Today, I saw a PBS Newshour article online asking the readership who inspired them to teach. I did not have to give this much thought at all. It was my mom! My mom inspired me to teach! She taught third grade at one of our local elementary schools while I was growing up. I remember…
via Daily Prompt: Pink I have an affinity for the color pink. Pink petunias are a regular addition to my container gardens and plots at this time of year. Pale pink lipstick is my favorite shade to wear. Pink outfits for baby girls but not teens is a trend. Pink is a color with a…
It used to be that my role as a nurse was celebrated on May 6th, commonly known at National Nurse’s Day. The exact date of this professional celebration had escaped me recently. I knew it was the first week in May. I haven’t practiced as a nurse for almost twenty years, but I do remember…
Slice of Life Tuesday crept up on me this week. Notably, we’ve had the college graduation of our oldest son and the death of one of our dear cats, Clark. Additionally, I’ve seen many posts about summer learning, and even written an educationally themed post mid-week on Positive Behavior Intervention & Supports (PBIS). Our fruit…
One of our cats is dying. We have two, Lewis and Clark. They were barn kittens when we got them thirteen years ago from a farm in a town south of us, known for cheese and rolling hills. We named the cats for the American explorers, Lewis and Clark, as we got them during the summer…
PBIS. One of the fairly new buzzwords in education. It stands for Positive Behavioral Intervention & Supports. Our schools have been practicing this method of behavioral management for several years now. During the same time, I worked as a very occasional substitute teacher at the elementary level, as well as voluntarily led students groups. I…
Today, my garden club for third, forth, and fifth graders will meet after school. We have two meetings in the month of May, instead of our usual single monthly meeting. On this first meeting, we typically weed the garden, turn over the soil to aerate it and loosen it up. If you read my post…
For the last 18 years, we’ve had a home fruit orchard. I can’t call it a backyard orchard as it was at our first home in the mid-west, as our 30 trees are in our front yard at our current house. It’s been so long that we’ve had fruit-growing in our yard, I really almost…
This morning I got some great news! Thirteen students who attend enrichment opportunities I offer at one of local elementary schools will have their Haiku poetry published in the Young American Poetry Digest for this year! Wow! Thirteen students! I have helped students to submit their poetry to this compilation for the last six years,…
Yesterday. Friday was Arbor Day. Friday, April 28th, yesterday, was Environmental Day at our school. Approximately 24 hours ago, 375 students visited with me in K-5 grade level groups for 35 minutes per grade level, at our local Elementary School, Evergreen Elementary, to hear me talk about the importance of Forests. Yes. I talked about…