Adventures in Room 5: Bite-sized Moments

There is nothing quite like a perfect bite of pizza. That just-right bite of chewy dough, topped with tangy sauce, Italian spices, and cheesy goodness can’t be beat. A good, satisfying bite hits the spot and can be savored for a moment. Then you are ready for another bite or two, or three. Maybe you’ll eventually eat a few pieces of that pie.

I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t try to stuff the entire pizza in your mouth all at once, though. Obviously that would turn a yummy dining experience into a disaster. You’d choke and possibly make yourself sick. You might even turn yourself off to pizza all together. That would be a tragedy!

The same goes sharing stories from our lives. There’s nothing quite like a great story—a succinct tale packed with flavorful details. On the other hand, we all know how painful it can be to read a “never-ending story”, one that wanders from getting out of bed in the morning all the way to crawling back under the covers at night. Yes, perhaps an interesting event happened at some point during the story, but it is utterly lost in the endless tale.

In writing workshop, the kids in room 5 have been working on writing yummy, bite-sized tales of special moments from our lives. Here is a sample of a story that illustrates that focus I’m trying to help the kids find. This is a moment from Aidan’s life. BONUS: It stars a rodent!

“One day I was riding my bike in a forest.
A squirrel was in the way.
I got to see it up close.
It was mainly black then brown.
It ran 18.12 miles per hour.”

Short, sweet, and to the point, don’t you think? A great start of a memory story, in my opinion.

Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing our special memories with you, so be on the look out.

Here is a moment from my life that I shared with the kids. It stars some of the memorable characters in my life. Enjoy!

When Nappy Comes to Town

What is it about Nappy, the Great Dane, that I love so much? He's huge and ungainly. He takes liberties with the food left on the counters. He takes up the entire couch and cries when you try to push him off. He runs around like a rowdy horse. Oh, but he is 100% sweet and loving. His childlike energy is contagious. And he makes me laugh nonstop with his over-sized antics. Just looking at his giant head cracks me up.

Nappy comes to stay with us on the Hill every six weeks or so when his people go out of town. Josie and the other dogs are used to him, but they don't necessarily look forward to his visits, at least at first. Nappy is like a five-year-old in a linebacker's body, and it takes the girls a day or two to adjust to his oafish ways.

Here's what happened when Nappy showed up last week.