Someday...

Day 30 and The Challenge is ending strong!!

What is on my "someday" list?

Someday I want to travel to Europe with my husband.

Someday I want to be good at playing the guitar.

Someday I want see the Grand Canyon.

Someday I want to have a professional goal.

Do you have a "someday" list? What's on it??

I'm Excited, and I'm Just Gonna Share It

Day 29 in the Big Time Literacy Blogging Challenge.

Today I am reflecting on what I am most excited for in the upcoming school year (instead of my best day).

As I've mentioned before, my district adopted Wonders for ELA instruction. I am excited about it, because:

1. Someone has done the work to make a sequence, find stories that appropriate for that time in the year, and prepared some lessons for me to follow/enhance/make my own.

2. I will have a whole class set of books to do the whole class lesson. Each student will have a book to look at.

3. There will be way more "stuff" to teach than I will have time for. Now, instead of hunting for things to teach, I will spend my time weeding out what I want to keep and what to slide over.

So, I think the Wonders materials is top on my list, but there are a few more things I am excited about.

A. Second year of using Engage NY math lessons. I really liked them last year, and look forward to using it again this year.

B. Another year of teaching/collaborating with the wonderful Mrs. Jones.

C. Professional growth through the "evaluation" process. I must look at this positively.

D. Becoming a "Together Teacher." 

What are you excited about for the upcoming year? I would love to hear and celebrate with you!

That F Word

Day 28 and Big Time Literacy Blogging Challenge is cruising to the end.

The F word.

Fitness.

Yah, sure I should be fit, but who has time for that?

Last April I started making time. At 4:45 am.

Jillian Michaels and I had about 30 minutes together. That continued until the end of June.

Now Leslie Sansone and I are walking together. It's been nice. 

I walk with Leslie and watch something DVRed or on Netflix at the same time. It just gets boring to only walk.

I really do hope to continue some early morning exercise when school starts, and maybe next April I will add eating better to my F word plan.

A Child Grows Up

Day 24 and the Big Time Literacy Challenge

Last night I looked out the window and saw my man-child 

walking away from our house. 

He was with a friend that he met this summer

during school-related fun runs.

He looked so confident.

In August he will enter high school as a freshman. It helps me to know that he has

already made friends with kids that are not in his grade. 

This is the boy who used to be shy (and can still be), but now he knows how

to interact appropriately with people of all ages without my assistance.

My heart swells.

Is this was parenting an older child is??

     --Wondering at where the time has gone.

     --Marveling at the person he is becoming.

     --Feeling joy that I have the opportunity to know this person.

Even as much as he is growing up, I still love

watching him play with his brother and dad. That keeps us both young.

My Career

Day 23 of the Big Time Literacy Challenge.

What is my favorite thing about my career?

Who can choose just one? Going with my top ten.

10. Summer vacation

9. Christmas vacation

8. Spring Break

7. Hugs from my first graders (present and past)

6. Creating reading comprehension units

5. Using colorful pens

4. A fancy planner

3. Friends (near and far) that share ideas, and their creations

2. Cards and letters written to me by my students

1. The first and last days of the school year

I love the first day of school for all the hopes and dreams and plans that I have. The promise of new things learned.

I love the last day of school for the memories and reflections and all things learned. 

What is your favorite thing about your career?

My College Years

Day 22. Big Time Blogging Challenge. 

Share a story from my college years.

Well, let's see if I can remember a story from that long ago. It has been 20 years!! Where did that time go? Wedding. Two children. Four jobs for me. One job for my husband. Two houses.

Back to a story...

A funny story--I was an RA my sophomore year.  One activity that we had was a sleep over at our mod parent's house. We got bored with the movie, so we went back to the dorm, grabbed some toilet paper and TPed the boys dorm. I was the leader. I led my girls down this path. I felt very guilty about it. Now I feel better because I have confessed.

A scary story--as a junior I needed to drive 30 miles to another town to take some classes. My car was a bit old (and this was before car phones) and stranded me twice on the Interstate. Since I HAD to get to class, I accepted a ride from strangers on both occasions. They dropped me off at my class and I got a ride back with another person from my town. I do not recommend accepting a ride from strangers.

A sentimental story--I student taught in a first grade class. I loved those kids and pretended that I was the only teacher. On the last day, they made me a wonderful book (a shared reading and writing lesson with a BIG purpose). I cried a lot.

I may not remember all the details, but I do remember how I felt: guilty, scared and loved. 

Celebrations in My Room

Day Nineteen and the Big Time Blogging Challenge. 

What holiday do I enjoy most celebrating with my students?

These past three years have been challenging, rewarding and full of celebrations. Each year the celebrations were different. Only one was consistent.

Birthdays!

I love celebrating birthdays! My birthday, the people in my family, my friends, my students.

Growing old is not a right. It is a privilege that not everyone gets and needs to be celebrated.

And at least once a year I want to feel like the sun really does revolve around me (and maybe some other grown ups and kids do also), so having a birthday celebration is a MUST.

Here's what we did last year (it has evolved a bit):

**We all joined at the front of the class, with the birthday child sitting in the middle on a chair.

**In our best singing voices we sing a sweet birthday song called On the Day You Were Born by Red Grammer, from the album Hello World! The song seriously brings tears to my eyes.

**The kids head to their seats and work on birthday cards. I use this fun printable from Christina Bainbridge. Birthday Book While they work I play the whole Hello World! album. They love singing along and they sound so lovely! 

**The birthday child passes out the treats.

**After every one has been served, the birthday kid has the first bite, and then we can all enjoy the treat.

**When all the birthday cards are written and colored, I put them into a keepsake book for the birthday child to take home. (A really fun cover comes with the PDF from Mrs. Bainbridge.)

That's it! A fun 1/2 hour. Now, I'm off to read what other celebrations my friends have written about.