If you are like Katie and I you try to read some favorite blogs daily (for Katie) or a few times a week (for Pat).  But things always come up and you get behind.  Sound familiar?  So Katie and I have decided to take a break from writing blogs (not for long, just during the winter break) and instead catch up on reading past posts of some of our favorite sites.  If you are interested in catching up also, we’d like to suggest a few great posts that we’ve come across:

“In a teaching world filled with data, I think the best thing about the first days of school is getting to know kids not by numbers, but by living beside them.” This wonderful quote by Cathy Mere is from a blog post last fall. I want to revisit this post as we start our first days of 2012, as well as her many other thoughtful posts.

I was lucky to meet Ruth and Stacey of Two Writing Teachers at NCTE this year. What inspiring, dedicated teachers and writers they are! I love this post on blogging – and writing habits.

Choice Literacy – We get a weekly newsletter from them (you can too, sign up for free on their site) and we never have enough time to read all the interesting articles that are posted each week. We plan on taking some time to search for topics we’re interested in and read the articles as well as view the many videos on the site.

Podcasts from Language Arts NCTE – these are free podcasts available on the NCTE website.

Mandy’s posts at Enjoy and Embrace Learning share new must-read titles, projects she is doing with her kids and reflect her love of teaching. I look forward to catching up on these posts!

Math Exchanges – this blog from our colleague Kassia Omohundro Wedekind is a thoughtful sharing of math and literacy ideas. Her post on Math and Storytelling from the NAEYC conference is a good one to revisit.

And, of course, we wish you a happy and safe holiday season.  Enjoy your family and friends at this special time. We’ll be back writing right after the first of the year. Please feel free to add a comment about a post or article that you really enjoyed this school year that you wouldn’t want others to miss!

Enjoy your time off to reflect, renew, rejuvenate and relax.