How Has Your Summer Been?

My summer has gone well. Summer is always busy on a ranch and this year is no exception. We have to feed the baby calves, brand and then make sure the fences are not broken. The kids always enjoy riding the 4-wheelers and doing the chores. We have two baby calves we need to feed with bottles, bulls to feed and cows. I used to have to deal with the horses too, but my dad finally let them out. It was not easy to let the milk cow, because the horses wanted out. When I have a lot more time on the computer I will tell you more about the fun of doing chores and life on the ranch.

Writing Prompt- Where Would You like to Go?

Where would you like to go most in the world?

I really think that I would like to go to the Australia/New Zealand area most in the world. The reason that I would like to go to that area is that in New Zealand they filmed Lord of the Rings and I have seen the area on TV. and it just looks so beautiful. It looks so open and wild. Kind of like it is one of the last places on the earth. I know there are towns there, but I have not really seen what they look like. Some day I should do some research on it to learn all there is to learn about it.

I would like to go to Australia, because I have read books about it. I read a book by Bill Bryson and it just seemed like there was such a wide variety of things there. Some of the historic aborigine sites would be nice to see too. There was a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson movie that was supposed to take place in Sydney and it looked like a very fascinating place. The opera house especially would be something interesting to see.

I am not sure what else to say about these areas. I just know that this is an area of the world that I find very interesting. I know that it would be very educational. That is really all that I have to say right now about the places that I would like to go. I really wish there was something more I could say about this entry. I would just really to see areas different to what I have known all my life.

The different culture is important as well. It is really nice to learn about places different from the United States. I really don’t want to learn how they feel about the United States, but I would like to see how they live.

Writing Prompt- Sitting in a cafe and I am given a note

Sitting in a café. I am given a note: “It’s in your best interest to meet me at 7 p.m. tonight alone, at Pine and 4th.”

“I need to give this to you,” stated this short, bald man as he walked by my table in the café.

He walked out of sight as I just sat there staring at him. I didn’t know what to think. While I was sitting there thinking a few ideas came to me: I had a secret admirer, one of my enemies decided that now was the time for revenge, or maybe my latest boyfriend had a surprise planned for me. I thought of mulling the ideas over, but the note was just too tempting I had to open it.

As I unfolded the note, I keenly observed that the edges of the paper were torn and there were fingerprint smudges. I became unsure if any of my ideas were right, except for the one about my enemies. Written in pen it read, “It’s in your best interest to meet me at 7 p.m. tonight alone at Pine and 4th.” I studied the penmanship, trying to remember what everybody’s looked like. I had no idea who it belonged to.

I wasn’t sure what I should do. Should I make some calls and see if I could figure out who it was or should I just go on blind faith. I decided that I would go the rest of the morning finishing my latte and business downtown and decide my course of action early afternoon.

I spent the morning going to the library and the accountant, before I ate lunch at Lucky Charley’s. I was eating my avocado, bean sprout and bacon sandwich when I thought I would flip a coin, which would chose the plans for the evening.

Heads I would go and tails I would stay home reading the latest book I checked out of the library. It was tails. I was glad. I wanted to stay home and read The Mystery of the Paper.

Stay tuned for more.

Writing Prompts- Family Trips

Do you ever take trips with you family? When I was still living at home my family used take a trip either to Wisconsin or Idaho almost every summer. Here is an outline from a trip we took to Wisconsin. Are there any specific details you would add?

Describe what you remember the most from our drive to Wisconsin.

The parts that I remember the most were all of the rain and lighting in Wyoming and South Dakota and the trees along the Mississippi River.

I was driving when we went through all of the bad weather. It was some of the worst rain that I had ever seen. If it was a snow storm it would have been a very bad blizzard. There was one time when I would have pulled off to the side of the road, but by the time I did it was getting better.

There was a really nice thunder cloud too. It had so much lightning in it. It was happening all of the time. I was very glad that I was not there.

The other part that I really liked was along the Mississippi River. It was very different than that near Dubuque, Iowa. These bluffs are much higher and there were a lot of trees. The river there is a lot bigger too. It is very pretty. I notice that Wisconsin has more trees than a lot of other states. I personally like being able to see things other than trees. They make me feel closed in. I like being able to see.

I would really enjoy reading about a family trip you have taken. Where did you go?

Carnival of Education- May 13, 2009

Welcome to the May 13, 2009 edition of carnival of education!!! There sure were a lot of submissions this time. I really enjoyed reading all of them. I hope all of you enjoy reading them as much as I have. Please remember to comment and socially bookmark, so that more people can enjoy this carnival.

Larry Ferlazzo presents What Do You Do On The Last Day Of Class? Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... posted at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites Of The Day For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL.

Mathew Needleman presents 10 Myths of Writer’s Workshop: Part 1 of 4 posted at Open Court Resources.com Blog.

Michaele Sommerville presents Kindergarten's 3 R's: Respect, Resources and Rants: *~OTHER~* Classroom Essentials posted at Kindergarten's 3 R's: Respect, Resources, & Rants.

Mrs D. presents In Moderation posted at Footsteps of Aristotle, saying, "Notes on an aspect of testing in Queensland, Australia"

michael mazenko presents NAEP and Comparing Schools posted at A Teacher's View.

lorri giovinco-harte presents Helping children to cope with a world entrenched in fear posted at New York City Education Examiner, saying, "Although adults may take fear inducing media headlines for granted, we may not always realize the level of fear that children experience or how the fear becomes a part of their decision making."

Javanx3d presents Make the Pareto Principle Work for You! posted at Making Money Freelance Writing, saying, "Thanks for considering!

Erika Collin presents 100 Amazing How-To Sites to Teach Yourself Anything posted at Rated Colleges.

Matthew Ladner presents “Forward” our Motto? « Jay P. Greene’s Blog posted at Jay P. Greene's Blog.

Pat presents The Best Teaching Method posted at Successful Teaching.

Miss Dennis presents Back to this Blog's Roots! posted at Your Mama's Mad Tedious: Diary of a Special Ed Teacher.

oldandrew presents You Know it’s Time to Quit Teaching When… « Scenes From The Battleground posted at Scenes From The Battleground, saying, "British blog about teaching in tough schools"

Dana presents Globalization and the Future of Education posted at Investoralist, saying, "Globalization means that we will have to prepare for a slew of new demands of value-adding work, our education system will have to adjust accordingly."

Nancy Flanagan presents Truth, Consequences and National Standards posted at Teacher in a Strange Land, saying, "Who will be the big beneficiaries of national standards?"

Alvaro Fernandez presents 10% Students may have working memory problems: Why does it matter? posted at SharpBrains, saying, "Working memory is our ability to store and manipulate information for a brief time. In screening of over 3000 school-aged students in mainstream schools, 1 in 10 was identified as having working memory difficulties. Why does this matter?"

Sarah Ebner, School Gate presents Should children's books be more multicultural? posted at School Gate - Times Online - WBLG, saying, "I have had loads of comments on this on the blog, but wonder if it's a British issue? What do others think?"

Clix presents You know it's REALLY bad when... posted at Epic Adventures Are Often Uncomfortable, saying, "It's never too early to start stressing about next year!"

Denise presents Quilt: What Can You Do with This? posted at Let's play math!, saying, "How could you use this image as a springboard to doing math? What questions would you ask? What concepts would you try to get across? What would you follow it with? Please comment!"

Corey Bunje Bower presents Sunday Commentary: Sale on Snake Oil at the BrooksStore posted at Thoughts on Education Policy, saying, "The Promise Academies located in the Harlem Children's Zone have obtained some promising results. But David Brooks' interpretation of these results is incredibly irresponsible. Here's why."

siobhan curious presents semester dénouement posted at Siobhan Curious, saying, "Thanks for hosting!"

Kathleen Kennedy Manzo presents National Institute for Literacy to Get Ax posted at Curriculum Matters.

Sarah Robbins presents Why a Gifted Class? posted at Parenting Gifted Kids, saying, "This article makes a compelling case for a self-contained gifted program."

Mister Teacher presents That is highly illogical, captain posted at Learn Me Good.

SwitchedOnMom presents MCPS Middle School "Reform" and GT Instruction posted at The "More" Child.

teachin' presents It's all about the relationships. posted at I'm a Dreamer.

Sarah Scrafford presents 10 Hot Celebrities Who Got their MBA or Business Degree posted at MBA Info.

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Open Courses on Computer Information Systems and Security posted at Computer Colleges.

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Incredibly Inspiring Blog Posts for Educators posted at Learn-gasm.

Darren presents Distance Learning posted at Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher.

Mary Ann Zehr presents Resource: A Portal for State Documents on ELLs posted at Learning the Language.

Liam Goldrick presents Stimulus Watch: Front-Loading and Favoritism posted at The Education Optimists.

Joanne Jacobs presents PE effect is zero, researchers say posted at Joanne Jacobs.

Mike Holden presents Meet some of our teachers posted at DoE- Dave on Ed.

NYC Educator presents Beware of Charter Moguls Bearing Pizza posted at NYC Educator, saying, "Thanks for hosting!"

Mark Stock presents Setting cut scores on the SLLA posted at HOPE Foundation.

woodlassnyc presents A taste of ARIS posted at Under Assault: Teaching in NYC.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of education using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of education, blog carnival.

Father, We Thank Thee by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Since it is spring in my little part of the world, I wanted to share this poem with you as I can't get National Poetry Month out of my head. As I read it to my children, it seemed to fit so well.

Father, We Thank Thee
By Ralph Waldo Emerson

For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

How to write- An "I Wish" poem (part 2)

On March 3rd, I decided to write an "I wish" poem. I have had two comments, where the comments thought this poem was too much like a list. I am offering a challenge to you to write one and leave it in the comment section. I will write a special post that has all of your poems. I am really looking forward to reading your poems.

Computers
I wish this computer hadn't frozen.
I wish I could get the USB ports to work.
I wish this computer had more memory.
I wish my husband was here.
I wish technology wasn't so fickle.
I wish I could fix this.
I wish we could figure out the problem.
I wish...

I chose to write a how-to write a poem yesterday, because I was having a lot of problems with my computer. An "I wish" is a poem has eight to ten lines and each line begins with "I wish". This was a fun poem to write and I hope you have fun writing one too.