Writings, Wanderings

I am a teacher in Ohio who is now one of many teachers facing several weeks of teaching online instead of being in my classroom. I'll be honest, Friday was the most surreal day of my 16-year career. I feel off-kilter but have started working on developing ways to help my students continue developing their Spanish skills. One resource that I've seen appearing on social media several times is this entry from Travel and Leisure about museums with virtual tours . My Cultures class has visited the main art museum in Havana, Cuba, but I am looking forward to giving my students the opportunity to explore other famous sites. I have visited some of the twelve featured museums from this list in real-life too :) British Museum (London) National Gallery of Art (Washington DC) Musee d'Orsay (Paris) I walked past the Uffizi Gallery but that is a museum visit for a return trip to Florence So which one of the museums from the article do you plan on virtually visiting in the ...

Four more books made it to my finished list this month. Unfortunately my read for my book club did not make this list. I have stalled out about halfway through it at the moment but am determined to finish it some time in March... My first completed read for February then was  Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich. I'm really enjoying this part of the series and Stephanie's adventures. I'm not a huge fan of love triangles, so I like that things with Morelli seem to be settling. Hidden Love by Cara Putnam. With geocaching as the background, this novella mixed elements of romance and suspense. While it did feel too short and not as fully-fleshed out as I would have liked, it is the best geocaching story I've read so far. Sweetly Seeking  by Sarah Dickey is a physically gorgeous book. The pages were gorgeous with their mixing of photographs and design elements. The message was inspirational but at times began to feel repetitive. And Then You Die of Dysente...

The second part of February had several good children's books reads as I continue on my quest for 2020. Baby Bedtime by Mem Fox & Emma Quay made my five-star list and received its own blog entry . Just a heartfelt story. Zoo Day: A My First Experience Book by Anne Rockwell was an easy read about a young boy and his sister's first trip to the zoo. While the words and illustrations were decent, I am more excited about the options for enrichment activities related to this book. Only a few pages in is a map of the zoo. Ask the young reader where he or she wants to go first. After reading, have them draw their own maps (buy animal stickers ahead of time for a different creative approach). The boy says that he is a little afraid of the lion's roar. Find out which animal makes your reader nervous. Wrap up the reading by asking what souvenir he or she would like to take home to remember a day at the zoo (I love how the book adds in the reminder that the animals have t...