Chicken Challenge!
Okay Pleasant Hill kids. You've heard my rant about how much I disdain the word "nonfiction." You know my feelings about calling a word something that it is not. Don't make me use the boy/girl example again because it won't be pretty. So, here's your big chance to come up with a better term than nonf...
Post your ideas right here and the judge (me!) will select a winner next Friday, May 20th. If two people enter the same word, the first one posted will be considered.
Go ahead and stick out your neck. Who knows, you might just win the chicken!
Pleasant Hill or Bust!
I'm setting my sights south this week as I prepare to work with the writers of Pleasant Hill Elementary School in...you guessed it, Pleasant Hill, Oregon. The next best thing to the act of writing is the act of talking about writing. We'll do that, and we'll share writing, too. And, of course, there will be some surprises as well, including an ESP demonstration. That's Extra Sensory Perception, in case you didn't know.
Stay tuned for the summation...
April 15, 1865
At 7:22 a.m. on this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died in a boardinghouse, across the street from Ford's Theater, where he had been shot by John Wilkes Booth.
I was curious about what Lincoln had in his pockets the night he was shot, so I started researching. Here's what I found out: http://www.history.com/videos/what-was-in-lincolns-pockets#what-was-in-lincolns-pockets.
What do you wonder about Abraham Lincoln?
Spring break
Ahh, spring break, a week of fun, friends, and...no school! Okay, I admit it's been awhile since I've been in school, even college, but I can still remember that great pause in the school year. It's a time to realize that school is mostly over and that summer will soon be here. It's a time of hope.
Most of my spring break memories are happy ones, sleeping late, hanging with my friends, getting a start on baseball season. But the most specific memories are are negative ones, like having to write reports during the week off. One year my report was on the countries of South America, another year I wrote about cement. Cement? That's right, that gooey gray stuff that slides out of mixing trucks and makes driveways or sidewalks or patios. If you're fast (and sneaky) enough, you can use a stone, a stick, or even your finger to make your initials in the cement before it dries. Don't get caught, though. The guys who smooth the cement aren't real thrilled about you messing in their work.
Anyway, the year I wrote the cement report - seventh grade - had the best spring break weather ever. Sunny and warm. Shorts weather. But there I was, stuck in my stuffy bedroom with the the C encyclopedia and booklets from a national cement company, wanting to copy word-for-word the text from those resources but knowing it wouldn't be worth it. So there I sat, stood, and paced hour after hour trying to change the words around just enough so they would sound like they came from a kid, not a book.
It worked, pretty much. In the end, I finished the report and got a grade of B- on it, but I would trade all I learned about cement for those hours lost being twelve years old.
What about you? What's something you remember about spring break?
Happy birthday, A.C.!
February 15. This is the birthday of Alfred Carlton (A.C.) Gilbert, who would turn 117 if he were alive. It is not easy summing up a person's life, much less someone as energetic and creative as A.C. Sure, he helped transform the U.S. toy industry by inventing the Erector Set and developing other educational toys for kids during the first half of the 20th century. But, he was also an elite athlete, an accomplished magician, an employer who cared the people he hired, a traveler, and a devoted family man.
What stands out the most for me from all the research I did to write my Magic of A.C. Gilbert book was his dedication to fun. "I have never worked at anything to make money," A.C. once said, "unless it was fun, too." Maybe that's why he chose to create and sell toys instead of working as a doctor, what he had been trained to do.
I love the "fun philosophy" and gravitate to jobs, activities, and pastimes I find fun. And, when I'm reading, writing, or otherwise working at something that is not enjoyable, I try to find the fun or add some fun to it. That usually works.
Long live the memory of A.C. Gilbert!
Places
Traveled to Portland (OR) this weekend and had the pleasure of a personal tour of the downtown area. Every place has a story - really, many stories - that engage and inspire me.
In 1843, William Overton saw this area, which had once been heavily inhabited by Chinook Indians until diseases brought by settlers pretty much decimated them. Overton saw a great opportunity to build a city at this clearing along the banks of the Willamette River, so he traveled to Oregon City to file a claim for the land. The land was free, but there was a filing fee of twenty-five cents. Having not a cent to his name, Overton asked his friend, Asa Lovejoy, for the money. Lovejoy gave him the money and the two split the 640 acres.
Lovejoy later sold his part to William Pettygrove. When Pettygrew and Lovejoy were ready to name their city, a problem arose. They couldn't agree on a name. Pettygrew wanted to name the city after his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Lovejoy wanted to name it after his hometown of Portland, Maine. Neither man would give in, so they agreed to flip a coin - best out of three - to decide. After three flips of a penny, the winner was...well, you already know that!
The penny that the men flipped to determine the name of Portland is on display in the entrance of the Oregon Historical Museum in Portland.
Greetings!
Greetings, and good cheer to all. New year, new website, and new book. What could be better?
I have had a website and blog for several years now, but I thought it was time to update and upgrade. Thanks to tech genius Cameron Yee, it's done now so here we are. I wanted a site that was simple, clean, and clear. Check. I wanted a blog that could be categorized for various readers: kids, teachers, and writers. Check, check, check. That way, you can click those categories and focus in on the area that most pertains to you. Some posts will be appropriate for more than one category, so there may be some overlap.
My plan is to blog about writing and the teaching of writing. I'll add photos as well as links to interesting sites I've found. I'd also like to post questions from time to time, and get readers of all ages involved.
It's my hope that you will become active participants in this blog. It's easy. All you have to do is leave a comment after a post. Ask a question, share your experience, expertise, or opinion.
Looking forward to sharing with you.