What I'm Thankful For (2011)

As I sit on my couch eating rather stale Tootsie Rolls I found in a plastic baggie at the back of the shelves in the kitchen, it is taking both of my arms and one of my legs to fend off my overly affectionate cat. Since I was out of town for (American) Thanksgiving, she apparently missed me and insists on sitting on my neck or face or shoulder or something, even though I am sitting bolt upright. If you use your imagination, you can see where we might be having some problems.

But other than fending off Squeaky, I also have a couple of minutes to belatedly devote to thinking about what I am thankful for. As an elementary school teacher, I am going to present them to you second-grade-style using standard sentence stems. You'll need to continue using your imagination and pretend that each of the following sentences is written on a construction paper turkey feather sticking out every-which-way from a lopsided construction paper turkey.

I am thankful for my decent health and strength which allows me to work, play, and live comfortably.

I am thankful for my family who supports me and tries their best to understand me.

I am thankful for my friends who make me laugh, counsel me, and take me just the way I am.

I am thankful for a cat who is healthy even in her old age and who brings such entertainment, love, and humor to my little apartment.

I am thankful for my job which every day brings challenges of different sorts, provides me with my living, and gives me the opportunity to interact with and learn from some amazing people.

I am thankful for my students who amaze me, make me laugh, make me proud, and even make me adore them when they have me pulling my hair out and twitching.

I am thankful for a safe, comfortable home where food is always available.

I am thankful for my sense of humor, because without it, life would be much more difficult than it needs to be.

I am thankful for the man who loves me, who makes me laugh, reminds me it is alright to slow down every once and a while, and seems to think that I am someone special. In fact, he does a rather good job making me feel that, despite my quirks, I am a good person.

I am thankful for the ability to play the piano as it brings me and (occasionally) my family such joy.

I am thankful for literature, because without books, I would be lost. As the cover to my nook says, "Books are a finer world within the world", though they are no replacement for your own life, rather to be used as an enhancement.

I am thankful for the educational opportunities I have had that have helped shape me as a professional, educator, permanent student, citizen, and human being.

I am thankful that I am alive because even the days I spend more time crying than laughing couldn't be traded for anything better.

Because I'm Awesome (#6)

• I have had chocolate cake for breakfast every day this week. I'm single, in my twenties, and there was chocolate cake on the counter.
• At 8:15 I made the decision to get in the shower in five minutes. That way I would have time to take a leisurely shower, let my hair dry a bit before bed, not be rushed in the morning, and still get to do my bedtime calm-down routine at a reasonable hour. It is now 8:57.
• Since I was too lazy to walk to the bedroom and get a pillow, I am using the armrest to support my head and neck as I sprawl on the couch. It is not comfortable at all. In fact, I may not be able to move my neck when I finally get up, but whatever. I don't think I really use my neck, anyway.
• I talked to my mom on the phone twice today. I also talked to her yesterday.
• After school, I hid from all of my colleagues so that I could have quiet work time and sit unlady-like on a chair while I corrected tests. 
• Now that the chocolate cake is gone, I am a little worried about finding a suitable breakfast tomorrow. I will probably have to eat something like cereal or oatmeal. Who am I kidding? I'll probably have something like cheese and crackers, marshmallows, or chips and salsa. Maybe there will be cupcakes or cookies in the lounge tomorrow at work. As long as they are nut-free, I can sometimes snag a breakfast of champions while I make my copies in the morning.

4th Graders Saving the Environment

I was recently grading the 4th grade Unit 1 science test about the environment, and I learned more correcting the tests than I did teaching and preparing. The unit was a hodge-podge of food webs, ecosystems, and pollution.

The second page of the test had only two questions on it. One asked students to list five serious threats to the environment, and the other question asked five ways to protect, preserve, or save the environment. The idea was that the number one item on the first list would correspond with the number one reason on the second, but I wasn't too picky about that.

Below are some of my favorite fourth grade ideas. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I do.

Serious Threats to the Environment:

• misqitos (mosquitos)
• people stepping on plants
• animals dying outside
• You have to wear a mask in the street.

Ways to Preserve, Protect, or Save the Environment:

• Don't kill bats.
• Stop stepping on flowers.
• No crashing boats.
• Don't throw sugar in the water.
• Die.

"Animal Parts" Just Sounds Kind of Gruesome

My first grade students and I started our "Here Come the Animals!" unit on Thursday. Last year when I taught this unit, I had a full-size classroom with multiple whiteboards, so I used one of those whiteboards and drew several animals and labeled the parts. The plus side of this was that I could erase, change, and quiz the kids. The downside was, of course, that other classes and even my other, older classes were obsessed with erasing bits and parts of the animals so that I was constantly redrawing the turtle's leg, the cat's head, etc.

This year, since I teach in what used to be an office space and share with a couple of colleagues, we do not have the luxury of writing things on the board and leaving them there for two weeks. Still, I wanted the animals with their labeled parts posted somewhere in the room. Unfortunately, this meant I had to make a poster. The plus side is that no one is going to erase parts of the animals. The downside is that I cannot redraw or unlable things as needed. Also, I had to choose a heading and stick with it.

My heading choices, as far as I could figure, were "Animal Parts" or "Parts of Animals", but the more I thought about either of these choices, the more I became convinced that they were both gruesome. Whenever I said one of the possible headers in my head, my mind automatically conjured up gory images of disconnected, bloody stumps of animal legs, paws, wings, and beaks floating in space. Some might say I need psychiatric help, but really I just try to head off issues with my students.

It was eventually decided that "Parts of Animals" was far less gory, and the project was begun. Because I am lucky enough to have an awesome boyfriend, he spent about two hours today working with me on this poster. Sprawled out on the hardwood floor with markers, books, and pencils, we worked hard to represent different animals and include decent animal part vocabulary. Fortunately for me, Mr. Sturm is a much better artist than I am. Unfortunately for me, Mr. Sturm is a much better artist than me, and he saw me draw. The last animal we put on the poster was the bear, and I was having such a hard time (Too fat. Not fat enough. Why does he have his legs like that? He looks part lion. etc.), Mr. Sturm took the pencil and completed the back half and the face of the bear.

Take a look at the poster below and see if you can tell which animals I drew and which Mr. Sturm drew. The bear was part me, mostly him, but other than that, I drew four, he drew three, and we both worked on one other.

Give up? Answers below:

Cat: McDougalhopper
Dog: McDougalhopper
Horse: Sturm
Bird: Sturm
Duck: Sturm
Elephant: McDougalhopper
Fish: McDougalhopper
Turtle: Joint effort. The reason he looks like he has been run over can be credited to me.

I'm lucky to have someone who is just as happy to draw animals on a poster with me as go out. I'm also lucky (and so are my students) that he happens to be a decent drawer. My elephant is pretty good though, right? I'm pretty proud of that slightly crazed elephant.

In other news, I got flowers!