The Shadows - J.R. Ward

Meet Trez and iAm.

The Shadows.

Twin brothers

born into the S'Hsibe tribe.

When their parents sell

Trez to the Queen of the S'Hsibe

he and his brother escape the territory.

And while Trez leads a life

of self-destruction,

iAm lives to protect his brother.

The Shadows focuses,

primarily,

on these twins.

Trez has fallen in love with

the Chosen Selena,

but tragedy has fallen.

And now he's torn between

his love and his fate.

The romance and love

these two have is beautiful.

While Trez does what he can

to fulfill Selena's wishes,

iAm returns to the territory in hopes of

finding a cure, an answer.

Not having ever thought of himself,

iAm is now torn between

helping his brother

and meeting his destiny.

Daywalker - Tessa Dawn

Being a huge 

Blood Curse

fan,

when I saw this short by Tessa Dawn

I knew I had to read it.

Daywalker is a re-release

of a previously published book

under her pseudo-name.

It looks like it's the beginning of a series,

but it's hard to tell from the short.

Lacy Logan decides to start a

paranormal-investigation business.

On her first day,

a strange man walks in,

and basically sucks up her essence.

She learns she has cancer 

and has been given less than a month to live.

Lacy decides to find this dark stranger

and get him to give her

her life back.

And this is where she learns

there are things that live in the dark.

She is thrown into a world

of demons and dragons

and must fight for her life.

Literally!

Unsure how I feel about this book.

But we shall see what the second one

is like.

Writer's Workshop - Mom Poem

Write a poem for you Mother.

My mom was there

when I learnt to walk,

when I learnt to talk

and when I learnt to yell.

My mom was there

to buy me clothes,

paint my toes

and brush my hair.

My mom was there

to introduce me

to the joys of tea,

soap operas

and Indian movies.

My mom was there

when I was good,

when I was bad

and when I was mad.

My mom taught me

about makeup, 

waxing

and how to collect bags and

shoes.

My mom is wise

caring,

and brave.

I never gave her much credit

growing up.

After all,

I was Daddy's Girl.

My mom has a heart of gold

that holds more love

than you will ever know.

So dearest mom,

I just wanted to say

I love you

and

Happy Mother's Day.

Hitched - Dawn Rae Miller

If someone were to ask me

to name my favorite authors,

Dawn Rae Miller

would top it.

What makes her so great,

is her ability to get you to 

feel her characters.

You love them.

You care about them.

You feel like they are your friends.

A few years back,

I read Crushed.

I fell in love with Fletch.

The way the story was written,

it came to an end.

I never thought they'd be more.

But there was.

Hitched

picks up 5 years later.

Ellie and Fletch have broken up.

They meet again after 2 years

to attend their friend's wedding.

Still hurt,

Ellie isn't sure she can handle the weekend.

This is a lovely story.

While they are not many surprises,

what captures you are the characters.

From chapter 2,

I could not put the book down,

as I hurt.

Ellie hurt,

and I hurt.

I needed to know she would get better.

I needed to read on.

When Ellie was happy,

I was happy.

It's an easy read.

With the summer coming,

if you need a good beach book,

this one's for you.

Creating Cultures of Thinking - Ron Ritchhart

I'm a huge 

Cultures of Thinking fan.

I try to incorporate thinking routines

into my lessons.

I've started looking at ways to make

thinking visible.

I've started focusing more on

the thinking

and less on 

the knowledge.

So when Ron Ritchhart

came out with a new book,

you know I had to read it.

Creating Cultures of Thinking

breaks down the 8 forces

teachers and schools need to look at

to ensure they are in fact

creating these cultures.

The eight forces that share culture are:

1) Expectations - what you expect for students not of them

2) Language - name the thinking that goes on

3) Time - do you give students time to think?

4) Modeling - teachers should model thinking

5) Opportunities - create learning opportunities that are inviting

6) Routines - besides daily transition routines, thinking routines are also important

7) Interactions - shape meaningful collaboration and learning

8) Environment - that shows you value learning

Reading this book

has made me reflect on my own practices.

Do I emphasis learning and thinking

as much as I could/should?

It has also made me 

look at the different classrooms I teach it.

I look at their use of space

and what it shows that they value.

It makes me think about my own classroom

(when I have one)

and what I want my students

to know I value.

If you want a book to make you think

about your own teaching practices,

in a good way,

this is the one for you.

Rainy Day Cooking

It has been raining.

A lot.

Our road is flooded,

the traffic sucks.

It's utter mayhem!

It rained again today.

So much so,

that afterschool activities were cancelled.

Ethan usually has his 

French Pastry class

on Tuesdays,

but this was also cancelled.

So Ethan and I came home from school,

thinking we'd have a quiet

afternoon.

I thought Ethan was playing upstairs

when I hear him call me.

He needs a little help.

I look up from my book,

and see he's wearing his apron.

"Oh sweet. He wants to bake together."

I think.

As I walk into the kitchen,

I see Ethan has all his ingredients

measured out.

He's making 

Blueberry Tea Cake.

Beating the butter, eggs & sugar.

Adding the flour.

And now the blueberries.

In the pan it goes. 

TaDa!

Yum!

Bucket Bath

When Ethan was little,

our nanny would fill a bucket with water,

put it out on the deck,

plop Ethan in it,

and this was his bath.

He loved it!

In Zambia,

we got rid of the bucket

and introduced Ethan to bathing in the bathtub.

Our return to Dar,

meant Ethan graduated from the bathtub

to the shower.

And he hasn't looked back.

Until now.

Currently, 

in school,

Ethan is learning about water.

Besides the water cycle,

he's learning how we use water,

and our responsibility.

This week,

Ethan was asked to take a bucket bath for homework.

Part of his inquiry has been

learning about the world's supply of clean water.

Ethan has learnt that there are many people

who do not have access to clean water.

Everyday, 

they must fill a bucket of water

and carry it home.

This water is used to bathe in.

So, 

this was Ethan's challenge. 

Ethan fills his bucket from the garden hose

He tries to lift it, but it was too heavy

Ethan uses a smaller container to get himself wet.

Brrrr.....it's cold

Ethan had a lot of fun.

However,

it's amazing what he learnt.

He had to think of a way to heat the water

without using a lot of energy.

He realized how heavy a bucket of water is

and gained a lot of empathy and admiration

for those who need to do this several times a day

everyday.