FITB Friday

1.  The best day ever was     the first day in my classroom. I saw my dream come true! I was a "real" teacher. So amazing!  .

2.  My favorite meal of the day is     dinner   because   it's the meal I usually spend with others .

3.  This weekend      is the last little blissful bit of Spring Break...  .

4.  Never in my life have I      bought a pair of really expensive jeans. And I don't plan to any time soon    .

5.  The only thing better than      Skyping with my friends   is      actually being WITH my friends in person!  .

6.  I could really do with some      blog ideas  .

7.  The most recent thing I bought myself was    some shoes    .

...One of these day's I'll post again. ♥ 

Blessing #113: Skype

I don't know if I've mentioned this one before, but... I am so blessed to have Skype! It allows me to talk with friends and family who are far away face-to-face. I'm also working on being able to use it at school so that my students and I can Skype as a way to have people come "visit" our classroom! How cool is it that you can sit in your PJ's at the kitchen table and see your BFF on your screen?! I love Skype. 

Definitely Blank

Still drawing a blank on posts... but here's a fill-in-the-blank from Lauren.

1.  When I'm nervous I    fidget a lot.  .

2.  My favorite item in my closet is     my pair of red flats. Love my Dorothy shoes! .

3.       Watching TV while snacking       is my favorite thing to do when I need to relax.

4.  My favorite childhood memory is      every Saturday morning my church did Food Outreach, which consisted of a group of members getting together bags of groceries (which were gathered by the truckload during the week from stores and warehouses) and delivering them to families in need in our city. We would spend a good chunk of the day doing that. I always went with my dad. It still means a lot to me.

5.  Something you may not know about me is     that I love eating cereal for dinner .

6.  A true friend     Tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear; they see your potential when you don't. They ask questions to get you to come to your own best answer. They remember your favorite comfort food and make it available when necessary. They tell you when something doesn't reeeeeeeally look as good on you as on the hanger!

7.  Something I hope people think of when they think of me is     a smile; that I always give them a smile and make them feel like I care. Because I do!

Blessing #112: TGI Pie Day

I am so blessed... at the end of every trimester, when we have a half day for writing report cards, my school also has TGI Pie Day. The principal goes to Marie Callendar's and buys lots of pies. There is a mad rush to the staff room where there is lots of laughter, smiles, some elbowing, and plenty of pie. It's a great tradition. I especially love the Lemon Meringue Pie! 

Driveless

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. 


drive: 
-noun: (24) Psychology. an inner urge that stimulates activity or inhibition; a basic or instinctive need.


...I have none. Especially for posting; though it seems to be seeping into many areas of my life. 


Blessing #111: Hot Chocolate
I am so blessed... that a favor my roommie did for a friend resulted in a tin of Ghiradelli's hot chocolate in our pantry! I love hot chocolate... warm, creamy, smooth, and chocolatey! Yum yum yum. A huge pick up in the middle of a crazy week. 


♥ 

Be Mine

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love
'Til you give it away.

Another Valentine's Day approaches... but first: Fill-In-The-Blank-Friday! 

1. I am hoping my Valentine's day this year includes,   a hug. 

2. My biggest guilty pleasure is   Perez Hilton.

3. I am most proud of   my job everyday: teaching.

4. If I could choose one outfit to live in it would be   a dress and a sweater. Kind of my uniform. 

5. People are   absolutely necessary… To be alone in this world would be a tragedy.

6. I would rather    hike than   sleep in.

7. I love my    students   more than   I would have imagined.

Anyways... Valentine's Day in the life of an elementary school teacher means candy hearts, store-bought valentines, lots of little boxes of chocolates, and an obscene amount of cupcakes and cookies that the kids want to eat before they go home. Oh, Valentine's Day... At least I got to wear my fantastic candy heart antennas! ♥ 

Blessing #110: Happy Hour

I am so blessed... that between 3-7pm on Friday, at any given bar in the city, there is a special on drinks and appetizers. Whoever came up with the idea of happy hour was experiencing a moment of genius! If you've never been to happy hour with a group of teachers, I recommend you try that experience on for size. Sitting around and swapping stories from the week... Friday happy hour is prime teacher story time.

♥ 

All About It

He who knows others is learned;

He who knows himself is wise.

This is what my blog is all about. In case you were wondering... 

[wordle.net]

Pretty interesting to see what a random generator reveals about the consistent topics and ideas present in this blog. Some of the words aren't all that surprising (blessings, students, blessed, love, time, life, day, school... surprise!). I'm glad forms of the word bless made it into the collage of language; that is, after all, what I am trying to focus on. 

Students and school are some more words that popped up a lot. Also thankful for that. Those kiddos are blessings indeed! Today marked the first day of a project I am very excited about: Flat Stanley! We're going to create our Flat Stanleys tomorrow, write our letters on Thursday (after taking them home on Wednesday) and then mail the Stanleys back to California, where one of my best friends teaches 6th grade. Her students will take the Stanleys home, take pictures, and write letters back to my students describing the adventures. I'm excited to open my students' worlds up a little bit with this project, and inject a little more social studies via geography into our day. 

Blessing #109: Acrostic Poems

I am so blessed... last week during writing, I led the students through a study of poetry. Towards the end of the week, I introduced acrostic poems, and the response made me almost cry. A few times. They loved writing acrostic poems! The teary part came when many of them wrote acrostic poems about me. I copied a few and have put them in my teaching journal. They'll be a source of encouragement on those days when I need it. Thank heavens for acrostic poetry!

♥ 

Geaux Saints!

If it's the ultimate game, how come they're playing it again next year?

I'll be honest. Unless a team I care about is in the Super Bowl, I'm only watching it... 

...for the commercials. 

In case you didn't watch all of the commericals: 

Blessing #108: Potlucks

I am so blessed... that the Super Bowl provides the perfect opportunity for a potluck. Yep, potlucks are awesome. I think I load my plate up more at potlucks than at Thanksgiving. So much variety! My favorite tonight had to be the M & M brownies, though... I had a couple. Maybe a few... 

♥ 

Highschool and Rainbows

Weekends are a bit like rainbows; 

they look good from a distance but 

disappear when you get up close to them.

As I write this, I'm watching the movie "17 Again." It's quite hilarious. I'm impressed with how well Zac Efron channels Matthew Perry's mannerisms. Far more amusing is watching him act like a grown-up in highschool. Also, the woman who plays Jan on NBC's The Office is the principal and she's a closet nerd. (A big one, too!)

Funny thing about weekends... there's never enough time to do all the things I want to do and all the things I need to do. But there's nothing like spending the day in your PJ's. 

Blessing #107: Redbox

I am so blessed... that I can rent movies from the box in front of the Walgreens down the street. Yep, I'm very thankful for that big red machine that spits out DVDs on Saturday nights when I want a distraction from work. 

♥ 

TGIF

So, I found a new blog I love, and Lauren does "Fill-in-the-Blank Fridays." Here's my first one... 

1.  If I had two hours to myself today, I'd     go get some Mojo fro-yo and sit outside.

2.  If I could travel anywhere today, I would go to    my parent’s house: my home.

3.      My first year teaching is my happiest memory.

4.  Sometimes you're     the teacher other times you're     the student.

5.  Beauty is     seen through love.

6.  I would be embarrassed if anyone knew    I secretly loooooooove rap music. Like LOVE. Well, I guess you know now...

7.  Love at first sight is    only possible if I’m looking at a giant cinnamon roll from The Good Egg.

Blessing #106: Mental Health Days

I am so blessed... that I finally took a "sick" day! It was my first Mental Health Day of the year, and I enjoyed every moment! Yoga, shopping, and finally seeing Avatar: it was all fantastic! I really needed that day and feel incredibly blessed to be able to do that. 

♥ 

Just Think...

One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings. 


Children are so wise, if we just listen. It amazes me how little of that genuine understanding "grown-ups" keep with them as they move to adulthood. On Friday, the day before the 3 day weekend, I talked with my students about Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and other Civil Rights leaders. To make clear what segregation was like, I had them divided into groups based on skin color. Only six of us sat near my desk, while 21 students looked at us from across the room. While listening to me explain that if we had lived 50 years ago all of those students would be attending a different school, riding a different bus, using a different bathroom and water fountain, one student raised his hand. "But, Ms. L," he said, "How can they do that? We didn't choose to be this color. We were just born this way." His eyes were so sad when he whispered those words, that I knew he really understood how different his life would be if people like MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, and others had not stood up for what is right. So wise.

Blessing #103: Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich
I am so blessed... someone had a genius for a moment and gave life to the idea of smashing ice cream between two hot waffles, pouring chocolate sauce over the top, and adding whipped cream and cherries. I mean, wow! So tasty. Eating it after walking by the ocean makes the sandwich taste even better.

Blessing #104: Road Trip Games
I am so blessed... that I have amazing friends who love silly road trip games! Especially the "I'm going on a trip to ______ and I'm taking with me _____." The other players ask if they can come and suggest things they want to bring with them. The trip "leader" says yes or no, depending on the category they have [secretly] selected. Such fun! And very revealing of how people think; different things/people/places can fit into many categories, so you never really know what someone else is thinking. Love it! I especially love playing it with the other 2/3 of Three's Company.

Blessing #105: White Board Markers
I am so blessed... white board markers make life much easier for a teacher. Less worksheets, more consistent engagement, quick assessment of every student... what's not to love? Well, they do run out a lot, but we're making it work. I'm sticking with them because I don't like lots of worksheets. And the kiddos love 'em.

♥

Creativity

I've been watching a string of TED videos recently on creativity; what it is, how we cultivate it, and -- most importantly -- how we stifle it in our children and ruin it in adults who pursue creativity through the arts.

I haven't finished sorting through enough of it to share all of my thoughts... I chew on ideas for a long time before they are truly formed. The videos are provoking, however, and I hope you'll watch them. They've gotten me thinking, for sure. Particularly about my responsibility as an educator and as a human to value, foster, admire, and protect creativity.

Ken Robinson on schools killing creativity:


Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love), on fostering creativity:


Blessing #102: Daylight Savings
I am so blessed... that today I experienced the joy of Daylight Savings Time. One of the reasons I was excited to move to Arizona was the lack of Daylight Savings Time. Except that today, I loved it! We left for a trip to California early today, and then when we crossed the border, we realized we had gained an hour! An extra hour of a three-day weekend? That's a blessing.

♥