Sick Day Geo-Caching

The tonsil fairy whisked away those pesky tonsils, and what did she leave in her wake....?

A sparkling surprise awaited Winnie after surgery.
A glittering envelope,
handmade flower paper,
and a nearly invisible note!
Thank you, Tonsil Fairy!
White paint pen scrawled on clear vellum
made for a very secret missive from our new friend!

No dimes or quarters from this gal. She left fairy dust.

And a little cranky dust.

I guess that's what you get when you mix Spring Break,
four kids,
one with a sad little throat,
and a nine-days of bed-rest!

Wait, doctor -
did you just say we can't leave the house for NINE days?
Right. No car rides. Keep it mellow. Gotcha.
Nine days' wonder. That's us.

So, since Winnie was confined to the couch,
I did my best to keep the gang entertained with "busy bags"
and...
A book treasure hunt.

Much like geo-caching, except without the GPS, and with less physical exertion.
 

The girls had to read a clue,
figure out which book the clue described,
and find "coordinates" hidden on a post-it note in that book.
Each coordinate was made of
a Page number, Sentence number, Word number,



which gave them one word of a mystery message.



Then they hunted through the book for a new clue,
which led them to another book, with coordinates and clues...



And at long last, a secret message:


Even Sugar Snack joined in the fun.

And Winnie smiled.


So, if you're thinking about hosting
a tonsil extraction anytime soon,
go for the popsicles.
and maybe a word hunt...

Confessions of a Math Shirker

Yesterday was Pi Day. 

Did you know?

We don't know our Pi days, our prime numbers,  

or the square root of umpty-three. 

Is that such a bad thing?

PIE Day, now, that would be memorable.

Not a hard day to celebrate. Yum!

Or Color Day. 

Or Dictionary Day! 

But this post is really about confessions of a math shirker... 

and resolutions.

It's one of my New Year's Resolutions, see:

A resolution to add math as one adds vitamins, 

but to add it creatively, 

as one adds air and water and beauty. 

(How does one bring in math beautifully? )

Ideas, anyone?

Measuring snow

The kids loved sticking rulers in the snow
and recording their data in a soggy notebook.

Birdy - a little brown bear at the start of our adventures, 

and polar bear by the end.

Did they absorb a love of math?

I don't know. I got distracted making lunch. 

Popcorn math

We added handfuls of popcorn together, and ate our sums.


Jellybean Trees

This one was a big deal,
as we don't see much sugar around here.
I wrote out rows of addition (fact families)
that equalled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The girls had to write out the answer,
then put that number of jellybeans in the square.
Reward: eating jellies!

Math Pillow


For our pal Kenna's birthday, we made
a Wee Wonderfuls flannel dolly pillow.

It works like an old-fashioned flannel board, only cooler,
because clothes get stashed in the back pocket and well,
because it's just so dang cute.

(Her spa outfit. With cucumbers.)

The girls loved it.

So I thought to myself, "Hey! Why not numbers?"

Perhaps not as fashion-friendly,
but when they get tired of all that arithmetic,
(or, dare I say...bored?)
they can take a nap on it.

And Now.... 
for the Winner of the A-Z Mystery Contest!

For this Worthy entry :

ONE, ELEGANT, AZALIA, FLOWING, AZIMUTHALLY 

(Azimuthally!)

I choose Jan Morrison, intuitive writer pal - 

for her clever gusto. 

Jan, I can only imagine how enjoyable and mind-blowing Scrabble games with you must be! 

I shall contact you for mailing details soon!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

And Happy Pi Day! 

Writing is Magnetic

Why Speed Scrabble is good for writers...

Every Tuesday,

I visit the classroom

and play "literacy sort" with six and seven year-olds.

We cut words from paper 

and shuffle them around 

to find out how they are similar or different. 

Most of the kids are okay with this sorting game, 

but one of my new friends 

is traumatized. 

He wants his little word scraps to stay in one place, 

straight as soldiers, unsullied by battle.

As a writer enamored with my first drafts, I sympathize. 

It's painful to step back from your work. 

A good pair of pruning shears can help.

 Or a few rounds of Speed Scrabble. 

  

It's great for practicing revisions:

Learning to improvise,

To scribble 

your heart out, 

erase, 

and start again.

How do you step back from your work?

Are you open to change?

Do you improvise?

To fuel my Scrabble fire, 

we made alphabet rock magnets, 

inspired by this.

Beach.

Rocks.

Paint.

Lettering.

Magnets and Glue.

Voila!

Let the refrigerator games begin!

A Speed Scrabble how-to for novices:

Speed Scrabble is like "miracle-gro" for writers in revision.

The idea is that you play sans game board, creating a personal network of connecting words with your first handful of letter tiles. 

Every time you draw a new letter, you scramble your previous words to make room for it.  

Even if you adore that you made "quixotic," you are willing to sacrifice it to make a new bundle of connecting words. You're done when you can't figure out where to go next, or you've used up all of the tiles. It can be played alone or in competition, depending on your personality. 

Don't you feel your improvising juices sloshing around already?

THE WRITER GAMES, Part 2: Luge

Welcome to The Writer Games!
If you are just joining us, I'm hosting a two-week series of Word Olympics in honor of the Olympic Winter Games in Canada.
Unlike the real Olympics, you don't have to wear spandex in order to compete in the ice events, but you do get to play for prizes, including blog interviews, medals
and a grand prize that's almost too colorful to believe.

To check out the rules, see yesterday's post:

Today's game is a simple nut to crack. No, wait, that's a metaphor.
I did think of making this "Mix Your Own Metaphors" but that will have to be a party to host another time - Mix your own drinks and metaphors. I have a feeling the writing games get better and better with each successive sampling.

Back to our Event: LUGE, or SIMILES. I'm not quite sure why it's related to sliding down an ice chute, but it is. So have at it!

Complete your own simile, starting with the following "winter" theme:



Don't Olympians get a few chances to best themselves? In the SIMILES event, Word Olympians can enter up to three times.
As mentioned yesterday, events close at midnight on Friday, February 19, with winners to be announced Monday, February 22.

My tries (I promise I won't give myself any prizes. I may peek at the last page of a novel before I get there, but I'm not bad-sported enough to treat myself to my own prizes!):
Cold as a morgue secretary.
Cold as a chilblain.
Cold as the permafrost "hairdo" she was sporting.

THE WRITER GAMES, Part 1: Opening Ceremony

Welcome to The Winter Word Olympics, a.k.a The Writer Games.
As I mentioned in my last post, I thought it would be good to celebrate the coming winter Olympics in true writer style - with word games!

The Writer Games is a contest that will run from February 8 through February 19. Just like the real Olympics coverage, The Writer Games will focus on a different competition in each post.
You have till February 19 to enter any or all of the events.
Awards will include blog interviews, medals and a giveaway. See my Crayons post.
I will announce the winners on February 22.


The rules are simple: Anyone can play.
Of course, if you follow my blog,
we'll have more fun bantering,
but this is open to all word athletes.

Today's event is OPENING LINES.

Come up with a great opening line that contains the word :


gla⋅cial  /ˈgleɪʃəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [gley-shuhl] –adjective
1. of or pertaining to glaciers or ice sheets.
2. resulting from or associated with the action of ice or glaciers: glacial terrain.
3. characterized by the presence of ice in extensive masses or glaciers.
4. bitterly cold; icy: a glacial winter wind.
5. happening or moving extremely slowly: The work proceeded at a glacial pace.
6. icily unsympathetic or immovable: a glacial stare; glacial indifference.
7. Chemistry. of, pertaining to, or tending to develop into icelike crystals: glacial phosphoric acid.

Here's my Opening Line:
It only took three and a half words to stun the dinner party into glacial silence: "THAT'S DOG FOOD!"

Crayons and Word Olympics

Part One: Crayons
My gang was sick yesterday. Since the girls were already hanging out on the couch I brought them their broken crayons and made them peel the skins.
We arranged broken bits in holders and popped them in the oven. Maybe I shouldn't have used a rubber ice cube tray because it melted.


But the melted tray was worth it:
we have happy hearts to give away.


Which brings me to
Part Two : The Writer Games


In celebration of the upcoming Olympic Winter Games, I am going to be hosting The Writer Games, a sort of blogger Word Olympics, if you will.
Just like real Olympics, it will include different competitions and will take place for two weeks. And just like the real Olympics, there will be prizes: I'm talking medals, blog interviews, and a giveaway I know you'll love. (Hint hint: It has to do with craftsy recycling, and may even include melted crayons).

So stay tuned, tell your pals, sharpen your wits, crack your writing knuckles and have thesaurus.com standing by. It all starts Monday, February 8.