Eric Jensen

Dear Mr. Jensen,
I cannot put your book down. Clearly you've been to my school, listened to folks on my campus and crawled into my head, then wrote exactly what I needed to hear. I just want to gobble up this text in giant spoonfuls. It is changing my perspective - and I love that.
Thank you for writing this book for me and my students!
Natalie

'Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It' by Eric Jensen

Serious need of help...

Two fings (my former teammates know, that means "two things"):
1. Who knows about Promethian Boards? I've been a SmartBoard gal for the last 3 years and now I'm in charge of trying out the Promethian software. Thoughts on that?
2. My better half is driving me to Barnes and Noble as I type, to pick up Eric Jensen's 'Teaching with Poverty in Mind'. I am hard up for some help with my little ones. I can see the way they approach issues, process ideas and voice their thoughts are different than other language learners, others I've worked with that were not in poverty. Lord let me read swiftly and understand deeply!

Guess who?

Guess who arrived in my mailbox today? Flat Stanley from a former student!
How great is that?! I am so excited! I can't wait to take Flat Stanley to my school, have him meet my students, take him to the beach, maybe snag a photo with the local flora and fauna. What a treat for me! It might even help me take my mind off the ridiculous amount of assessments I have to do this month.
Want to hear something crazy? My district does all their December assessments in November because we have to be able to mail the results off to the county office, where everything is printed and then mailed back to us. Sounds like the dark ages, right? Apparently, it's cheaper that way. (Behold the power of the almighty dollar!)
Also, I could really use the three weeks in November to TEACH everything my class should have mastered by December. Grrrrr.

A Lot on My Mind

Some days in life we just have a lot on our mind. On days like these (like today), it's sometimes best to share, rather than try to sort it all out and explain. So here are a few things I've enjoyed over the last three months.

Sentence building cards

Word families with paper towel rolls and paint sticks

An easy and effective way of sending messages home

Number concepts in a bag (a.k.a. addition)

and One thing that makes me laugh and gets me excited for the holidays

(photo source unknown)

Library, duh.

Let's set aside the fact that I just finished my M.Ed. in literacy instruction, K?

A library is the bee's knees.

Just walking into a library garners relaxation and excitement all at the same time. (I'm pretty sure the only other place in the world that can do that to a human is Anthropologie.)
I love every section of the library. Turning colorful pages of children's picture books, spinning into a vortex of memories as you pick up books from your own childhood, simply watching young ones giggle with joy over silly stories brings warmth to your chest.
Take a stroll through the numbered non-fiction books and the world of learning is yours! Want to bake the perfect cake? Ask Martha, she'll tell you how to bake the perfectionist's/OCD version. Need to build a deck? Bob Villa at your service!
Then there's the right-brain wing (a.k.a. fiction), the section of the library that takes your from your ho-hum life (apparently we're locked in a library), to every corner of the world, experiencing it through the lens of man, woman, child and beast.
And we haven't even got to the most interesting part of the library...the people. Yes, one could people-watch all day in the library. Children with mothers reading, Dad's working the self-check machine, college students studying, teachers tutoring, teens slumped in beanbag chairs, free-spirited, as well as uptight librarians working, and (if you live in a somewhat metropolis area) a few homeless folks napping behind books, enjoying the air conditioning.

Clearly, the library is the place to be!

Besides, zoos have poop. Like, elephant-size poop.

Happy Friday!

We made it to the weekend and with these allergies this beautiful picture makes me want to take a sip of something that will help me sleep, sleep, sleep!
But this weekend will be a bit of a working weekend. My principal asked me to make a presentation to a couple of private donors on SmartBoards for our school. Yay! Wish me luck!

(photo source)

NaBloPoMo

So my dear collage roommate has a great blog (onebrickshyish.blogspot.com) and she is fabulous. Like, super fabulous.
She's participating in National Blog Posting Month and I'm going to take a crack at it, too. Yay!
Happy November to you! I love this month. My Grandma's birthday is this month (she turns 95) and I love Thanksgiving. I love feeling thankful and remembering the many, many blessings in my life. I know one of my most favorite things about November/Thanksgiving has been flying to California to see our families and kicking off the Christmas holiday season. I just realized that is different now. It makes my internal compass feel a bit off, yet at the same time that its found its true North.
So yippee for me! Yippee for you! Count your blessings and share!