1. No Brownies at Bake Sales, but Doritos May Be O.K. raised my blood pressure way more than a whole plate of brownies (mmm… brownies):
Nine months after effectively banning most fund-raising food sales in city schools, a city panel will vote Wednesday on an amended regulation that will allow student groups to sell items [...]
Here’s a chance for you, my friends and readers, to tell my kids what to read: what book do you remember most fondly from your 6th-8th grade years? Get your suggestion to me by Thursday night and I’ll probably put it on my school’s middle school summer reading list! (I still want to [...]
Tags: School
We were delighted to host the charming Shannon Hale a couple of weeks ago! She signed great heaping piles of books while chatting with our kids, gave a fabulous presentation to a room full of rapt middle schoolers, and even handled their slight rowdiness (born only of enthusiasm, I assure you) like a teaching [...]
Tags: Libraries · Links · School
The Simmons Children’s Literature Institute ended this morning. I spent the last few days hearing brilliant talks, picking apart my favorite novels, having literary discussions of Buffy over burritos, and meeting and reconnecting with lovely people.
It is a rare pleasure to have such intelligent discussion with people whose obscure references I get [...]
Tags: Stories
Tomorrow morning, I board a plane for a girls’ trip Alaska: hiking, rafting, camping, eating, and the all-important ritual viewing of Harry Potter. My friend Kate Diamond of Damned Scribbling Women explains, and more importantly, shows off her outstanding Photoshop skillz by creating the cover for Super Special #1: Kate’s Wedding. (Ignore my [...]
What I didn’t want to announce when I read the first Bartimaeus (because it was still in the works) was that I read it in preparation for a school visit from its author! He was here yesterday, signing loads of books and talking to my middle schoolers about the writing process.
He read [...]
Tags: School
Via my dear friend Eric at The Oyster’s Garter:
Who would win in a fight, Capt. Picard or Darth Vader?
I showed my 8th graders the tree octopus page today, by way of teaching website evaluation in a way that didn’t make them start snoring and drooling on their computers. “Why would anyone make a page [...]
Conversation between two of my 7th graders today:
S: I just finished a great book! The Incredible Adventure of…something or other. (I didn’t quite catch the name.)
A: Is it about mice?
S: No, it’s about a rabbit. Why’d you say that?
A: Because those adventure books always have rodents.
The kid’s not wrong!
(Image courtesy of I [...]
Tags: School
It’s September 11. I saw a headline on the front page of a newspaper this morning remarking on “Six Years Later.” And I realized: that means my 7th graders were 6 years old. Their awareness of the world around them has existed only in a post-9/11 world. They will remember 9/11 [...]
I had my first temp-agency interview today, for the earning of summer ca$h. Apparently I type 87 wpm with no mistakes while typing a boring sample corporate manifesto, which is kind of fun to know, as I had never taken a typing test before. Apparently this is also OMG the best score evar, [...]
Tags: Stories