Maria's Mélange

Dragon Castle - Part One (through the end of chapter seven)   Kathy (a.k.a. The Brain Lair) and I abandoned ship on World Without Heroes , and picked up Dragon Castle  by Bruchac instead. Here, we discuss the first section of the book. My thoughts are in purple, with Kathy's responses in blue. Her blog hosts her thoughts, with my responses. Please feel free to chime in with your thoughts! There will be spoilers, so read with care.  Maria: I have only read one novel by Bruchac before – Code Talker . I absolutely love the book and I’ve used it several times in a reading group. I’ve also read one of his folk lore compilations. Both books impressed me with the simple yet powerful language. What could he do with a fantasy tale? I heard about this one and promptly added it to my list. When Kathy suggested we give this one a shot, I was excited. I was positive it would outshine World Without Heroes. Kathy: This is my first Bruchac. His Code Talkers is sometimes used in

Today's Slice is a second birthday note. My boys have birthdays only 10 days apart. This one is to my older son, who will be 10 on Friday. Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for hosting the weekly Slice of Life! Dear Connor, Wow, I can’t begin to believe that you are now ten. Where on earth did an entire decade go? I tried to hold onto every moment, every tiny instant as you grew, but somehow you are almost as tall as me already. I love you, with all my heart. I’ve loved you since the first moment I knew you were growing inside of me.   You are a sensitive soul, and I love that about you. Yes, I know it can be frustrating at times. Trust me, I know it well. Sometimes I apologize to you for that, because you got it from me. It can be hard to have your feelings so close to the surface. Things that other people barely notice can seem so intense. I swear; it does get easier to manage as you get older. That sensitivity can also be a blessing. You’ll feel a burst of joy

It's Monday, and that means a recap of my week of reading. Thanks to Teach Mentor Texts for hosting this each week. Check them out for more book ideas! I wanted to hit 30 Newbery books by the end of May, and I made it! About 1/3 done now. Also, I posted on Saturday about my summer reading plans , which will include Newbery and a lot of science fiction. Check out that post, if you haven’t already, and let me know if you’re interested in joining me for my SciFiSummer! Newbery Sarah, Plain and Tall – I don’t think I’ve ready this one since I had children, and it felt so much more powerful now. I’ve always liked it, but it made me tear up right from the beginnings. Roller Skates – Wow, I think this is two in a row from the 30s I’ve liked. I need to go back and look for the gender themes over the course of the Newbery books. I love how free she is to wander NYC on her own. I was sad one of the plot points never got fully addressed, but overall I enjoyed it.

“Summer reading, having a blast…. Summer reading, happens so fast.. “ Summer time, and the readin’ is easy… Whichever tune you choose, it’s just about time for summer reading! I have two more weeks of end of year insanity, and then it's book time!  What does that mean? It’s time to sit down and figure out at least some of my plans for my summer reading fiesta. Based on the recommendations of fellow Nerdy Book Clubbers, I bought a huge bookstack a few months ago that is still calling my name. I’m also declaring it “The Summer of Sci Fi”, and invite you to join in the fun. I have always been an avid reader of science fiction, but my repertoire tends toward the older classics. A few weeks ago, a friend on Twitter pinged me to see if I could recommend any recent science fiction (but not dystopian or post-apocalyptic) books for Young Adult or Middle Grades. I was ashamed to admit that I couldn’t! So I’m declaring it part of my mission to scour the sh

This post is part of the Slice of Life - hosted weekly by Two Writing Teachers . Stop by their site to check out other writers! Yes, I know many of you are hoping for the next portion of my story. It's been a busy week, though, and I couldn't do it justice. I swear, I'll have the next chunk up next week!  (Did you miss the story last week? Check it out here ... )  Anyway, I started a tradition last year of writing a note to my sons on their birthdays, so here is my note to my eight year old (his birthday was Monday). There isn't much "craft" to it, but it's what I wrote this week... Dear Jared, I love you. I’ve loved you since the first moment I knew you were going to join our family. I’m just amazed that you are already eight years old! Your sweet grin with those amazing dimples always makes me smile. I love how you can find a way to laugh and joke about almost everything.  My little boy, you are growing into an amazing young man.

Yes, I missed posting last week. So that means this week will have double the fun! I’ll cut down on the extra chatter so that it doesn’t end up so long that no one reads the post. (Okay, there is still a lot of chatter. Sorry about that!) Newbery   (I’m up to 27 out of 91! Check out my “Newbery Completion” page to see what I’ve finished) Holes (audio). I didn’t enjoy it as much as I remembered loving it the first time around. I was just appalled by the way the adults treated the kids. It was still a great one, though. Invincible Louisa – Colby Sharp adored this one, but I just thought it was good. I did like to hear about Louisa, since I grew up loving Little Women. I was even Amy in a play production in high school! Kira-Kira (audio) – Enjoyed, but not overly passionate about. I’m a little over halfway done as I type this (though I’ll likely finish in time to post on Monday) and I’m watching the impending doom loom over little Katie. I don’t mind

To read, or to give up on reading? Since Kathy and I decided to abandon A World Without Heroes, we thought it would be a good time to chat with each other about what leads us to give up on a book.  Next week we’ll resume our book chats, as we’ll be starting up Bruchac’s Dragon Castle . As usual, my thoughts are in purple and Kathy's are in blue. Abandoning a book isn’t something I do lightly. I often feel like when I commit to a book I need to follow through, no matter what. I’m not sure what gave me this conviction, but it’s been true for as long as I can remember. As I get older, though, I’m less and less willing to devote my limited time to reading a book I just don’t like. I find myself skimming quickly, pushing myself through it, or just abandoning it altogether. Of course, I’m doing the Newbery challenge (Check out tweets using the #nerdbery tag) and there are plenty of books I’ve read so far this year that I’d normally toss onto the garbage heap. The first book

This week's slice is a continuation of the story I started last week. It's starting to get a bit long, so I'm not sure how I'll deal with that next week. For now, the part that was up last week is in blue, and the new material follows in black. I still haven't even gotten to the three objects I was given as the spark for this story... (check out other Slice of Life writers hosted by Two Writing Teachers )  Every life is filled with moments. Mostly, these moments are ordinary. Fill the dishwasher. Discover that you drank the last of the milk before noticing that the recipe that needs to go in the oven right now requires a third of a cup. Scrambling to find someone to bring to the holiday party for work so that no one gives you those pitying, “she’s always alone”, looks yet again. Empty the dishwasher. Grab a bowl of dry cereal to eat in front of the television, rather than venture out to the Indian take out place. Some moments start out as just part of t

Mother’s Day Jared and I had a “mommy and me” homework assignment a few weeks ago, coming up with two colors that we liked and describing things about them. We were supposed to pick things that reminded Jared of our times together. This is the resulting poem, my mother’s day gift this year. Mom, I love you the blackest I love you the color of terrible Darth Vader destroying a machine I love you the color of the dark print in a great book I love you the color of the enormous Death Star where Darth Vader lives. Mom, I love you the greenest I love you the color of beautiful trees that we try to save I love you the color of numbered highway signs on the times we travel I love you the color of amazing Yoda using the force to move rocks. Connor looked offended when I asked him if he’d made me a card. “I gave you four hours of peace and quiet this morning, mom! Isn’t that what you wanted?” Heh. Gotta love him, right? 

Beyonders Part Two (pages 91-190)  Before I get started on the dialogue Kathy and I shared about this book, I’d like to state that neither of us are really enjoying this book enough to devote another three weeks to discussing it. My post below includes some of my thoughts that are complaints about the book, and a few things I found that I could say I liked. With that said, my own fourth grade son loved this book, so I know there is definitely an audience for it. Read along with our commentary if you’re curious about what we  didn't  like, but know that WE know that not every book appeals to every reader. We are going to give this book a burial at sea and move on to another next week. As always, my original thoughts are here (in purple) with Kathy’s responses in blue. Her thoughts, with my responses, will be hosted on her blog – The Brain Lair . Maria: Well, I think the second part of the book was an improvement (though I still have some complaints!) Kathy: D

Last Thursday I attended the first day of the PA Gifted conference (PAGE). (My tweets on Thursday started with the hashtag #PAGE2012 and then shifted to #pagifted to match with another tweeter. I'll post specifics about some things I learned later. For today, just an overview on why this is so important.)   Many of you who read my words here aren't in the gifted field. Let me just take a moment and give you the main reason I am passionate about the field of gifted education. Every child... EVERY child deserves to learn every day. That isn't elitist. That isn't unfair. Gifted services aren't a special privilege. They aren't something a child should have to "earn" through good behavior or completion of an endless list of work that doesn't meet their needs. They are a simple right... a right that every child has to LEARN something every day. The parents of gifted children aren't (for the most part) trying to gain any special edge for their c

 I wrote and posted every day in March, and now I'm joining in the weekly Slice of Life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers . This Slice is a beginning - the start of a fiction story. I haven't dabbled much in fiction in the past ten years or so. I have a wonderful Twitter friend - Michelle-  who inspires me with her own writing, though. She sets herself frequent "writing challenges" and then posts her stories on her blog . This week her challenge was to write a story about a random selection of objects (given to her by another of our tweeps). I decided to jump on board... but it took the entire weekend to even get my brain to give up the start of a story. I think I have the basic outline living in my head now, but I ran out of time to get it complete for today's Slice. Here is the beginning...  Every life is filled with moments. Mostly, these moments are ordinary. Fill the dishwasher. Discover that you drank the last of the milk before noticing that t

 Check out the other folks who link up! Thanks again to Teach Mentor Texts for hosting this each week.  Well, one of the geekiest weeks of my year wrapped up this weekend. I got to spend two days at the PA gifted conference, I celebrated Star Wars Thursday (which is every week) followed by May the Fourth Be With You, watched Avengers in the theater, hit Free Comic Book Day, and then saw a stage production of Wrinkle in Time. Whew! I'm also noticing the onset of the end of year panic mode - as a gifted resource teacher I have a TON of end of year paperwork... and it may need to start coming home at night. Likely, my reading and writing for myself will suffer for a while.  Reading this week: Newbery Challenge – I’m continuing to use audio books to help me in this one, and finished A Single Shard . I enjoyed the audio (I think the English accent of the narrator helps), though I don’t always enjoy the “tear jerker” ending style of book. I picked up my nex

Jane Yolen - My Magnificent Mentor. (With huge thanks to Teach Mentor Texts for giving me this audience, so I can share my adoration for her with the world! Help celebrate the second blogiversary of Teach Mentor Texts with them all month.) I love to read. I make no secret of my membership in the Nerdy Book Club. Yet there are some authors who stand above the crowd. Authors whose words awe me, give me shivers of delight, and inspire me to create my own works of beauty. Jane Yolen is a wordsmith, a true artist of language. Jane Yolen is a prolific author, with work spanning decades and genres. She’s written simple picture books, nonfiction, novels, short stories, and even a few graphic novels. Her style is filled with alliteration, metaphor, and vivid word choices. Many of her works are illustrated by remarkable artists, but the beauty of her words is never eclipsed by the images. Along the way, you’ll also be exposing your students to the kind of strong female protagonist

I'm relatively new to the comics scene, so this was my very first time heading out to acquire comics on Free Comic Book Day. With all the hype, I just wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've been to the "local" comics store a few times, though I buy more of my comics for the iPad to put off the day when my house will be so full of books and comics that I require a Hoarders intervention. I knew I wanted to be part of this geeky holiday, though, so I donned my geeky gear (Buffy shirt, Leia earrings, and Batgirl sneakers) and prepped my sons (fourth and second graders) for what we might expect. "There may be a lot of people there," I was told, so we jumped in the car early enough to arrive thirty minutes before the opening to secure a spot in the front of the line. Pulling into the parking lot at the mall, though, it was obvious that we weren't going to be competing with large crowds. Once we made it to the front of the store, we were one of only a h