B is for But I'm Still Sleeping

When you get a new puppy, it must be with the understanding that all the time, worry, care, and yes, of course, LOVE, you put in will be an investment. Later on, when your dog is your healthy, well-adjusted, fun-loving best friend, you will forget all those poopy, pee-filled, sleepless nights. But for now, you have to yawn and bear it, dragging your sleepy self through days packed with all the regular stuff plus all the new puppy stuff. How do you do it? Well... you just look at the adorable little dog and sigh.

Life Lesson: Being cute is a survival skill!

A is for Adjusting Nicely

We took Lucy for her first big walk today. Barely 10 pounds and about 10 inches high, she probably walked at least a mile. Oh, we carried her part of the way, but she was definitely in for the pack walk-- following me or Heidi with a cheerful and brisk little puppy trot for most of the time. Of course there was plenty of sniffing and a few joyful encounters with some big dogs, all in good fun of course.

 AND when we turned for home?

She seemed to know the way.

Life Lesson: Home is where you find it.

The first of May brings the sixth annual "Alphabiography" Challenge for my students. They are assigned to write short (100-250 word) "chapters" of their lives and title them by letters. The requirement is to write twice a week, but the challenge is to write either 26 times this month or all 31 days.

Each piece closes with a life lesson. This part is a good way to encourage these young writers to consider their purpose or message. Theme is an abstract concept that many sixth grade kids are just beginning to grasp, and these short, autobiographical vignettes give them a manageable and concrete step up to that higher order thinking.

Such consistent writing will help build their fluency and confidence, but I'm hoping it will be fun, too.

This year, I plan to participate with a month of vignettes about, what else? My new puppy! (Thanks for the idea, Mary!) Oh? And if you notice a bit of a shift in tone and/or style, it's because I'm sharing the posts with my students, too. 

Crashed

Only a puppy could sleep through a couple of sheet pans hitting the tile floor not 2 feet from her head.

T-minus Seven Weeks and Change

When you have a new puppy on a 90+ degree Saturday in late April...

Can summer really be far behind?

S'il Vous Plait

As part of yet another school initiative I was required to observe a colleague teaching today. The class happened to be French for sixth graders and I slipped into my seat next to my fellow English teachers just a little after the bell rang. As the teacher conversed with the students in exaggerated and simple a French, I was transported back to my own early language classes. The vocabulary came right back to me, and before too long I was counting les poisson, shaking my head to show that le requin ce n'est une poisson, and chortling at the corny jokes. when it was time to leave, we did our best to slip out quietly, but on my way to the door I made eye contact with the teacher. "Merci!" I thanked her cheerfully, and then waved at the students. "Au revoir!"

Timely

Today is National Poem in Your Pocket Day, and as always I gave my students time in class to choose a poem yesterday and share that poem today. As usual, they were also required to write a reflection about the experience.

The assignment was straight-forward:

What poem did you choose to carry in your pocket today?
Today's Challenge: Tell us the title and the poet, quote your favorite 4-6 lines and explain why you chose it.

To give them a model, and in the spirit of community, I posted my reflection first:

I chose the poem "How it Begins" by Mary Oliver, and here's why. Last summer, the morning after my dog died, I was listening to "The Writer's Almanac" on the radio, as I do every morning. When it came time for the daily poem, here is what I heard:

Puppies, puppies, puppies 

A puppy is a puppy is a puppy.
She's probably in a basket with a bunch of other puppies.
Then she's a little older and she's nothing
but a bundle of longing.
She doesn't even understand it. 

Then someone picks her up and says
I want this one.

That day, I found those words to be a tremendous comfort after losing my dog, and now that I have a new puppy, they seem even more true.

Puppy Power

The sound from the window was alarming: a high pitched scream alternating between a panicky yelp and a pitiful whine. Even from inside the house, I knew it was our puppy.

"What happened?" I asked Heidi as she carried the tiny dog in the door. "She looks fine."

"Decker the Great Dane stepped on her accidentally!" she told me with wide eyes.  "I'm afraid I broke our new puppy!"

But of course, she hadn't. Mother Nature equips most babies with amazing survival safeguards. "Basically, they're like rubber," said our vet.