Happy New Year!
Highest hopes for “Whirled Peas” in 2008, and wishing you happiness, health, and good humor.
(Necklace by Rachel Sudlow)
Year-End Blog Review
Looking back at the old while looking forward to the new- it’s my year-end blog review! For those of you who would like to try this one, just find the first blog entry from each month of the past year, cut and paste the first sentence or title next to each months’ name, then read and contemplate.
January: “Perhaps only other teachers will understand this.”
February:
March: “Apologies in advance, I’m still recovering from our latest round of Parent Teacher Conferences and all of the germs that have taken an extended tour in my classroom this month.”
April:
May:
June: “There are little eyes upon you and they’re watching you everyday…”
July:
August: “I’ve moved, unpacked, settled, and explored, and after once again having the time and inclination to visit the blogs and websites of teachers I admire, I feel myself getting back into the teaching mode.”
September: “My mother used to tell me ‘you can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.’”
October: “With a toddler running loose, time is of course, limited.”
November: “It’s November now, requiring some home decor swift-o change-o!”
December: “We decided to add bugs, ballerinas, and bulbs…”
Thoughts? It was a very busy year with my husband deployed, requiring I do the single-parent-thing as I worked full-time. I have certainly appreciated the time off since August, which is when my blogging really started to pick up. Writing almost every day has become part of my professional development as a teacher, has been my outlet for sharing what I’ve discovered elsewhere with others, and yes, has been therapeutic.
One resolution for 2008? Learn some more self-editing techniques!
By the way, I’ve posted again at In Practice, this time sharing authorship with Alice Mercer. Happy Reading!
Ten Tips
… that might help if you’re a newbie kindergarten teacher. Well, *any* grade teacher I suppose, but these have worked out specifically for me during the past decade-plus, so I’ll keep this advice in the early childhood education realm for now.
* Gaining experience is a gradual process, so it will take some time to develop your own consistent voice. As you develop it, don’t forget to hear and listen to others’. Their ideas and interpretations can help you find ways to enjoy your job or rethink a problem to find a solution.
* You don’t know it all, so ASK questions.
* Pendulums swing far and wide in the world of public education, never really coming to rest in the middle. It’s up to you to find the best middle ground, get a good foothold, and remain flexible (sign up for a Pilates or yoga class now…a climbing class wouldn’t hurt either).
* Learn something new and add it to your repertoire if it will benefit your students, but avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
* Understand that dictating, bribing, and threatening are NOT the same as teaching, guiding, and facilitating.
* You are partners in education with parents of students and colleagues, even if THEY don’t think so. Behave accordingly.
* You’re going to meet a lot of diverse, colorful, entertaining, strange, even dangerous people. Understand that if evil can manifest itself in any shape or form, so can good.
* Your students should enjoy school and learning because of you, not in spite of you.
* Learn discretion and exercise it. There will be MANY moments with colleagues, administrators, parents and students that will work out for the best if you think it, don’t say it.
* Finally (and this is the ultimate in “inside-scoopness”), don’t do cut-and-paste activities the day before Picture Day. Really.
{The number poster can be found here}
Happy New Year!
Teacher Tendencies
My own teacher tendencies have been on sabbatical while we spend this year in the Bordertown, but I still feel that familiar *tug* when I stumble across the following:
Bulletin board trimmers:
(all available at BK’s Schoolhouse)
Classroom organizers:
(available at Calloway House)
and school-themed quilts:
(Dori Hawks at the Quilter Community)
(Ginger’s Needlework and Quilting)
(at The Quilting Cupboard)
Only-five-more-months, only-five-more-months, only-five-more-months…
Happiness
After Christmas, happiness is…
playtime with the family,
leftovers, heated through *just right,*
pink and brown Nestle Qwik mixed together,
catching up with old friends via phone, laughing over the absurdities of military life,
first dancing to Hootie and the Blowfish paying tribute to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys at the 2007 Kennedy Honors:
and then crying my eyes out over the beautiful tribute (with beachballs) by the all boys’ choir, “Libera”
It’s been a wonderful holiday!
*That* Moment
“Merry Christmas to All, and to All a good night.”
I’m Dreaming of a Brown Christmas…
…because here in the Bordertown, we get wind, wind, and more wind, which stirs up the desert earth, blowing grit and tumbleweeds (no, the weeds weren’t rolling along the ground, they were flying through the air!):
These collected in one corner of our backyard but were certainly not the biggest we found when the wind stopped:
These young ladies (former ASU students) figured out a creative holiday solution:
And apparently a can (or several) of spray-flocking can whiten and brighten:
Look at what the City of Chandler, Arizona creates with tumbleweeds!
Cake Creation Crew
What did I tell you?
(Oh, the frosting ended up being chocolate!)
No Candles, Just Cake
None of these come close to my daughter’s first attempt at baking a cake (chocolate with vanilla frosting) for me today, but they’d work in a pinch should I ever decide to celebrate my birthday with the following themes:
The “Less is More” Birthday
(gorgeous meringue-topped cupcakes by Chokylit’s Cupcake Bakeshop)
The “No, I Really Don’t Mind the Fact that My Birthday is SO CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS” Birthday
(holiday cake by Margaret’s French Bakery)
The “This-is-SOOOOOO-Me” Birthday
(gorgeous red, white and black cake by Pink Cake Box)
and finally…
The “This Sucker’s Gonna be Around Long After I’m Gone” Birthday
(cockroach cake found here)
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…
Seven More Random Things About Moi
Ms. Whatsit tagged me for the “Seven Random Things about Me” meme that has been floating around for a bit, and though I had already been tagged previously, I’ve been in a very reflective mood lately as I wrap up what has been an intense and busy year. Consequently, I’ve discovered (or re-discovered) additional quirks about myself that for some strange reason, I don’t mind sharing.
1) I’ve always wanted to write a childrens’ book. Something simple, yet illustrated beautifully. Something kindergartners would want to look at again and again, and enjoy reading on their own. Too bad I’m not much of an artist, so who to ask to illustrate….Tomie dePaola? Jan Brett? Linnea Asplind Riley?
2) I’m a binder-queen. Instead of hauling around piles and piles of magazines (or teacher resources/articles), I cut out recipes, design ideas, crochet patterns, teacher tricks, book recommendations, etc. and put them all into binders. Moving so often (with a household item weight limit) requires that I always think, sort, be selective, and lighten the load by donating or yard saling, several times per year. My classroom binders are sorted by month as are my see-through plastic storage bins (on wheels, stackable). Book and magazine purists really don’t like me.
3) I love twinkle lights and candles, Sharpie fine point markers and sassy paper products. Not very “green” of me, is it? 
4) Though I am a military wife, I go out of my way to NOT wear my husband’s rank. While I don’t mind being called “Ma’am” by my childrens’ friends or by the high-school grocery bagger at the store, I would rather be called by my first name when spending time with the spouses of soldiers who work with (or for) my husband. No, I don’t do “teas” either.
5) I’m not a dog person. Don’t think I ever will be. The rest of my extended family makes up for it though, so don’t hate me.
6) I’m learning to live in the moment instead of always being in “preparation” mode. Preparing for the move, preparing for my husband’s deployment(s), preparing for the new job, preparing for whatever surprise lurks around the next corner. I’m finding it’s a very difficult transition for me to make, but worth it because I’m tired of feeling like I’m missing out on enjoying the little things: my toddler giggling after he and I both sneeze at the same time, my teen daughter wanting to get a mani/pedi with ME instead of with her friends, my husband done with work, done with other outside obligations, and ready for a movie night.
7) I never imagined how pleased I would be when my first group of kindergarten students started college (this year), or that I would still be in touch with some of their families. It gives me chills, because *I was their first* teacher in public school, and some of them still mention that they loved it when I would read Where the Wild Things Are. 
I’ll need another cup of coffee for the next step, tagging seven more bloggers, but I’ll post this for now so I can get to baking some coffee cake for breakfast! Happy Saturday to you!
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