Z is for Zucchini, Spiralized!

It is May, and that means it is time for the annual Alphabiography Challenge in my 6th grade English class. (If you're not sure what that means, then click on the label at the end of this post for some illumination!)

When I decided to participate along with the kids this year, I was going to go in alphabetical order, but that was before I got my nifty new gadget in the mail today. Now it seems like a no-brainer to do the challenge in reverse!

Spiralized vegetables are definitely enjoying a moment; they are a lighter alternative to pasta, and frankly pretty delicious. So, after paying upwards of ten bucks for a tray of some fancy-julienned squash, I calculated that I could get my money back in six weeks were I to purchase my own device. That decision made? I ordered it with free one-day shipping and bought some zucchini in anticipation.

Arriving home from school, I dropped my book and lunch bags and grabbed a pair of scissors to slice open the brown box awaiting me. I wasn't in the house ten minutes before a bountiful bowl of long green curls sat upon my counter. Not long after, a lovely sauce of fresh tomatoes, olives, and basil accompanied them, and shortly, dinner will be served.

Life Lesson: "Sometimes a tool may have other uses that you don't know. Sometimes in doing what you intend, you also do what the knife intends, without knowing.” ~Philip Pullman

Goldilocks and the Promise of Spring

What a cold, gray weekend we have had here! And yet, last night when we emerged from the theater at 7:45, there was still a lot of light outside, filtered through the rain clouds though it was.

And today turned out to be just the day to repot the tiny pepper sprouts that have been growing in our bathroom. I put them out on the deck in a little make-shift greenhouse where they joined the newly-planted hanging baskets and the other seedlings we purchased at the Veggiemania sale up at our local nursery.

Contrary to suffering from transplant shock, all the plants seemed quite pleased with their new digs and the soft weather, which was neither too sunny, nor too cold, nor too dry for them.

Dare I say it?

It was just right.

The Nicest Kids in Town

We're going to see our middle school musical tonight. Ordinarily, the preview performance that we see at school is enough for me, but as I asked my brother when trying to convince him to come along despite his aversion to any musical, let alone a middle school production of Hairspray, Jr, How can you resist a show set in June 1962 with a main character named Tracey?

Yeah, he's going.

(But maybe it's because his wife did the sets, too, and we're going out to dinner after.)

Flashback Friday

I receive a weekly beer newsletter from a local specialty store, and when I read the bulletin yesterday about a cucumber ale aged in gin barrels, I thought of my friend Mary. This limited edition beverage was arriving today and was first come, first serve, so knowing I would be in a meeting with her this afternoon, I set a reminder on my watch.

And that's how I found myself ditching school to go buy beer on a Friday afternoon.

I forgot how much fun that can be! (Next time, I might even drink some, too.)

Not E Boy

Oh the joys of teaching sixth grade in the spring!

My students were busy brainstorming their ideas for the Alphabiography challenge that starts on May 1 when the following conversation was heard throughout the room:

Student 1: I have everything but E. I need an idea for E.

Student 2: How about 'orgasm'? (Laughs lecherously)

Student 1: (Confused) What?

Student 2: Orgasm! Heh, heh, heh. Orgasm! Orgasm!

Student 1: That... doesn't... start... with E.

Me: May I speak to you in the hallway, [student 1]?

As Easy as 1-2-3

This time of year is very busy at school. There are all sorts of competing tests, activities, and assemblies that teachers have to plan around, and so it is that by necessity I have to introduce the writing challenge for May tomorrow, even though there are still three days left in the poetry challenge.

Ideally, the writing assignment for any given day allows students to practice and apply what they are learning in class, and so I was faced with a bit of a conundrum as I sat at my desk this afternoon finalizing the particulars of my lesson for tomorrow. What kind of poem would go with alphabiography planning?

And then? Inspiration struck! In one of those where did that idea even come from? moments it occurred to me that there was at least one poem I could recall that was in alphabetical order-- The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey is a macabre recitation of how 26 children meet their untimely ends. My students will love it!

And so I googled the poem, which is actually a book illustrated with Gorey's signature pen and ink drawings, to find the text. One description of the work called it an "abecedarian" (pronounced ay-bee-ce-day-ree-an), and it was there I paused. A what?

Exactly! And voila! The Abecedarian Poetry challenge is born!

Wrap it in a Poem

My students recently took a practice test for our state's standardized exam which revealed that they needed a little refresher in identifying organizational patterns, which are also known as text structures. The most common of these? Chronological, compare and contrast, cause and effect, description, problem/solution, and sequence or process.

I like to plan such lessons from both a receptive and productive approach, so I explained to them why knowing about these patterns was important both as a reader and a writer, and I gave them a handy reference sheet with all the signal words they might need; for example cause and effect writing relies heavily on since, because, this led to, on account of, due to, for this reason, consequently, etc.

But, hey! It's poetry month, people! So to give them practice using transition words, I created a new challenge for the day... the Process Poem!

Process writing describes a series of steps or events. A coherent process description requires a clear purpose or unifying idea (thesis). There are two basic types of process writing: directions (how to do something) and information (how something works).Process writing uses a specific signal words such as:

first,
second,
then,
last,
before,
until,
after that,
now,
soon,
at the same time,
by then,
following,
finally

Today's challenge: Write a fanciful "How to" poem of at least 6-10 lines. Use the transition words to help you, but be creative and add figurative language!

Here's an example:

How to Make the Perfect Sunday 

by Ms. S 

First take a scoop of a Friday fun,

then add a second scoop of Saturday swirl. 

Next smother it in warm sunshine, 

followed by sweet whipped dreams,

and after that rainbow sprinkles.

Lastly, don't forget the cheerful on top!

Finally-- enjoy!

"Hey!" one student raised her hand when I shared the example. "Sunday and sundae? I see what you did there!"

But, did she though? Did she really?