This year, I am trying to increase my awareness of the many good things that happen, which are frequently overlooked by me. To help me, I am joining Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week.
Here's what I am thankful for this week...
April has been an extremely busy month. I really should look at the full calendar when planning things. Despite how busy it has been, this past week was filled with some great things.
1. The Los Angeles Times Book Festival - This year I was an honorary bookseller for the weekend (April 12-13, 2014). What a marvelous experience. Check out my wrap-up post.
2. Author Event: Tomie dePaola - When I heard that author/illustrator Tomie dePaola was coming out for the LA Times Festival of Books and then doing an event at Once Upon a Time, I knew I had to meet him. Tomie's newest book is one he illustrated for Lin Oliver's poems. Tomie was so wonderful and good with all of the children and teachers and librarians and parents who came out to see him.
3. Distinguished Schools Visitation Team - This week I had the opportunity to serve on a Distinguished Schools Visitation Team. What a fabulous experience! I loved learning more about the process, visiting classrooms, hearing parents and students and staff talk about their school. It was definitely worth doing. I also loved the emphasis on writing and student writing was evident everywhere.
4. Open Mic Poetry Event - We held our first joint activity between the schools and the library and celebrated National Poetry Month with an Open Mic Poetry Event. It was smaller than we had hoped but the energy was good and everyone is talking about seeing this happen annually. I blogged about it here.
5. First Graders and Writing - I have been continuing my pilot writing and comprehension project and expanding it to a couple of additional classes. Can't wait to share more. I love watching first graders as they figure things out.
So, what are you celebrating?
