I am in tears right now reading all the email I have received asking about my lack of posting. Thank you for your concerns, care, and questions! It has been a crazy long time since my last post, so your comments and email messages have lit a fire and put things back into perspective. I have been so incredibly busy trying to manage all my passions...family, friends, school, curriculum, church, neighborhood, bookclub, Carson's Crusaders, and many more. I know you all have some of the same challenges. I finally took a step back and took a breath.
My Wish...
Our entire school just finished using the book, Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, as our read-aloud.
Red
is an oak tree on which the town’s people tie their wishes every May. The author writes this story from the
perspective of that tree,
the
tree named Red.
Red
has seen every kind of wish possible.
Some of those wishes cause hearts to change and grow,
with
Red’s positive attitude and help!
This
lovely story is one of heartbreak, healing,
acceptance, and friendship.
Although parts of this story were a challenge for first graders to understand, the idea of finding joy in diversity, acceptance, and friendship nestled in their hearts, and oh, the discussions we had! If you have not had the opportunity to experience this delightful book, please go get it right now!
The Wishtree spurred me on to collect some of my thoughts, my wishes for my students, for teachers, for parents, and really for all.
I compiled the thoughts into a little printable mini poster unit for you.
I hope you will find some inspiration
in some of this.
My
wish for you is that you will feel
the blessings that every opportunity, whether it be in teaching, parenting, learning, or even just living, has to offer.
My
wish is that you find and choose
JOY in your journey.
Here are a couple of pics available in the unit!
If you noticed from the title of this post, this second part is "My Journey." I hope you have been able to tell that my journey in the field of education has been filled with creating meaningful, integrated lessons and learning opportunities for kids! I have shared so many of those lessons with you, and still have soooo many to share! More often than not lately, I find myself dreaming of creating more and more lessons and resources, and not having the time to do that! Sooooo, my plan is.... after 38 years as an educator... to retire from the classroom to spend more time on writing, publishing, and sharing. I really can't believe it has been 38 years! What a journey it has been! I have been so incredibly blessed.
In order to supplement a retiree's income, I have gone ahead and opened a TPT store (just a couple of things in it so far) and will soon open another store on another site, but please don't worry!! I will absolutely continue this little blog with free stuff because you all have been a huge support for so many years. You don't know how much I appreciate all the kind notes, messages, e-mail, and even little surprise gifts of encouragement! Thank you! Thank you!! I will still be here to support you in this truly amazing journey! So...Please stay tuned!!!
Thanks for stopping by, and I'll talk to you soon!
Joyfully!
Nancy
firstgradewow@gmail.com
