Heart Maps-Part 2. Writing in December.

Link up at www.twowritingteachers.wordpress.com.  We are so grateful for this community. 

Hello Friends!  The last time I sliced, I was writing about Heart Maps!  Well.  December Happened.  This means Lots of work on Christmas Pageant.  Lots of learning and community is built during that time, but when you are back in the classroom, there's a shift.  You have to be so purposeful in what you are asking kids to do.  This includes reading, writing, math, the whole idea of your classroom.  

So, when this blog post from Ruth Ayres showed up, I was so relieved!  It saved Writer's Workshop in December in my classroom.  A pause.  This doesn't mean that we didn't write.  We just paused on the topics of revision, editing, readability, etc.  We only wrote.  I asked for the kids to think about only writing when it was time to do so, and that was pretty much it.  

But, as December went on, some bumps kept popping up.  How was I going to honor my students, and yet maintain some sense of writing as we got closer to Christmas break?

Enter Heart Maps.


Once upon a time, I won this book in a #g2Great chat.  I have perused it.  I have tried some out on my own.
I just jumped in and shared the idea with my First Graders.

It was awesome.

These Heart Maps ask kids to map about what is important to them.  So-they did.  Many kids made more than one over these past few days.  And for some kids, it resulted in journal entries and writing.  For other kids, it gave them the chance to just reflect on what was important to them.  

As we move into January, I'm excited to see how they respond to Reader's Heart Maps.  I'll plan to use them in Nonfiction as well.  And of course with Poetry and Visualization.  There are guidelines for all of these topics in Georgia Heard's book.  

So, stay tuned.  There could be parts 3, 4, and 5.  This is developing into a highly useful strategy in my classroom.  

Have you used Heart Maps in your Writer's Workshop?

Joy!
Kendra

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Gift Edition.

Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.

Hey Friends, My Family?  We are nerds to the core.  Books all around for everyone.  

It's a tradition in our household to celebrate Advent and stop and reflect each week on what this means.  We also open a present or two.  Nothing fancy.  Clothes.  Fun.  Faith.  And Books.  Lots of books.  

Here's a snapshot of what we are giving and have received in books this year.  A span of ages and interests here:

Here's what was gifted to me:

A quick honest reaction?  I'm not enjoying this book at all.  I asked for the book.  I'll finish it.  But the short story is this did not resonate with me.  At all.  I'm a little angry at this book actually.  Does this happen to anyone else when they read?  It's a blog post for another day...


I'm loving this cookbook.  I love her stories and her voice.  I also learned she has a blog.  It's on my list of things to check out over Christmas break.

This picture book is really about me.


For the Mr.:

What's funny is we both said no books for each other.  That we had enough.  Yeah, right...

For All the kids of each Shape and Size:
















Does your family do books as gifts?  What are you giving/receiving this year?

Joy!
Kendra

Celebrate! Christmas with the Cops...

Friends, You can celebrate too!  Link up at www.ruthayres.com.  I thank Ruth for sharing her space with us. 

Two weeks ago, dear friends, I wrote about this...

But our Friendship with the police department is just beginning.  

This past week, we had lunch with them at school.

And it was awesome.  

We served them lunch.

First graders told them a bunch of jokes in the way a first grader can.  

Everyone had a blast.  

I'm celebrating continued friendships in the midst of tragedies.  Our kids were still hugging them and offering condolences for their losses.  And telling them how awesome they were.  And taking over their hats and jackets.  What gracious officers.  

As I think about this, I'm praying and thinking about what else we can do for our friends.  This has turned into Service Learning at its most authentic.  What else can we do?  I'm celebrating the fact that we get to ask that!

Joy!
Kendra

Celebrate! Space to Create!

Friends, You can celebrate too!  Link up at www.ruthayres.com.  I thank Ruth for sharing her space with us. 



This is one of my professional reads right now.  I've been to several dynamic, awesome conferences this fall, and I have Makerspace on the brain.

Let's be honest, I have a lot on my brain right now.  

All Good Things.  

Most of that creative work, as we know, takes place at home.  

At least it does for me.

Mine was taking place in the kitchen, in the living room, in the piano room...

Not a dedicated space for thinking and creating.  

(Read-Stuff was everywhere on our first floor.  That drives me crazy too.  Even though it's all mine!)

And my 12 year old?  

He loves puzzles.  

And we love to be together.  

So we were in each other's space.  

All the time.  

A good problem to have.

So after a conversation with the hubs, we did a little rearranging.  

And we have our own "Makerspace" here in what most people call a dining room.  

It's not that fancy.

I didn't need it to be.

I needed it to be a place dedicated for my work.  (And Mr.'s work too-he's been teaching ESL on the side...and he's a Nerdy reader too.)

I liked being in the space that we tend to land in here in our house.  We have lots of space in this house.  But when I'm working, reading, writing...I do like to be next to My People.  My kids are growing up fast.  I want to be accessible to them.  Not held up in an office upstairs away from the space where we really live.  

Interested in a tour?  

I thought you would be.  :)

What most people see as a dining room table, is now my study area.  :)  That space to the left?  We were experimenting with bringing a desk into the space too, and realized a full sized desk would be too big.  But there is a space for puzzles now.  And other things a 12 year old Maker needs.  

So we aren't really dining room folk.  We do our eating, even with friends, in the kitchen.  This is perfect for us.  

Room for reading, writing, and studying.

What Make Space has taught me is to look at things with a more creative eye, and not to rush that.  This morning, the actual work took about 30 minutes.  We spent more time talking and mapping out what this space would be used for.  

The implications for school of course are swirling in my head.  I have some spaces to work in, but is there something else I could do in my classroom?  Stay tuned...

Let's celebrate space to create!

Joy!
Kendra

Celebrate: An Open Letter to My Mustangs...

Friends, You can celebrate too!  Link up at www.ruthayres.com.  I thank Ruth for sharing her space with us. 

All You Mustangs (And Friends),

On November 2nd, we woke up to one of the worst things that has ever happened in our city.  I'll just link that story here if you need to read it.  

Obviously school was cancelled that day.  I sat a lot and just stared at the news as it continued to develop.  That's not the healthiest way to spend a day after a tragedy, but I just couldn't believe that This was invading our neighborhood.  Our space.  

It's one thing to see these tragedies on the news and be moved.  It's another thing to have it happen in your 5 mile radius.  I'll never react to these news stories the same again.  

What was I going to say to you as a teacher?
What were we going to Do to make an impact?

Thursday came.  

Through my choked up voice, I told you that this was our time to share Jesus.

And you know what?

Those words didn't even sound futile as I feared they would.

What else were we going to do?

What can kids do, you ask?

Beautiful cards for Police Officers.

I'm not sure I'm ever taking off the thin blue line you placed on the back of my car.

I wear the t-shirts that were designed with pride.

And then the offerings started to come in.

In just about 3 weeks, you collected offerings.  Oh my, did you collect offerings.  

$1,165.75. 

To our "Big Kids", you lead the charge on this.  It just blew me away.

I cried every time I saw an update on the offerings.

Maybe you don't know. 

The officers coming, were a bit of a surprise. 

The best kind of surprise. 

The kind of surprise you see mentioned in passing on the news.

Get in the car, we have to buy cookies surprise.

The officers did come.  

They were so humbled.  

I wish we could have stayed and chatted all day.

You can't imagine the amount of love they felt.  

(See a link for our chapel with Police Officers.)  

Seeds of Friendship were planted this week.

I can't wait to see how you continue to serve our Police Officers.

I celebrate your servant hearts in the midst of a tragedy.  

I celebrate the healing you provided.

I celebrate the opportunity for new friendships.  

Joy!
Kendra

A Slice of Life: Heart Maps

Link up at www.twowritingteachers.wordpress.com.  We are so grateful for this community. 

Friends.  It will be so good to catch up with you.  It's my 12 year old that is currently inspiring me to write.  (We are at the table again!)

So, a few weeks ago, I participated in an amazing chat on Twitter.  I'm sure you've heard of #g2great.  The moderators are so gracious and encouraging.  I'm really enjoying this one.

Georgia Heard was the guest, and my "lucky" self won a copy of Heart Maps:  Helping Students Create and Craft Authentic Writing.




Well, I dug right in and made a few!  And I learned a bit about myself:

• We are going to rearrange a few things in our house so I have a dedicated writing space.  :)
• Writing for me is like running, I have to do it.  Things feel in balance when I do.  
• There are more topics I want to explore and stretch myself with.  
• I also need to keep making time for reading.  

A few shots of how I'm doing my Heart Maps:

Heart Maps really kept me writing this fall in my notebooks when I felt like I couldn't make time to process with the blog.  

What about teaching with Heart Maps?

I cannot wait!  

This year, I'm making plans to incorporate Heart Mapping with our Poetry writing.  I also couldn't help but notice the art component that goes along with Heart Mapping.  There is joy in considering the time to be creative and linger with a Heart Map.  

But I see the power in creating Heart Maps when:

• we are writing small moments.
• we are reflecting on books being read.
• we are reflecting on service and ministry projects that we are working on.
• we are free writing.
• we are learning about what projects/nonfiction topics we want to explore further.  

Are you using Heart Maps?  What reflections do you have for me?

Joy!
Kendra

Celebrate! Food and Family and Finally Blogging.

Friends, You can celebrate too!  Link up at www.ruthayres.com.  I thank Ruth for sharing her space with us. 


It was August 6th the last time I typed a Celebrate post!  Wowza!  I'm learning how to write in notebooks, and lately, I've been exploring Heart Maps.  Stay tuned for a post on that one.  But I have been writing.  I swear.  I'm excited to catch up with you.

It was my 12 year old who asked me if I wanted to sit and write with him tonight.  He sits across from me and works on a #nanowrimo project that his tremendous teacher assigned him.  We just talked about doing a writing challenge in December to keep the writing going.  I'm growing a writer!!!  Be still my heart, I'm not sure how that is happening...but he always has a notebook, and now a laptop.  (Update:  He just asked for Adele on my YouTube Channel.  I might explode over here...I love this kid.)

Let's celebrate food for a minute.  So, now that we are full on the holiday season, the Hubs and I are committing to Sunday Dinner.  Tonight we had:  Chicken Parmesan, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Baked Bread, and Apple Slices.  (I did not take pictures!  Next week...)  If you are a serious foodie, maybe skip over these next steps:

• Get some chicken that is already breaded.  You can do it yourself, but I did not feel like I had time for that.  Spray a cooking pan.  Put the chicken in the pan and cover it with red sauce and mozzerella cheese.  Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.  
• With the bag of brussels sprouts, chop these friends up.  Cover them with oil and garlic.  I like to use the Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil from Wildtree.  I used 1/3 of a cup of oil for about a pound of sprouts.  Roast these at 425 for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with garlic powder when done.  
• Use the bread dough from the freezer section of your grocery store.  Let that rise all afternoon.  Bake it at 325 for 20 minutes.  

It was an intentional time that we really enjoyed after a long weekend.  It was purposeful cooking, but it didn't take the whole day.  

Let's talk about school a minute shall we?  I am really thinking and reading tons about Maker Spaces.  It's a goal of mine to build one and incorporate it with the philosophy of Purposeful Play (Mraz, Tyler, Porcelli) leading the way.  This is a project that I celebrate every time I get a chance to reflect on it, read about it, talk to people about it, etc.  What are you celebrating about your work these days?  

I can't wait to catch up with you!  

Joy!
Kendra