I should be hanging up my gown right about now and thinking about what a successful gala we just had. I might even be talking to friends (Doe?) to debrief the night. Some years I have to draw a bath. Others I scroll through all the photos. My feet are achy from the heels. I'm starving because I didn't eat anything all day. One year our author couldn't sleep from all the adrenaline, she checked out of the hotel and drove the two hours home. I get it.
Today was virtually different, surprisingly mentally exhausting (did I really only cry only twice?) and still pretty great despite the circumstances.
I was getting tree drawings emailed to me before I even finished my first cup of joe. Parent questions trickled in but with a little guidance, all was good. Kids without tractors ran around cars, houses and bushes for PE. They got to know more about a local treasure, Dutch Hollow Farm. Read alouds. Mindful nature walks. Music composing. Research. Science. Something for everyone.
Our finale was a google meet with Loren at the end of the day. He pulled out his ukulele for a rendition of There's a Hole in the Log at the Bottom of the Lake for 130+ unmuted people which equals feedback and delays to sing along. For the older kids, Reds centerfield hopeful, Loren, gave out wise advice on living life while we toured his studio and artwork.
It was a day to remember for sure. When he is able to visit in IRL (next spring?), it will be even more memorable. Perhaps a bit less work on my end? The prep is already done, right? Ha. Check in with me early next spring. Pretty doubtful.
And this my friends, is a my brief but I hope, spectacular, summary of the day. Not as good as IRL but pretty darn good nevertheless. And blister free. I do always look forward to donning the gown, though. Next year.
And that's not even everybody at the meet!
I love this one because it shows her working so hard with the Choice Board handy!
PS-Proof I had ice cream for breakfast and it was delicious!
A styrofoam cooler was delivered on my doorstep yesterday filled with a dozen pints of ice cream straight from Cincinnati. I know. I know. Do you need ANY more proof that I am insane? Yeah, so when I found out that Loren Long painted the famous hippo, Fiona, for one of the pints of Graeter's ice cream I just went a little crazy.
Shhh...don't tell anyone but Loren and I filmed a short bit for the morning announcements right after the box arrived and since it was "morning" I ate the Chunky Chunky Hippo for breakfast. Super Yummy. I can't wait to try Loren's favorite, Black Raspberry Chip.
What else is there to say? Sigh. I wish Loren could come to Castleton IRL but this will definitely do for now. Grade level choice boards are posted and kids have the opportunity to draw trees, visit a local farm, watch read alouds, create music, problem solve a hole in the log, run around a tractor, and so much more!
We'll conclude the day with a visit by Loren himself. Yay! Fingers crossed technology cooperates and all goes according to the best laid plans. A huge thank you to Loren for putting up with all my craziness. Just think--most visitors only have to put up with me once. He will have to twice! How can I make it up to him? A styrofoam box on his doorstep, to start?
And if all goes well, I will look forward to a celebratory pint (no shortage of those in my freezer). Ice cream for breakfast and dinner? Most definitely!
The big notification on my phone this week is "Dinner at Doe's" for tonight. Every time an author or illustrator visits, my fabulous volunteer hosts a delicious and most memorable meal at her home for our guest of honor and others. We've had a chicken BBQ and smores with lots of kids with Sarah Weeks to an intimate table for four with Elisha Cooper and everything in between. Kwame Alexander. Chris Grabenstein. Jewell Parker Rhodes. Emma Virjan. Even an Italian pastry afternoon snack for Adam Gidwitz. No one can come to Castleton without tasting Doe's cuisine.
Why didn't I think of this before today?! I should have had Doe whip something up and ship it out to Loren?! Agh! I was too focused on ME. On selfishly ordering my ice cream from Cincinnati. Sigh. I hope Loren forgives me. Oh dear Doe. Please advise next steps. I hear he loves NY style pizza.
So tomorrow is our day!
Castleton Elementary Families: You will find the Choice Board on my resource page. Try and do any as many activities as you can and know that this is only a small glimpse into Loren's books. Then please join us WITH Loren at the end of the day. Get dressed up! Wear a tie with PJ bottoms! Put on a fancy scarf! Our gala even made it to the Schodack calendar this year--that's how far in advance we have been planning for May 14. But all is not lost and I'm excited to hear what you do and for all of us to meet with Loren LIVE.
Want a taste before the Choice Boards get released?
Here's Matt de la Pena reading his LOVE illustrated by Loren:
How many times have you read Goodnight Moon? Loren illustrated a book by the same author, Margaret Wise Brown, titled, Good Day, Good Night. Here's the book trailer:
What does your day and night look like? How different is it today than from before?
How can anyone not love Otis the Tractor's courage and heroic acts in every book. Otis and the Puppy is no exception. Did you hear? Loren just got a new rescue dog, Charlie. He and Charlie have started to run together. I want a dog so badly...All tips to help me convince my family to get one are encouraged and welcome.
So we have a lot in store for tomorrow! Anyone can join in--Get up early! Paint trees. Eat ice cream in fractions. Share your love. Sing about a hole in a log. Run around a tractor. And don't forget to set a reminder on your phone so you don't miss our party with Loren. You know YOU CAN. xo
The first time I remember suffering from post-party sadness was pickup day (and the days that followed) at sleep away camp. The ups and downs of eight weeks at Camp Ramah had ended and adjusting to being home was not easy.
That was when I was 13. I continued to leave home every summer after that. As hard as it was to come home, it was always worth it.
At 24 I threw myself a huge multi-day party. The last person who left was my best friend from camp. We recapped it all and I cried. How could it already be over?
My wedding. Daughter's Bat Mitzvah.
Son's Bar Mitzvah was this Labor Day weekend. My severe case of post-Bar Mitzvah blues began the first day of school. Not easy.
I don't do well with endings and goodbyes.
June 2018: I meet an illustrator at an event in NOLA. He tells me he is working on a book about a woman who canoes down the Hudson River. I tell him I live and work in Castleton-on-Hudson. Then and there I decide that he will celebrate that book with us ON the Hudson. Sixteen months later, Elisha Cooper is reading RIVER aloud with the banks of the Hudson behind him.
That was Thursday.
You can only imagine the fog I was in yesterday walking the halls now with only the memories of his visit alive.
Elisha sat in a canoe in the middle of the gymnasium while first graders sang and fifth graders book talked all of his books. Reading teacher, Mrs. Reed hired a banjo player and our tuba-playing-band-teacher to accompany our fifth graders while they sang a Pete Seeger song about the river. Elisha rowed his boat ashore. The rain poured down outside.
We pulled out the red carpet for him when he spoke at a special K-2 assembly.
Then we donned our raincoats, boarded the buses and headed to the river. Elisha insisted we squeeze into the smaller pavilion on the river and I am glad we did. The kids complained. They were cranky. It was cold. Some were not dressed properly. The rain was steady. A boat sailed by. It was amazing. We will always remember.
The day was half way over and I was already beginning to feel sad. I don't do well with even thinking about endings and goodbyes.
We returned to our warm school and sketched with Elisha in the art room and wrote poems in the library.
The finale was sitting in the common area observing Elisha paint. Mrs. Reed returned with her guitar and we sang. For some that was their favorite part of the day. For others it was the park. And some loved being taught tips from an award winning illustrator. For me? The whole package.
How did the woman canoeist feel when she began her journey? During? When her adventure was over? Sixteen months ago our journey was imagined. Thursday it happened. Now it is an incredible, unforgettable memory. "Don't be sad." Elisha comforted me as I walked him to his car. I'm trying not to but I just don't do well with endings and goodbyes.
We don't wait very long to celebrate here at Castleton Elementary School.
14 days into the new school year and we had our first author visit on his book birthday.
Welcome back to CES, Steve Sheinkin!
Since the first day of school, we have been preparing for Steve's visit. Between our "Born to Fly" Selfie Scavenger Hunt with Grades 4-6 to sharing and reading books from the Time Twisters series to "building" paper airplanes to writing and illustrating a Steve Sheinkin A-Z book to daily announcements, we were ready to take off when he arrived!
The visit flew by (yes, all puns intended). Steve signed books, entered the gym on our red carpet, shared stories and then enjoyed some pie and ice cream with my 6th grade Dewey Duty kids. And even though the visit is behind us now that doesn't mean we are going to stop reading Born to Fly. I'll see you at 2, Mr. Morse's class.
The rock star enters our Old Gym
We heard that Steve loves pie and cherry vanilla ice cream so that's what we had at our party. Then the kids (thank you, Mrs. Warland for the awesome idea) wrote down ideas for names of pie that ties in airplanes, flying or pilots. Some of our favorites:
Pilot's Pie
Airpple Pie
Women's Air Derby Pumpkin Pie
Flypple Pie
Amelia's Apple Pie
Propeller Pie
Airplane Pielots
Thanks Mrs. Fowler (7th Grade English) and Mrs. Squier (JR/SR HS Librarian) for stopping by!
You can't leave Castleton before you leap
PS: Want to know more about Steve's life? Check out this book we made in third grade:
The bookstore asked if I could sell 100 books. Could I?
I told my students there was a "contest".
IF we sold 100 books, our friend Chris Grabenstein would visit.
We sold 108 books.
Splendiferous! As our reward, Chris Grabenstein returned to CES last week. WOOHOO!
We love having lunch with our visitors. This time it was going to be a bit challenging. Got this message from the bookstore coordinating his visit:
Apparently he likes: Chobaniblueberry no-fat yogurt and a bag of almonds
That was a stumper. Were the kids going to be into that? For lunch???
So...I knocked this around with one of my teachers who said,
Chobani... suggestion: have a selection of five or more different almonds... sliced, blanched, roasted, tamari, raw... and some fresh blueberries...
Within the parameters, you can still be you (AKA going over the top)
I took that and leapt. What about a Chobani and Almond blind taste test with some fourth graders?
A trip to the grocery store and twelve different tubs of Chobani, five cans of almonds later I was ready for "Chobani and Almonds Grabenstein Style." I made up a review sheet, got some pencils and spoons and we put our taste buds to test. It was a wonderful interaction between reader and author that I highly recommend. Giggles, "ews" "yums" and guesses all lead to a different kind of bonding that we don't usually experience when we have lunch together.
In hindsight, I believe Chris wishes he requested ice cream, but a healthy dose of yogurt was certainly a close second. (and I was thrilled that so many of the kids enjoyed the Chobani.) Maybe for the launch of SHINE (Chris's new middle grade he wrote with his wife. It's due out in the fall--Stay tuned!) we'll have ice cream. I had to ask Chris, "Why Chobani?" He told me it was a good company with a good mission (see below). Also, yogurt is easy to polish off while chatting with kids. And as far as Chobani goes, he is right--Check out the [anti] CEO's recent TedTalk. If it's up to me, we'll be having more Chobani tests in the future.
As per his request, the BLUEBERRY NONFAT CHOBANI
Prologue:
Check out this recent TED Talk by the anti-CEO of Chobani.
In two weeks I will be facilitating a webinar on EXTREME author visits. Not going to lie--I'm a little nervous. A lot of folks out there host amazing visits for amazing people. What can they learn from me? Only time will tell.
My visits are SO extreme that it takes me awhile to regroup and come down from the high. Case in point--we just had Susan Verde (author of I Am Peace, I Am Human, I Am Yoga, Hey Wall and others) visit last week and the library is not completely back to normal; planning how to include more mindfulness into our lives and classrooms is fresh on our minds; and, the buzz about the evening gala is well, still buzzing.
For the first time, we featured our guest author in our monthly morning program assembly. The kindergarteners sang a couple of lovely songs, including Emily Arrow's I Am Peace.
Mrs. Carlson's class performed Susan's My Kicks (they were so good!) and Mrs. Golden's first graders shared the timeline of Susan's life. It was a great assembly highlighting our youngest learners. Susan sat in a chair right in front of the action.
We had three smaller assemblies that day: 3-5, 6 and K-2. Susan's message was loud and clear. We all get frustrated. We are not perfect. That's where mindfulness can help us. Take a breath. Take a break. Be kind. "I thought she was
great. I loved her message. She was one of my favorites," a teacher told me the next day. Impressive coming from someone who is hard to impress.
In between the second and third assemblies, Susan had lunch with my Dewey Duty and Reading Ambassadors. They engaged in conversation like they were all old friends.
I hope Susan took my advice and napped between 3 and 6. We certainly didn't since as soon as the late bus bell rang, my teaching space was in super transformation mode from library to a peaceful, mindful themed art gallery. Thanks to a phenomenal parent volunteer, it worked!
For the third year in a row, our gala centered around PICTURE A POEM. Fifth graders expressed through artwork (illustration, sculpture) an anonymous poem from another fifth grader (not in their class). We do this because this is how illustrators and authors work in the real world. Susan confirmed this since we met Matt Cordell about six months before she did!
The artwork at the gala was breathtaking. The poetry by the third graders was inspiring. And the mood of evening was joyous, peaceful, exciting and an all around great night. I heard so many adults comment on how wonderful it was to see the kids so proud of their work. And they certainly had every right to be.
To be honest, I would not have worked as hard as I did to get Susan to Castleton if it wasn't for our Physical Therapist, Mrs. Colloton. She began our mindfulness initiative and shared Susan's books regularly. She was (still is) a fangirl and was beyond thrilled to have Susan visit. Not really knowing much about Mrs. Colloton, I was glad that Susan's visit enabled us to get to know each other better. In fact, so much so that I wrote Mrs. Colloton a card the next day that said something like, "I knew you were amazing. I just didn't know how much."
And even though I may not do mindfulness daily (or at all), I have to admit that I am more aware of my surroundings, the humans I care about and the importance of taking a break to breathe from time to time. Thank you, Susan.
They are all wearing white because they are my "workers.
Thank you, SuSUN for shining a bright mindful light on all of us at Castleton. We 💜 you.
