Andrea, Author at Mrs Payan Reads

Celebrate 5/23

It’s Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres’ blog to read others’ celebrations.

This week has been a whirlwind of the particular chaos of this time of year. There is a ridiculous amount of paperwork, the kids are starting to look forward to summer and get squirrely, the weather plays with us in Wisconsin, and all the while all I want to do is sit on a secluded beach somewhere, relaxing.

Finding small moments to celebrate seems especially important as my principal starts conversations about next year and most of the staff in my school turn to negative thinking. New leaders bring new ideas and change, which is needed. This is somehow threatening to a lot of the people on staff at my school. Therefore, my days could be filled with noxious clouds of negativity. But I am a positive thinker and I don’t let that get to me most days. On other days, it is this ritual of looking for celebrations that is my saving grace. I am most grateful for this weekly tradition. Even in the weeks that I do not write a post, I find myself picking up on the small celebrations and rejoicing in them.

Things to celebrate this week:

1. One of my students got a new baby brother on Thursday night. We were excited when the office called to tell him that his grandma would be picking him up from school on Thursday. Sure enough, his mom was in labor and at the hospital. The new baby was born at 9:41pm so my student hadn’t seen the baby yet when he got to school on Friday. Boy, was he chomping at the bit to leave at the end of the day. I love celebrating this kind of good news with students!

2. On Wednesday, we had a local company come in to our school to volunteer. We do “JA in a day.” The employees of this company who volunteer in our classrooms come in and do a whirlwind day full of Junior Achievement lessons. We had two welders visiting our classroom. It is always a fun experience to hear a little about other people’s jobs. They always leave with a much better appreciation of a teacher’s job as well.

3. I started going to Barre class at a local studio. This workout is killer and seriously challenges me, but I have loved every minute of it (once I actually am finished that is).

4. I am looking forward to the summer and some great travels and conferences. It always starts to be much more real once the arrangements are being made.

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Celebrate 5/16

This week I am celebrating:

1. Fancy new cars:

We traded in our old car for a fun, new Toyota Venza. It is so much fun to drive and I love the bluetooth audio that will pick up my phone’s audio player. I have loved being able to listen to my audiobook on the drive to and from school.

2. Professional Development opportunities: Last week, I attended EdCamp Milwaukee. I absolutely love the opportunity to hear about innovation in other people’s classrooms. I left with a head full of ideas for gamification, makerspaces, and tweaks to my genius hour time. I am also looking forward to SummerSpark, which is another conference in the Milwaukee area. I cannot wait to hear Dave Burgess speak! I was able to get on the website and register for my sessions this week and I know I will have a great two days there. I also sent in my registration for All Write summer conference this week. I am so excited to drive down to attend that conference full of rock stars. I also can’t wait to meet people face to face!

3. Author Events:

I saw on Twitter that Jarrett Krosoczka was doing free virtual book talks on May 5th as part of the publicity for his new Platypus Police Squad book. We tuned in to see him talk and answer questions from classes all over the United States. This was such a cool and interesting thing to see. My students loved that they were able to see the author in real time.

We also had Jonathan Maberry visit our school on Thursday. The students were enthusiastic and listening with rapt attention as he spoke to them about his books and about being a writer. His new book The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army is a middle grade fantasy book. He also talked to the kids a little bit about his Rot and Ruin series. The graphic novel of Rot and Ruin just came out on Tuesday, by the way. The questions our students asked were amazing and I loved that we learned so much from this visit. I love being the person who is responsible for bringing this type of experience to our students. It is worth every extra second I spend on organizing.

4. Time with Family: In the last two weeks, we have spent more time with family. Two weeks ago, we participated in WalkMS with my parents, my uncle, my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. It is nice to walk in an event like that with the support of loved ones. Then, we went to my brother’s house for my nephew’s fourth birthday party. The day was spent surrounded by family and enjoying our time together. Then, last weekend, I had everyone over for Mother’s Day. I was happy to be able to cook a nice meal for my mother and to have another great time together. My nephew is such fun to be around!

An action shot of my nephew playing with my husband. Yes, that is me in the mirror. Not the best photography, but what can you do?

5. Winding down the school year: We have four weeks left to go. It is so close to the end of the year. We will be sprinting for that finishing line as we cram in some more learning. My students are eagerly working on some inquiry projects that I hope will sustain momentum. We have finished all the testing and now we need to continue to learn, but also celebrate our time together. I have had a really topsy-turvy school year and I am looking forward to some time off this summer and a new group of students next year.

Celebrate 4/25

It’s Saturday morning and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres’ blog to read others’ celebrations.

It has been a while since I sat down to write a Celebrate blog post, but that is not to say that I have not been celebrating. I love that this routine of writing these blog posts really made me much more aware of the small things I have to celebrate each week.

This week was a crazy one and I don’t think it will let up anytime soon. With the new Badger Exam (Wisconsin’s Smarter Balanced Assessment), and an administrator trying to catch up on evaluations and cramming in the observations, the craziness that is the end of the year is upon us. All of the changes to our routine are a big thorn in my side since this group of kids is one that cannot handle it. However, we are handling it and I am able to stay less stressed out because I am finding things to celebrate each day.

Since I knew there was going to be a weird schedule this week, I decided to spend some time thinking about Earth Day using The Lorax. We read the book and watched the newer adaptation movie and compared the two. We spent time talking about how the Earth needs our help and what could be done to help. We made Truffula trees to go along with the Lorax students had made in art class. Then, two of my students took it upon themselves to make a poster to hang up with the artwork. We have a wonderful display and I love that these students took the initiative and ownership of the display.

My student council had decided earlier this year that they wanted to do a book drive. We threw it together with minimal planning and sent out flyers. We collected books for two weeks. It took longer for us to count them than we had originally planned, but we finally got a count done this week. In our school with an enrollment of about 600 students, we were able to collect over 2,000 books that will be donated to a community organization. I am super impressed with this result, and only slightly inconvenienced by the multitude of boxes of books in my classroom. (I would really love to share a picture here, but I am so bad at remembering to take pictures of things)

On Thursday, my dog had knee surgery. I am celebrating the fact that the surgery went well and she will hopefully not be in so much pain with the new fake ligament. Of course, right now there is more pain, but it has already gotten better which is another thing I am celebrating. (That first night was horrible) I also have to celebrate how cute the bandage is. I love that my vet matched the bandage color to the collar she was wearing.

This week, I had a former student come to school in a surprise visit. This particular young man was a very needy and very special young child. I taught him in first grade, then again in fifth grade, then again in eighth grade. I did this same pattern with many students, but none needed the calming influence of a stable adult so much as this boy. I was his fiercest advocate throughout his years at our school and he knew it. On the day of his 8th grade completion ceremony, he told me that he didn’t know how he would have made it through his years at our school without me. He is now a high school graduate with plans to go to college and wants to be an aerospace engineer. I was choked up to see how successful he seems to be. It was not always evident in his 8th grade year whether he was going to stay on the right path, so I am glad to see that he did. He came to school specifically to thank me again for the many years I worked with him to help him stay on track. It was a really nice surprise in a week that is full of stress. It is a reminder of why I do what I do.

My students are loving the read aloud of Rump. They beg me to read each day and then it is the most quiet in my classroom while I read. Since quiet moments are few and far between this year, I love that time even more.

Lastly, I want to celebrate living in a place in which we experience the four seasons in all of their glory. Our weather has been wonderfully weird in the last few weeks. It has gotten warm enough on some days to give us a glimpse of summer. Then, we actually had some snow flurries one day this week. I think it is wonderful to live in this kind of place because then when we have sunshine and warmth, we really know how to appreciate it.

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/20

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished:

I loved The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng. It was such a sweet story about fitting in and making friends. I love the way the main character uses reading to help her make her way through her life. It is one I will definitely recommend to my students.

The Meaning of Meggie by Megan Jean Sovern was a really difficult book for me to read. I was diagnosed with MS last year. Reading about Meggie’s experience as a young girl trying to understand her father’s illness was hard. I hope that I won’t ever get to the stage in which I need to be in a wheelchair, but I don’t know and that is the scary part of MS. I thought this was a wonderful book and I will definitely recommend it to kids.

I read The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay for my book club. I am really excited to discuss it at our meeting. This is a wonderful story about healing. Both of the main characters in the book have had tragic experiences and they are used to keeping everyone away from them. I loved the complex characters in this novel. When I got to the end of the book, I couldn’t put it down and stayed up way too late. That hasn’t happened in a while. I would highly recommend it to adults.

I learned so much from the book Chocolate: Sweet Science and Dark Secrets of the World’s Favorite Treat by Kay Frydenborg. This would be an excellent mentor text for informational writing. The author manages to pack in so much history as well as the environmental science and the science of making chocolate. I recommend this one for grades 5 and up.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading Outlander and really enjoying it. I am also reading a book from NetGalley, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. I also started reading an ARC of The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army by Jonathan Maberry. So far it is really interesting. I really liked Rot and Ruin and I am excited about this middle grade series.

What’s Next?
I have no idea what I will read next. I am having a hard time getting to my reading lately so I may not be able to start anything else.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/6

I was again not feeling all that well this week so I spent a lot of time watching HGTV shows on Netflix. I don’t know why I tend to want to see this type of show when not feeling well, but I do. Since I was in some pain, I have been taking some medication that makes me feel completely out of it, so brain work did not really fit in. I am seeing my neurologist today and I hope that he will have some solutions for me. That being said, I am officially on Spring Break this week! Woo-Hoo!!!

Books I Finished This Week:

The Red Pencil is a novel-in-verse by Andrea Davis Pinkney. It tells the story of Amira, a young girl who craves learning to read and write, but lives too far away from the nearest school. Then, when war arrives at her village, she and her family find themselves walking to the refugee camp. The story is told from Amira’s perspective and would be a good way for middle grade students to understand what happens in other places in the world. I think it would be good to have a literature circle read this one while other groups read Home of the Brave and The Long Walk to Water. There could be some great discussions about how people in Africa work to survive.

I loved Fish in a Tree. I had read a lot about it from other teachers and librarians and I am just as much in love with this book as others. I think it would be an excellent read aloud to pair with Thank You, Mr. Faulkner at the beginning of the year, while discussing perseverance and a growth mindset. I hope I am a teacher like Mr. Daniels, who helps the students to see their own strengths.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am still listening to/reading Outlander. It is a fun read. I have also been reading some magazines this week.

What’s Next?

I have Ensnared and The Mime Order from the library. I also have 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which I got interested in while I was reading All the Light We Cannot See. It is a classic that I have never read, so I am curious to see if I will like it. I also have a stack of middle grade titles that I would like to get through. Unfortunately, I had to leave school in the middle of the day on Wednesday, and I was super medicated and unable to drive on Thursday, so I really didn’t get to pack up my things to bring home for break. I am hoping I can get into my classroom at some point this week to be able to grab some of the books I want to have here.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear form you in the comments!

Slice of Life: Celebration! 3/31

I am participating again this year in the Slice of Life challenge in which we write a slice every day in March. If you are interested in joining in, visit the Two Writing Teachers blog for more information.

I am so excited that I made it all the way through this month! I wasn’t sure about taking on the challenge again this year, but here it is, the last day of March, and I made it! I wrote every day!

Since it is a day in which I feel like celebrating, I thought I would take a minute to celebrate a few things here: (I missed the Celebration link-up on Saturday and I am definitely feeling it)

1. My students begged me to read Rump today. They are loving this read aloud and the time I spend reading is this excellent, quiet time in which we all enjoy reading and books.

2. Two more days until Spring Break!

3. My students are really understanding the fractions unit on which we are working. It is great to see their mathematical thinking.

4. They are loving the Genius Hour time that we have in class. More than half of my class is learning to code and doing a great job at it. It is a great time of learning.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/30

Books I Finished This Week:

I really enjoyed reading The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff. The main character in this book is a little person and he has challenges that he faces every day because of this. When his mother tells him she is pregnant, he really struggles with thinking that maybe his mom and dad will love the new baby more because he/she is normal. I think this is another important book to introduce to students. It would be a really good read aloud because it would definitely start some really interesting and important discussions.

I love Jane Austen and I love the really fun many versions of her stories. Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg is such a fun book! This adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is set at a prestigious private school in which every girl hopes to be asked to prom, the event of the year for girls there. I love how fun this story was. It really reminded me of the movie Clueless and the way that was an adaptation of Emma.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I am alternating listening to the audiobook and reading on my Kindle. It is such a fun story and I am really enjoying the characters. I also started reading The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay for my book club.

What’s Next?

I have a stack that is waiting patiently for Spring Break next week. I will probably continue to look for some shorter reads to read while I am plugging my way through Outlander. It will really depend on what I feel like reading at the time. I think I will try to do a spring book-a-day challenge.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Slice of Life: Author Visit with Jennifer Holland 3/29

This week, I was lucky enough to have another author visit at my school. Jennifer Holland came to speak to my students about her new book Unlikely Heroes as well as her other books and her magazine articles. Ms. Holland is a staff writer for National Geographic magazine and she travels the world learning about animals.

I was so excited to have her visit our school and share all about her work. The students were enthralled with the stories about the animal friendships and the animal heroes that she wrote about. When we had a chance for questions, the students all clamored for her attention and were super excited for her to answer their questions.

I loved having Jennifer Holland visit our school. I am still so incredibly moved that I am able to have such great authors visit our school and give my students these experiences with great writers.

Find out more about Jennifer Holland on her website here.

Slice of Life: Clean-up 3/28

Today at school, we had a clean sweep. Our principal arranged to have volunteers come in and help us clean out our school. There were piles and piles of things stored in coat rooms and closets. As many of you know, we teachers are packrats. It is hard to get rid of things that might be useful someday. However, the reality is that most of us forget about what we have stored and then the next teacher inherits that old junk.

I was so happy to be able to go in today and organize things. There was a metal cabinet in my coat room that was full of “science” supplies going back at least 20 years. It was so nice to be able to have volunteers work in my classroom and clear out that cabinet. I was able to quickly sort through the junk that was in there and then throw away tons of stuff. A quick wipe down later and now I have a bunch more storage space and will be able to organize better.

The best thing about today was that I learned about two great organizations in my community that I hadn’t heard of before. The volunteer effort was organized by Blackboard Volunteer Corps. This group is a service group that is organizing volunteers to come into schools and help out. Our school was their second project. It was really amazing to see so many people from the community turn out to give us their time. The other group is an organization called NEWaukee. They are a group that is working to try to keep young talent in Milwaukee by helping young professionals with many things. One branch of their organization is a service branch. They like to set up projects with different organizations each month so that their members can try out different volunteer efforts and possibly find a group they want to help on a more regular basis.

I was pleasantly surprised by how many people were at school today and volunteering their Saturday mornings to give us a hand. They were all so happy to be helping out and they were willing to do anything I needed them to do. My classroom is cleaner than it was and I got to learn about some great groups in my community.

Slice of Life: Perplexed

Why is it so hard for some people to be nice? There is one particular person in my life that always seems to find the most unpleasant and confrontational way to deal with everything that rubs her the wrong way. I don’t get it. I just don’t understand why this person feels that she will be able to get things from people by having a rude and uncompromising tone with everything she does. I wonder if it gets her things with other people. How can it be a good life if everything you react to has points and sharp edges. The funny thing is that it is always small stuff that this person reacts to. Who cares if something cheap got lost? Is your family so saintly that they never do wrong? I think not. It is interesting that this same person who has this confrontational and rude way of interacting with people will then turn around and make excuses for everything. I wonder what her life would be like if she just took an honest look at herself and her family and realized that sometimes their s*** stinks too. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just follow the rules and play fair. Why is that so hard for some people?

Okay, rant over. Moral of the story: Choose to be kind to others and others will be kind to you.