Romantic hearts

My crew is pretty romantic. Really.  I have very little squirming and squealing when there is talk of love or crushes or even (gasp!) kissing. Please don't get the impression that I bring up such topics for discussion. It just happens naturally when we talk as much as we do about Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.

We are writing personal narratives--my younger writers and myself--that tell stories of small moments in our lives. To model new strategies I have been writing a piece about Sarah's visit to my mountain home (Sarah is the cutest, most dedicated kindergarten teacher in all of D.C./maybe the whole world). My story is about our visit to a local farm last fall. We picked out a big pumpkin!

In hopes to draw them into my work and get them excited about my writing, I sometimes give them little details "that I wouldn't tell anyone but them" (which is an entire lie, but it is for the sake of knowledge!). I whispered that there had, just maybe, been a few strong, handsome men that were ready to help lift the heavy pumpkins. Giggling ensued. Who knew that my pumpkin story would be about love?!

Today I modeled how to use stickies on blank writing paper to plan out the different parts of my story. I jotted down a quick note on each page so I could get writing and know exactly what my game plan was. I was on the page where I was making plans to write about the giant, tall pumpkin that Sarah and I ended up picking out.

Me: (talking slowly as I simultaneously scribble down my note) "Okay. On this page, I want to show how I found the perfectly... huge... and tall..."

Cutest writer ever: "Man? Or pumpkin?"

I think they are getting their hopes up about the detail of the stories I choose to tell.

"No lady. I did not pick out a man at the pumpkin patch."