Celebrate This Week! 11.07.15

It's always good to end the week on a positive note.  Sometimes we concentrate on the negatives.  We have a choice.  Choose positive.  Choose to celebrate.  I will be joining Ruth Ayres and her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week.  Check out all the other celebrations HERE

Personal Celebration
I have had a lot of trouble getting my writing in for well over a month now.  Writing is hard for me.  Free writing is easier, but writing about something specific is hard.  Every post I write takes me a lot of time.  I started this blog because I knew I needed to practice writing.  I have no ambitions to write any sort of book.  But, I have students who have to practice writing and I know I need to try what I expect them to do.  It's hard.  So I need to find a way to practice it.  This blog is my place.  I've had my blog for almost 2 years now.  Writing has not gotten any easier.  It's not from a lack of practicing.  I have hundreds of posts completed now.  It's just something I struggle with.  I'm always trying to improve.  But when I get busy and time gets in the way and I have to choose between writing and reading, I go with reading.  As a result, posting doesn't happen as often.  I've been trying to find consistency within the days I post, but even lately that hasn't happened.
So today I celebrate that today I am writing.  I don't know when the next post will be.  I know my life won't give me the consistency I need.  But today I'm here.

Tough Questions
It seems strange to celebrate tough questions.  You know the kind I mean.  The ones that are hard to answer.  The ones you may not want to answer.  The ones you don't want to answer because you may not like the answer.  But, sometimes the answer pushes you to improve yourself.  To be better in the long run.  The journey is tough but the learning can be good.

School Celebrations
Monday was the start of November at school.  November means Picture Book Month.  I don't have a lot of time with my reading students.  I need every minute I have to give them time to read and practice the strategies my team has taught these young readers.  But this year I have a large number of students that do not have rich reading lives at home.  For circumstances that are beyond their control, they don't have reading opportunities once they leave school.  I think this month is a perfect time to make sure they are being exposed to wonderful picture books.  I'm trying to figure out the best time to add this reading time, but I know it's an invaluable experience.  Students who don't know how to talk about a picture book are hearing their peers engage in conversations while we read.  The only expectation they have is to listen to the story.  We aren't writing about the books or evaluating their content.  But conversations occur when I don't plan them.  Students fall in love with a story and want to bring it home.  They find a wonderful environment where they can spontaneously talk about the book as we read, and not wait until the end.  They listen and hear each other.  All I do is read and let them discover.  I know this is important.  Because they will take these conversations into their own books.  They listen to great books and know the magic that happens when they read.
Here are the books we read this week:
           
      
I know we'll find some more great books and conversation next week!