You know when you don’t see a person ever in your life and then you meet them and you see them every where? This is now happening to me with Read Together Books . Read Together Books are those books that the emergent reader can’t yet read independently in their entirety but that they can tackle with […]

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  “Ms. Washington would read to us every day after lunch, and her voice was like ten different musical instruments.  She could make her voice go low and deep and strong like a tuba, or hop, hop, hop quick and light like a flute. When she’d read, her voice wrapped around my head and my […]

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Next week I begin a new series of professional development sessions with a local group of teachers. This group will be transitioning from a whole group basal based method of teaching to a reading and writing workshop. This is a huge change for teachers and I anticipate many questions, concerns and some hesitation among the […]

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I really met Brian Seznick. And he signed my copy of Wonderstruck.   And I got the typical silly smile that I get around these authors alerting me that my brain is shut off and I’m missing a great opportunity to ask all sorts of thoughtful and insightful questions. All I could muster was, “I can’t […]

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  I love stumbling upon wonderful books, unknown titles that completely amaze. Last week, when Caroline asked me to read and help settle her ‘first day of school butterflies’, I picked up the closest book I could find.  I had grabbed No One But You off the New Books Shelf at the library drawn to […]

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      Lately,  I have had to prevent myself from saying, “Stop reading and play with  your sister.” Stop reading? What!? I have been tempted because Katherine so desperately wants to play with her big sister and because the little sister feels particularly left out when Caroline is reading to herself. I always offer to […]

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Somehow the girls and I  just discovered the wonderful series of Dodsworth books. In these tales, Dodsworth and his companion,  a clever and funny duck, travel the world from New York to London to Paris and Rome. As we finished the first book, Dodsworth in New  York, I said that we would read Dodsworth in […]

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Tension was high before we left the house for the first day of school. Hair was done (three times til perfection), clothes were ironed, bags were packed. I looked nervously at the clock as I realized we were ready way too early. I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep the girls and their […]

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Today was the day…   Despite the unrelenting rain, both Caroline and Katherine had wonderful days. When asked their favorite part of their first day they both said, “The whole thing!” And when asked what she thought of her kindergarten teacher, Katherine will go on record with the one of the best quotes of the […]

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I love my girls. A lot. I also love school and the return to a schedule. It appears that Caroline may be feeling a bit more of my love for school than for her right now… As she was going to sleep tonight she said, “I think grown ups invented school so that they didn’t […]

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