favorite bits

Chalk-A-Bration is coming up next Saturday. (This is a celebration of art + poetry started by Betsy H.) Next Saturday my kids and I will be chalking and writing poetry to share with the Chalk-A-Bration community. Won't you consider joining? Here is a link to July's Chalk-A-Bration to give you an idea of how to participate. Simply chalk your poem, post a photo and link up next Saturday, August 31, at Teaching Young Writers.

You won't want to miss the MAKING FISH FRIENDS Blog Tour hosted by Chronicle Books. Kate Messner's latest picture book, Sea Monster and the Bossy Fish, is a must-read. Follow the tour -- most stops are hosting a giveaway, so perhaps you'll be a lucky recipient of Sea Monster and the Bossy Fish!  Here is the link to the blog tour information with a list of links for each stop. Kate will be here on Monday with a guest post. In addition, Chronicle Books is offering a 30% discount in celebration of Kate's new book. Simply use the promotion code SEAMONSTER. The offer ends on September 6.

If you've been reading my words for awhile, you know I'm a believer in little things leading to BIG understandings. This week I was surprised to find a little thing I did was featured in a Slice of Life post. The thing about little things is, when they are happening, it is easy to miss that they are really a big thing. Here's a link to Cathy's blog post about this little note I left her. (I snagged the image off of Cath's blog since I would have never thought to take a photo of something so little.)




Finally, I'm doing some deep thinking about conferring. I'd love to know your conferring angst. What do you find most difficult about conferring? Please add your thought to the comments on my post here. Thank you!