My Cousin is the BEST!

Yesterday was my eMINTS night. While it sounds kind of edible, it's really just a class I have to take in order to get all sorts of fun electronic gadgets for my classroom - a digital projector, camera, scanner, and a computer for every two students. Anyway, twice a month I have to attend 4 hours of class after a full day of work. It isn't especially fun. So I'm always pretty wasted when I get home. I walked in about 8:30 last night and found a package for me on the counter. I couldn't remember ordering anything - then I noticed the return address was "C.Roth" - my cousin in Washington D.C. Inside I found a wonderful little Earth Day care package. It included some environmentally safe cleaning stuff, a CD of earth related songs, and my favorite - a canvas shopping bag marked with our family name and wedding date.

Thanks, Christine, you don't know what a pick-me-up that was at just the right moment. Everyone should have such nice people in their family.

What you find when you clean...

I've been looking for this photo for a couple of years now:

This is how Lucas got hooked on the computer. He was about 21 months here. It was the summer after Anna was born. He figured out that if he pressed the keys something happened on the screen. You could see his mind working. He would press the keys, watch what happened and giggle over and over and over...

This just reinforces the idea that one should clean out their sock drawer more often than once every three years.

Babies are so wonderful

I spent a lovely afternoon holding my cousin's new baby girl. I haven't spent much time with babies lately. Whenever we have parent/teacher conferences I try to snag the baby from the carriage or stroller for a cuddle. But lately, no one in my class has had a baby sibling for me to get my baby fix.

Thanks Aimee and baby Olivia for letting me get in touch with my grandmotherly side. Keeps me from annoying my own children.

Ancient Life

If I did have to live in ancient times I might want to live here:
It stayed relatively cool in the summer, was easy to warm in the winter. And the views are magnificent. Just watch that first step!






Mesa Verde National Park was spectacular. I had never been there before. It was a nice getaway and not to far from home. I even felt good enough to hike some. Woo Hoo! And when we weren't hiking I managed to find a shoe store that carried really comfortable shoes. I came home with two pairs of shoes that appear to keep my feet from hurting when I walk on the darned concrete floors at work.

Where Is March???

I just realized I have no posts since February 14th. And I even had a whole week off at the end of March. No one will bother to come here because it's so out of date. Sorry, friends. If you do come here hoping to see an update I'll try to provide one more often.

Happy Valentine's Day

I made an amazing discovery this Valentine's Day. According to one of my students I'm "The best teacher in the whole world." And since she put it in writing, it must be true. So all of you other teachers out there - watch out! Happy Day to those of you who celebrate this made up holiday.

I'm Lazy

It's nice to have student work up on the walls of a classroom. Parents love to see it, kids love to have it there, it looks good. But it's a pain in the you-know-what to keep changing it out. So after working through the possibilities I came up with a system. It might seem a little elaborate, but I anticipate it saving me lots of time. I could have given the kids a few push pins and told them to pin up their work. But knowing fifth grade boys there would have been push pin wars. So this is what I came up with. The little yellow buttons are magnets glued to thumbtacks and then spray painted because they look cuter in yellow. The kids put paper clips on their papers and the magnets hold them to the board. They can change out their work whenever they want. Lazy is good.