“this color smells like love.”
“if i put this red piece of tape here it might keep all of this stuff from falling off my plate.”
—
“the good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”
-bertrand russell
Jan6
Tag Archives: school
Dec23
“how many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.” ― coco chanel
my class was interested in learning about snow
they knew that it:
comes from up there
falls down to the ground
is cold
tastes like peppermint
and
you can make stuff out of it.
they wanted to learn about snowplows
so we invited our school’s snowplow driver
over for a visit
everyone put on their winter gear
headed outside
where he
showed them his truck
put on the lights
moved the plow up and down
and
pushed the snow around the circle
then
we invited him into our room
to ask him questions
and learn more about him
he told the kids
to call him roger
he was very gentle and kind
he has been here for 28 years
this is his last snowplow winter
he answered every single question
listened to every single comment about snow
they asked him what he does
when he’s not plowing
they were surprised
he lives on 20 acres
has fainting goats, black swans and an aviary of 500 exotic finches
decorates peoples houses for the holidays
is a father and grandfather
and
a horticulturist
who helped to create the children’s garden at our school
he is more than what they saw
when they saw him plowing the snow
now they know him as a person
now they will wave to each other
now they know how he helps our community
now they know how much more there is to his story
when he was finished
and it was time
for him to go back to his work
the children gathered around him and gave him hugs
they know a good person when they meet one.
—
“i hope I didn’t bore you too much with my life story.” – elvis presley
Dec9
cement.
when the pre-k friends meet up with their second grade friends
there is much to celebrate and talk about.
—
“friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
-woodrow t. wilson
Oct31
the rule of three.
happy halloween from paper and her team.
—
‘knife, fork, spoon. rock, paper, scissors.
it’s the rule of three.”
-stephanie meyer
Oct21
good things come.
first time ever
on a school bus
on a field trip
looking at the world
passing by
and
full of wonder.
—
“good things come, and i’m not just referring to riding the buses.”
-lionel blue
Oct17
breakfast of champions.
two of the grandies
at a fun run
went many, many laps
to raise money
for their school
with snack breaks
from their dish of
marathon-friendly foods
donuts, dogs, n’ cheetos
with a
chaser of cider.
what could go wrong?
—
“food should be fun.”
-thomas keller
Sep23
nap.
a scene not unlike my classroom, earlier today.
—
“when the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.”
-tom hodgkinson
—
image credit: googleimages
Sep9
my tribe.
i knew it.
i was sure that i had found my tribe
with the arrival of my pre-kinders.
as a follow up to yesterday’s story
(where i discovered that i was a nelipot),
all it took was one recess
for me to find
a fellow
barefoot member
among us.
—
“each tribe has its characteristics, it is true.”
-john hanning speke
Sep8
n is for nelipot.
today, as i was walking out to meet our parents and children (most of them for the very first time), at our pre-kindergarten orientation, i noticed that one of my sandals suddenly felt very loose. in a twist of perfect universal timing, it was irreparably broken. i experimented with walking in it, but wasn’t able to do so without dramatically dragging my foot along, so i took them both off.
while taking off my sandals i noticed what i thought was a water mark of unknown origin on the side of my shirt, and that i imagined would ‘quickly dry’ but was actually a grease stain of unknown origin, that happened somewhere between my car and my school and which in fact ‘never dried.’
when i lifted my head up from my sandal removal, i noticed that the entire underside of my hair was now dripping wet, and i was breaking out into some sort of a heat rash on the back of my neck, as the temperature had quickly risen into the humid 90ish degree range.
my daughter texted to see how the day was going and when i updated her she replied,”it seems like i’ve had a text like this from you before.” yes, she might very well be right, as we’ve known each other since the moment she was born, and have certainly survived more than one misadventure in our time.
once the families were settled into our room, i presented my part of the orientation barefoot, greasy, sweaty, and rash-y, the parents were chatty and friendly, and the children were excited and happy.
i realized that one of my hopes this year is to show and teach my kinders to see mishaps more as simple misadventures, to take them as they come, while trying to make the best of them. i’m confident they’ll learn this in no time, as children naturally tend to be open, non-judgemental, and willing to let things, go just seeing what happens. and best of all – we have a new vocabulary word:
Sep7
where i want to be.
and this is exactly where you’ll find me.
—
credits: pishposhbaby, googleimages
