Celebrating 10 Years of A Year of Reading: Our 6th Birthday

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming to the end of our 10th year of blogging! To celebrate, we will look back on our blog birthday posts through the years.  Join us as we revisit our birthday posts. Today is Day 6 of our 10 Day Birthday Celebration!

Photo:Ardfern [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A Year of Reading X 6

Celebrating 10 Years of A Year of Reading: Our 5th Birthday

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming to the end of our 10th year of blogging! To celebrate, we will look back on our blog birthday posts through the years.  Join us as we revisit our birthday posts. Today is Day 5 of our 10 Day Birthday Celebration!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Celebrating 10 Years of A Year of Reading: Our 4th Birthday

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming to the end of our 10th year of blogging! To celebrate, we will look back on our blog birthday posts through the years.  Join us as we revisit our birthday posts. Today is Day 4 of our 10 Day Birthday Celebration!

Blog Birthday!

Celebrating 10 Years of A Year of Reading: Our 3rd Birthday

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming to the end of our 10th year of blogging! To celebrate, we will look back on our blog birthday posts through the years.  Join us as we revisit our birthday posts. Today is Day 3 of our 10 Day Birthday Celebration!

Photo Credit: Puschinka 
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schokoladentorte_Buttercreme_Tulpen_dritter_Geburtstag_001.JPG)

For our 3rd birthday:
THREE: The First Three
THREE: The Second of Three
THREE: The Third of Three

Celebrating 10 Years of A Year of Reading: Our 2nd Birthday

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming to the end of our 10th year of blogging! To celebrate, we will look back on our blog birthday posts through the years.   Join us as we revisit our birthday posts. Today is Day 2 of our 10 Day Birthday Celebration!

Photo by S. Briggs (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozillanigeria/8288440865/sizes/m/)

For our 2nd birthday we had a 4 day Blog Birthday Gala!

Blog Birthday Gala, Day 1

Blog Birthday Gala, Day 2

Blog Birthday Gala, Day 3

Blog Birthday Gala, Day 4

Poetry Friday -- Christmas Wishes

O what a glory doth this world put on
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks
On duties well performed, and days well spent!
For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves
Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teachings.
He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go
To his long resting-place without a tear.

from Autumn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(the whole poem is here)

Wishing you the glory of the world, a fervent heart, days well spent, and a bright and glorious sky. Merry Christmas!

Irene has the roundup this week at Live Your Poem.

Celebrating 10 Years of A Year of Reading: Our 1st Birthday

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming to the end of our 10th year of blogging! To celebrate, we will look back on our blog birthday posts through the years.  Join us as we revisit our birthday posts over the next 10 Days of our Birthday Celebration!

Our very first blog post went live on January 2, 2006: Why We Are Doing This

In January 2007, we looked back on our first year and proclaimed:  What a Great Year to be a Blogger!

Photo from Theresa Thompson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/theresasthompson/2311764508/in/dateposted/)

A Family Field Trip to the Mazza Museum

I have always wanted to visit the Mazza Museum. It is not too far from here (Findlay, Ohio) but for some reason I haven't done it.  But on Sunday, we spent the day with our family in Toledo and decided to stop on the way for an hour.  And I am so glad we did--what an amazing place!

The whole family visited and it was so fun watching everyone (husband included) finding art of some of our favorite picture books.  Every time we discovered a new illustration of a book or character we loved, it was total joy.

And it was about more than seeing our favorite illustrators. We also saw exhibits that shared things we didn't know about the process of picture book making.  Here are some of our favorite finds!

We saw Patricia Polacco's quilt from The Keeping Quilt.

There was a section on development of picture books that showed the process and planning  that picture book makers go through.

All of the books as well as binders about the illustrators were included in the displays. So you can learn about the Madeline art and then go right to the page in the actual book.

There was an entire room of Paper Engineering with so many amazing pieces.

Mo Willems says he got his biggest inspiration from Dr. Seuss so this is a tribute to him.

My older daughter was thrilled that a Laura Ingalls Wilder display was one of the first things she saw when she walked in. She was a huge Little House fan for most of her elementary years.

And I was so surprised to see art from Roller Girl in the graphic novels display.  I loved the combination of classics and brand new titles in the museum.

 I am hoping to make it to some of their institutes this summer or next year. They always look incredible but the timing doesn't usually work out. 
I am so glad that we stopped by. I am sure it won't be my last visit to this amazing place!

Poetry Friday: Haiku Tag

TUESDAY:

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Flood G.

thick slice of dark bread

minutes like sugar in tea

pencil scratching page

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

WEDNESDAY:

pencil scratching page

fish tank burbling endlessly

clock strikes seven

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

THURSDAY:

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Jo Christian Oterhals

clock strikes seven

sleeper doesn't stir

earth keeps rotating

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

FRIDAY:

Wikipedia

earth rotates daily

as it floats around the sun

my head is spinning

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

On Tuesday, I was running a little behind, but I managed to write a haiku about writing a haiku while eating a quick breakfast.  I decided to use the last line of this haiku as the first line on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, I was running a lot behind. It was 7:00am and I hadn't started writing yet, hadn't showered, hadn't packed my lunch. I need to be out the door by 7:45 to be on time for work, so it's a good thing I had the first line of my haiku ready to go.

Thursday morning I was exhausted. I had rolled-cut-baked cookies the night before for hours and hours after an already long day at work. All I could think of was the first morning of break when I wouldn't have to set my alarm. Even though I was tired, I was pretty thrilled to find an image of a clock that really goes with my haiku!

Today, I was able to weave our current studies in science into a haiku that describes both what it's like to be a fifth grader learning about the movements of the earth around the sun (rotation/revolution; day, night, seasons) AND what this week's been like for me. Our heads are all spinning for some reason or another!

Diane has the Poetry Friday roundup at Random Noodling this week.

Informational Writing

For all those classrooms where students are working hard on their informational writing: may your students' work blow you out of the water!