ah, first grade…

so we didn’t get to my wonderful interactive site with sixth grade, www.todaysmeet.com/6grade, but the rest of the stories are up there right now for your last thoughts – www.todaysmeet.com/drmafeld, www.todaysmeet.com/fredsdiner, www.todaysmeet.com/thebirdisawaffle – I think I just put them in reverse order – drmafeld was eighth grade, fred’s was second block, and the waffle group is my first block group

“starting and closing” – by john smoltz – braves pitcher I grew up watching – big theme in the book was that of handling failure – that guys in the big leagues get there having never failed – and they have problems dealing with it – reminds me of gifted kids that have problems when things get hard for them – most panic and quit – so it was a good book if for just that lesson

“long run of myles mayberry” – gave it up – which is a shame b/c it’s set in boston and myles runs the marathon – but it was a bit too adult/mature/r for me – and that’s my pet peeve with fiction – something wonderful like the boston marathon and running can be ruined with talking about cheating on your wife who’s cheating on you – but still ends up having your baby…

“write on the bus” – from the national writing project – English teacher/soccer coach who had his players journal – I really like this idea of having kids explore what went right, what went wrong, after a game – and I’d love to do something similar in class

“the cancer chronicles” – made the ny times book of the year list – I could see why – good overview of cancer – how it develops – and why – and a proper way to respond – the tie-in to the writer’s ex-wife – and his brother – one survived cancer, one didn’t – made it all the more interesting

“the tao of chip Kelly” – coach of the eagles, former coach of the ducks – a book about his philosophy and how it’s just “perfect” – at least for this author:) good read – very middle school friendly – good for business people as well

happy final-ing

maf