Six Years of Versatile Blogging

I've been blogging for six years as of this upcoming September.


Six years of writing evolution, six years of resizing photos and playing with bells and whistles to accompany tips, ideas and rants, and six years of "meeting" other wonderful child advocates, early childhood specialists and teachers.  I've been given various awards from fellow edubloggers, and enjoy following up on the memes that accompany them.

ver·sa·tile  (vûrs-tl, -tl) adj. 1. Capable of doing many things competently.

Jennifer over at Teaching With Grace recently shared the Versatile Blogger Award with me (thank you, thank you Jennifer!), one of my favorites to receive because it includes wonderful rules based on sharing a bit about yourself while you also share the love by linking to other bloggers.  I love to build my professional learning community: blogging allows us to reach out, meet, learn from, and share and commiserate with one another.  The rules are:


1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Include a link to his or her site.
3. Include the award image in your post and/or blog.
4. Share seven facts about yourself.
5. Nominate other bloggers for the award, linking 
    to their sites. 
6. Let those bloggers know they have been nominated. 


"Easy peasy" as my Super Stars would say!  As I've already finished the first three, it's time to share some info about myself with you:


~ I'm a sporadic crocheter.  I'll go for years without picking up a hook and yarn, and then *boom*, I'll see the perfect skein or encounter the perfect weather (cold) and I'm compelled to nest on the couch for three or four days, completing a project.  My family 
gives me my space.  They don't want to lose an eye.





~ I'm the Cookie Fairy at my school.  At the beginning and end of every year and once each quarter, I bake massive amounts of cookies to leave in the teachers' lounge.  I don't get to visit with many of my colleagues regularly, and frankly if the only ways I can support them are by a) staying out of their way, b) not creating any drama and c) providing them with homemade goodness, then people, that's exactly what I'll do.  Get the butter up to room temperature, will you?


~ I'm unsure how best to propose that the Common Core be interpreted as a guide and not just a mandated curriculum, at least as far as kindergarten is concerned.  With many standards prefaced "With guidance and support from adults..." (which does not indicate mastery) I know parents, teachers and administrators still want to know exactly what skills should be mastered by the end of the school year, and want to know if it's right to send students on to the first grade if they're not-yet-proficient on skills that didn't begin with that preface.  


I've previewed assessment packets that include all of the common core standards and have been amazed at their producers' (many of them teachers) complete and utter avoidance of the obvious: you'll either have time to assess your students, or you'll have time to teach them.  You won't have both.  Children require exposure to and experience with concepts and materials, lots of exploration and practice, and must create connections in order to comprehend relevance and to develop new skills with purpose.  Use the Core as a guide for instruction and experience, but don't add every single standard to an itemized list that must be checked off and graded each quarter.  Data hounds may want the checklist, but your students need time well spent in a developmentally appropriate learning environment.  


Children learn at their own pace in their own time, so differentiation is a logical tool to use to meet their needs.  Differentiation is not the appropriate tool to satisfy the adult need of being able to claim that every child reads at the same level on any given day by May.   It's difficult and frustrating to not find many authentic and well-informed advocates for our students.


~ New visitors to my blog, I get off on a rant from time to time.  See above.





~ Though my students know I love sparkly things, coffee, and mani-pedi's, they don't know my favorite bird is the hummingbird.  Unless their parents Google me, and in this day and age, they probably will.





~ Though I've worn Opium and Gautier perfumes for over a decade, my students still tell their parents I smell like cookies and coffee.  E-v-e-r-y year my scent comes up during parent teacher conferences or in an email.  Thankfully no one ever gives me bath gel or soap as teacher appreciation gifts, so I figure they're not dropping hints at my hygiene. 


~ I discover new-to-me-yet-well-established-to-everyone-else music regularly.  It's like my ears are in some sort of time distortion when it comes to Top 40.  Case in point: Kings of Leon have been rockin' for some time now.  This summer my auditory filters finally allowed me to hear them and I ended up shopping for iTunes over the course of an afternoon immersing myself in their sound.  My family gave me my space though I swear I wasn't dancing around the house with a crochet hook in my hand.



*****


Who would I recommend you visit?  Most certainly:


~ Mrs. Lundquist's Superlative Science Blog (check out her lab pets!)


~ Susan at Kindergarten is the Best: she's full of enthusiasm as she shares links, ideas, and products she's created for the classroom.  She's a binder queen like I am too!


~ ...and don't miss Mrs. Poulin's Blog and subscribe to her Kindergarten Scoop.it! online magazine for links to informative, helpful and entertaining posts from the wide world of early childhood!


Happy blogging! 

Versatile Blogger Award and Meme Invitation

How nice for Chrissy to include me in this fun meme~!



Here we go, S-E-V-E-N things you may not know about me:

1)  My name is Michaele, pronounced "My-kul," like Michael Jordan.  It's NOT **Michelle**  (Yes I'm sure, and no, my parents didn't want a boy.)

2)  I prefer to wear men's watches, big, clunky, and loose on my wrist like a bracelet.  I'm often told "Oh, Mrs. Sommerville, be careful, your watch isn't clasped, it's going to fall off" by eagle-eyed parents and colleagues.

3)  I miss pile carpeting for the sole reason that I'm addicted to the carpet tracks created by a fresh vacuuming.

4)  The fingernails are ~real~.  I highly recommend this topcoat product found at Sally Beauty stores:



5)  My favorite Muppet is the Ma-Nah-Ma-Nah Guy.

6)  I'm not a big fan of people who WON'T share.  Might be a kindergarten-teacher-thing.

7)  Along with forty other teachers, I was recently honored as a Kansas Teacher of the Year Nominee, proudly representing my school district, colleagues, Super Stars, and their families:



The funny thing about the banquet?  I forgot to wear a watch.  Turns out all nominees were given one (with an apple on the face of course!) in recognition of their dedication to teaching.  It's the first women's watch I've owned in over a decade, and with the leather strap, it's anything BUT loose.

I guess people won't have to worry about me losing my watch now!

*****
Chrissy tagged so many of the bloggers that I would have chosen to participate in this meme, so instead of redundantly requesting that they play along, let me issue an open invitation to you, dear readers:  I'd love to learn more about you, and would very much like to visit your blog!  Grab/copy the badge above, write your post, and then link back by commenting on this post so we can all come visit.

Things That Make Me Happy, Teacher Edition

1) ~A-ha~ or ~ hey Teacher, that's way cool~ moments with my Super Stars
2)  Surviving the first professional development seminar I've hosted in a v-e-r-y long time (yesterday!)
3)  How no matter where Uncle Sam takes our family, each new staff with whom I work always has a Coffee Fairy among the ranks
4)  Being able to pick the brains of colleagues from all over the world
5)  Listening to students and colleagues as they ~think out loud~ instead of regurgitating someone else's spiel
6)  Still having the ability to control my verbal and physical reactions when a student accidentally forgets I have toes at the end of my feet while s/he surprises me with a hug... two of my toes are still purple!
7)  Families who become friends when my time as their child's teacher is done
8)  Learning something new-to-me that I can then help others with as we work through the choreography of public education together
9)  Jeans Friday
10)  Seeing photos of colleagues'/friends' grand-babies wrapped in afghans I crocheted

Okay, so that last one doesn't just make me happy, it makes me cry... not the way I cried after #6 of course.

You know what I mean.

What makes YOU happy as a teacher?

Meme: Teacher Talents

Kiri8 at Elbows, Knees, Dreams tagged me for a wonderful meme: Teacher Talents, those additional duties that never quite earn mention on job applications, resumes, or teacher evaluation forms.

What can I do?

~ I can get away with violence in the classroom:  dropping eggs with Humpty Dumpty-esque faces drawn on to demonstrate how gravity works...



~  I can make the big rules easy to comprehend:  lowercase g, j, p, q, y are the only ones that can go "swimming" below the bottom writing line...  A, E, I, O, and U are the "glue" that stick between consonants to help make words... asking for help is a sign of brilliance... and telling me when a classmate is trying to drink glue or clean teeth with scissors does NOT fall under the category of "tattling."

~  While some teachers make parents' blood pressure shoot sky high by note, e-mail, phone call or conference, I can make parents cry (sometimes sob) with joy when I show them how far their children have come since the beginning of school.

~  I can get away with blaming fairies for everything:  the Hiccup Fairy, the Untie-the-Shoelaces Fairy, and the Desk Fairy are regulars in my classroom.

~  I help parents, colleagues, and other professionals remember that five and six year olds are NOT short third graders.

~  I can straighten a line of students with a single raised eyebrow, start and stop said line's movement with a nod, and make nineteen students beam with pride with a silent thumbs-up.

~  I am a fashion trend-setter:  pink fingernail polish with glitter is a *must*, my socks can have all sorts of pictures and illustrations on them, and  my lapels, neckline, wrists and earlobes have no problem sporting apples, pumpkins, Christmas trees, valentine hearts, shamrocks, and of course, STARS year 'round.  Don't try this at home folks, I'm a  professional!



~  I know that twirly skirts and dresses are the prettiest and watches with flip-up cases totally rock...

~  I'm kind enough to NOT let parents know everything their children reveal about them, no matter how humorous and tempting...

~ I can escort a ready-to-barf student to the nurse's office holding a trashcan in one hand, paper towels in the other while walking backward (occasionally wearing sandals or flip flops) without crashing into walls, teachers, or other students in the hallway.  ("If you get it in the trashcan, you get two points Honey!")

~  I can help parents make some difficult, stressful, yet appropriate decisions by focusing on the positive:  It's not "retaining" a child, it's giving him or her the gift of time.

~  I can teach children to master swinging (pump your legs back and forth), getting a piece of tape off of the dispenser (lift up, pull out a little, then pull down), and blowing their own noses (get a Kleenex *not your shirt*, close your mouth, blow through your nose, catch the snot in the tissue, pinch your nose, and wipe up the rest) without losing my patience or my appetite for lunch.

Readers, what are some of your rarely-if-ever-mentioned skills, mastered as a teacher?  Please share them in the comments, or pass the meme along and link back here so we can come read your list and applaud your expertise!

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.

Seven Random Things Meme~ Kiri8 Tagged Me!

It's been a while since I was tagged for a meme~ and since it's been a slow week blog wise, Kiri8 at Elbows, Knees and Dreams *must* have known I needed some blog inspiration to get me through to the weekend!

There are rules of course:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people (if possible) at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Here are seven facts about myself:

1) Since moving out of the desert and back to a more humid climate, my hair now has an Andie-MacDowell-in-St.Elmo's Fire-vibe to it. Yep, *that* curly. Now if only I had the log cabin...


2) I'm big on visual symmetry and balance...BIG. Former colleagues could prank me anytime by coming into my classroom or home and tilting the pictures on my wall just a *bit*...just *enough* that it would bother me. Figuring out the floor plan of each new housing unit we move to (military family) prior to our actual arrival is one of my biggest projects when we relocate. I have to know where every piece of furniture will go, and once everything is in place, I walk through each room, sit on each chair, checking for comfort and flow.

3)...but amazingly, I'm not Type A. Nope. You should see my desk. Wow. My teacher aides could attest to the fact that I have to excavate weekly.

4) I drive a truck. I love trucks.

5) My fingernail polish always matches my toenail polish.

6) Twinkle lights or sparkly glass are a necessity for me, whether at work or home. There should be a touch of ~magic~ everywhere as far as I'm concerned.

7) My house always smells of scented candles or baking...if I'm not baking, I have scented candles lit. If I am baking...who needs scented candles?

*****

Who to tag? Probably not seven, but how about Shauna at Chance Family Happenings and Daisie at the Life of Daisie and Andy?

My Halloween Top Threes

Favorite Costumes: Mine: 1) Kitty Cat 2) Angel 3) Witch (though I do the twirly dress/feather trimmed hat version, nothing scary for this kindergarten teacher!) Others: 1) High school friends waaaaayyyyyy back when dressed as the Ghostbusters 2) My daughter as a bride and my eldest son as a Star Fleet officer 3) A former student dressed as the Big Bad Wolf (he wore a baseball cap on which his mother had glued fake brown fur and huge googly eyes, wool ears, wool teeth hanging down from the brim, etc.) Favorite movies: 1) Sleepy Hollow (a la Johnny Depp) 2) Something Wicked This Way Comes 3) Lost Boys (though I enjoy the vampire genre year 'round) Trick-or-Treat Candy: 1) Peanut M-n-M's 2) Smarties 3) Old fashioned bubble gum Family events/traditions: 1) buying pumpkins and carving jack-o-lanterns 2) decorating the house with our favorite figurines and decorations 3) trick-or-treating with the kids Halloween songs: 1) Five Little Pumpkins 2) Purple People Eater 3) Humming "La dah dee dee dah dee dee, la dah dee dee dee dah abracadabra..."

Halloween recipes: 1) Pumpkin Pie 2) Popcorn Balls/Chex Mix (I'll make popcorn balls one year, Chex Mix the next...) 3) Spiced Pumpkin Cookies Crafts: 1) Wreaths 2) Banners 3) Magnets

Five Things Meme: What I Wish Policymakers Knew About Kindergarten

The Science Goddess tagged me a month ago (I know, I know! A month? Thankfully she knows I've been back to school, in a new state, a new district, etc.) for a meme started by Nancy, Teacher in a Strange Land, addressing what educators wish policymakers understood about the public school system. Another teacher/blogger tagged me too but now I can't find her comment~ Let me know who you were so I can link back to you, pretty please?



Here' s my kindergarten perspective on Five Things Policy Makers Should Know About Kindergarten:

1) While preschool and early childhood programs usually offer wonderful and diverse hands-on play/learning/socialization experiences for children, requiring *testing* for three, four and five year olds to determine whether or not they're "ready" for kindergarten is ridiculous. What's next, IQ tests in utero via a two-way sonogram? Children get to be children. They're not "allowed" to come from diverse backgrounds, they DO come from diverse backgrounds. One-size-fits-all fits no one. Nothing like having to beat a dead horse.

2) Kindergarten teachers wish you would stop approving and paying architectural firms that offer a one-seat-toilet bathroom for girls and a one-seat-toilet for boys for a classroom of 12+ children...or TWO classrooms of children as their innovative design. Take teacher feedback seriously, and require that the architect go back and rethink the blueprint, please. The same goes for storage, cabinetry, and learning spaces. Ask...the...teachers.

3) Playtime IS learning. Authentic assessment is more relevant, accurate, and applicable than DIBELS scores could ever be. But authentic assessment doesn't create cool flow charts and numbers to crunch... I know, I know. You like number data. You like number data more than you like children apparently. Time for a change.

4) Kindergarten is NOT babysitting (though if you'd like to fund kindergarten teachers at the same rate a babysitter makes, I'd be more than happy to take that check).

5) Kindergarten entrance age requirements that vary from state to state don't tend to help children at all: they merely serve to 1) replace expensive day care costs for parents who are able to get their children in to a kindergarten program in one state for a week or two, then move to another state or district that is required to enroll the student since s/he was already in public school elsewhere, 2) feed the ego of parents who think that trying to teach their one year old to read is the way to make sure s/he is ahead of everyone else and 3) frighten parents with less material wealth than others into believing that they can't provide developmentally appropriate experiences for their children. Most children aren't ready for kindergarten at age four, though their parents ARE. Some children aren't ready when they're a "young five" when the school year starts. There is nothing wrong with being an "old five" starting kindergarten.

Kindergarten encompasses a certain stage in a child's development. It's a stage to experience, not a race to try to win.



*****

Feel free to grab the meme and address it in your blog- let me know if you do!

Fifteen Things on a Friday...

...about *moi,* in case you were wondering:

1) My favorite hobby would have to be crocheting blankets, but I think I'll be inspired to crochet scarves now that we're living someplace with much cooler winters!



2) My favorite season is winter, though autumn is a close second, especially since leaving Alaska several years ago.



3) I'm not into hunting and fishing like other members of my family, but I wander through antique malls whenever I get the chance. I'm on the lookout for a specific salt cellar that will complete my collection. I...WILL...FIND...IT.

4) I prefer vanilla/spicy scents over fruity, any day.



5) I don't get nervous about shots or getting my blood drawn since having children. A flu shot comes nowhere near the pain level that childbirth does.

6) I think love manifests itself in many different tones and forms, but none of them are cruel.



7) I have two favorite Christmas songs: Little Drummer Boy (duet) by Bing Crosby and David Bowie, and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (instrumental) by J.S. Bach.

8) I prefer to drink "foo foo" coffee in the morning, but occasionally will drink tea.



9) I can't swim, but have made sure my children don't have a water phobia.

10) I prefer walking to running, and only in cooler temperatures. Having gallons of sweat rolling off of me while getting sunburned holds no appeal for me whatsoever.



11) My favorite piece of jewelry is my wedding set, though I love my charm bracelet too.

12) I can whistle, but don't get me started or I'll never stop. As a teen, my mother and I tried to re-enact this scene but never made it all the way through because we'd burst out laughing:


13) I neither sing nor hum in the shower.

14) My favorite candies are peanut M-n-M's and Smarties. Never together though.





15) I'm an Eskimo who loves ice cream...big surprise. Dairy Queen's Peanut Buster Parfaits (with extra nuts) can just about make my day. So can plain ol' Tin Roof Sundae. And Rocky Road.

123 Book Meme

Meme rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people (I'm just inviting my readers- if you take up the meme, post back here so I'll know and can come take a peek)

I have two books stacked on top of each other, so I'll give you the meme-required-info from both and you can try to figure out where my brain has been for the last week:

Book number one:

"Suddenly, like a striking snake, she reached out and grabbed my hand in a fierce grip. "

Followed by:

"At once she twisted it behind my back and held me so that I could move neither forward nor backward but only cry out in pain: 'Anne! Don't! You're really hurting!' 'Well hear this,' she hissed in my ear. 'Hear this Mary. I am playing my own game and I don't want you interrupting. Nobody will know anything until I am ready to tell them, and then they will know everything too late."



Book number 2:

"After a neuron fires, a neurotransmitter swims across that synapse to a nearby neuron, and when it finds the lock and binds with it, that new neuron starts to fire."

Followed by:

"Not all keys fit all locks; there are certain locks (receptors) that are designed to accept only certain neurotransmitters. Generally, neurotransmitters cause the receiving neuron to fire or prevent it from firing. The neurotransmitters are then absorbed through a process called reuptake; without reuptake, the neurotransmitters would continue to stimulate or inhibit the firing of a neuron."



I signed up for Oprah's webclass too, so I'll be buying A New Earth and catching up on my reading each evening before next Monday- or trying to, since I'll probably be having too much fun spending time with Shannon visiting!

Fun Photobucket Meme

1) Answer the questions below.
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket.
3) Take any picture from the first page of results and post. (click on the picture and copy the HTML code)
4) Have fun!

~What age will you be on your next birthday? thirty nine!



~ A place you'd like to travel to/visit? Europe



~ Your favorite place? Home sweet home.



~ Your favorite object? My wedding ring.



~ What is your favorite food to eat? Chinese!



~ Your favorite animal is... a koala bear.



~ What is your favorite color?



~ What is your favorite t.v. show? The Tudors



~ Favorite celebrity male, favorite celebrity female? Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie



~ What is the name of your pet? Anni

(She's a cat, not a smiley though)

~ Who is your current love?



(actually, it's "Chris-the-Lasikally-enhanced-soldier-and-Harley-tech!"

~ What is your nickname? For some, it's "Mikey."



~ What's a bad habit of yours? OVER-cleaning! Ha!



~ What was your first job? I was a teacher aide!



Thanks for the meme, Paulette!