Category Archives: Uncategorized

Big smiles at Sunbeam School, Cleveland, OH 

Sunbeam School, Cleveland, OH

The first thing you notice about Sunbeam is how friendly everyone is. Not that other schools are unfriendly, it’s just that EVERYONE makes an effort to shake hands and say “hi.” With 2 of the four classes I talked to we wrote poems, What’s So Big About Sunbeam School, where I found out the

Normandy Primary School Bay Village, OH

What’s so big about Bay Village? Looks like it’s the ice cream shop, the lake, the city pool, soccer and Normandy School and dozens of other places. Students at Normandy made individual pictures of what they think is big about their own town after reading What’s So Big About Cleveland. Their illustrations

What’s so Big About Bay Village? 

Biking in Painesville

Biking this morning around 9AM, we passed a young boy, maybe 9 years old, walking down the street presumably on his way to school. Late. No other students in sight. Trying to scratch in his open workbook flapping in the wind as he walked. Crying.
Yesterday I heard a

Michael, Sandina and me in the “round room” at Manchester Jr./Sr. High School. 

Manchester Schools

That would be ALL the Manchester schools – the elementary and middle schools in the morning and the high school in the afternoon. According to my sources (the third grade) I was the first author/poet sighting at Manchester Elementary since, well, since forever, which when you are only eight isn’t that long.
While I

fishing hole, Scioto County, OH  

Mother’s Day.

When your daughters become mothers, Mother’s Day takes on a whole new meaning. I am so proud of Katie and Kelly and their beautiful families I don’t even think of mother’s day in terms of myself anymore. Truly. Today is a day to celebrate family and love.
Down here in

Off road in Scioto County

Michael and I both have been ON the road so much this spring, it was a relief to go OFF road for the weekend. Since we will be visiting Manchester students on Monday, we just nestled into the country for a couple days of R&R. Sandina booked us into the Shawnee State Lodge,