Celebration: Positive Spirit

Posted on June 21, 2014 by carriegelson

What strange times. Normally I would be celebrating the end to my school year with my students or anticipation of summer plans with my family or a huge pile of books that I want to read.

But school hasn’t really ended and summer hasn’t really started. We have been out of our classrooms here in B.C all week – picketing on the sidewalks because of a full scale teacher’s strike. Before this we had rotating strikes for three weeks – out one day a week. While rotating strikes were happening, we were partially locked out and our daily pay was reduced by ten percent each day.

Finally, both sides have agreed to mediation. But this has been a long haul with no real end in sight. We all feel in a strange sort of limbo. I want to be in my classroom teaching. At the same time, I have deep concerns about the funding and respect for public education in this province and feel strongly that this government needs to fund education in a way that means students can have the support that they need. There is a big story about court cases ruling in favour of the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation. Government appeals. Months of bargaining. No contract.

Very challenging. Very complicated. I am not going to get into the details here. Instead, I am going to find something to celebrate because in times like this, we need to remain positive. The alternative is too depressing. I have surprised myself with how positive and even optimistic I have remained. And this is what I celebrate. The positive spirit of so many as we endure one of the most challenging labour disputes of my career.

I celebrate my colleagues, my family and all of our children. I celebrate positive sentiment despite all that is at stake. I celebrate support from near and far.

Students and their families have visited us on the picket lines. And our own families come too! Always a recipe for big smiles and joy.

Shift change is social. Public generosity and support means much. Time together is positive and encouraging.

At rallies for public education, we find strength and meet colleagues from other schools.

Our children are often on the picket line with us. They are decorating the sidewalks, enhancing our signs with art and kid sentiments. They play and connect with each other and always entertain us.

This is our current reality. I celebrate that we still hang on to such positive spirit.

Thank you to Ruth Ayres, for the inspiration and the Celebration Link up that she hosts each week. I treasure this #celebratelu community.

Celebration: Miss Miriam

Posted on June 13, 2014 by carriegelson

This week I celebrate the wonderful Miriam who works in my classroom with me. Not only do we share a brain, we share an important group of children who have a variety of gifts and a variety of needs. Everyday there is wonderful learning and a certain kind of magic that allows every member of our classroom community to smile. To laugh. To find joy. Much of this is because of Miriam. Here, I celebrate some of the many wonderful things that make her so very special to me and to our students.

I celebrate her friendship.

I celebrate that the students in our class truly are our children.

I celebrate her calm.

I celebrate her giving spirit.

I celebrate that she knows how to orchestrate the very thing some of us need at the right time. And then celebrates it in just the right way.

I celebrate her intense pride about all the amazing things our children do.

I celebrate that she has shared her passion and made it our passion and that yoga is something that is such a part of our classroom community.

It is an honour every day to work with someone who teaches me, who inspires me and who treats children with such absolute love, respect and dignity.

I celebrate Miriam and how lucky I feel to share a classroom full of very special little people with her every day.

Thank you to Ruth Ayres, for the inspiration and the Celebration Link up that she hosts each week. I treasure this #celebratelu community.

Celebration: Still Smiling

Posted on June 7, 2014 by carriegelson

Thank you to Ruth Ayres, for the inspiration and the Celebration Link up that she hosts each week. I have realized that this celebration is an important way I find balance and calm. I treasure this #celebratelu community.

So . . . I have mentioned it a few times on this blog in the last few weeks but contract negotiations between the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation (our teacher’s union) and B.C. Public School Employer’s Association (bargaining on behalf to the government) continue to escalate in numerous terrible ways. I wake up in the morning and think, “Is this just a really bad dream?” But no, it isn’t. My job, that I love, has all kinds of outside things attached to it that are awful. Like an impending full scale strike, weekly rotating strikes across the province, being locked out for recess/lunch and needing to be off school property by 3:45 p.m (and not arriving before 8:15 a.m.) and the very delightful, 10% deduction from our daily rate of pay that was deemed legal by the Labour Relations Board this week. Much media is quite biased but this piece gives details of the history of bargaining between the Liberal government and teachers.

This letter from a parent is pretty powerful: Beware the power of Mama Bears Oh the power of parent voice!

Last week, I was not coping well with all of this. This week, somehow, I am still smiling. And this is what I celebrate. All of the little moments that I hang on to that allow me to keep smiling. All of the moments that honour the classroom community that we have created over the year. I may only be paid 90% of my salary each day, our three weeks left of school might suddenly only become one, financially I may not know how we are going to manage (my husband is a teacher too) but all of these little moments are mine. And I hold on tight to them.

Sharing a few here . . .

Thanks to the wonderful Miriam who works with me, we get to participate in outside yoga as part of our Physical Education program each week!

We have a room full of readers. Passionate, skilled readers who love nothing better than time to read!

There is much math joy!

Happiness over a shared experience like a soccer clinic hosted by high school students can be seen on these exhausted, proud faces on the bus ride home.

We are a class that helps each other. No asking often. Just stepping up. With smiles.

These are my moments. I celebrate how much I love being a teacher.

Celebration: Let there be music

Posted on May 31, 2014 by carriegelson

I am digging deep this week. Usually writing this post is a source of joy. Today, after a very long week, I mostly want to crawl into my bed and hide under the pillows. But, I am pretty certain, that this is all the more reason to find things to celebrate. I thank Ruth Ayres, for the inspiration and her Celebration Link up that she hosts each week.

This week there is huge escalation between the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation (our teacher’s union) and B.C. Public School Employer’s Association (bargaining on behalf to the government). There are rotating strikes – so we were out of the classroom on Monday and now the government has locked us out for part of every day and is deducting 10% of our daily salary each day. We can not arrive at school before 8:15 a.m. and must leave by 3:45 p.m. We are not permitted to work with students over recess or lunch. It is ugly and stressful. I am exhausted and feeling disorganized and completely out of sorts. I love my job but I have lots of needs in my room. The teaching and learning work when I am energetic and “on my game.” This week, with everything going on, it was hard to be in that place. A challenging week to feel inspired and passionate about a job that I love. Which just felt all kinds of wrong.

But at the end of the week, I do have gratitude. When I look back over the week, there were many happy moments with the children. And there was one half hour block that was my “guaranteed happy” – our music class on Thursday afternoon with Jill Samycia Recently I wrote a letter in support of what this outreach program means to me. I am sharing it here:

Every week, there is almost a guarantee that I will be moved to tears with my students. Not out of sadness. Or anger. Or frustration. But out of pure joy.

This moment happens Thursday afternoons when my children (an energetic Grade 2/3/4 class) come upstairs to sing with Jill Samycia from St. James Music Academy. On the way up there is noise – singing, humming, chatter. On the way down it is louder, inspired by thirty minutes of time with Jill. While we are there, there is rarely a silent moment. A second here or there when we breathe between lyrics and the piano momentarily stops. Between songs, the children are buzzing. They make requests. They keep singing a favourite part. They are negotiating who will sing with who if there are “solos” Natter, natter, natter. And then Jill begins to play and whoa . . . Whoa.

My chatty, energized, silly class rises up and sings. It is precious and magical and shockingly amazing. These children belt out lyrics. Elements of soul, passion and emotion reveal themselves. They smile. They sway. Some get up and dance. We all get lost in the song. I often kind of cry. Because Jill finds the place inside of these children that is talent and music and confidence and risk taking all rolled into one.

She brings it out and it shines bigger each week. It strengthens who we are as a community. It strengthens the spirit of each child. I catch smiles of happy and proud and calm. Children sing solos that are barely audible at first. Others knock us over with throaty style that seems to channel from some older, wiser soul. Some of these kids are kids who barely say boo in class. Others are kids who never stop talking. But when we sing, we all have voice. When we sing together . . .

So Thursday afternoon is a beautiful, inspired time with my students and with Jill. Guaranteed wonderful. Guaranteed magic. A piano. A room full of kids. A talented teacher who has ways . . . Let there be music.

Thank you St. James Music Academy and the amazing outreach program. Thank you Jill Samycia.

With gratitude and Thursday tears,

Carrie Gelson

Grade 2/3/4 Teacher

Seymour Elementary

This I celebrate! Thank you to Jill and the sounds of singing that gave me my “guaranteed happy” in a challenging week. It always means a lot. This week, it was especially wonderful. And oh so needed 🙂

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Celebration: Ivan: One, Only, Ours

Posted on May 23, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

I celebrate Ivan, Mighty Silverback and his story, shared.

This week, we finished the brilliant, beautiful and special story The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This is the third time I have read this book but the first time I have read it aloud. As a read aloud, it is pure magic.

My students have already shared their brilliant thinking on our classroom blog. This celebration post highlights our closure with the book. Finishing a novel this profound needs some time. We finished the story Thursday morning. When I read the last few words, there was a brief silence. The power a read aloud has to create community was felt in the room. Some kids crawled into my lap, some asked to hold the book (I noticed that they hugged it before passing it on), many just sat and let the story wash over them. Big smiles. Big feelings.

On Friday, we read the author’s note in the back and checked out three websites/videos. We . . .

looked at Katherine Applegate’s information about the real Ivan on her website.
watched the video I found on Mr. Shu‘s blog Watch. Connect. Read. about the upcoming picture book about Ivan!

looked at the information and video from the Zoo Atlanta site about Ivan. The children found it incredible to watch the real Ivan move about. We had to watch the video two times in a row!

Here we are watching Katherine Applegate talk about her picture book Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla to be released in October 2014 (illustrated by one of our favourites: G. Brian Karas).

Watching the real Ivan in the Zoo Atlanta video. Absolute joy and fascination on their faces!

We ended the day with Ivan themed yoga! Thank you to the brilliant Miriam who led us through tree poses in the jungle, Ivan knuckle walking, downward dog poses to greet Bob and entwining elephant trunks in honour of Stella and Ruby.

Before our yoga session, the children did a quick final response. Some excerpts here:

“The novel was amazing because the writing was just right. Ivan didn’t break his promise.”

“Ivan is one of my favourite novels because Ivan saved Ruby.”

“I wish we could go to the zoo to meet Ivan. Did he hang out with his friends?”

“I don’t like the way he was being treated. This was my favourite novel because it was emotional and it was read very slowly. I didn’t have to say ‘Can you say that again a lot of times.’ I feel happy he was in a zoo at the end and it made me happy. It made me even more happy to see the video.”

“So Ivan is a gorilla and he died. I am going to save him. I will dig a hole and I will find Ivan. I will use a defibrillator to make Ivan come back alive. And I will take him home to Africa.”

This little writer was particularly inspired and touched by Ivan and his real and fictional story.

“I’m excited for the picture book because all the kids or anyone should know the story. The picture book will be amazing because the illustrator is one of my favourites. I feel so awesome that people saved an animal that had a cruel life. And after they saved him, he had a wonderful life. I want to see Ivan’s artwork. I heard he’s a very talented artist.”

Isn’t it funny that this story of Ivan, a gorilla, teaches us so much about what it is to be human? Oh, how we celebrate this book!

Celebration: A turn around day

Posted on May 17, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

This week I am celebrating a day that turned out brighter and better than I could possibly have imagined.

My Thursday this week started off with that dreaded middle of the night yell, “Momma!” My son sometimes eats something that doesn’t agree with him and he wakes up in the early morning hours and begins to vomit. Poor little guy will throw up every 10 to 20 minutes for hours. Now that he is older, this happens much less frequently but it always knocks him out for a full day while his system recovers.

So Thursday in the wee hours of the morning I was booking a substitute, writing out plans to send to the secretary and rushing in to my son every 10 minutes or so. By 8:30 a.m., my husband was at work, my daughter was off to school, my son was finally sleeping and I was exhausted. A day doomed from the start it seemed.

I tiptoed around the house cleaning up breakfast dishes, starting laundry and finally sitting down to rest myself with a book. An hour or so later my day began to turn around.

I celebrate . . . .

Elisabeth Ellington giving me this very special and unexpected gift:

Today on my blog I celebrate @carriegelson and all the ways I learn from her: http://t.co/osZeOuPh0W

— Elisabeth Ellington (@elisabethelling) May 15, 2014

What an honour to be the first blog shared on a new feature on Elisabeth’s blog: Blogs I can’t do Without:There’s a Book for That Not surprising of course, is that Elisabeth’s blog: The Dirigible Plum is one of my very favourites. Thank you Elisabeth! This meant more to me than you know.

Quiet time with my recovering son. It is so terrible when they are ill but I loved the time with my son as he began to feel better. We made jello. We snuggled and read books. Precious time.

Picking my daughter up from school. This year is the first time I have worked full time since my children were born. I no longer get to pick them up at least one day a week from school. It was so lovely to go and get my daughter and walk home with her. She was full of happy energy telling me about her day. And of course, first thing, asked of her brother and expressed her sadness that he had missed a soccer event at school that he had been looking forward to.

My celebration now runs into Friday –

My morning started being greeted with this message on the board:

Friday was Sports Day at school and some children had left a message on the board Thursday p.m. to greet everyone on Friday. Pretty special to begin the day with a big laugh! I celebrate Happy Spots Day!

I then got to read my note from the substitute teacher who was in my room on Thursday. It was a fantastic note all around and reminded me that the world does not fall apart when we need to be away suddenly and unexpectedly – there are wonderful teachers to step in and enjoy the children and amazing people as part of my team to hold it together. I celebrate this reminder and the incredible staff I work with. Some pieces of her note:

“What a wonderful surprise for me this morning to get the call to come into your class. I follow you on twitter and last year during my B Ed. at UBC, I wrote an entire term paper on poverty and cited you and Janet Steffenhagen’s articles from the newspaper throughout. Your advocacy for your students is incredible and really inspires me. I also love your book recommendations :-)”

“I had the most lovely day in your class. Miriam was amazing and led many of the routines, mindfulness and gratitude circle. It was great to watch her and learn from her.”

Students and staff raved about the wonderful energy of this guest teacher and her note meant so much to me.

And finally, I celebrate the joy of a happy Sports Day (no spots at all!) full of fun and families and lots of smiles. I will let these few photos tell the story.

Being away for a day made being back with these little people all the more special! Lucky me.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week.

Celebration: Following the questions

Posted on May 10, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

This week I am celebrating the power of books to cause a stir. To inspire questions. To promote thinking and lots of discussion.

Last weekend I read a title that I just knew I had to share with my class: Ruby’s Wish written by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Sophie Blackall.

I brought it in early in the week to read aloud. Students were surprised by so much in this book about a little girl in a prosperous Chinese family wants an education like her brothers and male cousins. She doesn’t want to settle with only marriage and motherhood. This story was especially powerful because it is based on the life of the author’s grandmother. A beautiful example of a little girl who speaks up and the grandfather who hears her. The children were shocked that at one time in China’s history, a man could have multiple wives. They were most surprised that boys could go to University when girls could not. When Ruby received an admission letter for University from her Grandfather, there was lots of nodding. And then the questions. The biggest one: “But why could the boys go to school and the girls couldn’t?” I asked the children if they would like to read more books that explored this question. The room erupted, “YES!”

And so, the next day I brought in Every Day is Malala Day by Rose McCarney with Plan International and read it to the students. This book is a photographic thank you letter to Malala Yousafzai for her courage and her determination to speak up for the rights of girls to have an education. Both text and photos (of girls all over the world) are powerful.

“People everywhere wondered why it was so hard for girls to have an education. But you and I know the answer. In many countries bullets are not the only way to silence girls.”

This book inspired outrage. Confusion. Upset and indignation. And rich, important discussion. I overheard two little girls talking about this book as they looked at it again together.

“It’s the ladies who should be having the most education because they are mostly watching the kids and kids have lots of questions. The Moms need to know stuff.”

On Friday Morning, with the intention of sharing Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell written by Tanya Lee Stone and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, I put this statement on the board in the morning:

As students noticed it, it became very interesting in the room. There was whispering. Some children raced over to me immediately.

“Ms. Gelson, why did you write that on the board? Womens can be whatever they want!”

More children started to express their upset and confusion.

“I can be a Doctor. I’m a girl. I can be.”

“Really, I can’t be a Doctor?”

“Oh no. The girls are going to be mad about this. I don’t think it’s true.”

“No. It is true. My Mom was told she couldn’t be a Doctor in her country.”

“Are the girls only allowed to be nurses? That’s stupid.”

I had to reassure everyone that I didn’t believe this statement but had put it up as a writing prompt. I asked them to go write for 10 minutes about their thinking. Many leaped up to share their thoughts with each other as they wrote.

Excerpts from some student writing are shared below. Note that I am sharing the writing from both boys and girls here:

“Why can’t women be doctors? It is silly. It can be possible for women to be doctors. Women can be whatever they want.”

“Silly! Sad! Because the girls don’t get to be doctors and the boys do. The girls just have to be the stinky old nurses. Why can’t the boys be the nurses and the girls be the doctors?”

“Women can be whatever they want if they put their heart to it! That makes me mad. That’s so silly. That’s not fair. Why would they think that? Wwwwwwhy!!!??”

“Some womens can be doctors if they’re more smarter than the boys. All that matters is about knowledge. It doesn’t matter if you are female or male.”

“Why? It makes me mad because they can. Girls are smart. They should have an education.”

“It seems really unfair if this is true. Because if boys are doctors, girls can be doctors too.”

This little thinker worked out her questions and thinking as she went.

“Why only boys can be doctors, not girls? Can girls and boys be doctors? Can it be girls too? Girls can be doctors too”

This girl who wants to be a doctor, wrote this very powerful statement”

“That is silly. I am a doctor. Why can boys be everything? I am happy because I live in Vancouver. And in Vancouver, I can be everything! And in Vancouver in 2014, I can do everything!”

We came back to the carpet and I pulled out the book to read. But one little girl insisted she had to ask something before we started:

“What is it with all of these books talking about girls who can’t do things and can’t have education and stuff? Girls here can go to school just like boys.”

Then the beauty of classroom conversation took over. I sat back. Some children shared about their mothers in other countries not having the same possibilities. Some children reminded everyone that it is different in history and different in other countries. There was lots of talk and lots of buzz and finally we were able to begin this book.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell written by Tanya Lee Stone and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

We only read the first five or six pages and I had to promise that we will finish it next week. The best request?

“Can we talk more like this next week too?

Celebration: All things literacy

Posted on May 3, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

What am I celebrating this week? All things literacy. Some conversations. Some great books. Celebrations of writing. Thinking. Sharing. Listening. Creating.

Celebrating . . .

1. A Skype visit with Liesl Shurtliff – author of Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin (one of the best read alouds out there!)

This was an absolute highlight of our week! I shared our experience on our classroom blog here (including how we prepared). This was our first author Skype so it was especially exciting! Liesl was so charming and the kids cannot stop talking about the day!

Students shared with Liesl that they had just had a book of stories published as well and that we had even had a publishing party. (Thanks Writer’s Exchange!) Such fun to find out that Liesl had brownies at her publishing party too! All about the treats!

Here is one of the many pixies that we shared with Liesl during our Skype. All of them can be seen at the link I shared above.

2. Friday afternoon in my class was hot. The air circulation is terrible. And yet, my classroom looked like this:

Recipe for such engagement? I asked the students to think about what their dream house would look like if they could design it, have it built (or build it themselves) and then live in it? We split into two groups and spent 15 minutes sharing our ideas. Ms. Wilks, our Project Teacher and I recorded all that was said on chart paper. Kids got totally excited just listening to what other people suggested. A few examples:

Gummy worm walls that grow new candy when you pull it off
Trampoline floors
An aquarium full of dolphins to swim with
Water slides leading to an outdoor pool
Chalkboard walls to draw on

I quickly showed them the end pages in Chris Van Dusen‘s If I Built a House as some added inspiration. (Next week we will do a related project in Art) We then passed out writing books and told everyone to go draw, sketch, label and write. Some kids were so into it, they continued working through their Choices time.

In the middle of the brainstorming, one student who had been listening from his desk sailed a paper airplane over to us. Written on the back? Be Smart! He thought we were being absolutely ridiculous in our dreaming, “No house could have all of that!” I loved his message system! Not every activity is going to speak to everyone!

It was so interesting to examine all of the different ideas and how they were represented.

This little house designer showed me that she would have a book gnome (bottom right corner) that would get you any book you wanted for your book shelf. 🙂 A little reader with big book dreams like mine!

3. Last week we celebrated publishing a class book of stories.

To thank the amazing Writers’ Exchange for working with my class, I have been working on a blog post with the children’s words and photographs. We wanted it to be a sent along to surprise all of the staff and mentors who worked with us. It’s supposed to be a surprise but these photos are just too cute. So I’ve had to share one . . . or two . . . or . . . four. . . via twitter. It has been joyous both taking and sharing these photos (text comes from individual writing from each child). I’m hoping to have the post finished in the next few days.

Okay, sneak peek at our thank you: How we love the @writers_ex #vsblearns pic.twitter.com/aWj0lbEgq6

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 1, 2014

We’re serious! We love the @writers_ex and we really mean it! pic.twitter.com/qV7BGn8VP3 — Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 2, 2014

We are overflowing with creative energy! Thanks @writers_ex! For everything! pic.twitter.com/aod0irIkvm

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 2, 2014

Whoa. It’s exhausting being published authors. Thanks @writers_ex! pic.twitter.com/IfrBz3AnNO — Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 3, 2014

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Celebration: April is a beautiful month to . . .

Posted on April 25, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. As always, thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

This week, I am celebrating for two weeks as I was away with my family last weekend. Springtime in Vancouver is magical. And April is a beautiful month to . . .

#1 Take an Easter trip with my family

Over Easter, we spent four nights away at our favourite beach house to rent in the San Juan Islands. I treasured this time away with my family – to read, to play games, to talk over long breakfasts. And to walk on the beach and explore.

I did many walks with my son in the first few days when my daughter and husband were ill.

And then my daughter recovered and the three of us had wandering beach adventures.

I celebrate our conversations and time shared.

#2 Have a birthday

While we were away it was my birthday but I began celebrating the day before when I received this beautiful book from my class.

Thank you to Miriam who works with me for putting this together (she covered an old Dick and Jane reader to make the book). I had tears opening it up with the children and read it many times over the weekend. It is something I truly treasure. Each page is covered in little notes, pictures and words from the children. The messages are full of love and the little touches from Miriam are so thoughtful. Notice the title which is a take on the name of this blog and the author (The Curiosity Racers) is the name of our class blog (representing the children in our class).

#3 Launch a class book of stories

Thanks to the Writer’s Exchange (amazing, amazing, amazing), my students got to work with volunteer mentors over a 4 week period to write a creative story. In our stories, our characters transformed into a different version of ourselves and had a bit of an adventure. During Spring Break, the stories were published into a class book titled The Other Side of Me. Each child received a book to take home and we had a book launch party on Wednesday morning.

Some children were brave enough to read their story aloud to their peers while everyone followed along.

These sisters were very excited that Mom came along to celebrate!

I am thrilled to celebrate the pride my students feel being published authors!

#4 End Friday afternoon with outside yoga

We are so fortunate in our classroom that Miriam teaches us yoga. On this beautiful Friday, we headed out and did yoga in the sun with cherry blossoms all around.

Stretch

Balance

Reach

Breathe

Wishing everyone a wonderful week with much to celebrate!

Celebration: Best lines

Posted on April 12, 2014 by carriegelson

Celebration honoured. This is the loveliest of reasons to share. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week.

This week I am celebrating how amusing and amazing my students are by sharing a few of the things that made me laugh or made me pause.

1. My class had the opportunity to go to the forest and participate in outdoor games with some high school students who are taking an outdoor education course. It was less than a 25 minute bus ride away but for some of my students, a completely “other” world. In our pre-trip discussions about what we might see, one child predicted elephants . . .

There was a mixture of fear

“I’m scared – of the dark, the prickles, the bugs, the dirt . . .”

And huge excitement:

“I’m ready for the trip! I packed my nopulars so I can see near and far.”

Nopulars (binoculars) do help with that! All children had an amazing time! Within seconds of sitting back on the bus, I heard, “Can we come back here?” multiple times.

2. As we continue to study the ocean and all of the amazing sea creatures that live in its waters, I have the chance to read aloud many fabulous nonfiction titles. Friday, we started reading Here Come the Humpbacks written by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Jamie Hogan

One of my students was fascinated that whales are also mammals and that the baby whale rolls when it is born and breaks the umbilical cord attaching it to its mother. All morning she kept telling me:

“I really love talking about the hunchback whales.”

In the first few pages of the book, the author explains that the male humpbacks have scars on their skin from past competitions. This sparked an interesting conversation.

“What competition? Races?”

“No. They are competing for the girl whales.”

“Why do they have to have competitions? Isn’t there enough girls to go around?”

3. I found a book at the public library this weekend that I just had to bring in and share with my class: Wild by Emily Hughes

After reading the book aloud, I admitted that I really loved the book and wished I had a copy for our classroom. One child remarked:

“You really should buy it. Otherwise, you might go a little crazy.”

4. Right now we are reading the novel The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

This is a seriously beautiful book to read aloud and there are many moments of silence where we just allow for space and thinking. If you know the story (as I know so many of us do), we are at the part when the baby elephant, Ruby has arrived. Students have needed to talk a lot about how the older elephant Stella has felt about the baby coming. When Stella announces that she can hear a baby elephant coming because she can hear her crying, Ivan tells her that she is just hoping. “No,” Stella says softly,”Not hoping. Not at all.” It took the children some time to get what this meant. Slowly, through discussion they recognized that Stella didn’t want a baby to come and experience the captivity that the animals at the Bg Top Mall experienced.

The next day, I knew it had really sunk in when we read this part: