Now that we were officially installed in our new house, school visits began to shift. What was once local was now quite a distance and what was once far was now close by. So when I visited the three schools of Longmeadow, I realized that they were now my new local.
And what a great new local it was! With warm welcomes all around:
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dlqOimniHQ/UaYhSzb-qfI/AAAAAAAALZA/rLCFg9vZCf0/s320/center_nina.jpg) |
With super teacher Nina Metz, who promised to be my tour guide for the area |
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dHc-ZBLVqlQ/UaYhBdI6_II/AAAAAAAALYw/u3-5TbwVicM/s320/1_bestauthor.jpg) |
love this! |
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9oAMs726-M/UaYhKMCy5YI/AAAAAAAALY4/jA-3txB-ziE/s320/blueberry_redthread.jpg) |
this is a "red thread" display, showing how people are connected! |
To all the amazing projects they did with my books. I loved everything they did with
Starry River of the Sky:
They even did the
Math Puzzles:
I especially loved this door:
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-enEvrgR66Ig/UazWgV700LI/AAAAAAAALZ8/7sVZ8jG_7o8/s320/woldswamp_wang.jpg) |
I'm impressed they mastered the wang symbol! |
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhk_0C4crD4/UazWhTPPr9I/AAAAAAAALaQ/EdiVPyNldjE/s320/wolfswamp_starry.jpg) |
the art deserved a close up! |
There were also projects with
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, like handmade goldfish:
and ponderous questions:
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fMvVmCj4R_A/UazYk-8Ur8I/AAAAAAAALbw/LpAuxF46iD8/s320/wolfswamp_oldmanquestions.jpg) |
these are hilarious! I like the one about no homework. |
As well as thoughtful essays and beautiful artwork about their favorite parts:
Ling and Ting was lovingly reillustrated:
And Pacy and Melody's science fair experiment from
Year of the Dog was tested:
And, really, that was just a small portion of all the great projects they did! There were many, many more:
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LvbvezqgDh8/UazbnChstZI/AAAAAAAALdE/V4A0w1uMYWA/s320/center_kites.jpg) |
kites! |
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SsTVs5XoDxs/Uazb9SEhNPI/AAAAAAAALdc/iLEl6G7BeEc/s320/center_haiku2.jpg) |
haikus! |
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-44T1dQsb8gc/UazalFhY2-I/AAAAAAAALcs/lQES53_IWWs/s320/center_bio.jpg) |
this whole wall is filled with student biographies of yours truly! |
It was so nice to realize how great my new local is going to be! Thanks so much, Longmeadow Schools!