Friends

I love my friends. Each brings something important to my life, brightening my days and lightening my soul. Never have I been in the position where I felt without a friend. We never moved when I was in school. The young narrator of Norton Juster's Neville was not so fortunate. When his family moves (without any warning to him), he is distraught and in search of at least one good friend. He roams the neighborhood and calls, "Neville!" Soon he is joined by another boy and then a girl and then a whole bunch of kids, all calling, "Neville!" Each of them becomes a friend of sorts. G. Brian Karas's illustrations show their unique traits as they all promise to return the next day. The surprise ending is delightful!

Lizzie Bright on Stage

Sitting in the front of the theater offers such an intimate view of the actors and action. Expressions are clearer. Emotions are more intense. As my friends and I took in the Children's Theatre Company's production of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy from the first row last night, we were caught up in the characters' actions. As the story progressed, we all wondered about how other audience members perceived the show. If a person had not read Gary Schmidt's book version, would she feel like important scenes, people, and words were missing? Or would she simply wonder about the interactions and events, taking in all the elements of a strong story?

We contemplated these things and more over dessert at the 112 Eatery. Mmm. Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse.

Fairies, Royalty, and Mixed-Up Lovers

Would this post title be enough to convey the title of the play I enjoyed this morning at school? How about if I added the names Bottom, Hippolyta, Lysander, and Hermia? Enthusiastic fourth-graders performed an only slightly modified version of A Mid-Summer Night's Dream for parents and classmates. Like me, the audience was awestruck by the Fairies' dance and originally composed song. They smirked at Helena's sarcasm and Hermia's fury. They laughed at Bottom, transformed into a donkey. Their cheers for Peter Quince's players' performance (with a loud wail from Thisbe) resounded. They clapped in rhythm as each group of actors came out for a final bow. Smiles stretched wide as the actors quickly changed from costumes to school clothes - and headed to math.

One Cool Book

Toni Buzzeo and David Small's collaboration on One Cool Friend resulted in one really cool book. It begins with an offer from Elliott's father to visit the aquarium. Though he does not like crowds and noisy kids, Elliott's polite manners lead him to agree. It was not to be a father/son outing though, as Elliott is sent off while his father reads National Geographic. At the penguin exhibit, he discovers a lovely little Magellan penguin who looks as proper as him. And when he asks his father if he can have a penguin, the excitement and deception begin. The illustrations perfectly complement the text. It is a witty, fun story with an unexpected ending. I loved it so much I had to read it aloud to my teaching partner and dear David LaRochelle on Tuesday morning!

The Courage to Knit

Sometimes I need to knit in order to focus during a long or tense meeting. Depending on who is in charge of the meeting, it might take a bit of courage for me to knit. This hat (for a colleague's soon-to-be-born baby) was knit mostly during a tense meeting two weeks ago.

My friend Julie Roth's charming book Knitting Nell is about a young courageous knitter who knits while she walks and even in the bathtub. Some people pick on her because of the odd sound of her voice, but Nell continues to knit, influencing others to learn as well. Nell knits scarves for others and later teaches knitting to many - including the young man who used to pick on her. Julie's lovely illustrations make it a perfect book.

Owl Conversations

I am a light sleeper. A few weeks ago, I awoke at 2:00 a.m. to the unmistakable sound of an owl. Soon there were two: one with a lower pitched voice than the other. They called to each other for an hour, and my husband and I contentedly listened.

Then we began the inquiry process. What kind of owls had we heard? We started at the DNR website to determine which species were commonly found in our area. From the Nature tab to Animals to Birds (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/birds/index.html), we found a list and read about each one. The Barred Owl lives in our area, but "our" owls did not wail and screech. Great Gray Owls live north of us. Great Horned Owls live in our range. We hoped it would be them we had heard.

Next we wanted to compare the sounds we heard with recorded owl calls (http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php). They were definitely Great Horned Owls!

And they have come back many nights to converse in the trees in the backyards of our neighborhood. One magical night, they began at 9:15, and our sons even joined us on the deck to listen in amazement.

When I shared this story with third graders in the midst of an inquiry project, they chose to follow the same route of discover that we did!

Leaving Orange Street

The third graders and I are leaving the comforts, trials, and challenges of Orange Street this week (One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin). Though I have commented previously on how enamored the children are with the book, one boy's reaction exemplified how deep their concern for the story goes. He complained at the beginning of the hour of a headache but decided to wait a bit to see if he felt better. After our computer work, he really thought he wanted to go to the nurse. I completed the pass to her office, handed it to him, and started to open the book. "Wait," he said. "Are you reading right now?" Yes, I told him. We would finish it in 20 minutes. "Well..." I asked if he wanted to listen for a while and see if the headache was bearable. Eagerly, he handed the pass back to me and joined his classmates in the reading alcove. Later, as we got to one of the parts that makes me teary, he was the only one who knew exactly why the character Larry Tilley did not correct Ms. Snoops when she called him Ralph (his father) and asked about Larry. His classmates nodded - and later shared moments when they, too, had preserved an older person's dignity.