"Think left and think right and think low and think high..."

... oh the things you can think up if only you try!


Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!





I'm dressed as a Star Bellied Sneech today for our Read Across America activities (oversized yellow tee with green marabou trim, a single green star  heat-n-bonded to the front), and was able to make it through last night's baking adventure without taste testing too many samples of to-die-for blueberry muffins.  I'm partnered for "lounge duty" so treats and daily lounge clean up duties are on the agenda each day this week.  



(The Stars were **thrilled** with our guest reader, after all, she was accessorized with a sparkly tiara, sash and pretty dress!)


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Nummies I'm making for lounge treats:


peanut butter cookies  (I add a cup of honey roasted peanuts to the dough before baking)
pretzel/Rolo/pecan nummies (four bags of Rolos fills two large baking sheets)
blueberry muffins
oatmeal raisin spice cookies


Fruit (strawberries and grapes) and a large box of snack sized chips will bring the sweet-factor down a few notches... b-a-l-a-n-c-e.


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This year my daily schedule has been greatly impacted by the students and families I have as well as by Dear Husband's deployment: I have to work through every possible minute while at school each day since I can't stay late nor can I come in and work on the weekends like I did when Parent Number Two was here with Dear Daughter and the Pre-Schooler.


With third quarter quickly coming to a close, it's time for my students and I to plow through our mountain of common assessments so that the kindergarten team has additional “data, data, and more data” from which to interpret and divine daily teaching modifications and score our kindergarten report cards.  Maybe it's the hectic schedule, or maybe my preference for strictly observing developmentally appropriate practice holds more weight with me than does the public policy of turning kindergarten into the new first grade... but I'm .... tired.  Physically tired, mentally tired... and I can't help but notice that kindergarten is now rarely the joyful learning environment it used to be.  Labels, scores, diagnosis, data, interventions and concern dominate my conversations with colleagues and parents, pushing topics such as personality, quirks, apprehensions, interests, and daily a-ha moments, inquiries and silliness to the back burner.


Who my Super Stars are matters just as much, if not more so, than the tasks that they can perform.  Drill and kill doesn't appeal to me, nor does expecting every child to perform every task on my timeline instead of their own.  Who should enter stage right at this point but Doug Noon, sharing links that are a must-read for me and any other early childhood/kindergarten teachers who question the current state of educational "reform."


I still believe I'm a good teacher in spite of NCLB, not because of it.


Yep, tired.


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"As you partake of the world's bill of fare, that's darned good advice to follow: do a lot of spitting out the hot air, and be careful what you swallow."
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It seems my favorite Dr. Seuss quote changes from year to year which is appropriate since 1) he had so many good ones and 2) life is always changing.  Professionally:


"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.  Some come from ahead and some come from behind.  But I've bought a big bat.  I'm all ready you see.  Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

...and personally (Dear Husband should be back this weekend for his two week R&R):

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

 

My Teaching Environment...

...has been inhabited by sixteen to thirty-four of these little characters annually. Mamacita reminded me of Edith Ann in her Quotation Saturday: Back to School post over at Scheiss Weekly. Quote number seven:

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. –Lily Tomlin as “Edith Ann”

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Wanting something a bit more palatable to eat?

Bakerella appeals to the teacher in me with her Candy Apple (cake) pops... who am I kidding? She appeals to the teacher/cake lover/cute-sweet-treat fan in me!

Make and Takes shares links to recipes for zucchini...

...and The Pioneer Woman Cooks (bakes) simple yet yummy banana bread!

Double Summer

For this teacher, the word "summer" is not only a name that refers to the sunniest and hottest season of the year, it's also the label I use to mark the break between school years, June-ish to the beginning of August. When chatting with other teachers about summer plans, they seem to instinctively use that double-entendre as well. There are summer plans that you have with friends and family (travel, cookouts, reunions) and summer plans that have to do with teaching (classes to take, trainings to attend, seminars promoted by your district).

This summer and summer have flown by for me. Good because I've obviously been busy, not-so-good because NOW I'm ready to start sleeping in. It takes me almost two full months to "come down" after the end of a school year, and by the time I'm really ready to recharge my batteries, it's time to go back. I enjoyed a SMARTBoard class and continued to share with and learn from my global professional learning community via blogging, Facebook and email. I've had fun with Dear Husband, Dear Daughter and the pre-schooler as we've spent extra family time together in preparation for DH's next deployment (Murphy's Law Zinger: he deploys the first day I have students). I've been crafty, had a semi-yard sale, cleaned house, done the Domestic Goddess routine, and have splurged occasionally on foo-foo coffee. I've snuck back into my classroom to get the big stuff arranged and ready for my newest group of Super Stars and Super Star Families, and I've enjoyed my new Jeep and MacBook Pro.

This past week-and-a-half, I've read through all nine Sookie Stackhouse novels (vampire/supernatural genre), a guilty pleasure to say the least. Another guilty pleasure will take hold today and tomorrow as I do my back-to-school baking, cookies for colleagues, my own version of staff support. Not sure the home baked treats will rate high on our district's Physical Health and Wellness Goals for this year, but hey, mental health and preservative-free endorphin-enhancers will certainly get us through our final room and grade level preparations, right? I know, I know, so will exercise. *Sigh* Just roll with me on this one, literally and figuratively. My kindergarten colleague J. requested these cookies at the end of LAST YEAR for this year's first batch, demonstrating superior calling dibs skills, though I'll also make oatmeal raisin spice cookies too.
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Celebrating our anniversary this weekend, my husband and I have opted to let others prepare our celebratory meals. We love PF Changs, especially their lettuce wrap appetizers, but were treated to exceptionally personable and wonderful service by Tony (manager) and Jamie (server) yesterday for lunch:



Honey Shrimp, Mongolian Beef, iced tea and champagne (a sneaky treat from Tony and Jamie) fueled us up so we could roam Barnes and Noble, sans children, to our hearts' content. Tonight we're off to Lidia's for dinner- looks like I'll need tomorrow's district Wellness Kick-Off Event after all!

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Click Here to take survey

Thank you for taking my Survey for Kindergarten's 3 R's! So far I have forty responses, but have 60 entries left from which to analyze data and feedback for what you'd like to see more of in the future- if you haven't taken the survey, it's quick and easy, just click on the survey link highlighted above!
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Linking You Up, part 1

...with recipes!



~ Smitten Kitchen's home fries sound like the perfect weekend breakfast (if you throw in some eggs and toast on the side, of course!) and I've bought the ingredients to make silky smooth pumpkin pie...

~ The Secret Recipe Blog shares its copycat McDonald's Big Mac Sauce...

~ I should have read Lifehacker's recipe for "Grandma's Penicillin" a few weeks ago- perhaps it would have helped to speed up my recovery from the creeping crud...

~ The Pioneer Woman Cooks cake balls (for Halloween), but I'm thinking they'd be a nice treat for Christmas or New Years with white frosting and sparkle sugar...snowballs? Ree also shares pumpkin cake with whiskey whipped cream...

~ Laura Rebecca's Kitchen bakes low-fat banana bread...

~ ...and if you just *have* to have your fill of pumpkin before Christmas rolls around but are also craving a bit of chocolate, Smitten Kitchen shares a recipe for pumpkin swirl brownies...

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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

Autumn Cleaning Bug

Not only am I a "spring cleaner," but I'm a holiday cleaner, a we're moving cleaner, an oh-what-the-heck-this-room-needs-freshening-up cleaner, and an autumn cleaner. With all of the rain we've had this past week in Oz (along with several days of slightly cooler weather), some of the leaves are starting to fade on the trees. Mums in vibrant orange, yellow and deep burgundy have arrived in stores and nurseries too, and some of my favorite magazines have hit the racks, full of photos, tips, and recipes for enjoying autumn's glory.



Yesterday I went for a drive, found my favorite teacher supply store, stocked up on "kid drawn leaves" (not really kid drawn, but cute nonetheless), Mary Englebreit pumpkin border and die cut pumpkins, hunted through two Goodwill stores searching for the perfect mirror to refinish (I'm trying to teach myself how to refinish wood and want to learn on something not-so-dear to my heart before I start eyeing our furniture) to no avail, and found some new orange craft ribbon for autumn banners. When I got home, the autumn cleaning bug bit.

When we first arrived in July, we had to endure some minor fiascoes that put off our usual unpacking routine. Delays included sealing the garage, having the walls repainted, the gutters cleaned and repaired, our rental property inspected to document all omissions/misrepresentations made by our agent, the air conditioner repaired, all with our furniture sitting in the middle of each room keeping boxes and boxes of our belongings company. Unpacking and getting settled usually takes us three days. This time, it took longer than three weeks, with the making-our-house-a-home part additionally delayed by the fact that school was starting.

The big pieces of furniture have been situated for over a month now, and almost all of the boxes have been unpacked with their contents sorted. Though a few new necessary bathroom repairs have popped up, almost everything has found its new home. But something has felt not quite right in each room. Last night as I was vacuuming what could best be called our den (though it's more my blog/crafting/reading hidey hole that our toddler loves to chuck toys through as he runs laps from the living room to the kitchen), the autumn cleaning bug told me "move the furniture. Move it a LOT." Two hours later, my loveseat and ottoman, desk, and bookcase were relocated, the computer and its accessories plugged in to a new outlet, and the mantle over the fireplace was toned down a bit with the removal of some photos. Less is more apparently!

Today with my family's indulgence, I'll see what other areas could be improved upon (the downstairs den could certainly use some fine tuning before Dear Daughter invites friends over for sleepovers) and after dusting, vacuuming, and moving furniture, I think I'll also put up some autumn decor. Leaves, pip berry garlands, possibly some twinkle lights...



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Before I clean, I'm baking a pull apart breakfast loaf for Dear Husband's birthday breakfast. Here are some other recipes I'm looking forward to trying this fall:

~ Michelle at Scribbit shares a cream cheese brownie pie...

~ Digging through the recipe box at Hostess With the Mostess, I found a recipe for caramel nut popcorn...

~ Posy Gets Cosy shares an easy corn chowder...

~... and The Pioneer Woman Cooks creamy carrot soup!

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When do *you* get bitten to clean, rearrange, and decorate?

Monday Munchies/Sweet Treats

Num, num, num:

The Pioneer Woman Cooks Blender Hollandaise Sauce...

The Kitchen Wench made a to-die-for cake for Father's Day (in Australia, Father's Day falls in September)...

Smitten Kitchen offers The Baked Brownie, Spiced Up (think of adding chipotle, cinnamon, and cardamom)

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Sweet treats as in "awwww, how sweeeeeeeeeeet!"

Sweet Pea has made some bunnies and bears with the most charming names: Philbert, Leopold, Sylvain, Coco...

Sally Jean offers some sweet September suggestions...

Vicki at This Art That Makes Me Happy has made button bouquets...

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...and Now for Some Fine Tuning and Tweaking...

In photos my blue bulletin boards really do dominate, don't they? Take a closer look though and you might be able to see signs of fine tuning in this corner, that corner, and some tweaking of the furniture arrangement (and oh look! The chairs have found their appropriate places too!):

To the rear, our reading "circle," literacy/story time/calendar area (I know, I still need a chair):



Students' desks and areas for computers, legos, and all of our math manipulatives (on shelves):



Dramatic Play to the left, puppets in the apple baskets, and painting/clay to the right (yes, I put up Kadinsky, Picasso, and Van Gogh prints):



The view from the rear classroom doors, next to the bathroom area:



I'm still sorting materials and supplies on the art cart:



Hmm, it looks like our kitchen (dramatic play) is in need of repair:



Here's a closer look at our storytime corner. In addition to our books and listening center, I place three tubs of math manipulatives, and three tubs of literacy/language games in this area so my students can have some additional practice with problem solving, patterning, and phonics whenever we get a free moment. I also use this area to introduce and explain worksheets or model small paper activities that tie into stories we've just read before sending students to work at their tables. Having their attention away from the noise of the hallway is a *good thing!*

And finally, a view from the storytime corner looking toward the front of the room. I have our wooden blocks and other large building manipulatives housed in the bookcase that is almost center photograph- the floor area is open enough that students can spread out, building cities, kingdoms, neighborhoods, and on carpet which will hopefully cushion/soften the noise created by the solid wooden blocks!

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I'm going to try to finish up my classroom arrangements and decor this week. I'll make center tags, hang some more decor from the ceiling over the students' desks (it's a wonderful place for patterns and art display), get the table baskets filled with crayons, pencils, glue and scissors, and start putting together journals. I'll get the curriculum kits reassembled, take a look at the kindergarten standards for Oz, and figure out a template for my lesson plans. Next week all teachers will meet for professional development at our school and throughout other district locations- I'll keep you posted!

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~ Head over to The Chancellor's New Clothes for this week's Carnival of Education (you might find someone familiar linked there!)...

~ No, I haven't forgotten that you enjoy trying out new recipes as much as I do! Once I see some pretty blueberries in the grocery store, I'm going to try Smitten Kitchen's Blueberry Crumb Bars and Blueberry Pancakes... I must have BLUE on the brain this week!

~ Ever cooked Eggs in a Basket? I've wanted to ever since Moonstruck came out (Olympia Dukakis makes it for breakfast in one scene). Thanks to The Pioneer Woman Cooks for sharing the method!

~Green Maintenance Monday~

We've stalled a bit indoors as I won't be able to set up the toddler's playroom or my craft area until my kindergarten materials, books, and decor are delivered to my new classroom later this week. Dear Husband checked the trees in our yard today instead, looking for branches that needed to be trimmed while the kids and I checked on the seeds that we planted for "filler-type" greenery and flowers for the remaining summer months.

The nasturtiums and pumpkins have sprouted, though I'm not sure if we'll actually get any pumpkins grown in time for Halloween with such a late planting. The kids were inspired by the pumpkin photos at Chance Family Happenings:





Dear Husband trimmed back some branches that were obscuring traffic/street signs:







...and he discovered a few branches that the electric company will have to come out to cut and remove (see where the power line is?):





Later this afternoon I'll re-pot some of my indoor plants into larger containers, anticipating what new greenery I can find to put into the newly emptied pots!

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Thanks for being green, Kermit:




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~SmittenKitchen shares a recipe for Sauteed Radishes (yes, radishes!), Sugar Snap Peas and Dill

~Paper-and-String is working on Christmas in July (check out her trees, reindeer, and puddings)

~Doug has "heavier" reading on his summer book list than I do, but I'm intrigued after reading his thoughts on Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine. NCLB is an issue that has ties that stretch much further than our classrooms, school district offices, states, even country.

~Dear Daughter enjoyed her birthday, but wanted a plain ol' vanilla cake (with purple streaks swirled in) with strawberry icing. Guess I'll have to wait for another celebration to try The Pioneer-Woman-Cooks' Yogurt and Orange Marmalade Cake.

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Happy Monday!

Simple, Yummy, Summer

Though I'm a chocoholic, here's what I've been craving and enjoying this summer:



Yep, apples, celery, raisins, and walnuts.



My family doesn't care for this salad (more for me!), so I only make enough for one:

1 apple

2 or 3 stalks of celery

1/4 cup of raisins

1/4 cup of chopped walnuts

1 tsp. of mayo, just enough to coat the apples so they don't brown too quickly

Chop up the apple and celery stalks, toss in the raisins and walnuts, and coat with the mayo. It's even better if the apple and celery have chilled in the fridge overnight- cool, crispy, fruity and green at the same time. I suggest you make this the same day you plan on eating it as the apples still brown rather quickly, and if the salad is left overnight in the fridge, the walnuts and raisins get soggy.

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Dear Daughter is expressing interest in learning about "meal preparation." In tiny, baby increments. She's good at mac and cheese, makes a terrific toasted ham/cheese/potato chip sandwich, and has learned how to make chicken flavored ramen noodles. I know, I know, basic stuff. Today she had some excess broth left over from the noodles as Toddler only wants "oodles" when it comes to ramen, no "juice." For a reason that still escapes me, she put the left over broth into a glass, intending to let it cool off completely before pouring it into a sippy cup for the toddler, to see if he likes the taste of it. I asked her how she'd explain the "juice" to him.

She said she'll tell him it's chicken juice. From freshly squeezed chickens.

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*Michelle at Scribbit shares her Aunt Nancy's recipe for Asian Chicken Salad (hey, more ramen!)

*If fruit smoothies are more your style, The Pioneer Woman Cooks a Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie (the color alone will amaze you!)...

*Amy at AngryChicken is making me wonder just where, oh where in my yard I can plant rhubarb, so I can make Rhubarb Hand Pie.

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Finding so many great blogs since my spring blogroll update means I'll have to try to find time to update my links before school starts. I'll keep you posted!

When I Grow Up

In my youth, whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I replied that I wanted to be an astronaut, princess, restaurant owner, mommy, and book author.

I also wanted to be Wonder Woman:


Can you blame me? Gorgeous, big hair, awesome figure, bullet-proof bracelets, stylin' boots, a tiara, stars...and she could always get the truth out of people (okay, so she had to lasso them to do it...still...)

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Can Wonder Woman cook/bake? Just wondering!
*Leave it to Cakespy to post the recipe I've been looking for all year! BISCOCHITO!

*Smitten Kitchen shares a recipe for Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies that I HAVE to try this week...

*Tracy Porter shares her mother's friend's Decadent Crab Appetizer

*Did you watch Oprah's Sandwich Showdown? Here are the recipes (I can't wait to try the Lobster Grilled Cheese by Billy Grant)!

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Decor8 has posted the mother of all linktime blogs showcasing Australian Design- I'm going to spend most of my weekend clicking away...watch out blogroll!

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Show and Share Thursday: Spangles, Dangles, and Jangles

When I discovered Kirk's Folly jewelry and accessories on QVC years ago, I was hooked! Barrettes, necklaces, bracelets, brooches and watches all made their way to my jewelry box. Since then, I've purposely re-arranged my sparkly stuff each time we've moved to see if I can accommodate any new pieces when they catch my eye.



Here are some of my favorite "teacher" pieces. I wear them all regularly during the appropriate holiday season, and the teacher watch at all parent teacher conferences. For Halloween and Thanksgiving, it's all about the brooches:



At Christmas and in winter, my jackets and sweaters sparkle with a patriotic snowman and a cluster of snowflakes:



Here's an easy way to wear green in March:



My teacher watch, patriotic watch and wedding anniversary bracelet:



...and the last piece I bought before leaving Kansas:



Students always love to examine the jewelry I wear: it sparkles, it moves, and some of it even makes the best little tink-tink-tink noises!

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Just in time for Mother's Day:

*Seasonal Delights shares a tutorial for making Gift Flowerpots

*CakeSpy has cakey/sweet/dessert treats for the Overbearing Mom!

*Smitten Kitchen shares Martha's Macaroni and Cheese recipe...

Show and Share Thursday: Thimbles

My mother started a thimble collection for me *years* ago, which thankfully several friends have continued to add to:



Pewter thimbles, porcelain thimbles, metal thimbles, figurine-style thimbles, Royal Family thimbles... though in honor of May Day, I'll show you closeups of the floral thimbles:

A daffodil and a shamrock:

A red rose with golden leaves:

California sunflowers:

A lotus:

A vining flower on black lacquer:

Pink porcelain rosettes on glass:

A bunny hiding amongst leaves and flowers:

Old Country Roses:

Blue....what are they?

And my favorite, pink roses:


Do you know which thimble I'd find hilarious to add to my collection?


Yep, the Monopoly Thimble!

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Have you ever played the Thimble Game?

One person hides the thimble somewhere in a room. Children/family members are then allowed into the room to hunt for the thimble one by one. Once each child has found it, he/she leaves it and sits down in the middle of the room. After all the children have found it, the first one to find it gets to hide it the next round. Of course the giggles, twitters, inhales of breath, etc., make it easier for younger children to play as they take their cues from the other players who are trying their hardest to not give the location away!

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~Inspired Ideas, volume1, number 3 has arrived!

~Ez at Creature Comforts offers a "D.I.Y. Paper Wrapped Soaps" tutorial in time for Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation Week...

~Skip to My Lou offers some of the cutest Teacher Appreciation gift/craft ideas I've seen in a looooooonnnnnnnnggggggggg time!

~Laura Rebecca's Kitchen is baking again, this time it's Peanut Butter Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Cookies...num!

~Kelly at PhotoJojo has found a web site that will "oldify" photos you choose to upload...

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And my newest blog discovery?

Liquid Sky Arts

(go, go, go, you know you want to!)

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Don't forget to leave a comment here for my blue wreath giveaway!