Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Never Too Young or Old






















Leaving the teaching field for retirement does not let one just ride off into the sunset as I thought I would.

More personal activities take precedence now which is the greatest part of retirement, and I find teaching is still a large part of me but on a different scale. I still want to create, read, write and be an influence. Trying to influence 80 students every day for 180 days a year was becoming quite an overwhelming task for me in the last few years before retirement. It was time to go to a different place.

My arena now consists of 2-4 children who are all different ages and have different needs--mainly 2 1/2 years to 6 1/2 years. There are 3 boys and one girl. I cannot be with them 180 days a year, but I can make a difference when I am with them. I am a grandparent, and I love being with them especially when they create.

We all have our writers notebooks now--some are writing, and some are just drawing. I am tickled to death especially when Lilly (4 1/2) finds and grabs her notebook without prompting and says, "I'm ready." We try to write/draw with "No walk, no talk"--really hard to do!!! Noah (4 1/2) likes to print his name and others words with his race car drawings. Lucas (6 1/2) prints sentences with many different drawings, and James (2 1/2) loves markers and circles!


Then we share and clap for one another. After that, we write/draw again because we want to.


This activity doesn't last long right now, but this is better than any sunset!!!

9 comments:

  1. Hurrah for you for caring on the writer's notebook with your grandkids!

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  2. Love these special moments! The importance of instilling the love of writing and celebrating -- you have no idea the impact this will have on your grandchildren. I LOVE this. Once and always will be a teacher.

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  3. Tam this is fantastic! I wanna be in your grandkid writing group--I'll bring my own crayons if you want, and I am good at sharing.
    You are giving such a gift to your grandkids, and who knows? Maybe one day you'll have an award winning author who tells interviewers about writing with grandma. :)

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  4. What a fun activity to do with grandkids! I know this will make a difference. They know what it means to be a writer and tell a story.

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  5. I love it! My post was about being inspired by my grandpa, not because I got to be in a writing group with him, but hey I took what I could get--I can't have it all! These moments are definitely influencing your grandchildren in a most positive way!

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  6. Love the sharing - especially the photo of the boy at the stool. I have a funny little table at my school that my preschoolers love to sit at just like your grandson.

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  7. What a lovely writing community you have created! It's great that you have time to be with them, notice what they have done, and comment. My daughter (6) has a writer's notebook. I showed her your photos. We talked how it is ok to just draw or write one word depending on what you want to do and say. She has recently been on title and recipe writing mood.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  8. Thank you for reminding me of the moments right in front of us. I have just retired this year, and I'm going to have to teach someone something sometime soon. That is what we do! And this is the fun side of it...NO ASSESSING! Just for the fun of learning!

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  9. This is a lovely way to continue your writing groups! I just finished a vacation with my grandson & can't stop with the experiences & capturing them in journals, just like at school. Nice that you are doing this; I loved the photos.

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