Everything is Gorgeous in Richmond

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter vacation, or plan to enjoy the next week off from school. This is the first time I remember having a week free before Easter and it was very weird--don't I get next week off, too???

To burn off some calories after our big meal today our family enjoyed a walk through a beautiful Richmond neighborhood--Westover Hills. Hope these photos reveal even a little bit of how gorgeous the azaleas and dogwood trees are in the spring. I included a photo of a new bridge tunnel we discovered--even though I've been living here over 30 years! Who knows what new things all of us will discover as this school year draws to a close?

And the grapes? Well, if your students need practice drawing small circles or other shapes, grab a box of scented crayons and have them draw the fruit their noses detect. They can "cheat" and read the name of the fruit scent on the wrapper of the crayon. If your students aren't comfortable writing the letters on their own, they can dictate the letters to you and make sure you form the correctly. Have you tried writing with your non-dominant hand as you work with students? This evens the playing field and makes your letters look less "perfect," which is less intimidating to young writers.

For this photo, I drew the curvy line for the stem of the grapes and we took turns drawing the circles. Since both of us are right-handed we made sure to draw the circles counter-clockwise. Lefties get to draw them clockwise.