A Two Brush Night

I can't tell you my favorite ice cream flavor (coffee chunk?) or pizza topping (garlic?) but I can most confidently tell you my favorite candy--The traditional Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (with Reese's with Reese's Pieces and Outrageous closing out the podium). The weeks leading up to Halloween I begin my campaign of peanut butter cups from my students.  November 1 one year it actually worked and a fourth grader handed me a ziploc bag of all her Reeses. Needless to say, she got an A in library JK. 

This commercial, though.  It doesn't just nail my love for the peanut butter beautifully snuggled in chocolate, but also for the times we are living in right now.  Flexibility is the "F" word of the year. You just brushed? So what? Who says you can't brush again?  No one. Be in charge of you.  Take it from someone who has had many two brush nights.

Our classrooms and libraries will not look the same.  Our teaching will be different. Carts will be the norm.  Instead of lunch bins we will have quarantine book bins.  Canvas, Flipgrid, SeeSaw, Screencastify, Nearpod, Google Classroom, Schoology, Bitmoji, Pear Deck, Wakelet...a sea of terms we had to become familiar with nearly overnight, or at least over a spring and summer. Always did something the same way year after year? It may not work in 2020. Time for the "F" word. Remember the Reese's and make it a two brush year. We all got this! I'll see you on the flip side with a batch of orange wrapped chocolate all ready to share. 

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.