Joyful Noise

Today a few of us watched Sherri Duskey Rinker read her fun book, How to Put an Octopus to Bed on her Facebook Live.  Before she began, she told us about her friend, author Angela DiTerlizzi, who bought a ukulele last month and taught herself how to play. Agh! Why didn't I think of that?! I'm doing it! Then Sherri challenged all of us to learn something new and share it with the hashtag #learningtodosomethingnew.  Sherri's thing? Toss a pizza.  I hope she shares the video of her success!

My fifth graders were listening! After the read aloud was over, one piped up immediately about wanting to share a song he wrote as part of a music assignment using the Chrome app, songmaker. Of course! It was a synthesized song with a good beat.  Then the other two wanted to share their songs, too.  I loved dancing around in my chair.  The only thing that could have been better was if we were together.

What is my #somethingnew? Honestly, can I steal the ukulele idea?  It's the instrument of the century. Rafael Lopez packed his when he visited last year. Loren Long accompanied our rendition of his "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Log" when we Skyped last year. Emily Arrow's ukulele even has a name--Bow!

Lucky strike! I found a short video of Loren playing his ukuele:

Here's Emily Arrow's Little Tree. Any chance you can think of a NEW dance to perform along with this song? (wink-wink). More on that at a later date...

Do you want to make your own ukulele?  This video will get you started. Modifications-You could use yarn for the strings and a paper towel holder for the neck.

Currently, I am ISO of a list of "Joyful Books." While looking, I found this Valentine's Day book list from the Today Show.  Lots of love and happiness there. So, it got me thinking. Why not plan an un-Valentine's Day party? What a great loving, happy distraction it could be.

You could watch this short video of the Necco company candy heart factory:

How about making your own candy hearts (#learningtodosomethingnew) and send them to your friends? Add a sweet card and maybe some chocolate kisses (or Reeses). And when you make your mailing list, don't forget your favorite leaping librarian ;-) I guarantee your package will bring your Valentines TONS-O-JOY!

Happy Un-Valentine's Day! xoxo

PS-If you are looking for more joy, check out these two videos from my son and his best friend's YouTube channel. Some jokes (haha) and some rainbow cheer.

Yard Sale Smiles

On a beautiful Saturday morning when my daughter (it always seems to be about my daughter, doesn't it?) was really little (1? 2?), I was shopping at garage sales searching for good finds. I wanted that stoked-on-caffeine find.  An absolute treasure.  And I found it!  AND...it wasn't someone else's junk that was now becoming mine--it was actually a box of brand new books. I cannot remember how the woman got the books, but I bought them all.  A few of them became those books that got read over and over again.

A Well Loved Book

Giselle Potter's,  The Year I Didn't Go to School, was one of them.  The cover is gone now and some pages are ripped. It was well loved and I easily found it on our bookshelf.

I've been thinking about this book because (1) I'm hanging out in our guest room that has a lot of our picture books and (2) this is becoming the year we didn't go-to-school-IN-the-building.  Giselle's book is the story of when she was seven and she and her family packed up to go to Italy and perform as "The Mystic Paper Beasts."  It's a great book to talk about travel, art, theatre and family.

If you have any interest in art or where artists work, check out this link that gives you a peek into Giselle's studio and home.  I'm inspired to bring more art into my work space.

Speaking of hanging up art, I received THE.BEST.MAIL.EVER yesterday from one of my fifth graders. Task for today? Find a frame and hang.it.up. Looks like me, doesn't it?! 😍 I love this so much.

Art Supplies

And while we are on the topic of art, studios and supplies, another shout out to my friend, Elisha and his pencils, brushes, and paper (and his adorable co-workers).  Of course, most of us won't have any of those fancy tools at home so colored pencils (like Chase used!), Dixon Ticonderogas, Sharpies, chalk or even coffee will do! As far as paper goes, we all have that laying around the house.  But big paper? Have you thought about rolling out some wrapping paper and making a mural on the back side?  Try it!

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Day 12: Pencil, paint, paper! #operationstorytime #homeschool #teachersofinstagram #teachersresources #watercolor

A post shared by Elisha Cooper (@elisha__cooper) on Apr 4, 2020 at 12:53pm PDT

Lauren Castillo

Thinking of garage sales, reminded me of the beautiful, sad (it's hard to get rid of your stuff) but hopeful book, Yard Sale by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Lauren Castillo.  Maybe this is a good time for us to cull our stuff for a future garage sale. (Remember my Marie Kondo comments from a previous post?). Get the littles involved--What are they ready to get rid of? Add some prices. Make it a math lesson. 

The first time I met Lauren Castillo was at ALA in San Francisco.  We were both at a pre-conference ALSC event.  I was just looking around in my seat and spotted her name tag.  I screamed, REALLY startled and scared her and we have been friends since. Yeah, that could have gone the other way lol.  Anyway, I love her Caldecott honor, Nana in the City because, you know, I love the city. 

This blogpost has some good ideas of activities you can do with the book. I love all the ideas.  Design a city using shapes, make your own cape (the nana makes a red cape for the boy so he feels safe in the city), or bake pretzels.

These leaping pictures with Lauren at the Princeton Book Festival make me crave sunny days (thankfully, we have another one today), hugs and not being physically distant.

Finally, Lauren was a guest on Emily Arrow's show a couple of weeks ago to talk about Nana in the City.  Two fabulous talented women together. Does it get much better than that? Lauren has a new book, Our Friend Hedgehog, coming out next month. She gives a little preview of it in the video! Stay tuned for a book birthday celebration! 🎂 AND--she said she is working on another book, Nana in the Country. YAAASSSS!

xoxo

NAMASTE

The heat is on in my "hot yoga studio."  It will be ready for my class of one by the time this post is complete. Are you doing prerecorded or Zoom workouts at home?  I am so thankful for my Hot Yoga Spot classes.  These are the real deal.  My daughter's Friday modern dance class was via Zoom and she was sore from it all weekend.

Let's celebrate Mindful Monday together.

Susan Verde

We'll begin with our friend, Susan Verde.  Last May she was our gala guest. You know I have a lot of authors and illustrators visit our school so when one teacher remarked that "she was one of his favorites" I knew she was good. Today, Susan can come into your home virtually.

To kick it off, check out this video of Susan Verde and Emily Arrow on Kidlit TV.  If you're not into the interview at the beginning (Did you know I want to be Rocco when I grow up? FACT), then just forward to about 10:15 to start the yoga class with the amazing singer, Emily Arrow. I LOVE Emily's voice. She also has fun ideas to do on her website and her YouTube channel. Tune in every day at 1PM EST live. Who knows? She may inspire you to learn how to play the ukulele.  If so, send me videos! Send me videos anyway of anything you are doing at home!



Last week, Susan began reading her books for all of us on Facebook.  This is the beautiful and appropriate I am Love.  Be sure and watch through the end for a special meditation.




And if you want just a meditation, here is a post from Susan's Instagram.  She is posting live every Tuesday and Thursday.

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Video #2 yay! I little meditation to find your anchor...a place to put your mind so you can find some #calm. I hope these videos are helpful. Creating a #community as we are all in this #together. Please share comments and questions. Sending you #love #safety and #peace. #teachers #parents #kids #mindfulness #meditation

A post shared by Susan Verde (@susanverde) on Mar 19, 2020 at 11:22am PDT

And, if you want even more, check out this Teacher's Guide for activities you can do together at home.

Peter H. Reynolds

Peter H. Reynolds is one of Susan's amazing illustrators, who also writes and illustrates his own books.  Everyday he is reading on Facebook Live.  This was Friday's read aloud of his newest creation, Be You! (It just came out on March 3!) A perfect book for all of us right now!  Then, at the end of each video Peter teaches us how to draw. Side note: I could listen to him all day--he kind of has that Mr. Rogers feel in his voice, don't you think? And he even does a little Romper Room like shout out with the comments, so maybe he will say your name one day 🤞 (I always waited for "I see Stacey" on Romper Room. Must have happened the day I didn't watch 😉)

More Mindful Resources

If you are reading this and you are from Castleton,  be sure and check out the Teacher Resource page from Mrs. O'Grady-Day, Mrs. Sober and Mrs. Friedfel from the Schodack website.  They have posted many, many more mindful activities.

Older kids at home? I found this list of resources that might be helpful to you.  Personally, I am going to print out the coloring pages and maybe watch the TedTalk. The second padlet has more ideas for younger kids and up.  I love the Sesame Street videos.

Happy Mindful Monday.
My "studio" is hot now.
My mat is ready.
I'm off to practice some yoga.
Until we meet again, hands on heart center.
NAMASTE. 🙏💗 xo