Saturday, February 16, 2013

Geofest February Style

I forgot to post that I was heading to Columbia for Geofest, having missed the last 3 sessions due to lack of funds and no new books out.  Anyway, I had a successful day today - sold 3 books and 19 bookworms so that is the plus side of going down to Columbia today.  Apparently, I am the only book vendor attending this event now as there aren't even any book distributors left to be vendors anymore.  The downside was the weather.  When I left the house this morning, it was raining, not hard but just enough to run the intermittent wiper speed until I got out of town.  I hit the highway and the rain was steady but not heavy again.  I got right outisde of Columbia and had a little heavier rain and then it stopped right as I pulled on Huger Street going to the college part where the event is held.  I got the van unloaded and I think it started raining again but I was inside and didn't pay it much attention.  The folks with the maps said they came from Clemson/Seneca area and it was snowing when they left their area.  I heard someone who came from the Spartanburg area also say it was snowing.  Now, Seneca and Spartanburg are on opposite sides of the arch of the upstate.  The lady with the maps said they had heavy rain by time they got to Laurens, which I have to go through to get to the highway.  I didn't see any snow this morning.  Boy, did I see snow this afternoon.

I managed to get the van loaded and stopped to pick up something to bring back for dinner, although supper didn't make it to the house because it was smelling so yummy that I just had to dig in.  I wasn't really that hungry until I smelled the wings, and no worries about eating wings while driving - I ordered boneless wings and was 2-finger eating.  They were so good.  It did start raining about  the time I was pulling out of town, so I didn't really start eating the wings until I was on the highway and was able to have a clear path.  Then the rain/snow started and then it stopped, then some rain, then some snow/rain, a little bit of sleet, and then more slushy rain/snow.  By time I got about halfway home on the highway, most of the major wet weather had stopped for the most part.  There were no incidents on the highway (thank goodness) and the traffic wasn't too bad, so once I got through all the slushy stuff it was pretty much home free.

I got off the highway to come through Laurens, and lo and behold, there was snow on the ground.  Nothing falling from the sky but there was enough dusting of the white stuff to knowi t had snowed in the area but not all the town had snow; I'd say perhaps the first 3 or 4 miles into the town off the highway had snow on the ground.  I have to travel to the other side of Laurens to get to the road that heads to my house.  I also have to go through two other small towns - Hickory Tavern and Princeton (which is really not a town but they do have some houses, two gas stations and a motel there)  - to get back to my town.  I got right into Hickory Tavern and guess what, more snow on the ground like in Laurens but it wasn't anything major - spots of dust covering and a few places where it had settled in a little hills, probably on something like a pile of leaves or some such. 

I did see a beautiful sunset by time I hit  the road to my house.  So what started out as a  yucky weather wise day ended up with a gorgeous sunset.  The sky and clouds were all pink and purple and pretty.  I should have pulled over to take pictures but I was really at the end of my day and tired so just came straight home. 

So how was your day?  Hope it was a good one - see you all in the postings - E :)

Monday, February 04, 2013

An Educator's Life: Tool #2- Part D- Vigorous Verbs

The next lesson in Mr. Hughes' teaching poetry unit - full of wonderful mentor texts and great poems.  I love how he has the kids do a related activity the day that they are studying whatever it is they are studying.  I was actually present for this class session and that Turkey poem he read was hilarious and had the whole class laughing.  I highly suggest  you at least sign up to get Mr. Hughes' postings via email so you can be kept up to date on his teachings of different units.  He either has this week and next week left in the poetry unit and then we are moving on to POV, which will be my time to do some teaching and I'm going to have to figure out how to talk to all three classes about this topic but it will all work out.  Stop over and share some comment love and let Mr. Hughes know what a great job he is doing teaching this unit and whether his ideas have been helpful to you in your teaching endeavors.  Mrs. E :)

An Educator's Life: Tool #2- Part D- Vigorous Verbs: Welcome back to Post #5 in my Journey into Poetry Land series. To read all the posts in the this series, click HERE to see all the posts f...

Friday, February 01, 2013

An Educator's Life: Poetry Tool #2- Part C Alliteration

Here is the next posting in Mr. Hughes' teaching poetry.  I really encourage all of you who teach writing to your students to check out his blog postings as well as follow his blogs.  He is very good and I've learned a lot  from working with him over the past 4 or 5 school years (2008-2009; 2009-2010; 2010-2011; 2011-2012; and the current one 2012-2013).  I'm also gathering my resource books so that I have an arsenal to do a writing workshop - geared to parents and teachers, still incorporating my state series.  See you all in  the postings - Mrs. E :)

An Educator's Life: Poetry Tool #2- Part C Alliteration: Greetings! It has been FAR too long since I have posted on my poetry lessons, and now I am two weeks behind in posts. So I will try my be...