Don't Miss This

Today is Put A Pillow on the Refrigerator Day.   No kidding.  It's supposed to bring good luck and prosperity.  So what are you waiting for????

No Good Deed

I recently read a book about a man who did good things for others just out of the goodness of his heart.  He was well known and loved in his small town where almost everyone knew him or of him.
So, I thought I'd do some good deeds today.  I don't get to see that many people so I kept my eyes peeled for anyone who might need help.
Well, at the grocery store, the clerk was having a bad time getting things in my cooler bag because the lid kept falling on her.  I said I'd help her and she said no, that's ok but it fell again so I held it and she said in a really mean voice I said I could do it. Oh, ok..........so much for that good deed.
Then I went to the garden center.  I took a long time picking out flowers and just as I got to the register another woman came up too.  The cashier was helping someone else and when he was done, I said to the woman, you can go first.   You look like you just have a question.(because she didn't have any flowers) and she says, NO! YOU were first.  Oh, ok.............
So there you have it.  My good deeds for the day.  They fell flat and luckily I won't see anyone else today except my family.  I do good deeds for them all the time and that will have to do.  I'm done with strangers for today.

While I was Gone

I haven't posted for quite some time.  I guess I just ran out of energy for a while there.  Maintaining two blogs isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

I have learned some things while I was gone.  The first thing is don't ever waterboard yourself in the shower.  I kinda did and it was most unpleasant.  I really hope that when the government said we didn't do it they were telling the truth because I wouldn't want it to happen to anyone.  That being said, one should never ever waterboard one's self.  Trust me.

I also got hooked on those online quizzes that come up on your Facebook news feed.  Now those are a lot of fun and I learned something very important.  I am my own best friend.  No kidding.  I took a test to find out what Disney princess I was and it turned out I was Aurora.(Sleeping Beauty)
Then I took a test on which Disney princess should be my best friend and it turned out to be Aurora.  Hey, that's me.  Hence, I am my own best friend.

Here I am remembering that I am my own best friend and here I am overjoyed at the news.

Sunday, May 11

Happy Mother's Day

Today I was off on an adventure of my own as WP ans Sis were both unavailable.  I decided to go and try on bathing suits. Yikes!
It turned out to be the best experience ever.  It had nothing to do with the bathing suits but everything to do with the little girl and her mom in the next dressing room.  Here's what I overheard:

LG(little girl, around 21/2 years old maybe 3):  I have to go.
LG again: I have to poop.
Mom: You are supposed to tell me when you need to use it.
LG: My daddy said
Mom:    I don't care what daddy said you are supposed to tell me when you need to use it.
LG: tomorrow?
Mom:    Not tomorrow, today
LG:   Monday?
Mom:    No, not Monday. today.
LG:  My daddy said
Mom:   I don't care what daddy said.  you are supposed to tell me when you need to use it.
LG:  starts singing
Mom:   did you go over in that corner and use it?
LG: still singing

I had to leave because I was practically peeing my pants it was so funny.  I ran into them later( I knew them because I recognized LG's shoes)  and told the mom how cute and funny her little girl was.  LG was wearing a straw hat that was for a grown woman and she couldn't see a thing.  Her mom warned her not to bump into me.  She lifted the hat, looked at me, put the hat back on and went on her merry way.
I said to the Mom, "on Monday" and we both cracked up. Oh,the joys of being a mom!

Teacher Appreciation Week again

Little kids learn by doing and playing is what they do best.  So it is obvious to me what kids should be doing....playing.  When you play, you learn.  Not only do you learn the lesson that is hidden in the fun but you also learn how to play with others.
One of the stations that was always open in my Kindergarten was Legos.  Now no student could play there every day because there were many stations open that included math and reading skills that had to be covered.  Legos was the place that kids learned teamwork and found out how to appreciate different skills from their own.  Every kid had a strength and working together helped others recognize it.
Older kids deserve to have fun.  I know it is more serious business once you get to first grade.( I know this because my son told me so when he was in first grade) but kids can still have fun and learn at the same time.
I tutored in a fourth grade after I retired in order to get kids ready for what was then called the Fourth Grade Proficiency Test.  We had fun.  I read to them once a week.  They practiced finding the main characters and anticipating what would happen next in a story.  I fed them candy and had them do word searches.  You see, while we were having fun, the students were building confidence and picking up skills they may have missed in class or didn't appreciate were for life, like sounding out words which fourth graders thought was a first grade thing so they shouldn't do it.  What a world opened up for them when they figured out they still could do it and it was okay.  Their reading skills soared.
They all passed every year I was there.
Why don't we let kids learn like kids?  I just  will never understand  why tests have been chosen over children.

Teacher Appreciation Thursday

Sock it to 'em

How is it that Socrates who lived about a gazillion years ago knows more than we do now?
Thinking is the most important thing we do.  Kids deserve to think for themselves too. With all the emphasis on testing, how much do kids really get to think?
Imagination is an important part of a child's development.  I recently visited a first grade class where the kids were told to just use their imaginations.  They were stunned.  At first, they just gawked but then the ideas started flowing and those kids wrote some great sentences about where they would time travel.
Your imagination helps you create.  It takes you places you may not be able to go. It builds pictures in your mind.  What kind of society will it be if no one uses their imagination?
That scares me.  Think about it.

Teacher Appreciation Wednesday

Teacher Appreciation

Apparently, I was a teacher in the golden years of teaching.  I feel so blessed that I was there then and not now.  Suddenly, the test seems to be the thing.  Kids get tested regularly no matter how old they are.
When I taught school, the kids were the thing.  I spent time getting to know children and focusing on their needs and learning styles.
I worked hard to present concepts that my students would need not only in the classroom but in life.  That included socialization and teamwork and responsibility.  I think it's sad that a first grader in Ohio is expected to know where to put a comma in a dictated sentence they are writing rather than know how to get along with the kid in the next desk.
I worked in Kindergarten for many years.  Sometimes I was the first person to say NO and mean it.  Sometimes I was the first adult that a kid could trust to be there.  Sometimes I was the person who fed them.  I got to introduce my students to good literature and wonderful songs.  We laughed and did silly things.  We worked in teams and played in centers and guess what, THEY LEARNED.
It probably looked like chaos to some but it was organized chaos where children chose activities from the ones I presented and then went to it.  At the time we called it taking ownership of the learning.
You know who has the ownership of the learning now?  It's not teachers, it's sure not the kids, it is state government. The only way the state knows how to evaluate children is to give a test and another test and another test.  Teachers are bogged down in paperwork and children are presented material that they are developmentally not ready for.
Everyone says that education is in a terrible place.  Kids graduate from school unable to read. Well, I think I have the answer to that and it isn't a test.  Let kids be kids when they are little.  Stop forcing them to be little adults before their time.  Let kids from Kindergarten to third grade have fun.  Let them learn at their own pace. If we build a strong base of knowledge, the students will be able to thrive.
Now in Ohio, if you can't read at the 3rd grade level by the end of third grade, there you stay until you do.  That seems so wrong to me.  Why not extend the time kids spend in K-2?  Let them grow.  They'll learn I promise.
So, thanks teachers.  I feel your pain and I am so proud to know that you never give up on your students or yourselves.  Keep up the good work and keep praying for the golden years to come back.