Ohm. Ma. Yoga!

When I was little,

I wrote a letter to Robert Newton Peck.

The author of the Soup series.

And I waited eagerly for a reply.

I got one.

I remember,
And felt so...seen.

---

When I was in college,

I went to hear J.M. Coetzee speak.

The Nobel Peace Prize Winning South African author visited our campus.

and I, of course, remember every vivid detail of shaking that man's hand and weeping.

---

I wrote a thank you letter to Tony DiTerlizzi,

Thanking him for writing books that inspire my students to read.

And that AMAZING man and his incredible wife...

SURPRISED ME, by visiting my students - just out of the blue.

#IsThisRealLife!

---

My 5th-grade teacher, Karen Willard, showed up at every play,

Show, Birthday, Graduation, etc, I ever invited her to.

She even surprised me this school year, visiting my classroom for community reader night.
(Special shout out for showing up 25 years after you had to)

---

All of these moments, these snippets into my childhood and adulthood - are memories of connection. A time when someone showed up for me.

Made me known.

Made me feel special.

Important.

As such, they've also stayed with me, through every step of my journey.

The good bits and the hard.

That I mattered to someone - made all the difference in my life.

---

But this is a story about something that hasn't happened yet.

And someone who lives a world away.

And about yoga.

And maybe more so - the power of the internet.

Several years ago, while teaching in inner-city Holyoke, I longed to bring yoga into my 3rd grade.
On some random weekend and not very deep into my google search, I stumbled upon Jaime and her site, Cosmic Kids Yoga.

As an adult, I was riveted by what she offered - chewable bites of kid-sized yoga that was engaging, movement-oriented and told through story.

As a teacher, I was hooked the first day I introduced it to my class.
And so were they.

I moved to Greenfield in 2013 and took a 3rd and 4th-grade looping position spending 2 years with the same class family. It has been a dream job, at the Disney World of elementary schools.

When I explained to my principal, Melodie Goodwin, that I wanted to add a 20-minute block of yoga to our daily schedule, she was on board right away.

As an extended learning school (our day begins at 7:30am and goes until almost 4pm) our students craved some "body-focused mindfulness".

Over the last five years, Cosmic Kids Yoga and Jaime who facilitates the yoga have become an integral part of our day and our class family.

This June, I will close the loop on the last two years of working with my students as they head off to middle school.

Early in the school year (our second together), a student asked a simple, but big question: Do you think Jaime will ever come visit?

Immediately, I responded that, while we've corresponded via email, sent her warm fuzzies and photos of the class doing yoga, that it was still, in fact, a long way from Manchester, UK to Western Massachusetts.

And this story could have ended here, with a class full of 4th graders who love doing yoga.

But the request itched at the back of my mind for some time.
I even drafted an email I left lingering in my drafts.

Subject: The craziest afternoon email of all time:

Jaime,

I have had - in my whirring teacher brain - this question that I've hesitated to ask...

So here I go: We'd LOVE to invite you and Martin to our cozy Newton School here in the States. I know that a price quote for that will probably be astronomical.;) But if I'm going to teach shoot for the moon, I better practice it...

Peace, laughter, and lots of namaste,

Jami

At the same time, our connection with our friends at DonorsChoose.org was starting to make dreaming big dreams possible.

DonorsChoose.org is an incredible organization that allows teachers to create projects/grants for their classroom supplies, professional development, and CLASSROOM VISITORS.

I wondered as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded professional development for me to Get My Teach On in New Orleans, and the Born This Way Foundation funded materials to make our classroom trauma ready if we could write a project to bring Jaime and Cosmic Kids stateside for the surprise of a lifetime.

I sent the email.

And waited.

But not very long.

The following morning:

Dear Jami,

What a glorious idea!! I love it! We would be honoured to come and meet you and your kids who are finding so much value in what we do. We would love to make this happen. 

Can’t wait to build this idea with you and will check in once I have some figures!

Huge love and namaste to you all!

Jaime xxx

Once I was done crying and envisioning what the day would look like, we set about emailing back and forth creating a quote for DonorsChoose.org

All totaled it was a BIG project at just over $3,000.

Never having designed such a big project, we broke it up into three smaller projects and prayed.

Several Cosmic Kids Yoga enthusiasts joined our amazing cause and we were on our way to raising the first thousand.

And just when you thought that was the biggest dream, something even more incredible happened.

DonorsChoose.org and it's founder, Charles Best had been working behind the scenes to make #BestSchoolDay come to life. With new friends at Ripple, they set about donating $29 million dollars and funding all 35,000 projects that were live on the DonorsChoose.org site that #BestSchoolDay.

Including ours.

#omg

#noway

#isthisreallife

And at 2:47am, I realized, Jaime was coming to Newton School.

I emailed her (thank goodness UK time is 5 hours ahead), with delight.

We are still in the planning stages, but we look forward to her visit on June 7th.

We're planning a tremendous surprise for my homeroom and then a day full of yoga for all the students here at Newton School.

I'm pretty sure this is a story about connection.

And how one small email can set into motion something incredible.

It's about friendship.

Learning.

Yoga.

And as I end, maybe it's more about learning and teaching to dream big.

To never stop dreaming.

About asking the impossible and figuring out how to make it possible.

I look forward to June, now, not just as my 35th birthday, but as a day I know my students will remember forever. The internet is a crazy amazing place, and when used for good can connect us to worlds away and people who bring epic goodness into our lives on a daily basis.

My Matilda Moment

Honestly.
Writing this post.
Is something I never thought,
I'd get the opportunity to do.

Because, as a general rule,
5th grade teachers are under no
obligations to visit their former students 24 years after having them in class.

And yet,
here we are.

24 years after I first entered Karen Willard's 5th grade, light blue classroom at Moseley School in Westfield, MA, she entered mine.

Last night.
During Community Reader Night.
We both,
as one might have expected,
shed a few tears.

I happened to be in the middle of a read aloud.
And honestly, I've never read Tony DiTerilizzi's Jimmy Zangwow's out-of-this-world, moon pie adventure, so speedily in my life, which felt so weird as he is truly one of our most favorite authors (and who just two years ago, made his own unannounced and totally by surprise visit into the same room - goosebumps still recalling that day!)

When I finished, I closed my book and ushered in Ms. Adrianne, who is an exceptionally talented illustrator herself and left my little group in her capable hands as I ran to hug My Mrs. Willard.

Hugs. 
In general, are not my thing.
I don't give out very many as a teacher.
Or receive many from students for that matter.
I'm a face shmoosher.
Daily taking the beautiful faces of my littles between my two hands to remind them how LOVED they are.
How SMART they are.
And how blessed I am to be their teacher.

But hugging Mrs. Willard.
Was, of course, spellbinding.
Whisking me back to my 10 year old self, getting ready for the last day of school.
Wondering how I'd ever survive the rest of my life without her.
And feeling as loved today as I did back then.

The rest of my night remained this delicate balance of hosting community reader night and waiting for everyone to leave.  Karen read two books and brought stones for each of my littles, hand painted by her.  By 6:30 the event had ended, Karen and her daughter Harley (Harley - I hope I spelled that right!), helped me pick up a few things and then we just sat.

On yoga ball chairs.
For hours.
If there had been tea - we would have been stand ins for Miss Honey and Matilda.

My Mrs. Willard left teaching shortly after I was her student.  
She began a family.
And made a choice to homeschool her two brilliant children.
She has, over the years, stayed present in my life.

Attending my sweet 16,
Every poorly acted HS production,
And eventually my HS graduation, bestowing upon me a scrapbook of all the letters we shared in the intervening years.

I remember taking that scrapbook to college and digging for it on the nights when papers were due and it was 2am and I was sure I was going to fail - because the little quote page in the back was FILLED with advice. "Be true to yourself, and the rest will fall into place," being a particular fave.

My first classroom, 11 years ago in 2006 seems a lifetime ago.
I've been the Assistant Director of Admissions, a Residence Director, worked retail, spent a year on a reality show (and no - most of reality tv is not, in fact, real) and even returned to school to start, stop, start, stop, and hopefully start again PhD work, before returning several years ago to the classroom.

All of this to say, when I wrote her a few weeks ago, to send a copy of an essay I'd composed, it never really occurred to me that: 
FIRST the letter would reach her, 
SECOND that she'd really remember, and 
THIRD that she'd ever make it down to my school.

I'd spent a good amount of time searching her address through deed records for her last known address, unfortunately the only information I could find was a purchase of land - not home address.  So I sent a letter to the land.

Sending it really into the proverbial wind.
And for whatever power you believe in...
It made its way to her.

She sat, she shared, with her two children and shared the letter and essay with them, and promptly decided that she and Harley would attend Pajama Night - in their PJs. :)

So much of teaching has changed, but the things I learned from her in our room, about compassion, and care, about sticktoitness and reading, music, and poetry, well those have remained salient to me in my own room.

We had a long conversation about my classroom and how my mission to create a classhome for children of trauma, has really been met, turned, of course, to standardized testing and how I feel about the pressure of it all.

I returned once again to that real sentiment that no test score will ever quantify a student's worth - the good they put in the world - and therefore, it can never be my main focus.  If I teach you well, and give you opportunities to learn to be a citizen of the world - I hope you will do well - not just on a ridiculous test - but do actual good in the world.

Minutes and seconds seemed to slip by almost unnoticed until my entire building was dark, save for my classroom lights.  I knew the time would come where we both said goodbye and there was just something about those last few moments in room 115, that seemed so similar to those spent in room 9 or was it 12, all those years ago.

The security 10 year old me felt, about that room, about this woman.
Seemed to linger in the air.

As we readied to leave, she shared one final thought, "When you left the room earlier tonight, (I was bringing Ms. Adrianne to her next room,) I of course shared what a wonderful student you were with all your families.  It took but only a second for the two boys down front to start in, with calls of YOU being the best teacher they ever had.  I think that's important for you to understand."

That sentiment is a big think.
I do not set out each morning to be the best teacher anyone has ever had.
Or to be a Mrs. Willard. (Because seriously - those shoes are HULK sized that no one could ever fill.)

Just to be the best person I can be in this crazy big world.
And hopefully inspire my little people to do the same.

Of course, I'm fairly certain, I learned that, from Mrs. Willard, too. ;)

N.O.T.E.S.

I wanted to share the ONLY thing I have for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers, ha. :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it for taking notes on testing or any thing read, really.

Each letter of the word NOTES, stands for a skill of "close reading".

--->N.O.T.E.S

I like the ease of having them separated, though many classrooms at my school used the poster just put together.  I separated mine to have the ability to teach closely one skill.  I pull down the S and say, today, I'm really looking for those quick simple sketches that help me see you understand the story.

In case you don't want to buy it and make your own - and honestly some of the best ideas are the ones we share here is what they mean:

N. NUMBER your paragraphs or sentences.  This will make it easy when citing work or having to go back and look for an answer in a specific paragraph.

O. Circle or Box words and sentences that are crucial for understanding.  In the beginning they circle too much and not the right stuff, but they have gotten SO much better over the past three and half months.

#hasTag.  This is the best, especially in third grade.  They think it's a riot.  #what?!  #thisiswrong #money!  You can see in the photos hashtagging is a BIG hit and the kids love it!

E. EXPRESS your own ideas and thoughts.  Make a connection to the text understand by connection.  "Me too" or "Not fair!"

finally everyone's favorite:

S. SIMPLE SKETCHES  Quick drawings that help you understand what you read with a quick glance.  They kids eat this one up.

Here are some student work samples of "marking" up their READING before they answer questions or produce a writing sample.

I especially love seeing them take standardized testing and watching them write down this strategy to use. :)

At this point in our year, I don't even say start with NOTES, they just begin numbering their sentences or paragraphs and circling key words.

#icouldjustdieiloveherhashtags ;)

If you haven't guessed, their favorite part is #hashtagging everything.  Some of them are more successful than others.

Photo

I started putting together some photos of our travels around the world from the travel unit.  Some of you wonderful readers have asked how to do it.  Here's the best I can do to support.  Let me know if I can make anything more clear!  HAVE FUN!

I'm printing each student a copy of their photo @ CVS.  Right now, CVS has .11 cent photos if you order 100 or more.  I've decided that each photo will act as a postcard assessment.  At the end of each week they will write letters home from their respective countries sharing what we've learned.  A great keep sake for a great unit!

Read

The holiday season has reached 115.

Many families at our school celebrate Christmas.

I happen to not be one of them (I mean, we rock those 8 crazy nights.)

;)

Regardless of what we celebrate, I want my entire class to be knowledgeable.

On customs around the world.

Not just in our neck of the world.

One great way to do this is to read books.

So.

My very first year I started collecting books.

Some were gifts to me or my class, some I picked up because I knew we needed them.

Kwanza, Christmas, Hanukah, Winter Solstice, and Winter theme books abound.

By December 1st, I wrap up one book for each student.

Not to give as a gift.

But to add to our classroom library.

They are all AR books, all levels.

Each school day I pull 1 or 2 numbers of a student.

That student opens the book.

I have a strong group of third graders this year, so when they open the books they also take my seat and read it to the class.

Two years ago, I had a third grade group that wouldn't have been successful (slash we tried one and it was pretty painful for that students, so I opted to read from there on out).

Still fun, still exciting.

And then best part is it's technically free.

I don't buy new books every year, I wrap up ones we already have!

Then once they are open they are back in the library.

My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Some of the books, especially the ones about winter will be kick off points for us for a winter activity.  The best part of that it is - I don't know which ones they will choose. 

It does take a little planning, but it's really fun.

I have all the activities ready to go, and when they are reading the book, my co-teacher and I get the activity ready.

Little Miss G. picked a poem book on Friday about a boy who wonders if the next day will be a snow day (even though it's summer).

The kids do a cute writing activity about if tomorrow were 100 degrees and it was a "sun day" instead of a snow day (we live in New England so snow days are much more likely.)

We served lemonade with a beach umbrellas while the kids worked.  They loved it!

Adding a little magic to the season is always my goal.

This year we added MAP testing Benchmarking and AR Benchmarking to the month of December, that's a lot of testing before  Winter Break.

I hope you can find time for a little magic in your classrooms this holiday season.

Our FAVORITE HOLIDAY reads:

Simon and the Bear

Winter Solstice

Lil' Rabbits Kwanza

The Night of Las Posadas

Totally Polar

Write

I love teaching writing.
Our school uses Collins Writing and Keys to Literacy.

Which is so funny since John Collins is married to Becky DeSmith who is a KTL Trainer.
Anyhoo. I adore both these programs and think they have made a gigantic impact on my students as readers and writers.

I've started writing more to show the kids that joy in writing.
When they read during independent reading, 4 out of the 5 days I read.
Something I'm intereted in.
I just finished Fortunately, Milk and found a higher reader who devoured it after me.
Before that I read Fish In A Tree...if you have not read it, stop reading this and go get it.
The other day I assess where they, evaluate their Accelerated Reader Assessments, etc.

Same thing with writing.
But "just" teaching them to write, doesn't necessarily inspire writing.
Fears of spelling and grammar mistakes can hold back even the brightest kid.

So at least twice, if not more times in a week, we do a quick write that's sole purpose is fun.
Not to be over edited and rewritten so it's pretty, just to get our ideas out...and share them.

A few years ago now I found an And Then...box on a shelf in a store here in Western Massachusetts called the Cedar Chest, it's eclectic and fun.

My better half limits the amount of time I spend there as their stationary section steals my heart the second we lock eyes.  "We don't need any more paper!" He'll say, before buying me some because he knows I won't let us leave otherwise.

And we LOVE LOVE LOVE And Then.
It's a simple box with a simple concept:
There is a set of cards with a little bit of a story.

Each story ends with...dun dun dun...AND THEN...

And that's when the kids pick up their pencils and start writing.
The first few times we did it, I wrote WITH them.
Now I just write my own while they are writing theirs.

To add an extra element of fun, I pick a student number to come up and "Pick a card, any card" and they take that responsibility very seriously.

Here's an early example with the card I read aloud and the student writing - and yes, I love her big ole enthusiasm as much as the next teacher, sometimes, you just gotta write - and I mean, can you tell it really was the WORST DAY EVER!!!! LOL :)

I don't know if Cedar Chest still carries this, so I've linked you to two of my favorite sites, Volume One is carried by Jet - so when you order you groceries this month, throw one in your cart.  And Volume 2 is carried by Le Target Boutique ;).

Volume #1
Volume #2

Travel

 

I had no idea, when I posted this photo of our class on our way to Greenland, it was going to be such a hit.

Many of my readers wanted to know more.

So.

Here we go:

Starting my first year of teaching, I had a smartboard, and I had some of the neediest kids. 
Kids who had never been on a plane.
Or train.
Or boat.
Or out of their barrio in the very inner city.

And so.
I started showing them what the jetway was.
And the plane boarding and the whole shebang.

Today, I don't teach in quiet the same environment.
We're more rural/suburban.

BUT - I do work at the Disney World of Elementary Schools.
LOVE...LOVE...LOVE.

Though the kids still lack a lot of experiences.
So, while they are at afternoon Extended Learning Time (this week they have Technology), I get the room ready.

This is actually the most time consuming part.
I only have 5 chairs.
We are a flexible seating room, so I have to borrow chairs from another specials room for this period.

I set them up in rows of two, the last row has three each as we have 18 kids.
I pass out Rachelle's amazing:
 Suitcase
Passport

Vocab Book

Along with a ticketthe day before, so I just pass out their suitcases at the end of specials.

When they enter the room, this is paused on the board:
   
Then we watch just a little bit of this, probably about 4-5 minutes.
While this next video is playing, we pass out our snack.
Yesterday we had oreos and crackers.

Our school provides daily snack, so next week, I'm just going to give them their regular snack during this time.
 

 

We spend a little bit of time talking about Greenland and pass out Rachelle's info sheet.

She also has a craftivity, but in this case, it was a letter to Santa, and we opted to do a video of Greenland over the craft.

Our class watched this:

Exploring caves as a job:

The class' favorite - Glaciers Up Close :) :

Honestly, here's the link to Rachelle's Work:
Holidays Around the World Part 1 & 2
It's incredible.
I don't even use her book recs, but they are there.
Bulletin board stuff.
There.
Passages.
There.
Games.
Pictures.
There and There.

One of the best products I've purchased from TPT.
(*I don't know her IRL, I don't get points for telling you I love it, it simply is easy to use and has over 200 pages.  So.  That should just speak for itself)

Sharing this experience with the kids is the best.
I am humbled by their enthusiasm and constant joy.
It's "free".
Like I don't have to order books online or DVDs, I just scour the internet for cool videos.
And let the magic of moving a few chairs do it's work.  Simply the best.!

As a souvenir, from each country, I pick a backdrop and we take a tourist class shot on our "trip".  While in Greenland, we took our photo with the aurora borealis: