Lesson 934 Dandelions in Winter

 Hello, Readers.

Eloise reporting in from the Arctic Circle...

or Harborcreek, PA.

I'm still in the happy part of the winter though.

I love to be snowed in and snug at home.

I read this book

and it was really, really good.

It's an epistolary novel,

which are my favorite to read.

This this one outranks

The Gurnsey Potato Peel Pie Society,

which was #3 on my list of favorite books,

recently reassessed.

After some thought, 

The Correspondent takes the #3 spot.

Pop Quiz:

Do you know my top two favorite books of all time?

See the end of the blog for the answer.

Winter is also fun

because Snowmen are cute.

Snow is good for our environment

here in the Great Lakes Region.

It's good for the beaches,

the farms,

and my water well.

We are starting to think about spring flowers.

These big pots were purchased for a few dollars

at the end of season.

Hint--

never pass on an opportunity to dig through the stuff

in the Dollar General entryway!

70% off Next To Nothing

is always a very good deal.

The pots are filled with bulbs

layered at different depths.

The technique is called bulb lasagna!

We will post their progress in the spring.

We are making the year extra fun 

by celebrating Fun Holidays

as per the Time and Date website.

I learned how to tap my (birth, not blogger) name out in Morse Code last Sunday-

it's fairly simple with all the vowels.

This will be a good assignment for you

if Readers do not know my birth name.

It's decodable!

 · / ·-·· / ·- / ·· / -· / ·. 

Thursday we celebrated Strawberry Ice Cream Day

in Natalie's new Christmas bowls!

I'll be digging out my thesaurus on Sunday for Thesaurus Day.

I'm most looking forward to

celebrations on next Wednesday and Thursday, as well.

Practice your Chart Reading skills to find out 

what Fun Holidays fall on next Wednesday and Thursday.

Chart reading is a student skill found in PA Academic Standards 

CC.3.5.6-8.G, CC.1.2.6-8.G, CC.3.5.9-10.G, and CC.3.5.11-12.G  

If you think I'm joking 

here is an example of the words I have to sift through each week,

as all my goals and lesson content

is to be related to a 

PA Academic Standard.

It's really fun reading....NOT!

Standards like CC.3.5.6-8.G, CC.1.2.6-8.G, CC.3.5.9-10.G, and CC.3.5.11-12.G emphasize the need for students to integrate quantitative and technical information presented in both text and visual formats (like charts, graphs, or tables), as well as to translate information between these formats and evaluate multiple sources, including charts. 

Here is the Fun Holiday line up for next week:

Here's the link to take you directly there:  CLICK HERE

School was fun this week

because we are preparing for the Winter Olympics!

My students turned their Sticks and Stones

into Olympians!

Hockey players

Figure Skaters

And Alpine Skiers!

Nothing beats a winter sunrise.

Here are two stunners from this week.

I tried to capture the golden glow of the outdoor lamp post,

indoors!

This neat lamp was a Christmas gift 

and you can change the colors of the light.

I just love it!

Thinking about golden glows,

got me thinking about my summer flowers.

Yes, you can dream of dandelions in the winter!

Last week I went on a field trip 

to the Tom Ridge Center.

The topic for my students was scientific drawing.

We observed the finest details of antennae,

wings of birds,

fish scales,

and petals of flowers.

We had to choose something to focus on

and were given time to practice.

I chose the simple dandelion.

I wanted to draw it from all the stages of its life,

as each has its own beauty.

I gave myself a B- for overall quality,

docked myself a few points because I cheated a little

(my student Emma showed me how to blend the colors to shade the leaves),

but gave myself an A for effort.

We had a memorable discussion about 

the possibility of the practice 

becoming obsolete

with computer technology.

On the drive home from school that day,

my head was spinning,

trying to find ways to balance human skills

with the ever-advancing computer world.

The lead-in for my morning podcast 

advertised--100% Human!

Meaning the content and the voices were not AI generated.

Where are we headed? 

What could possibly be next?

These were my thoughts as I began to ponder words.

The Correspondent is about a letter writer,

and the reader pieces together the events of her life

through her letters and emails to others.

Hand drawn nature illustrations

and written words are important.

But I feared that maybe we are seeing the end of both.

It made be feel a bit melancholy,

which is unusual for me.

I grabbed the mail from the mailbox,

crunched around in the snow with the dogs for a bit,

then headed inside for dinner.

I plopped the mail onto the counter,

and a brown envelope slid from the pile.

It was addressed to me

and had this really cool sticker 

on the back

that looked like a wax seal,

which I love.

I dropped into my favorite reading chair

and opened to this beautiful card

from a former teacher from Klein School.

She retired a few years ago

at what I would consider the height of her career.

She was a master at teaching reading

and had THE BEST class her last year.

She told me several years ago

that when I chose to retire,

she hoped to do it like she did--

go out on a high.

Retire out of a good class

and your best year

so those memories of school would be your last.

And the card inside

was this one---

showing the dandelions I drew earlier that day,

in all the stages of their growth and development.

This, dear Heidi,

is going in a frame 

and it will be hung in my most sacred of spaces--

my happy little greenhouse.

You know the one?

The one where I nailed a wayward Gingerbread Man's a$$ to the wall

so he cannot leave Gingerbread Girl

alone in the depths of the winter.

See you next week.

Look for the the light

with the donkey underneath.

He's an @$$, too,

but a lovable one.

Eloise

Quiz answers:

#2

#1

   

Lesson 933: White Space

Hello, Readers!

Eloise here, 

reporting in from the wintery 

Great Lakes Region!

Normally the space around us is all white,

but we are in a January thaw--

so brown is what you get this week.

Mr. Snowman can't stand up

without the space around him packed with white.

It's windy here,

lots of power outages today.

A few Readers asked if my Gingerbread Man

blew away.

He didn't.

Mr. Lamp Post nailed his a$$

to the Greenhouse this year.

This is what the shoreline ice looks like as it is breaking up.

The only white spaces left on the school playground

are the remains of snow people

built with happy little hands.

I looked around for Karen crying

but she must be in the North Pole.

Don't worry everyone--

Erieites know that the open windows

are only temporary.

Lots more of the white stuff ahead.

That's probably why I'm making a stop

at my favorite local bookstore,

Werner Books,

to purchase their Winter Book and Drink Pairing!

Thank you, Teacher Amy for the tip!

I'll have to read about winter serenity and joy

so it can balance my mother's winter driving reports--

at 7:30 am.

Nothing like your 80 year old mother

out ahead of you in the morning.

A little humor mid winter,

never hurts anyone.

Consider it the white spaces

between the storms.

I found some white spaces in the night sky this week.

It was the Super Moon, I think--

and this is how it appeared with cloud cover.

Eloise loves the sunrises and sets.

There is a softness to the sky

the white spaces around the day.

I got the term white spaces from something I read this morning.

It's from my new little practice I'm forming.

Allow Eloise to explain.

When recording in my weather journal each morning,

I also record the Fun Holiday

found on the Time and Date website.

The time period from after Christmas

to when the weather is consistently warm

is a long stretch for Erieites.

To break up the monotony,

I decided it would be fun to recognize 

some Fun Holidays.

CLICK HERE for the website

Check it out if you clicked the link.

There are lots of interesting things on the black bar

below the time and date logo.

Here is a screen shot of some of them that have passed 

already this year.

Sam was very bothered that he missed

January 3's Festival of Sleep Day.

I did eat beans on Bean Day.

Grandma--

when not drive testing icy roads,

is a Trivia Queen.

She missed her celebration on January 4th.

As you go through the year,

you will see some have two recognized celebrations,

others none.

There are FOUR Fun Holidays to choose from 

on January 17th:

Soup Swap Day really caught my eye for next weekend.

Would any local Readers be interested in a Soup Swap?

Message me if you are 

and we can set something up!

Today, January 9th

there are two things to celebrate:

I read about Static Electricity--

a little blurb that is quick

and fun to read.

I like to read about the holidays 

early in the morning

so I feel like I accomplished my ongoing goal

of learning something new each day.

My focus today, though,

was Word Nerd Day!

Hip Hip Hooray

for Word Nerd Day!!!!!!!!!

Here is the specific page for Word Nerd Day

CLICK HERE

Origins of Word Nerd Day are unknown.

I also learned this really interesting tidbit:

I actually considered making

BOOKKEEPER

the title of this week's blog.

Until,

however,

I read this.

Being the Word Nerd that I am,

there was something 

musical in this description.

A word is 

the smallest meaningful unit.

When written,

it has 

white space

at its beginning and the end,

but not the middle.

White space at the beginning and the end of a word.

It's the pause before the power,

the buffer before the hurt,

the swelling of the heart prior to an expression of love.

Words are powerful.

Use them well

and for the Greater Good,

Dearest Readers.

Another powerful depiction of white space:

The buffer between the chatter of college boys

home for college break,

and Gus,

the resident library cat.

I'm convinced her reads my books

when I'm not home.

Message me if you are in for Soup on January 17th

and I'll figure something out.

Eloise