Day in Sentence

Some weeks are like that. Slow. I had just two responses to this week’s Days in a Sentence, and I appreciate both Cindy (here at the blog) and Brian (over at Google+) for sharing their reflective thoughts.

Cindy writes: Heads bent slightly, pages turning faster, eyes wide open – a groan of frustration when the timer goes – these flashes of my favorite moments this week are only rivaled by the chorus of voices asking my favorite question: “Can you help me find something to read next?” I love that picture of her students, so intent on reading that nothing else matters … including what happens next, and then the turn to the teacher, asking for some guidance on a book. Wonderful.

And Brian‘s sentence is just as wonderful, as he writes of himself as the writer. Brian: “I picked up the pen and a new notebook and wrote before school, during school, after school at my daughter’s soccer practice, in bed before sleep and then again in the morning before school and it has been one of the best weeks in a long time.”

And I will add a second sentence to the mix this week, too. We just finished up our first full five-day week last week and I do a fluency activity with read-aloud fractured fairy tale plays. “The sounds of chatter and laughter filled the room left empty by summer, signalling a year ahead of creative ventures here in our shared space in which I hope they will emerge as confident writers and readers.”

Thanks again to Cindy and Brian. I hope you will join us, too, next time for Day in a Sentence.

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

I put out a call last week for a version of Day in a Sentence called Day in a Haiku. That little twist produced some interesting poems.

Gail P. captured the essence of summer’s ending.

Summer’s days are few
but it’s heat still lingers on.
Come cool autumn breeze.

Amanda notes how routines give a rhythm to things, and at the start of the school year, routines are key.

Grateful for routine
and savoring each moment
with new-found focus.

I love this one by Joe. It is just so poetic and thoughtful. It has a calm essence to it, doesn’t it?

The quiet stillness
of anxious first impressions
is far too short lived

I was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but two gems from Linda. Both are about nature. Close your eyes and see the moments.

Summer memories
linger in the warm air
as I welcome today

Strong cascades of rain
cover the saturated ground
with wonder and fear

And Britton‘s poem is like a camera. I can see the empty nests.

September highway.
Swallows gone, nests abandoned.
Half a moon rises

I had shared a haiku when I put out the call for reflections. But time has passed and I have another one to share now that I have been observing my new students.

Eager faces watch
Wait, with pens poised, writing lives
in fresh, new notebooks

Thanks to my writing friends and I hope you can join us when we next do Days in a Sentence. If you have a haiku you’d like to share, just add it into the comment of this post. The more, the merrier. Consider yourself invited.

Peace (in the reflections),
Kevin

This week’s Day in a Sentence uses the new Wiki function at Edublogs.

Please follow this link to the wiki (or you can scroll down the right side navigation to the Wiki header)

Kevin

Got any metaphors lying around? Put them to good use with this week’s Day in a Sentence, as I ask you to boil down your week or a day in your week into a single sentence that is built around a metaphor. Then, use the comment link on this post to share your sentence. I will be compiling them all into a single post, or some format, and sharing out early next week. It’s a great way to be reflective and to be part of a writing community.

Come join Day in a Metaphor.

Here is mine:

After months of having no name at all, my rock and roll band suddenly became a mysterious figure under the guise of our new moniker, Duke Rushmore.

I hope you can join us, too.

Peace (is a huge rainbow),
Kevin

I’m going to try this for a second time …. I am not mad at Edublogs, but their upgrade scarfed down my last collection of Days in a Sentence, and no draft post was saved anywhere. Ack. So, anyway, I noticed that when I put out the call for last week’s reflective Days in a Sentence, I forgot to add my own. Here goes ..

Days of humid, hot days transformed into a cold, wet one today, and we are just fine and dandy about that.

And now for you and you and you …

Amy writes of a milestone. Or will it be manymilestones? She writes, “A proud moment as my daughter declared, “I passed!”: now we have a new driver on the road!” Good luck!

Lynn is happy to be back where she belongs. She writes, “After a long week of travel through hot desert countryside, home looks really great to me.”

We are hoping Cindy and her son are feeling better. She writes, “My son’s ears aching and my head throbbing have lead us to the same wish – for a quiet space with the comfort of being alone together.“

Jen had two sentences that are questions and I don’t have an answer for either. Sorry, Jen. First, she writes, “An unexpected text from Stephen, the mysteriously kind and handsome man with green bedroom eyes that entrance me, leads to invitations to come and see him at 10:42 at night, but I have been up since 4 in the morning, and just can’t get myself to go – will this be the last invitation?” and then she adds: “My sister, with whom I only really get along via text, email, or the occasional phone call, lets me know she is in Virginia Beach and if I want to spend 2 1/2 hours in rush hour traffic, she’ll consent to see me for dinner – and am I paying in the literal sense, too?“

Bonnie is writing and loving it. I love that! She writes, “How is this July different from the last 11? I am not racing to New Paltz every morning. What a wonderful way to spend the morning. I just wrote morning pages with http://750words.com YES!“

Gail is already getting herself ready for September. I’m not. ‘Enuff said. She writes, “Looking back on all the work I’ve accomplished readying the new classroom and forward to my first real week of vacation.”

I’d say Denise is pretty darn busy. She writes, “My plans for this week (and the past six) included cleaning off the catch-all corner cabinet in the basement, gardening, blogging, reading, relaxing, exercising, and photographing; I’ve done the important things, and the cluttered cabinet waits.“

I’m pretty intrigued by Ari‘s sentence. Just a hint of mystery … He writes, “Creating a fantasy to experience more of reality.“

And my friend, Brian, is the first to post a Day in a Sentence on Google Plus. He writes, “In the deepest heat of the summer I find myself thinking backward, trying not to panic, wondering how in the humidified air to move forward.“

And that’s it for now. Be on the lookout for a call for new sentences in the coming days, and feel free to add yours to the comment section here, too. We love having you part of our collaborative sharing.

Peace (in short bursts),
Kevin