Almost all of my posts are attempts at summing up our week by highlighting key activities or events. This past Monday's Skype Meeting with author/illustrator Tomie dePaola just needed it's own post! Tomie has been a major inspiration for the way I teach writing and my work with children in general. He was a favorite author of mine when I was a child and I think I sensed then something that became clear to me though our meeting over Skype and that is, he seems to understand and not underestimate the complexity of children's emotions. He answered our questions with honesty and depth while still being aware of how a young child would process the information. Here are some pictures of us looking at him as well as us sending him a photo of us making his signature symbol- a heart.
Hearing Tomie talk about connecting with his breath at times when he is mad or sad as a way of bringing himself back to calm felt like affirming words of wisdom given all our work on strategies for getting and staying "in the green zone". A special thanks to Donna Mac Donald, our librarian for helping with the the technical aspects of this event and for supplying these photos.
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