#TeacherFriends!!! DeeDee Wills stars in Nurturing Writers Chat!

TUESDAY Twitter #TeacherFriends weekly chat! 

It is amazing when my cyber world and my IRL world collide!

I've not yet returned from all of the fun of my CA adventure.

Here's a peak at Friday's FIESTA!  

L to R: Heidi Butkus of Heidi Songs, Moi, Deanna Jump, DeeDee Wills, Jen Jones, Katherine Zotovich

We never stopped talking! It is so delightful to meet up and just pick up conversations mid-sentence from the last time we were together! These are some powerhouse individuals and I am grateful to spend every minute possible in their presence. This is only about half of the bloggers who participated. It does seem that this is the older "more mature" portion of the crew. I will be on the look out for our official photo and add it in when I finally track down a copy. 

Here's a little look-see for the Saturday fun. 

NOW BACK TO TWITTER!!! 

We are so grateful to our frequent flier sponsors over at ESGI software. It was fun to meet the heart of the operation in these two stunning smiles! 

Tonight! Tuesday, January 20th is a week that many have been looking forward to! We have THE DeeDee Wills joining us in the spotlight to help lead a discussion on "Nurturing Writers!" 

Here we are getting all warm and cozy for our 'us-ie' after the Blogger Fiesta on Friday. Yes. JUST DAYS AGO! Yes. I get to stand this close to dignitaries! SQUIEEE! 

Just imagine how great I will look once I learn how to use my YOUNIQUE mascara! I dared not to attempt after a cross country flight and the amount of sleep deprivation I have had over the last several days! One day I'll be all that plus a bag of chips! 

Just click the pic to go get your mascara, or join our team! 

HOLY COW!!!!! 

Chat was lightening speed! 

Crazy fast and filled with ideas! 

Here's the archive in the entirety! 

Dr. Martin and his DREAM: A Sorrowful True Confession

Dr. Martin. Today we reflect on your dream. Today I reflect on your dream personally. We take an entire day nationally to reflect and to consider the past and move forward toward a better day for all. My ramble today is a true confession. One that brings me shame to share. One that I am still processing. Perhaps typing will bring some sense to my reflection. 

What Progress has Transpired since your DREAM? 

There is a school in Dallas that proclaims your name.

Within those corridors is an amazing mural that reflects your vision.

Behold the power of art to capture history. 

While there I observed amazingly capable teachers delivering dynamic lessons. 

Progress indeed. 

If it were not for our New Year's brunch at Mulligan's, I would be ready to celebrate MLK day in actuality. Instead I sit here weeks later still shell-shocked. Never before in my adult life had I heard such a bigoted, racist comment. I nearly choked. How could I continue chewing my spinach and mushroom omelet? This sentiment expressed mid bite was so deplorable I will certainly not commit it to type here. In that moment, it was as though the air was sucked out of the room and time stopped. My mind reeled with the impact of what my ears had overheard.

It came so far out of left field I was unprepared. I couldn't have been much less surprised if a javelin had pierced my heart while reaching across the table for the salt. Our group of 18 civilized adults had pulled numerous tables together and I was facing the ocean with a view worthy to pause for a photo: that combo of the promise of sun, palms and umbrellas not yet open for business: pinch me. How is it even possible that this setting could be the backdrop for such an assault against humanity? 

We are new to this group gathered around the tables. Some of their friendships date back for decades. We are the outsiders. The interlopers. We are happy to be invited. 

Little did I realize. 

VERY LITTLE did I realize. 

With all of us packed around these gathered tables, someone would need to sit below the TV mounted in the corner from the ceiling. Our orders were arriving bit by bit and the television prattled on with no one in particular paying a bit of attention though it was suspended over our heads. 

Revisiting the year just closed via news clips.

You've seen those reviews every January first. 

And then it happened. 

This man I have only recently met, says something vile. 

Out loud. 

In public. 

I wish you could be proud of me.

Oh, how I wish you could be proud of my response. 

I wish that I could report that I had confronted him. 

I wish that I had spit out my omelet in his direction. 

But there I sat with a javelin through my heart, attempting to talk my ears out of having heard what he said.

I did nothing. I said nothing. I expressed nothing. 

I just sat there. In total disbelief. 

How is it possible that in the first eleven hours of 2015, there is a 'successful' adult person capable of dropping such a bomb mid eggs benedict? 

His sentiment made Archie Bunker look like the Nobel Prize winner.

Obviously I live a sheltered life.
I wear polka-dots and sing with children. 

Children eager to play with their peers, whether they are green or purple.

I honestly had NO idea that such a comment could be uttered.
I live a VERY sheltered life.  

I didn't realize that such virulent, horrific sentiment lives in some people's mouths. I didn't realize this individual was toxic. I didn't know that I was socializing with a barbarian. I have learned some time back that my political persuasion is in the minority here amid the palm trees. BUT Honest to goodness, I just had NO idea that people spoke this way of their fellow humans. 

What I know for sure.

Dr. King. I am sorry. 

I am so very, very sorry.

I honestly wouldn't have believed it had I not heard it with my own ears. 

I thought we had come further.

I thought that progress had been made. 

I thought we were headed closer and closer to a better day.  

I promise I will be a better advocate moving forward. 

I am likely to see this individual again.
I will know of what he is made. 

I will have had time and preparation, reflection and pondering before he opens his mouth again in my presence.

I have replayed this scene a hundred times with various conclusions.  

At the very least, next time I can projectile vomit my meal in his direction, rather than choking it back.  

How far have we come? 

It all depends on who you spend your time with. 

The children are our future. 

Teach them well, my friends, teach them well. 

I am here to tell you that there are grandparents in this great country of ours that were NOT taught well during their childhood. What an absolute crime that over the course of an entire life they have not educated themselves in the manners of human rights, civility and decency. 

My shock is wearing off and my disbelief and anger are increased.

#BeBRAVE 

#BeBRAVE Debbie Clement #BeBRAVE

Five Year "Cancerversary" = Observations and a SALE

When there are 'no words'...... offer encouragement: please share the image!

Today's an amazing day in my life. I'm typing from the Orlando airport terminal at Gate 125 on my way to CALIFORNIA! From sea-to-shining-sea! All in one day! I'm headed to an amazing PK1 event to give a 'mini-keynote' on Sunday! AWESOME! Celebrate! WhooHoo!!!

Today is also my dad's birthday! He's 86 and VERY much at the helm of this four generation family. Spending time with my parents just a couple of weeks ago puts 'everything' in perspective: time and legacy woven together as one. The fact that dad shares this day with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. makes it that much more special. I have written about that overlapping previously.

YET, even more than all of the above, is the landmark which becomes my own personal reflection when I see the fifteenth of January on the calendar. 2015!

TODAY IS MY FIFTH CANCERVERSARY (from my second diagnosis.)

{Yes. It is a tad bit challenging when the clock has stopped on two occasions with an early stage Breast Cancer diagnosis, trying to keep the 'versaries straight and marking the milestones.}

FIVE YEARS in cancer-land is a big deal! FIVE YEARS TODAY!
A special shout-out to ALL of my Team January sisters, each marking their 'fifth' this month. What an amazing support system we've developed. It has been such a joy to meet several of you "SISTAHS" in my travels! 

Think of all that I have experienced in the last five years. WOW! Or go way back and start the clock from the original diagnosis and I am nearly 8 years out! But FIVE is particularly special in the land of survivors. Five years and you get to exhale. And mean it. At least kinda-sorta. As a two-timer, I realize there are no guarantees, no matter the math involved.

So many emotions. 

So many on Earth are called to 'survive' the unthinkable. Situations that we never dream could unfold, do and there we are suddenly starring as the heroine of the unforeseen. There are times when words fail. How do you offer support to someone in the midst of the 'surviving?' What was meaningful to me? What continues to be meaningful. A few thoughts.

1. Offer your presence, no need for presents. Be there. Even when you have no idea what to say... or especially when words fail. Being there is a very big deal. 

2. Offer to hold the situation up in prayer. I continue to be grateful for those who offer to hold me up in prayer. When I was on the daily roller coaster, I could gather my wits when reminded others were holding me in their hearts and prayers.

3. Remind the 'survivor' to take EXTRA lengths at 'self-care' in the midst of the storm: healthy foods, extra sleep, allowing MORE time for the simplest of errands. 

4.Offer to pitch in with the mundane, while the big issues are being dealt with else where. Coming home to find the sidewalk shoveled can be just the boost needed in a time of crisis. How amazing if you can do something nice in an anonymous manner. 

5. Smile and share some uplifting, comical relief. Even in the midst of a disaster, it is helpful to have a foundation of light-hearted reminders that this is just but a season.

6. Share a favorite Bible verse. Here's my "Go-To" for the tough stuff. 

Full article over at this image's source. 

To celebrate, I am wearing my newest happy socks. Thank you musical brown eyes. I am going to put ALL of my digital materials on sale! For the next several days! Help me celebrate! Use my songs. Create some smiles! Kick up your heels and do a little jig. Give someone else a compliment. You never know what the person next to you in line is facing, or may face. 

I'm wearing my new HAPPY SOCKS today and they are bringing me good luck!

P.S. For years and years in the BCO chat room, when I didn't know what else to type, I'd type: "Strength and courage. Strength and courage. Strength and courage." Like a signature of sorts. At the time our pastor had a way of saying things three times and I liked that sort of repetition. 

Just last week I left this little trinity of words for a sweet friend whose extended family has just been in a dramatic car crash. Just after I made the graphic today, while sitting next to this tarmac, I received the message that my simple typed cyber words were 'heaven-sent' in their arrival, in her life at that moment, and are actually repeated three times in the Bible's book of Joshua. 

 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

There are times in every journey when we must rely on others to help in the manufacture of new and additional strength and courage. Recognize those times will come. Reach out. Tell folks what you need: a hug, a call, some cheer leading. Home baked cookies. Whatever you want. 

In the words of Stuart Scott, in the midst of his acceptance speech for the Jimmy V award: 

"When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer," Scott told the audience. "You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live."

It takes strength to face the unknown. It takes courage to realize that you can NOT control the circumstances now unfolding. It takes a village when times are tough. 

#TeacherFriends Chat with Dr. Rebecca Klemm: Number's ALIVE!

#TeacherFriends Tues 1/13 

We have the opportunity to chat directly w Dr. Rebecca Klemm of @numbersalive on all things..... you guessed it: NUMBERS, math and more! 

Is this an area where you could use extra support? Or maybe it is your strength and you can come offer your peers support? Either way Tuesday night is the PERFECT time to enter the world of Twitter and chat with your peers in real life. Described by some as "the friendliest chat" on the web, we'd LUV to help support your professionalism.

*As always there will be prizes awarded!!! We start officially at 9 PM EST, but the best kept secret is that we are at the hashtag beginning at 8:30 so support true "NEWBIES" that need to see how it works.

Two answers:

1. Get a Twitter account and follow me at @Kweezlequeen
2. Every tweet you send MUST have the hashtag: #TeacherFriends so that we can 'see' you!!!!!

For BONUS extra credit:
Z. Open a FREE account on Tweetdeck (it will just make your life easier) Otherwise, just keep insert OUR hashtag in the Twitter search function and then continue to hit your computer's refresh button, every couple of minutes and the new tweets will download.

Yes. You are allowed to 'lurk' and 'just' read along. The REAL way that you learn is by participating/tweeting. But lurking is a great baby step in the right direction!!!

Yes. In order to be entered to win the weekly prizes, every week we have a google doc where you enter your email address. You just need to enter it once (every week) to be eligible for ALL the prizes being awarded that week.

Make sense? Ask some questions here. ~~ Debbie

Bring a friend and learn together! See what all of the fuss is about!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early Childhood Activities Linky

Artwork source: from TeacherAtlas

There are articles worth 're-running' and this is one of my favorites! 

May our world make progress on the significant issues around race, peace and acceptance. I truly believe that it ALL begins with the children. Make every day one filled with opportunities for all. Your words contribute to a planet where we grow beyond tolerance and reach for the significant *D*R*E*A*M* together.

"I have a DREAM." ~~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Looking for a delightful 'process-oriented' creative project to make the connection between dreams and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr? Here's a delightful 'dream catcher' idea created by kindergarten students in FL in anticipation of my author/illustrator school visit to their midst. Of course this simple craft would also be perfect as a Valentine's 'gift' or exchange as well. 

Each child was given two pipe cleaners, which they twisted together to create a 'heart' foundation for their weaving. They then tie on the yarn color of their choice and began wrapping it around the pipe cleaner foundation. From their the happy weaving process can be directed as desired by each student. The only limitation is the amount of yarn and time available. 

****BY THE WAY! These beauties were created under Caitlin's direction. 

Are you following her blog, Kindergarten Smiles? 

My signature song, "You're Wonderful" is full of affirmation. In each of six verses the same six vocabulary words are revisited: 

• Wonderful
• Marvelous
• Beautiful
• Magical
• Curiosity
• Dreams 

Here's a YouTube video performance by a select group of preschoolers and their ECE college companions.

I have a FREEBIE download of a whole page of 'dream' quotations that I've gathered over the years. You can access it from a Google Doc under my Freebie tab up above. It's #10 on the list. 

BUMPER STICKERS CREATED for MLK OBSERVANCE 

I am 'recycling' this post from a couple of years back. 

At that time, I created a MLK Linky. 

I have 're-opened' the linky so that others can add their ideas now in real time. 

I would ask that you use this graphic in your article with a link back here to me (etiquette, ya know?) 

It would be very nice if you could visit one of the other posts and leave them a comment. 

Bloggers LUV comments -- but I don't need to tell you that! 

You are welcome to 'host' this linky, by transporting the html into your article. 

I would be especially pleased if you'd pin from this article. 

GIVEAWAY! 101 Kids Activities Book Opportunity

There are so many blessings with doing what you love. 

1. Getting paid to travel and meet others passionate about offering the best for children is at the top of the list.

2. Spending time with women who are making things happen in their own lives comes in a close second. 

3. Being with other authors and illustrators and learning from their journey is the definition of awesome. 

These two young, brilliant, funny/quirkie minds have a MILLION followers on Facebook. 

Deservedly so! 

If somehow you've missed their contribution you can be in their second million! 

Hurry. You don't want to say that you were in their third million. 

Oh. Yes! And they parent! 

Between them they are responsible for loving and adoring of NINE children! 

Let me be very clear for the FTC. 

I get no fringe benefits from recommending this resource to you and giving away this copy. 

Also. 

It is also not because MY NAME IS LISTED AS THE FIRST ENDORSEMENT 

that I recommend this encyclopedia of fun. 

HONEST!!!

It is truly because this is the perfect book!

From the moment you pick it up. 

It is the perfect size. 

It feels good in your hands. 

The paper is sumptuous. 

The photographs are simply incredible. 

The activities are obviously delightful! 

I look at a LOT of books. 

Trust me. 

It is like a calling to turn pages. 

These are glossy, indeed, BUT it is more than the brilliant layout

that will having you turn the pages over and over again! 

CONTENT PEOPLE! 

You've heard that elsewhere on the web?

I wish my photography skills and camera were better. 

You get an inkling of how much awesomeness is packed between these covers.

If by any chance it is gray where you live right now...... 

LOOK NO FURTHER!

INSTANT DAY BRIGHTENER. 

You don't have to be Martha Stewart or Steve Spangler to make these ideas come to life.

Holly and Rachel were kind enough to give me a copy to give away from my podium. 

I have made a super easy-peasy entry form. 

Hoping the genie at Raffelcopter selects a very deserving candidate! 

Get thyself entered! 

***UPDATE FROM LATER TODAY!*** 

In an extreme "God Wink" of what can only be heavenly timing........ 

I have returned home from our daily beach walk to see that MY BLOG has been selected as one of the 

TOP 25 ECE Blogs in all of cyberspace!

I am honored, humbled and encouraged. 

Guess who they have as #1?

You guessed it! 

KIDS ACTIVITIES BLOG 

This just blows my mind! 

On so many levels! 

-------------------

Have you heard that I now represent Younique? 

Yes, they are the crazy cool mascara that everyone's talking about. 

I have signed up under my daughter to offer opportunity

to other women to chart their own course.

We would LUV to talk to you

about joining OUR Team! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#TeacherFriends Hands On Learning with Vanessa Levin Twitter Tuesday!

TWITTER!! PRACTICE CHAT Tonight: Vanessa LEVIN! 

Our first #TeacherFriends chat of the *N*E*W* Year is ready to launch!

Tonight we are THRILLED to welcome Vanessa, the brains, inspiration and hard work over at "PreK Pages" to our honored spotlight as #GuestEduCelebrity!  

9:00 PM EST as per our usual format! 

Newbies are EXTRA welcome to arrive at 8:30 to get your feet wet. 

Vanessa will be directing the chat on the topic of: 

HANDS ON LEARNING! 

Bring your questions! 

Bring your best advocacy experience as well! 

Here's the only photo of the two of us that I have located.

We're standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our besties!

Vanessa is the type of person to have both the foresight and the organizational skills to muster a group of UBBER bloggers from around the country and get thema all into the same place at the same time.... giving everyone THE memorable experience of the fall.

Vanessa single-handedly created the event, communicated with all of us, drove us to the site, gathered up door prizes and corporate sponsorship! We each received a Pinterest t-shirt! The woman has some MAD skills, I tell you! 

Here's our 'reminder' map regarding the whole time zone set-up. Thanks Maggie.

As per usual, there will be PRIZES tonight! 

Vanessa is giving away a $25 gift certificate. 

PLUS we will again have an ESGI package to give away! 

P.S. We are getting so excited about the California PreK, K and 1st Conference on the horizon! 

Leading off the weekend is the BLOGGER fiesta! 

Here's an opportunity to *WIN* two tickets! 

All you have to do is go to the CKA Facebook page and leave a comment and you'll be entered to WIN! EASY PEASY!

Hope to see you in Santa Clara!