Teacher of the Year 2011-2012

No kidding. Thankyouverymuch.

Spring Break, Part 2

Love, love, love the quiet little break that doesn't require packing and much movement at all. The beach will be there in 7 weeks, so I am not interested in fighting the teenagers who are cramming into every nook and cranny along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The morons who plan our calendar decided last year that we should come back from Spring Break and take the Big State Test. You read that right - we go back next Monday and start testing Tuesday. I can't explain it, I just have to deal with it. I start knitting class tonight. So excited!! My sister is a great knitter and can knock out lovely baby sweaters - I am hoping to get going really well and then knit a pair of socks. That's my goal. I've made a hat for myself in the past, but socks? Well, they just look hard. And what great Christmas presents! ( And yes, I am thinking about Christmas presents because the morons who plan our calendar have decided that we will be in school until the afternoon of December 23rd. And I have promised to take grades every day that week - if I have to be there, you'd better be there, too. And, no, thankyouverymuch, you aren't going to be able to make them up.) Farmer's Market Saturday was extraordinary! Green beans, beets, squash! Even a few Florida tomatoes. Dinner tonight will be a delish chicken pot pie made by the local pie maker along with some tasty veggies on the side. The Plains were beautiful this weekend. Saw Prep and had a great day with her. We're going to see her two more times - A Day and Easter - and then she'll be home for good on Mother's Day weekend. One more change to get used to!

Spring Break, Part I

BrownBear's school has an early Spring Break and, true to my word, I packed her and her little friend up in the Envoy and raced them to the beach! It's a little chilly here today, but tomorrow, when we head to DISNEY WORLD (best mother in the world!!), it's going to be 80 degrees and sunny!!!!!!!! And, Thursday will be my birthday!! What a wonderful week - but the hardest part was preparing to be away - I left plans that must have resembled Eisenhower's before the D-Day invasion.

And Spring Break, part 2? First full week of April.

Can't wait.

Winter Break

Sorry for the hiatus. Had Christmas and a blizzard that shut down the city. (Glorious - got more laundry done than I have ever done in my entire life.)

In the midst of watching the infighting with a new school board - over the school calendar. Can't wait to see these morons when they have to choose a new superintendent and work out the budget without riffing teachers - and as conservative as I am - go Wisconsin school teachers!!

My class this year is a prize. They are fantastic - only a few offenders - nothing like the crazy that was last year.

I'll be back soon with more.

Christmas Krazy

As I sit here contemplating the next TEN school days, I realize I haven't told you latest from Krazy Mom.

Our school counselors do a great job identifying families in our school who need assistance at Christmas. They put up an Angel Tree with requests from the families - you can take a die cut angel and get a present (I picked one for a little boy who wants a book for Christmas. A.Book. Broke my heart and made me realize how much we have, how little we need and what we take for granted.) for someone in the family. The counselors have also put requests up for gift cards from Target, Wal-Mart and Publix. They give each family a certain number of these gift cards so they can buy whatever else they need or want.

I forwarded the counselors' email to all the families in my classroom and about ten minutes later, Krazy Mom dropped me a few lines and copied the counselors.

Basically, Krazy said that we shouldn't be giving gift cards to these families because they can sell them and use the money for drugs and alcohol.

And, are you ready? She said we needed to make certain that all of the recipients of these things were not illegal aliens.

If she'd looked around, she might have noticed that our school population doesn't really tend to run in that direction.

For once, I am totally speechless. What you hear is my mouth, totally open, flapping in the wind.

Thank Goodness for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Vacay started Friday afternoon at 2:21. Big party Friday night; HP Sunday matinee.

Girls home.

Reindeer at the Home Depot.

Temps in the mid 70s.

Love it.

Another Episode in the Life

My class is reading The Sign of the Beaver. One of my favorite books because it just reminds me of Thanksgiving - set in Maine territory in 1768, it details the friendship between a 12 year old Massachusetts boy left to keep watch on his family's land and cabin and a Native American of the same age. And trust me, I am all about Thanksgiving this time of year. Don't mention Christmas until we have put away the Thanksgiving meal. Just too many things we can teach if we don't rush head long into Christmas. (I digress, but this is another one of my soapboxes. Let me get started on the school calendar.)

Yesterday, after we had practiced summarizing, one of my Indian students asked a question. "The Indian in this story - is he a real Indian or a red Indian?"

An episode like this makes me miss having another adult to share times like this with.

"A Native American, my friend. A Native American."