Tag Archives: school

Aug28

are you a parking ticket because you’ve got fine written all over you? – author unknown

Posted on by
Standard

ann arbor.com

every time

i see a parking meter

i think back

to my days

in grad school

it was a frenzied time

driving

everywhere

running

to classes

day and night

not sleeping much

running

to substitute teach

running

to student teach

running

to cater

running

to family events

running

to drive my daughter

back to college

ironically

we were university rivals

running

to interviews

and all that jazz

and

no money

and

no time

and so

parking

was not

on the radar

i was

always looking for a spot

close to class

in a hurry

playing the odds

parking

with construction crews

or

at almost expired meters

or

halfway in and halfway out

of legal street spots

and

tickets were piling up

until

one day

i came out

in between classes

and

my car was gone

  i called the police

they said they had it

but

 i had to

pay off all of my tickets

plus the new one

they had given me

before they towed it

to get it back

they had reached

their tipping point

i walked to the station

and got in line

neatorama.com

with about 200 thousand or so

other students

paying off tickets

i waited patiently

i planned

when it was my turn

to tell them

that

i was a single mother

 working 2 jobs

 going to school

trying to balance everything

with no money

and

that i was doing all this

to follow my dream

and i hoped

they would grant me

compassionate dreamer’s amnesty

and call it even

but instead

they said

we’ll need 450$

cash or certified check

which seemed like a fortune

and so

 i called my daughters

to come to the station

and

pick me up

and

take me

to ransom

my car back

and

this meant

ramen noodles

would be back too

and

my amnesty bubble was popped

but my dream was still intact

wsj.com

===

i was complimented on my driving today.

someone left a note on my windshield that said, ‘parking fine’

– author unknown

 

–

image credits: annarbor.com, neatorama.com, wsj.com

May30

I do not seek. I find. – Pablo Picasso


Posted on by
Standard

Image

and so we went to find art.

Image

and after we ran so far,

and climbed so many stairs,

we could see the sky.

and there we found

a beautiful stone lion waiting for us.

we must have climbed to the top of the world.

Image

and we were in the clouds.

Image

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.  ~Twyla Tharp

May7

“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child, as it is to the caterpillar”. – Bradley Miller

Posted on by
Standard

Image

what a great day at the farm, where we met farmer chris, who taught us many things.

we learned that eggs come in all colors, and shapes, and sizes.

Image

we learned that the littlest of baby goats will follow us, just to be part of a group.

Image

we learned that even a strong-looking pony, needs to be gently cared for.

Image

we learned that it was nice to have someone waiting there to greet us when we returned back to the barn.

Image

and when the farmer on a tractor gave us a bumpy ride on a wagon,

we learned the world is even bigger than we thought,

and filled with many more wonders ahead,

 yet to discover.

—

“Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment,

and communicate their discoveries to those around them.”

The Audubon Nature Preschool

 

 

 

Apr25

animal, mineral, or vegetable?

Posted on by
Standard

part of my life as a full-day kindergarten teacher is having lunch with the kids 3 days a week. it’s especially fun because the pre-kindergartneners also share our table, and while we might not get much time to eat, it never fails to be exciting and i am endlessly fascinated by their take on the food.

Image

 

here are some chickeny stripnuggetstick things

Image

here are some fishy stripnuggetstick things 

Image

they are never quite sure what to ask for, or what we’re having, when wanting more.

every year, someone declares themselves to suddenly be a ‘bege-tarian’,

because they like animals.

and they stop eating any meat,

but somehow they don’t identify our nuggetstickstrip items as meat,

and i understand completely.

Image

and i loved the day when one of them asked for syrup to go on their foodstripnuggety item.

why do you want syrup, i asked?

aren’t these french toast strips?, they answered.

i’m not really sure, but let’s go with that.

—

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

 Mark Twain

 

 

 

Mar31

it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. – Frederick Douglass

Posted on by
Standard

it was building day in kindergarten and all kinds of things were being built.

both those one could easily see and proudly carry home, and those one could carry inside forever.

Image

Image

Image

Image

I personally believe we were put here to build and not to destroy.
Red Skelton

——
image credits: j. kurtz

 

 

Feb5

* ‘when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.’

Posted on by
Standard

Image 

s, age 4, has taught himself to read. here, he has a teaching moment, when he reads a challenging non-fiction book, about the amazing story of two unlikely animals who became the best of friends. the animals were drawn together, through circumstance and fate, and each found what they needed in the other, becoming somehow better, and changed forever, by being together. as s reads aloud to his classmates, they begin to understand this, and learn that all things are possible.

“Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together.”- Scott Hayden

—–

* title quote credit: a saying, alternately attributed to Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni and the Theosophists.

Jan18

blading, gliding – slipping, sliding

Posted on by
Standard

Image 

it was a morning spent with the kindergarten on an ice skating adventure. filled with tip-toeing on skates, scooting on boots, giving rides on cones, running on ice, holding hands, tumbling, crashing, laughing, noses running. 

Image

 

and all this, as our little hockey playing and figure skating kinders skate on by.

Image

 

when it’s time to warm up with hot cocoa and donuts, they find themselves on equal ground, and they are all exhausted and so happy. and then, even our hockey players cry when it is time for moms and dads to leave, and for us to return to the cozy comfort of the circle rug in our classroom once more. and some of us feel newly discovered muscles in their legs the next day, that are apparently never used in this way, and take it real slow when going down the stairs. 

I would say my sense of adventure outweighs my grace – Kathy Ireland

——–

image credits: freshcardsgifts.co.uk,  partylistyles.com 

 

Jan13

‘Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?’ – Matt Groening

Posted on by
Standard

 Image

image credit: wwll vintage gas ration ad

i love my carpool.  there are only two of us, but any more than one living thing in a car at the same time, and i consider it a pool. on most days, we drive together to and from school, in our cars with character –  mine is ‘diablo rojo,’ and m’s is ‘sharfonda.’ driving together has many benefits: not only do we save money on gas, and help preserve a smidgen of the world’s energy supply, but the company is wonderful.

we are very much alike, and talk about everything. and make up poetry and tell stories and laugh and go off on tangents and share philosophies and cry and sing. and get lost occasionally, as neither of us has an innate sense of direction. we compare our students, ‘m’ teaches english and poetry at our high school and i, on the opposite end of the spectrum, teach kindergarten in our lower school. even so, we find that many of our student and family and teaching issues are very similar, and we listen and support each other and offer advice. our drive usually takes us about 45 minutes, if all is well along the way, and we don’t end up in some place we hadn’t planned on.  

Image

but – on some days, things happen. life may be challenging, we are worrying about someone or something, there are issues on the road, there is a tornado watch, a blizzard, a rain squall, or construction events, or we feel like we are driving through a video game, and we have had it, and need some extra support.

we discovered our cure one day, when it had been a particularly challenging drive.  and m suddenly yelled out, ‘quick, turn in! it’s a tim horton’s and we need to go there now!’ i was behind the wheel, and diablo rojo did as requested. as we entered the drive-through we decided that we needed (and deserved), a few ‘tim-bits’ (delicious tiny donut holes), to help us make it the rest of the way and to instantly give us a pick me up.  we quickly scanned the menu options:

Timbits:

10 pack –  1.50    

20 pack –  2.50

40 pack –  4.75

we decided it was a 40 timbits kind of day.

 and we were soon on our way, making up timbit haiku and laughing once again. 

Image

image credit: http://www.newswire.ca

Chef Andrea Nicholson, of Top Chef Canada, with the Tim Hortons Timbits cake she created.

Nearly four feet tall, the cake contains more than 1,500 Timbits.  

for chef andrea, it was a 1,500 timbits kind of day, must have been a tough one.

— 

But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

 

 

 

Jan11

the kids who went up a slight grade and came down a mountain

Posted on by
Standard

 finally all back together in school this week, and the kindergarten made the most out of enjoying what mother nature had left behind for us to play with. we headed out to go sledding on a ‘hill’ that could best be described as no more than a 23-degree angle, though to see their eyes upon approaching it, it appeared to be their first encounter with the swiss alps. even so, it was a challenge to get to the top, as the snow was quite deep and their legs were quite tiny. but motivated they are, and they hiked up to the summit, over and over, jumped on sleds, headed down, and marched back up. 

all except for one little guy. he stayed on the sidelines, even when invited up, and instead rolled around and ran around and laid in and laughed and ate all the snow he could handle. when it was time to leave and stomp back in, he began crying and yelling out, ‘you didn’t let me go sledding!!!!!’ his outburst was met with great understanding by my class who simultaneously burst out laughing. it was at this point perhaps, that he realized he had made his own choices, and this was not a great argument. the sobbing stopped. 

Image

There’s no fear when you’re having fun – Will Thomas

when everyone made it back inside, they warmed up, had a snack, went to music class, made puzzles, read books, ate lunch and suited up for another trip outside, this time to the playground. once out there, they saw that their familiar playground had been turned into a winter wonderland. there was fresh, fluffy, deep, white, sparkling snow everywhere, totally untouched by any other kids! 

they jumped in it, rolled in it, made snow balls and snowmen and snow castles, played with ice chunks, went down the slides covered with snow, filled buckets with snow, made snow angels, snapped icicles off of their playhouse, climbed things, tried to run in the snow, and loved every minute of it. after a long time spent playing on our ‘winter beach’ we headed back inside once again. after taking off all of our layers and hanging them to dry, everyone was absolutely exhausted. it was nap time. and we had earned it. 

Image

image credit:  mnh.si.edu

Image

When you’re really having fun, you’re always doing it a little bit in a way that you’re not supposed to.

That’s when great things happen.

Annet Mahendru

 

 

 

 

Jan9

I get up in the morning looking for an adventure. – George Foreman

Posted on by
Standard

Image

image credit: metro.co.com 

 today, they are back. we are all to be reunited at school once more. we have survived the holiday vortex, the polar vortex. 

i feel sure we will create our own vortex in no time. i smell adventure in the air. 

Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty – Jacob Bronowski