The challenge this Christmas vacation was to see how many books we could read as a family. We lost track of the picture books, but below are some that we read more than once this break, as well as the chapter books. Hannah's Reads: MEET KAYA, American Girl Doll; DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Jeff… Continue reading The Book Stack
Author: Ruth Ayres
Unhurried. Finding the magic in the middle of living. Capturing a life of ridiculous grace + raw stories.
Merry Christmas
Around our house we've been preparing for Christmas. For weeks we have been celebrating advent, keeping our eyes on the meanings of this holy season. We named our four advent candles: kindness, respect, gratitude, and compassion. We looked for needs and found ways we could fill them. In this world, where Christmas is as much… Continue reading Merry Christmas
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The Book Stack…
Or maybe this post should be called: "The Book Stack?" with a big bold question mark. Seriously, I have stacks and stacks and stacks of books we've read, books we want to read, and books we are reading again and again. The problem is getting them from the stack to the blog. (Which is a… Continue reading The Book Stack…
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Want to hear some thoughts about celebrations?
Recently Franki Sibberson interviewed me about the importance of writing celebrations. It was posted on Choice Literacy this week and you can listen here. While there, sign up to receive the Choice Literacy newsletter. Choice Literacy is one of my go-to sources to stay up to date with the current thinking in literacy education, as… Continue reading Want to hear some thoughts about celebrations?
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SOLSC
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Writing Groups + Classrooms
My writing group is an important part of my life as a writer. It's more than just accountability, but feedback and camaraderie and, well, if I'm super honest, fun. When I was a classroom teacher, I didn't do a very good job of establishing writing groups, or crit partners, for my students. I see now they were… Continue reading Writing Groups + Classrooms
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I’ve been studying sentence structure…
I was watching or listening or reading something this week --- I don't remember what -- but the message was: You can't be a writer if you're not a reader. True. (And probably the reason I don't remember who said it since this little tid-bit is fairly common knowledge.) The person went on to say:… Continue reading I’ve been studying sentence structure…
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A Blogging Secret
I have a little secret about blogging. Sometimes I don't feel like blogging. Sometimes I want to avoid the little post box. Sometimes, like right now, I'm so far behind on my email that I wonder if I will be eaten alive when I do open my inbox. But I blog anyway. I've realized I… Continue reading A Blogging Secret
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QR Codes
My kids are junkies when it comes to QR Codes. They love spotting them. They are addicted to the thrill of scanning. They like the possibility of where the QR Code might take them. Today in the Tech Workshop (which should be renamed to Taking Time to Tackle Technology), we talked a little about QR… Continue reading QR Codes
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Infographics
Words + pictures have always intrigued me. As a scrapbooker I use words + pictures to document life. As a blogger, I know when an image is included it always impacts me more. (I've been thinking of making this a goal --- to include more images in my posts.) As a teacher I'm well aware… Continue reading Infographics
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What are you writing?
Short post since my internet is slow at best, although nonexistent is more accurate. My school was canceled today. I spent a lot of my day writing. I've been revising my query letter and my first novel. So far the first 38 pages have been revised into 18. It's hard work. Hard. Hard. Work. Not to mention… Continue reading What are you writing?
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What fuels writing workshop?
Around my school, we have three more Mondays of school left in 2011. That's not much, and yet, during this season of grey days, holiday excitement, and indoor recess, it can seem so l o n g. It has me thinking about the energy level in writing workshop. Is it high or low? Like other… Continue reading What fuels writing workshop?
