More Framing...

...in the basement

Long Black Train

(My favorite part of the video is Annie's head with her pink hat bobbing back and forth as she listens... that's just about as much excitement as you're going to get from a Mennonite congregation during a church service!)

The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser

One of the best parts of my job as a literacy coach at an elementary school is providing professional development for the teachers. I especially like this part of my job when the teachers have specifically requested a certain kind of professional development and I get to put it together! That's what happened recently with our Daily Five Book Study. The teachers came together weekly and we discussed the information in this book.

The Daily Five is a management system for teachers that engages students in authentic literary tasks while they are not in a guided reading groups or working with the teacher. These five tasks include reading to self, reading with someone, listening to reading, word work, and writing. The system was developed by well-known leaders in the world of education, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey (also known as "The Sisters").

This book was one of the best I have read in the education genre. The writing was simple, clear, and concise which made the book so easy and fast to read. The practical application of this management system is, unfortunately, not something I am able to try but the logic and practicality of the Daily Five seemed to lend itself to easy application. This is a great book that I would recommend to all teachers!

Young Adults

Last weekend we enjoyed our weekly young adult get-together at Mike and Hannah's new house. We cooked up a wonderful breakfast for supper and had a great time in a very bustling and active kitchen!

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

This collection of eight short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri explores the lives of Bengali families living in the United States. Each story, while very different in plot and circumstance, seems to center around an emotionally complex event shrouded in mysterious awkwardness that explores the cultural norms of Bengali individuals. In A Choice of Accommodations Amit and and his wife, Megan, attend the wedding of Amit's college crush. When Amit awakes, hung over, the morning after the wedding, he is unsure how his seemingly insecure wife has spent the evening. In Unaccustomed Earth, Ruma's father comes to her Seattle home for a visit. Ruma's father is afraid to share with his daughter that he has developed romantic feelings for a woman he often travels with. A third story explores the uncomfortable relationship between two roommates after one finds out that the fiancee of the other has been cheating on her.

Three short stories in this book center around the relationship between Hema and Kaushik, beginning as children when their parents forge a strong friendship, and continuing into adulthood when they are coincidentally reconnected through mutual friends. The stories of Hema and Kaushik are intimate and tragic and they pull the reader in with their complex intensity.

I listened to this book on my iPod during my gym visits. I was completely enraptured by the book and would find myself spending a few extra minutes on the treadmill because I wasn't quite ready to stop listening. Lahiri is one of the best writers I have read (or listened to!) and it's easy to see why this book was #1 on the New York Times Book Review List of the "10 Best Books of 2008". It is the best book I have read so far in 2010 and I look forward to reading more by this author.

(I also highly recommend The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, if you have not read it.)

Brunch Bunch in Castle Rock

Two Saturdays ago, Lisa, Becca, and I met in Castle Rock for a little breakfast and shopping. It was a beautiful day and I had so much fun looking at all the adorable baby boy clothes in all the kid-oriented stores we stopped in. Between the three of us, we had five boys to shop for!

For the latest belly shot, click here.

Happy Couple!

photo by Rachel Combs

Lesson 29: Concrete in the Basement

Laying concrete in the basement can really make a house feel like a home!