I add my Monday sticker to my chart
and notice just 6 more remain.
Just 6 more days in this writing challenge.
I look up at the sky and see the half-moon shining.
Is he thinking about how many days until he gets to rest?
Until he’s half again? Until he’s back to shining full?
I step outside wearing just a t-shirt and a fleece jacket.
Yet the morning air is colder than expected.
And the car themomoter reads 39 degrees.
Is the morning air wondering how long until her warmer jet stream arrives?
Wondering, once it arrives, how long it will stay?
Wondering how long until it changes to the stifling heat of the next season?
In my classroom, I add to the day’s agenda.
Next to homeroom I write: Catchup Tuesday
Four days until the quarter ends.
Four more days to turn in any missing work.
My 6th graders realize after this week
Just one more quarter.
Then just two more years in middle school.
Or 8 more quarters.
Then just 4 more years of High school.
Then..
It seems the same for the moon, the air around me and those in front of me,
Always counting down.
Writing Stories by Sally 
I love the personification in this poem.. the moon and morning air wonder, and that leads you to think about yours and your students futures. We do that..think about what’s to come. How long until…
Nicely done. I enjoyed reading this today.
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Nice. I love all the connections made in this slice. Your writing has a great rhythm to it that reinforces the feeling of counting down.
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Love the repetition of numbers and the countdown of time. Great slice connecting the moon, the weather, and the seasons of our life.
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Love it all: the moon, the weather, the classroom, and the students. Narrowing from the universe to the students! ❤
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The calendar with stickers looks awesome. We have written on so many days. Unbelievable that March is almost over.
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So I had this same feeling of time marching on too quickly today too. And it was brought on by that same end-of-quarter realization that wow! we only have 10 more weeks of school. Love the calendar and the personification. We’ve had some awesome moons this year and he/she really does seem to have a personality.
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Really appreciate the questions, wonderings. Who or what else might see things the way we do? How might we see things through different eyes? The possibilities to contemplate are all here as you count down.
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I read your post this morning and had to come back this evening to enjoy it again. There is so much of life and cycles and wisdom in how you put this together. I just noticed that even saying the word, “countdown,” causes one to make a moon, a circle, with the mouth. I’m curious, was this a creative burst, or contemplated over days?
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I just have to second all the other commenters- and you know how I love when feelings connect to the natural world :). You write about count-downs, but does the moon count down? I think not. But students and slicers do. What does that say, I wonder?
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