February~ Works of Heart

Goodbye dark blue bulletin board paper, it's time to lighten up (and brighten up) our hallway to feature our "Works of Heart"...









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Students made Family Flower Bouquets with construction paper, foamy heart stickers, crayons, and sponged hearts. I cut out a vase shape, and then asked the Stars to add stripes and foamy heart stickers. They counted how many family members lived in their homes with them, and drew a thick green stem for each person. With donated sponges from our Art teacher, I cut out heart shapes, and encouraged my students to use red and pink/white swirled paint to add a "flower bud" on top of each stem.

The light blue bulletin paper trimmed with plain white "Bordette" scallops makes the bouquets *pop!*

The Music That's Moving Me This Week

Simply Red gets my toes tapping...



Maksim performing the theme from "Somewhere in Time" calms me after a long day...



...and Leona Naess captures quiet love without candy hearts or cheesy cards...

Pastel...

Getting into a pastel mood is something I tend to do every year after Christmas. Though my favorite color is red, the softer pinks, pale blues and purples just appeal to me after the deep jeweled reds, greens, golds and silvers...even the stark whites...of the holidays.

Two bitty banners span the width of my upstairs fireplace:



I re-created this centerpiece (and this is last year's photo!) for the dining room:



...and even my students have started to make some pastel chains to enjoy next month (week!):



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~ Little Birdie Secrets links to sites for Easy and Cheap Valentines...

~ Goody Blog found the perfect cake for my beginning-of-the-year Colors unit!

Weekend Treasure Hunt, OWOH

I enjoy going treasure hunting once a month, visiting antique and vintage stores, seeing what desirables I can find. This weekend I found some Marcrest (seems to also be called "Hull") daisy dot mugs, bowls, and a pristine creamer/pitcher. Two shiny copper pieces also caught my eye, as did a glass jar with mismatched lid:







The heavy stoneware pieces are favorites of mine, and the stein-style mugs are perfect for my morning coffee. The copper will be added to my small collection, which will someday be housed in or near my dream kitchen (have you ever imagined decorating your fantasy home?), and the glass jar will join others downstairs in my craft nook.

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I'm busy visiting blogs via OWOH, One World One Heart today~ the creativity, inspiration and joy is overwhelming! Blog after blog, giveaway after giveaway... I think I'm going to have to pace myself!

Twenty-Five Things About Moi

I was tagged on Facebook, and thought it would be a fun blog post for today... Feel free to adopt the meme if you'd like!

Twenty-Five Things About Michaele

1) I'm an Eskimo, born in Kentucky, raised for the first ten years of my life in Texas, so I prefer enchiladas over muktuk!

2) I've lived in a big city, a rural farming community, a college town, three military posts, and an Eskimo village.

3) My favorite color is red, though I adore pink.

4) When I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be Wonder Woman- the hair! The tiara! The stars! The bullet proof bracelets...not to mention the ability to tie people up to get the truth out of them!

5) I graduated from the university where my father and mother met.

6) My toenails and fingernails always match.

7) Someday I'd like to write kids' stories, books. Until then, I'll keep practicing on my blog.

8) I've developed quite the magazine habit in the past two years, and have to pare the piles down every month by cutting and clipping inspirational stuff out of them to save in binders for future reference.

9) I come from a family of crafters, artisans, and teachers, so the fact that I'm two out of the three gives me a good feeling.

10) I just discovered House.

11) As a matter of fact, I AM easily distracted by bright, shiny objects.

12) My morning drinks of choice are lattes for coffee (Irish Cream or Vanilla), or Earl Grey tea.

13) No, my parents didn't "want a boy." I get asked that a lot when introduced to new people.

14) When it comes to the big things and issues in life, I enjoy helping others, but will rarely, and I mean rarely, ask for help myself. When I do ask, it's because I need someone to succeed and deliver...immediately. No pressure. *sigh* I'm working on that one.

15) I'm not a sports nut unless my children are playing and even then I really don't care about the game. Odd, considering I was a cheerleader in high school.

16) I used to play the violin and clarinet.

17) I can't stand carnie clowns. Think Pennywise, or the clown doll from Poltergeist. Yuck.

18) I don't know how to swim.

19) The sea turtles in Hawaii are some of the sweetest looking animals I think I've ever seen. (I was in a glass bottomed boat- so while I don't know how to swim, I think ocean life is beautiful.)

20) Jeans, teacher dresses, ballgowns, Harley leather, it's all good.

21) I love cameos, Noritake china from Occupied Japan, and Bunnies by the Bay. Pretty paper, notecards, and household textiles also have a strong pull over me. Thankfully I'm married to a tolerant man.

22) I don't do the bar scene. I also don't sit and "socially drink" with colleagues or friends unless we're drinking coffee and on our way out the door to go shopping.

23) I remember my first day of kindergarten. I had a male teacher who had long hair, pulled back into a ponytail. Kindergarten was where I learned I was strong. Sixth grade was when I realized I was smart. High school was when I realized I was both and needed to do everything possible to graduate and get away.

24) I have music of some sort playing in the background almost constantly. It's my "white noise" for my auditory processing disorder to focus on. (I hear most sounds at the same volume, voices talking, someone driving past the house, the buzzing of the lights...)

25) I wear fur. I'm Inupiaq Eskimo on my father's side and pro-mink/pearls/and lovely clothes on my mother's side. It's a double whammy for me.

Goodbye Messy Desk, Hello Cool Stuff!

Glass of soda...check. Computer...check. Tons of mail, correspondence, addresses to save from Christmas cards...check. Re-writeable c.d.'s...check. Magazines, banners, and ziploc bags full of craft pins...check.

Elbow room... Elbow room...

Elbow room?

Time to clean the mess and reclaim my desk!



Paring it all down...then arranging the essentials:







MUCH better!

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*~Cool~* stuff:

~ PhotoJoJo tells you how to Make Your Own 3-D Camera for $15 or Less

~ Popular Mechanics helps you Build a Bat Cave With Hidden Rooms (many thanks to the AntiCraft Blog for sharing the link!)

~ Candice shares a tutorial for adding trim to crepe paper (make sure to click "next" on each of the screens near the top of each photo to move step by step through the process)

Why Do We Need De-Bunkers?

Because there's a lot of *bunk* out there, of course!

Here are two more TED Talks- Michael Shermer on "Why People Believe Strange Things..."



...followed by Keith Barry's "Brain Magic..."



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On a completely unrelated note, the pre-schooler has decided to start dressing himself:



Oh yes, Spiderman slippers, jammies, white athletic socks, and a Spiderman t-shirt on top. Is this a fashion *hit* or *miss*?

Carnival of Education: Virtual Inaugural Balls Edition at Teacher in a Strange Land

This week's Carnival of Education is hosted as a Virtual (online) Inaugural Ball by Teacher in a Strange Land, Nancy Flanagan.

She was kind enough to include my post "An Incredible Inauguration."

Many thanks Nancy- there's nothing quite like listening to the thoughts, questions and ideas of kindergarten students!

Flow

Watching and listening to TED Talks periodically does (for me) exactly what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discusses in his presentation about creativity, fulfillment and flow. Feeling re-energized, interested, engaged, and motivated is how I know I'm in the "flow" state- my challenges are higher, and I'm pushed to increase my skill level... or my skills are high, and I'm ready to challenge myself. It's a state that in my case, doesn't usually occur out of necessity for my home life or my employment. It's a state I enjoy for myself, and what I mean to express when I describe myself as a "lifelong learner." When I learn, integrate new knowledge and use it, it's rarely if ever a dull series of events for me.

The talk is slow going at first, but if you're interested in creativity, that automatic, spontaneous rush (ecstasy), this man is worth listening to:



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As a teacher, the quote by Masaru Ibuka struck a nerve as I reflect back on how many teachers, including myself, have felt about teaching since NCLB's mandates. Mr. Ibuka's goal, his mission, when co-creating Sony was:

To establish a place of work where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation, be aware of their mission to society, and work to their heart's content.

How many educators today feel something akin to his focus when they enter the classroom each morning?

Not many.

More importantly, how many students find their schools this supportive and empowering as they are introduced to new information and skills, develop those skills and expand their learning techniques, and are immersed in a culture of knowledge that will hopefully, one day, enable them to create?

The answer:

Not enough.

An Incredible Inauguration

Incredible because of its historical significance, incredible because of the joy, sincerity, and even the minor flubs, and incredible because I watched it with my Super Stars.

Story time, handwriting, learning centers, snack, music and movement, and then, President-Elect Obama's Inauguration.

What first got my Stars' attention was seeing children, two very pretty young ladies, joining all of the "grown ups" on the inaugural dais. "Mrs. Sommerville, those are President Obama's daughters, right? The ones that get to live in the White House?"

"Yes."

Watching other "important people" be greeted on the dais, another student asked "Mrs. Sommerville, where is Obama? Is he last? That's not very fair."

"Teacher, who is he making a promise to again?" "He's promising us that he'll do a good job, protect us, and help us help ourselves and others." "Does he promise everybody, or just the grown ups?" "Everybody honey, all of us."

None of my Stars recognized the lyrics sung by Aretha Franklin, though thanks to our wonderful music teacher, they quickly recognized a violin, cello, clarinet, and piano as "Air and Simple Gifts" was performed.



"Why was the music quiet and slow at first Mrs. Sommerville? It got happy after a while, but why did it start slow?"

"Did they play that music for President Obama or for everyone?" "Everyone." "Wow, that's a lot of people!"

My students were seated for most of the event, except for two key moments when the audience was asked to "Please stand" as the vice-presidential and presidential oaths took place. Without prompting from me, all nineteen of my Super Stars stood quietly, their attention riveted to the television screen.

So of course I cried.

After President Obama's speech, we went to lunch.

Chicken nuggets.

It was a good day.

Communication, Not Rhetoric

I appreciate the efficient communication of information... communication, not rhetoric...especially when it comes to education. I'm a teacher. It makes sense.



If you feel the same way, perhaps you'll venture around BlogLand to read and think about the following:

~ Jim Horn, Schools Matter, in Why Doesn't This Feel Liberating, quotes Art Costa (professor from CalState) regarding the end result of No Child Left Behind:

"What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, has been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So now we test how well we have taught what we do not value."

~ Doug Noon, Borderland, What We Measure. Doug's a scary-smart teacher (the perfect reason to like him) who knows just the right quote to include from Robert F. Kennedy:

And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us, as individuals and citizens this year. But even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction - purpose and dignity - that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product - if we judge the United States of America by that - that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

~ Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure. Read more about Campbell's Law, the phenomenon that, as far as students and testing are concerned, explains how "scores always rise when you put high stakes on a particular test, whether or not students actually know more." (emphasis mine) Jim Horn, Schools Matter, Remember the Achievement Gap?

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Happy Inauguration Day America, Mr. President.

Links and a Repurposed Card Catalog

~ Jenny Doh shares a beautiful way to decorate clothespins (teachers, take a look, especially if your lunch and math charts could use a lift!)... I'd love a whole slew of these covered with Stars...Super Stars! I'm also thinking next year's Christmas gifts will need a pack of these included inside!

~ The Pioneer Woman Cooks a delicious looking egg-bake-something-or-other...

~ Lisa at Celebrate Creativity in All its Forms shares the how-to's on making your own pinboard/bulletin board from a repurposed picture frame and a roll of cork (but DON'T use Gorilla Glue! See Lisa, I paid attention!)

~ Andrea at Seeking Everyday Beauty and Velvet Strawberries made bookmarks and clips out of mismatched baubles...

~ You know I opened my own Etsy shop for selling paper banners, but surfing Etsy is also a new favorite thing of mine to do when I'm ignoring the house chores when I have free time on my hands...

Go.....visit.....The House of Mouse.....and.....check out *all* of the mice. Find Hannibal Lector Mouse. You read correctly. Hannibal.....Lector.....Mouse.

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While twice a library aide, I was never a librarian, *sigh*. I've had a hankerin' for a card catalog for some time now...and Dear Husband tracked one down over the weekend:



An ideal size (though covered with not-very-library-ish stickers)...



Multiple drawers, perfect for long glue sticks, crafting stamps, paper punches, ribbons...

I spent an afternoon soaking the stickers and then gently scraping them off. The adhesive was pretty much cemented to the wood surface though, so sanding became necessary. Though it's a "rough-sand," I think it still looks oodles better than it did:





Should we ever need an extra coffee table, the catalog is just about the right height. For now, its flat top will serve nicely as extra work space for me when I'm crafting.

~ Check out Cool Hunting Green for more repurposed furniture and decorating ideas (the book chair is sorely tempting)...

Oh I Just Gotta Be Me...

...is the title I decided to go with on this sleepy Sunday morning, though I considered "Why is Fitting In Always the Goal?" and "No, I don't Baaa-aaa-aa-a." Neither of those headers seemed cordial, though friends and family would appreciate the humor in the latter of the two.



It's a self-absorbed post is what I'm trying to say. Hit your "back" button now and escape to some other pretty website if fluffy, fair and politically correct is more your taste this morning. I'm going to indulge my narcissistic self in the words that follow. You've been warned.

It's been said that I tend to march to the beat of my own drummer. It's true, and wasn't a problem in Alaska where ten years of working at the same school and living in the same neighborhood made me one of the daily norms, nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not a surprise. Since leaving the frozen north, I've been hopping around from school to school only staying a year, having a "guest spot" teaching position, making an initial impression and then leaving at Uncle Sam's bidding.

Being Alaskan, I tend to be extremely self-sufficient. It's not a boast, it's a requirement. Lifelong Kansans who have experienced, endured and survived their share of floods and tornadoes know what I'm talking about, as do people who live in areas of extreme environmental conditions. As a military spouse living far from extended family, each of Dear Husband's deployments marks a shift in our household out of necessity: it's my way or the highway. It's not that I don't want to be a team player, it's that I'm NOT a team player. Not out of spite, not out of judgment, not out of some misplaced vein of superiority- I am, for the most part, comfortable letting other people be themselves, keeping their own rhythm, hoping that I too, will be afforded the same consideration.

Many men and women feel comfortable, nurtured even by belonging to well-defined tightly-knit groups. Like my students, I appreciate loosely structured, safe environments, and because of my varied interests, I like the freedom to float between them. I appreciate my own space, a wider vantage point, an occasional foray into a shared experience over there, then one over here before I return to my den. And for the past six years, my den has relocated frequently.

I'm happy to follow the big rules: don't hit, don't hurt, share, say "please" and "thank you," but the clique-ey social norms of "Thou-shalt only sit with teachers from thine school" or "Thou-shalt only speak with wives whose husbands share your husband's rank" strike me as petty, limiting, and in many cases, isolating. You say you "belong." I wonder if you're actually trapped. It's a difference of perception, nothing more. Be discriminating, selective. Do what makes you feel comfortable. Yes, you deserve to feel safe and supported. So do I.

But comfort to me isn't the feeling that I fit in. It's not the result of going out of my way to exclude others just so I can say I belong. Comfort to me is the feeling that I'm welcome. Welcome to come, welcome to go, welcome to share, welcome to just sit and listen. Welcome to be away for awhile. Welcome to ask for help. Welcome to give a hug, welcome to give a person his or her space.

In my mind, the big rules are the most important, the most essential prerequisites that determine whether or not a person should be welcome. "You haven't taught here long enough" is not a big rule. "You don't go to our church" is not a big rule. "You look/sound different from what I'm used to..." is not a big rule. "You blog and I don't" is not a big rule. The same goes for "You drink coffee but I drink tea," "We're officers, you're enlisted," or "You're an aide, I'm a teacher."

I'm sticking to my truth. I just gotta be me.



(Thank you Mr. Larson)

Realizations and Affirmations

This week was full of them:

~ It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, but it turns out one must counter-steer a LOT when sliding through a round-about....MUCH more than you would have to going down a straight road/street if the back end of your truck starts to fishtail. On a straight street, only your truck is trying to move sideways, so you counter-steer to straighten things back up again. On a round-about, not only is your vehicle moving sideways, the road is curving around too- a conspiracy, you might say. A test. A test I (thankfully) passed, surprising myself by how quickly and often I could grab and turn my steering wheel in a very short amount of time!



Has Alaska started incorporating round-abouts into their road repairs and construction? I hope not~ they're really NOT MUCH FUN, especially when they're coated with ice.

~ Handwritten paper report cards *followed by* data entry of those handwritten grades into a computer program is...may I say...redundant.

~ Automated phone calls from your child's high school can be pretty predictable... "Hello, this is ____________ from _____________ High School, calling to remind you of this week's PTO meeting, to be held in the library at six p.m. We hope to see you there." *click* or "This is the ____________ High Principal calling to inform you that our school will be closed today due to inclement weather. " *click*

It was a bit unnerving to hear the following after work one day this week:

"Hello, this is _____________, Principal of ______________ High, calling to inform you about an incident that occurred at school today. The _____________ Police Department was called to the school to take into custody a sixteen year old male student accused of sexually assaulting another student on campus. The victim notified school authorities and the suspect was taken into custody without incident. School officials and the families of those involved are cooperating with the police department's investigation. We encourage you to speak with your child tonight at home about the incident, and welcome you to spend time in our school building. Thank you."

*click*



Dear Daughter was fine. She knew that the police had been at her school, but she didn't know why. Dear Husband reviewed DD's personal safety strategies with her and we discussed her daily school schedule. She went to bed, at which time Dear Husband and I turned into our parents. "I remember when..." and "What in the world is happening..." Kids these days. Parents these days. Schools these days. We're at that point in our lives where our worries and concerns can start to outnumber our joys if we're not careful.

~ As a teacher, I cannot advocate for open communication with parents enough. Families who have transferred in for this semester have come from places that don't communicate about school and childrens' learning through anything except a report card. No progress reports, no screening sheet or data provided by the teacher in a student portfolio. Over ninety days into the school year and I'm having to tell parents what the previous teacher should have told them at the midpoint of the first quarter of kindergarten: strengths, needs, areas of focus, goals, interventions, accommodations, funnies even.



"Less is more" works in fashion and design, not in an academic year marked by standards, expectations of mastery, and discussions of "readiness." Yes, students are individuals and my instruction is differentiated to meet their needs, but I have guidelines and a set of curriculum requirements to follow and implement. I am required to assess and show growth. Parents want to know if their child is ready for the first grade socially, emotionally, and academically.

I don't advocate for grading a kindergarten child's transition to school, which can take the entire first quarter: I advocate for determining a baseline, a starting point, to determine a child's prior schema, needs and interests, combining my observations with information and insight provided by parents that in my experience, can only happen if relationships are forged through regular and frequent communication. I don't like an occasional Q & A session. I like an ongoing conversation, a dialogue. All of it gives me direction, all of it powers the energy of my classroom, all of it works in favor for my students.

Music, Music

Dear Husband is relieved the Christmas and holiday tunes are packed away until next November (unless I need holiday inspiration for crafting this summer)... but I need music. Need. It.

Some calm and soothing...

~ Here's John Mayer singing a beautiful version of Free Fallin'...

~ Jason Mraz singing The Rainbow Connection:


Some oh-so-necessary-when-on-the-road upbeat Journey/Steve Perry...

...and Sir Paul:


...while my kindergartners are supposed to be learning Home, Home on the Range...


Just means it's time to update the iPod...

Lost the Light

I was so busy putting the finishing touches on Valentine, spring, and St. Patrick's Day banners that I lost the light. Using a flash, opening up every window shade possible, fiddling with the settings on my camera...nothing worked, so here are the banners in their tray, waiting for their close up later this week:









I'm loving the pinky/creamy hot chocolate colors of this one...

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Apparently the collective urge to make wreaths was experienced by many- but not me:

~ Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home made a winter pinecone wreath...

~ Little Birdie Secrets shares an easy Valentine wreath tutorial...

~ Wendy at The Shabby Nest has me looking high and low for my button stash (what, you mean I used them all on banners this weekend?) to make a button wreath...

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Who Knew?

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm an Extroverted Self-Knowing Romantic

Whatever that means...

Chubby Little Snowmen/Saturday Banners

Here's what I could photograph of my students' snowmen display:



(Is it just me or is there a chubby little bunny there too? Carrot thief.)



Happy snowmen in colorful hats...

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After finding the ribbon I wanted at Michael's today, I came home and made banners~ here's my messy inspiration:



My energy snack (peanut butter filled pretzels, m-n-m's, and chocolate covered coffee beans):



The piles for my "(almost) nothing-matches Valentine banners:"



Six done, quite a few more to go!

Posting Learning Objectives/Chubby Little Snowman

Does your district require that you post learning objectives in your classroom? Very often I've seen a single piece of paper hung on the wall nearest the door or first marker board, with phrases such as "Learner will create and extend AB, ABC, and ABB patterns," printed out single-spaced, in a font size that not many students will be able to see, because really, they're not the ones who require the objectives to be posted in the first place.

Instead of merely complying with an administrative mandate, why not use the objectives as goals or focus points accessible by your students?

While many of my students aren't able to read our weekly goal chart at the beginning of the year, here at the midpoint quite a few of them can read the sight words, enjoy sounding out the new vocabulary, and ask me at the beginning of each week "What are we going to learn this week Mrs. Sommerville?"



I've turned our objectives into "we" statements (which students regularly use as "I" statements- talk about empowering!), such as "We will learn facts about Kansas" or "We will identify solid shapes: sphere, cube, pyramid, cylinder, rectangular prism, cone." " We will use number lines and count past 30" garnered lots of oohs-aahs and "COOL's!" Now it's not just me, my aide, my principal, and any other classroom visitor who will know what we're doing in kindergarten during any given week- my students are in on the plan, exactly as they should be!

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Here's a peek at our writing center:



Full of paper, stencils, colored pencils, and word books:



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January is the perfect time to make snowmen! If Mother Nature doesn't deliver snow, paint the cool characters instead:





One of our classroom poems this month is The Chubby Little Snowman:

A chubby little snowman

had a carrot nose.

Along came a bunny,

and what do you suppose?

That hungry little bunny

thought he found his lunch,

and down came the carrot,

nibble, nibble, CRUNCH!

For a hallway display (photo tomorrow), I've modified the poem to read:

Each chubby little snowman

has a carrot nose.

Along comes a bunny,

and what do you suppose?

This hungry little bunny

thinks he's found his lunch,

so down comes the carrot,

nibble, nibble, CRUNCH!

*****

Many Thanks...

...to Linda at Classroom Displays for sharing my students' Eskimo bulletin board with her readers!

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~Craft Elf shares a pattern for making a version of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat's...HAT!

~Author/illustrator Jan Brett has a pdf of Dolch sight words to print out...

~FoldSchool teaches you how to make sturdy furniture out of cardboard (military families ought to enjoy this one!)

~Link to Learning shares its "Special K" page (K is for KINDERGARTEN!)

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~ What happens when you mix a child's wonderful imagination (and longing for a pet puppy) with a red winter mitten?

Bits and Blurbs Wednesday

~ Little Birdie Secrets shares "Misfortune Cookies" (ever thought of making your own fortune cookies to celebrate Chinese New Year?)

~ A Storybook Life hasn't packed away all of her holiday decor quite yet, after all, shouldn't we enjoy winter?

~ Since you know how I love Scrabble tiles, Scrabble furniture certainly caught my eye at Haute*Nature...

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Yep, I am now on Facebook. Seems a bit more...grown up... than MySpace. Anyone else feel the same way? They were nice enough to "network" my blog, so I added a little clickable thingie over there on the side of Kindergarten's 3 R's-------> (before the blogroll starts). Click and join the network if you'd like, or just keep reading here...

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I'll be dipping my toes into the Etsy market over the next few weekends, as a seller. For...the...first...time. Banners, of course. But I'd appreciate some feedback regarding:

~the types or themes of banners that frankly, would be FUN. Birthdays, school-themed, and holidays, of course... colors? Seasons? Reversible?

~ the banners will be smaller than most- I'll call them "bitty banners," though they may be strung across ribbon two yards long, so should I make more than one that match? Sell them in pairs?

~ and while I still need to figure out pricing, do you think it would be a good idea to create a separate blog site for the banners so I don't take up so much kindergarten room for them here? Seriously, you're the readers- your input is important!

*****

How did I miss this movie?!?!?

Blog Discovery: The Long Thread

~ Visit The Long Thread, and feel free to blame me for sharing the link to such a wonderful blog when your family starts complaining that you've been glued to your computer *for hours*.

***The Top 100 Tutorials of 2008 has had me clicking away like mad...

***Thrifted Holiday Trees have been added to my "try, try, try" list for 2009...

***The Winter Village may have to be created and live alongside my students' graham cracker "gingerbread" houses next year...

***And Make-it-Mondays might change my favorite day of the week from Saturday to... well, maybe not, but weekends are sure to be busier in my craft nook thanks to the wonderful ideas posted on the first day of the work week!

*****

Check back for Bits and Blurbs tomorrow!

Beaker on a Monday

I'm back to work today- Beaker will keep you company with his version of Ode to Joy:

Prepping to Head Back to School

January center tags (blue and white with snowflakes), and a collection of "Kansas" identifiers: the state mammal (buffalo), state bird (meadowlark), and state flower (wild native sunflower). Kansas Day is January 29, so my kindergartners will be learning about wheat, Jayhawkers, cottonwood, and tiger salamanders too!



The pretty-in-pink pennants for February's kindergarten banners...



The finished banners and more center tags...

...and of course, the banners I finished yesterday:



It took roughly a year of making banners to reach an a-ha moment regarding how best to deal with gluing the paper back to back so the banners would be reversible...better late than never, right?

*****

I've ironed a week's worth of clothes, got my teacher bag packed and ready to go, and just need to get a good night's rest before waking up at the crack of dawn to head to school and see my Super Stars again. It never fails- I can't sleep in for most of winter vacation, until the last few days...right when it's time to get *back* on schedule!