Slice of Life Story Challenge

Day 5 of the March SOLSC! #sol14

Stacey Shubitz
WRITE. Every day in March write a slice of life story on your own blog. SHARE. Link your post in the comments on each daily call for slice of life stories here at TWT. GIVE. Comment on at least three other slice of life stories/blogs.
WRITE. Every day in March write a slice of life story on your own blog.
SHARE. Link your post in the comments on each daily call for slice of life stories here at TWT.
GIVE. Comment on at least three other slice of life stories/blogs.

Welcome to the fifth day of our 31 day writing challenge.  Are you having fun yet? What feels easy? What feels challenging? Please share your thoughts when you leave the link to your slice of life story. 

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION:

  • ICYMI: Did you miss the first four days of the challenge? You may still join us this month and be eligible for special prizes! In fact, you can start slicing as late as Friday, March 7th and still be in the running for a prize. Click here for more information about starting the challenge a few days late.
    • If this is the first time you’re participating in the Slice of Life Story Challenge, please let us know when you share your link as a comment.
  • Please use the SAME email/username information on all of your March comments.
  • In order to be in the running for a prize at the end of the month, you must leave the link to your slice of life story by 11:59 p.m. EST.
    • Reminder: Eastern Daylight Time begins on Sunday, March 9th. Posts will need to be linked by 11:59 p.m. EDT starting this Sunday.
    • Please play fair and leave only one link each day.
  • If you’ve never posted a comment on TWT before, or if your comment contains more than one hyperlink, then your comment will be held for moderation. I will monitor blog comments a few times today so I can approve comments that don’t post automatically. Therefore, there is no need to re-post your comment if it doesn’t appear after you click “post comment.”
    • Tech-related questions? Contact our Tech Support Team.
      • Beth Scanlon: scanlon.fefee[at]gmail[dot]com
      • Donna Smith: djtsmith[at]gmail[dot]com
  • If you haven’t filled out the participant information form, please do it today.  
  • Please include the permalink (aka: unique URL) to your post when you leave a comment. Click here and scroll to the “New to Slicing” section of the blog post where you’ll find two visuals that illustrate an example and a non-example of a permalink.
  • Please use #sol14 on tweets about Slice of Life Story Challenge.
  • Questions? Please contact one of our incredible concierges.
    • If your last name begins with A – M, your concierge is LeAnn Carpenter (aka: Elsie) – leannecarpenter[at]sbcglobal[dot]net.
    • If your last name begins with N– Z, your concierge is Amanda Villagomez (aka: Mrs. V.) – amandavillagomez[at]gmail[dot]com.

BE INSPIRED:

Julianne Harmatz (@jarhartz) created an erasure poem called “Code Switch,” which was inspired by a post Dana Murphy wrote here. The poem was created using a slice of life story she wrote. An erasure poem is a great way to try your hand at poetry while still conveying a narrative. If you want to try something different today, read Julianne’s “Code Switch” post and then have-a-go with an erasure poem today.

OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION:

Published by Stacey Shubitz

I am a literacy consultant who focuses on writing workshop. I've been working with K-6 teachers and students since 2009. Prior to that, I was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in New York City and Rhode Island. I'm the author of Craft Moves (Stenhouse Publishers, 2016) and the co-author of Jump Into Writing (Zaner-Bloser, 2021), Welcome to Writing Workshop (Stenhouse Publishers, 2019), and Day By Day (Stenhouse, 2010). I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, doing Pilates, cooking, baking, making ice cream, and reading novels.

272 thoughts on “Day 5 of the March SOLSC! #sol14”

  3. I am having fun! LOVE that I chose to write under a pseudonym so I’d be free to grouse or choose personal topics…write when I’m grumpy, write when I’m mad or sad as well as happy.

    What feels challenging is posting by midnight (never mind EST!) when I have so much teacher homework to do and so many family responsibilities to meet. Likely I won’t always make it.

    http://annedeeboyar.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/phew-posts-posts-everywhere/

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  20. Connections

    I am so proud that I am getting in the routine again of writing daily. It is such a great practice to take the time to reflect, compose, finesse words into sentences that track across the page on a journey to who knows where!

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  39. It’s been easier than I expected to come up with ideas and find time to write daily. (We’ll see if I still say that at the end of the month – ha!)
    The most challenging piece for me has actually been related to the classroom challenge. I don’t actually teach any writing this year; my students are either in my technology class or not even my students at all. They are a small group who volunteered to do this challenge with me which is awesome, but I see all these teaching points and have no time to teach them. It’s so frustrating!

    Anyway, here is my slice for today: http://www.qualityeducator.net/blog/busy-unaccomplishment/.

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  58. Day 5: I am new to slicing this year but I am excited about this new adventure. So far, for me the biggest challenge has been to remember to slice each day and then finding time to sit at my computer long enough to do it. My students are also first time slicers and their excitement has been contagious.

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  98. Here is Day 5 of my first SOL Challenge! I’m enjoying thinking about what topic to write about each day. Visiting other blogs to comment on others’ SOL entries is also very rewarding. Finding time and literally carving it as almost an appointment to keep is absolutely key for me to ensure that an entry is logged each day! Today, I share a bit about how I extended this challenge to the students in my classroom…
    http://inspiringaloveofreading.blogspot.com/2014/03/classroom-writing-challenge.html

    Like

  128. http://readwritethinkgrow.blogspot.com/2014/03/day-to-day-at-office-solsc-2014-531.html
    A glimpse from the office

    This year I am typically doing my posts earlier in the day. With the EST deadline it helps me to do this since that is 9 PM in my time zone and I know that if I don’t do it early, I might get busy with the end of the day and miss the cut-off.

    While I debated doing some for the next day after 9PM, it just doesn’t seem to fit since it isn’t technically the next day yet.

    I am enjoying the journey once again, pushing myself to just write about whatever is happening right then if an idea does not instantly pop into mind.

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  134. I am definitely enjoying myself this year! 🙂 Part of the reason I have was eager to participate this year is my personal need to find some way to balance my life and carve out some time for my own stuff. I am taking a course that begins in April and I thought this would be a good way to help me figure out how to get an hour or so of computer time during the day. I, as always, enjoy reading about the experiences of others, and appreciate the encouraging comments.

    Slice of Life 2014 #5

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  158. This has been a big challenge for me…it is only Day 5. I’m teaching a kindergarten first grade combination. It takes everything I have each day. I really need to stick with this challenge because I am enjoying meeting new folks, reading the posts and reading your comments. This is a supportive group of individuals!
    Rainbow in the Sky
    http://wp.me/p4lQJK-k7
    Sarah Winchell

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  190. This has been so rewarding my second year. I’ve so enjoyed reading everyone’s slices. Commenting has been a challenge- in both time and techie issues. But I still love it.

    Today’s slice is about Popsicles, I mean icicles.

    Sicles

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    1. I would try going on to the WordPress forums to see if you can find any suggestions for what to do when you’re going into people’s spam folders. We check our spam folder several times a day during the challenge, but that doesn’t me others do.

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      1. Thanks Stacey. I’ve checked and it seems the only solution is to email them or comment here to ask if they can remove me. No one had another good solution as of yet. Once they unspam me I am free to post again. Bonnie and Donna have my back though and have been most helpful.

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  197. The challenge for me this year feels comfortable. (This is my fourth year.) I’m looking at my life daily for a new little slice and trying to focus more on my girls to capture their stories to remember and treasure. In addition, I’m also trying to focus on writing small slices and choosing my words carefully and eliminating the unnecessary. I think as a reader of slices this is what I appreciate the most.

    Another challenge? There are so many slicers this year! It’s hard to read as many as I would like each day. But last year I set a goal of reading at least 3 slices from “my experience slicers” and 3 new slicers.

    Write on friends! You are doing great!

    Here’s my slice today: One day my girls don’t want me, the next day they need me.

    http://literacyzone.blogspot.com/2014/03/solsc-needed-531.html

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    1. It has been a challenge to get around to everyone. I started keeping track on a spreadsheet so I can share the comment love. I want to make sure I get around to new Slicers and the returning ones.

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  222. It’s going pretty well, I’m getting into a rhythm, but I don’t feel my posts are particularly rich. Maybe that’s ok, it’s quantity over quality to get myself back into writing. I’m also finding commenting is still tricky – not sure my comments are “sticking” so I’m trying to comment on at least 5 posts each day to make sure I’ve done my part. In any case, here’s today’s post.

    Wake Up Call

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    1. The commenting is proving to be the biggest challenge this year since we have a wonderful problem… lots of new Slicers! Starting yesterday I began keeping track of blogs I visited on a spreadsheet. (Never had to do that before.) Glad you’re doing your part to make sure to get around to everyone, Kath.

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    1. Did I mention I’m really glad you were able to join us this month, Amy? I’m sure finding a time to write is even more challenging these days, but you’re doing it, which is a great reason to celebrate!

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  241. Day 5 of The Slice of Life Challenge! I have enjoyed sharing with my school colleagues my Post about “My Many Colored Days” on Day 4 based on inspiration from a Dr. Seuss book. I am traveling to attend and speak at the NCTIES (North Carolina Technology In Education Society’s) Conference in Raleigh, NC so finishing up the last minute details of my presentation, teaching my classes, cleaning house and packing have been my life for the past couple of days. I have enjoyed stealing away and composing my posts to give me some “ME” time. I also have enjoyed the comments that people have left especially about my Day 3 Post about my Dream Poem and Day 4 Color Poem. I am so glad that I reflected about the car backing out of the space it stole from me at Publix on Saturday in my Day 1 Post about Humility. I’ve shared the contents of it with students and friends who are amazed that the guy humbled himself after leaving me speechless. Here’s my link to my Day 5 blog about a special object in my family that has helped to pass the torch of literacy to my mom and to me: http://techencounter.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/lighting-up-literacy/

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