive at 7:00 AM, so that should be fun.

I will be going to MEES alone, which is a FIRST. I usually meet up with friends or colleagues when I go to educator conferences.

I wonder what other FIRSTS might happen tomorrow? Stay tuned!

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

But would it actually work? #SOLSC23

“But would it actually work?”

“How will the chickens access the water?”

“What purpose does this part serve?”

These are all questions I found myself asking my Kindergarten designers and engineers on Friday during our Chicken Bowl STEM challenge. They were asked to design something that would keep water, essential to the survival of chickens, from freezing during the cold Winter months.

Students worked all week long on what looked like the craziest contraptions! They all started with the same plastic bowl and were asked to build something to go either over, around, under, or any combination of these out of recycled materials. Some completely blocked the water source so chickens would have no chance of accessing it or required them to drink through a straw. Others left the bowl unprotected, but featured wild constructions off to the side.

I found myself shaking my head and getting frustrated, but then I reminded myself that they:

• are six years old
• drew design plans and labeled them
• collaborated with a partner
• presented their designs with the document camera on the big screen to the whole class, taking feedback from classmates
• chose their own materials and created prototypes
• met with another design team for feedback
• had fun

So who cares!

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

Soup’s up! #SOLSC23

It snowed all through the night and into Saturday. Our first significant snowfall of the year. Imagine that. For New England, March 4th is pretty late for a first storm. Ultimately, we only got about 4″ in my neck of the woods, but it was the heavy wet stuff. “Heart attack snow,” we call it.

My husband and I shoveled and cleaned up for about 45 minutes and that was that. Done. Amazing! It usually takes hours to clean up after our typical storms. Sweet! He went inside to change, but I said I wanted to fix up our bird feeders. We have two feeder stations — one in the front of the house and one in the backyard. I had noticed most of the feeders were either empty or buried in snow.

Out came the black-oil sunflower seed, thistle seed, cracked corn with dried mealworms, and suet. And within minutes, the birds descended and the happy chorus began. They must have been hungry, and maybe even watching to see when someone would clear a place at the table for them. So many birds came at once, that I grabbed my phone and fired up my Merlin app to preserve the moment.

The Red-tailed hawk kept a watchful eye over all of us! And add to this list the White-breasted Nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncoes, Tufted Titmice, and American Robins, who joined the party after I went indoors. It pays to keep your feeders filled. You never know who may show up!

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

Best day ever! #SOLSC23

“This was the best day ever, Mrs. Wyman!” This meant so much to hear yesterday. It came from a Kindergarten student who has found adjusting to school tricky. They show up every day, and are making friends, but for whatever reason, school just doesn’t seem to be of interest. Picking at the carpet and a hangnail is of interest. Staring out the window or resting their head on their desk works. Frequent trips to the bathroom work, too. They are a tough nut to crack, and it’s already March, but I’m determined!

So what was different about yesterday? We had a STEM challenge to work on. This involved choosing a partner, drawing a plan, “shopping” for materials, building a prototype, receiving feedback from another design team, and lots of movement. Now I know what works for them, and my challenge is to find a way to somehow incorporate this “secret sauce” into other parts of our day and curriculum areas.

We can’t have them moving on to First Grade with only one “best day ever” behind them.

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

Did you see them? #SOLSC23

Did you see them last night? In the words of the amazing Dr. Brian May (astronomer and Queen guitarist extraordinaire) “Venus and Jupiter were kissing.” They passed each other (what’s referred to as a conjunction — a perfect term for a writing group!), finishing up their transition earlier in the day, and then around 6:30 pm last night, they were shining brilliantly in the western sky together.

My husband was heading out to pick up some payday Pad Thai when he called to me to come quick. “What’s that?” he said. “Let me get my phone. I just downloaded the Night Sky app,” I replied. I’d been meaning to do this for a while and something triggered this memory in my brain and I did it just days ago! Sure enough, the app confirmed what we were seeing. I also checked my Instagram feed to see if the recently knighted Dr. May, whom I follow, had shared anything about it, and indeed he had. Another confirmation! (He recommends the free Sky Guide app, BTW, so I’ll be giving that a go.)

How could these celestial beauties be so close to us and burning so brightly? And to think Dr. May, all the way over in the UK, and I were watching the same thing at roughly the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I won’t soon forget it. For that one moment in time, the world felt incredibly small.

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

Look who’s here! #SOLSC23

The school day is over and I couldn’t wait to get home.

Look! Leigh Anne is here!

I resisted temptation all day long, but now it’s time.

Awesome! Cathy decided to come!

I changed into my comfies, I’ve got my mug of tea, a few cookies, and…

Yeah! Jen was here!

…let’s read some Slices!!!

There’s Margaret!

It was so hard not to sneak a peek during the school day.

So many first-timers!

I had a few chances, but I know from six years of experience, it’s a slippery slope. I needed to stay focused on my Kindergarten students. Plenty of time to read and respond this afternoon and evening.

It’s like a party! So many friends are here, and so many new people to meet.

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

Slicing Etheree #SOLSC23

Happy opening day, all. SOLSC opening day, that is. This is my sixth year participating and I’m excited to get started and read everyone else’s small moments. My opening Slice for this season is in the form of an etheree, a poem of ten lines. Each line has the number of syllables in the line’s number — one in one, two in two, etc… I came to this form from Stacey Joy’s Ethical ELA post from February 22. You can read it here. Here we go!

Write

all month

the stories

of your life and

share them with the world.

Stories so small they might

pass you by if you don’t stop

to notice them. They can be shy,

but with care and attention, Slices

bring laughter, tears, hope to those who read them.

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March. Happy Slicing!

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do…” #SOLC20 #SOL20

The final two lines of Mary Oliver’s ubiquitous poem, “The Summer Day” have been haunting me the last week or so. (You may read the poem in its entirety here.) 

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?” 

Uncertainty and fear surround us daily, yet I can’t help but think that this moment provides an opportunity for each of us to accomplish something during this unprecedented “wild and precious” time. Maybe something big, or perhaps something small that relates directly to our current situation like…

• volunteering
• sewing masks
• safely checking in on neighbors
• staying in touch with family
• rekindling friendships

Or even things like reading that book you’ve always wanted to read, or practicing your water coloring or poetry writing skills, getting the yard spring ready, visiting that trail you’ve always wanted to walk on.

When the light at the end of the tunnel appears, and it will, what will I have done? I don’t want to reach the other side and think I really wish I had…

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Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today and every day this month. Many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every day during March and each Tuesday throughout the year! Some of you I will see tomorrow for the launch of #NationalPoetryMonth and my #ThoreaulyInspired daily poem project, and for the rest of you, I hope to see you back here in a week. Be safe. Be well.