Celebrations!!! and Welcome December!

Oh how I love joining Ruth Ayres' quest for slowing down and celebrating life...inside our classroom and outside of it as well.
So this week, I have several celebrations.

Celebration #1: A new series!

I was happily surprised to discover this new series of "Favorite Authors"at my local library. A Capstone Press publication now provides different authors' biographies that is written for children in mind. Love the accessible way that this book is written. The chapters are short but concise with great information. Words that are in bold print are explained and defined at the bottom of the page. The combination of photographs and illustrations is also another great layout of the book.  Each nonfiction book in the series is organized with a Table of Content, a timeline, glossary, a "read more"section, internet sites and Index. Biographies in this series include:
Barbara Park
Dav Pilkey
Grace Lin
Jeff Kinney
Mo Willems
Shel Silverstein.

What a wonderful resource to share with our students. It highlights the authors' journey, where they started and how they got to the place they stand. So important for our students to understand there is a life of trial and errors behind each author. So much to share and learn from each of them.

Celebration #2: Part of my #Nerdlution is to try something new each week. And to be honest with you...this is part of who I am...always in search of new things, new places and adventurous. Week #1 of #Nerdlution new thing includres trying a new restaurant in our awesome city of Columbus! Thanks to my adventurous food friends who wanted to join me in this quest. It helps to have great friends like Karen and Julie who are willing to take a chance with you. We were not disappointed. And now we all have something new to share with friends and family. Nerdlution made that happen...share your joys with others.

Celebration # 3
A snow day. On top of it...a Friday Snow Day. Seriously. What a gift. I couldn't have asked for anyting better! What did I do on this Snow Day? Sleep in, watch my favorite Holiday movie: Love Actually, Read, organize a couple of things around the house and more naps. I appreciate when life gives me a mandatory SLOW DOWN. Thank you snow...thank you winter...thank you season. Thank you.

Joining the Twitter Revolution: Nerdlution

The concept for TED is "Ideas Worth Spreading". Many times, that's how I feel about my amazing Twitter friends who come up with these brilliant ideas that are worth spreading. My friends know this about me: I live my life in a constant search for BALANCE. I believe that balance is one of the key ingredients to a happy life. I love the different communities that I belong to. I love my teaching community, my writing community, my Hispanic community and of course, my reading community. I also try to carefully decide to what things I say YES to because we all know that when we say YES to something, we're saying NO to something else.

However, certain YES's are worth saying them because they enhance us, challenge us or strengthen us. That's how I feel about all the brilliant minds that came up with #NERDLUTION.

If you would like to know how this #Nerdlution got started, then you need to head over Franki's blog and read the behind the scene story. I've been reading their tweets, pondering, considering HOW I am going to make this happen. I love the concept and actually BELIEVE in this idea so strongly. My fear? I'm leaving to go to Paraguay and I'll be out of the country for 16 days. Internet is limited...and let's face it: my family time is valuable. I didn't want to commit to anything that would jeopardize my time with them. But then, I started seeing how "flexible and open" people were with their #nerdlution and that's when it clicked! I can make this work, even when I'm away...even when I'm absorbed in a different world, and with limited Internet access. I can still make it happen. 

So...my #nerdlution include the following:

1. BE present in the moment. Any moment. Big or small. No multitasking...answering texts, or glancing over twitter. Be present. 

2. Document my next 50 days in the form of photos, notecards, memorabilia, journaling, polaroids, etc. I got the tools, I just need to use them. I'm interested to see what develops or emerge from all this documenting. 

3. Each new week between Dec. 2 and January 20th: I'll try something new...whether that is a new app, a new food, a new spot in town, a new genre of book, or a recipe. I'll try something NEW. 

Those are my nerdlutions. Simple but doable as I spend my next 50 days in two countries. Thank you Colby Sharp, Franki Sibberson, and all the other brilliant minds for this brilliant concept. Let the FUN begin.