At this hour…
Inspiration for this Slice comes from Julieanne Harmatz, who inspired Ramona, Leigh Anne, and Elisabeth, Margaret and Patricia Halloway. At this hour Feeling my tooth throb as the novocaine begins to wear off Sitting on this hard, uncomfortable chair while planning and typing Google slides for tomorrow’s literacy lesson Listening to the water running through the pipes above me as the laundry spins Smelling the chicken burning in the oven as I’ve lost track of time...again Distracted by watching a video of little Anna Rose on my iphone as she is completely covered in orange gob, laughing, grabbing the spoon as she eats mashed carrots for the very first time
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I love the beach. The serenity. The blue sky. The crash of the waves. The soft, fine sand. My husband and I go to the beach in Montauk through the four seasons and winter is my favorite. We walk along the shore for miles as we collect sea glass and shells. In March we rarely see another person walking along the shore, which makes me feel like the big, expansive beach is all mine.
Even though today was a foggy, misty day my husband and I, my daughter and son-in-law and two grandchildren headed across the street, down the slanted wooden steps to the beach. Usually as soon as we hit the sand we head towards the shore and walk west for a few miles. As we started to head towards the shore, our two and a half year old grandson, Henry, had other plans. He found a piece of driftwood and dug it across the sand. He ran wildly up and down near the dunes. He desperately wanted to climb up the dunes. He knows that we usually stay away from the dunes for fear of ticks in summer and because the ground is not solid and rocks from above could possibly tumble down. Henry was insistent. He planted himself amongst the rocks and lovingly called for his Bubba to join him. In seconds I found myself sitting on a pile of rocks, covered in red dusty sand as Henry and I explored the ground and rocks. We piled the rocks up high and talked about the various shapes and colors of the rocks. He dug his hands in the dirt as his yellow pants became brown. Henry refused to go home when his four-month-old sister had had enough of the cold. Henry couldn’t understand why anyone would ever want to leave the beach. Slicer Angela Faulhaber wrote her slice (March 4th) based on Linda Rief's book titled, Quickwrites. This is based on the “Rambling Autobiography.”
Eva’s Rambling Autobiography I was born during a rare blizzard in the middle of March after my parents arrived by police escort to the hospital. I adore the aroma and flavor of coffee and chocolate. I satisfy my addiction by occasionally digging into the plastic tub of Guittard milk chocolate cooking chips I keep hidden in my freezer. I sometimes splurge on buying my favorite black Spendid t-shirts at Bloomingdales, which are ridiculously priced for a simple black t-shirt but I love how long and soft they are. I once stole a dairy which was a dare from mean spirited girlfriends from a local stationary store that was rumored to be owned by the mafia. (I lost a lot of sleep over that experience.) That was the same year I slapped a girl in day camp across the face and then got punched in the stomach because another mean group of girls thought it would be fun to start a fight. My favorite place to hide was the extra large, long closet in the bedroom I shared with my sister growing up that my dad had added to our house in Plainview, Long Island. There was a spare mattress stuck at the end and I would spend hours hiding in the dark space feeling like I was a million miles away. I can still smell my mother’s chicken soup simmering on the stove, radiating through the house. I went to the prom with a college boy who had graduated from my high school who exclaimed when he picked me up at my house, “I almost didn’t make it tonight because my grandmother just croked.” I was asked to drop the Aikido martial arts class my sister and I signed up for after I fainted during the first session. I gave birth to three beautiful daughters, who are now married and having children of their own. I once saw Billie Jean King in a restaurant when tennis was my life and when I bravely went to tell her how I admired her she was rather rude.. I am an elementary school teacher who loves teaching children to become lifelong learners. Taking Charge
I really wanted to use the app Kahoots to create a fun, engaging practice quiz of the vocabulary words from our Earth and Space science unit that we are quizzing our fifth graders on next week. For a long time our district stopped allowing teachers to use Kahoots. But, recently it was approved and I was beyond thrilled. The problem is that it’s changed and I have to reacquaint myself with the site. I expected to spend a part of my Sunday figuring out the site and creating the quiz. Jack, who sits near the front of the classroom, is a technical whiz. He loves to help me figure out the ins and outs of the Promethean board I am fortunate to have in my classroom. Today, I got smart. I asked Jack if he wanted to create the Kahoots quiz for the class. Oh boy, was he excited. As he prepared the questions sitting proudly on my for- teacher- only ball chair, using my desk computer, I could see how excited he was. I inquired, “Jack, would it be okay with you if I share your quiz with the other fifth grade classes?” “Of course!” he replied with a grin. I hadn’t planned on reviewing for the quiz today, but I couldn’t resist as Jack was coming out of his skin. The day ended in whoops and screams as students played Jack’s Khoot science vocabulary review. Somehow I have a strong feeling that Jack will ace the quiz next week! Today I visited my elementary school’s library to inquire if I could borrow a dictionary to use with my students as we read Tuck Everlasting. This novel has a ton of exciting words that my fifth graders have never encountered before. I used to have a set of dictionaries in my classroom but as space was tight they were boxed and either placed in the e deep, dark storage basement or possibly thrown away. I imagined my students reading and suddenly noticing a word they didn’t know. They’d reach for the dictionary and they’d squint as they looked up the word among the gazillion teeny tiny printed words on the same page. You can imagine my shock and dismay at learning that there wasn't one single dictionary in the library. None. Nada. I often see those photos on Facebook of objects from my childhood that are now relics, but it had never occurred to me that a dictionary is an antiquated object. A sadness overwhelmed me. All these elementary age students will never feel the ;weight of a huge dictionary that they can barely hold and need to quickly find a table to place it down upon. They will never be overwhelmed with the thousands upon thousands of words that cover each thin page from top to bottom. They will never think to question how it took linguistic researchers generations to gather all these words that have roots in languages and places of which many no longer exist. These young minds will never look up a word only to get caught noticing how similar so many words are. They won’t have the opportunity to notice how one single word can have multiple meanings and interpretations. They will never use a dictionary to learn the pronunciation of a word, or be confused about what parts of speech the word is when used in combination with others in a sentence. What a heart wrenching tremendous loss. Do you ever stop and think about the BIG things in your life that make you happy? I’m not talking about the fleeting moments of joy that surprise us throughout our days but the deep, soul searching, feeling of happiness that you get from an activity or action in your life. As I am getting older and thinking about how I want to spend my time, I have been soul searching for my answer. What really makes me happy? I’ve just begun to sort this out:
I’m exhausted just thinking about what makes me happy! How about you? little
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Eva KaplanSea glass, found on beaches, is naturally worn and smooth by tide and time,. As a wife, mother, Bubbe, teacher, reader & life-long learner, and of course, sea glass collector, I aspire to use writing to help me understand myself and the world around me. Archives
March 2024
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