the swing of things

We're back at it here in the high desert of New Mexico! Today marked the beginning of week three of teaching and I couldn't be happier (with some things, there are still those that are in need of a good overhaul, but I'll get to that later)!

In the past two years of my teaching, one area that I really struggled with was classroom management. While I happily made my way through each day, I knew that things were not their best, but I was never 100% sure what to do, or how to articulate what was going on to get help from outsiders. Well, this year I am feeling a million times better about what is going on in my classroom procedurally.

This year my school began implementing a behavior management strategy called 1-2-3 Magic. I must say, it is kind of magical. While I am still refining some of the ins and outs of the method, I am no longer putting energy into disciplining my students and explaining to them what was going on. Let's face it, they're five and they don't care. Now I can simply look at them and say 1 (or 2, or 3) and typically they'll mutter an "okay" and stop. Magic I tell you! This past Friday I didn't need to count for anyone! At the end of the day I am not musing over what went wrong, about whether or not my students hate me, or what I could have done differently (with regards to behavior). They're misbehaving, I say "one" and they typically stop.

In addition to our management magic I have some stellar routines going on. Last year I tried using chimes in my classroom as an attention getter, but I was horrible at being consistent with them. This year I ring the chimes, everyone stops what they are doing, they put their hands in their laps, and they look at me. I start counting down from 3 and by 0 they are silent and looking at me. I say rule check and they are silent and looking at me. When we use white boards if we are moving on to something else that does not require the boards they automatically sit on them and burry their markers in their laps (today I didn't even get to tell them what to do, I turned on the projector and they started cleaning their boards and sat on them right away!). So, management is coming along quite nicely. It only took me two years of bumbling around to figure this one out (at least for the time being).

Another area of struggle for me in the past has been teaching math. While there are numerous math teachers in my family, I have always struggled with finding ways to make math exciting when all we are doing is writing numbers, counting, naming shapes, etc. I think that this is coming along pretty well this year as well. I am much more cognizant of getting manipulatives into the hands of my kinders and using rhymes and story telling to keep them engaged in lessons. I think our grasp of routines has also helped with our math lessons. They know when manipulatives are tools and not toys, and they have learned that if they are playing they need to draw circles instead of using bears, cubes, or blocks. I still have some learning to do in this area, but I think we're coming along nicely!

The one area that got me today was center time. I had planned out my centers, but I had visions of my students from last year when I was doing this. I must elaborate, I had visions of my students from the END of the year last year when I was planning. Kinders at week three of school have very different abilities when compared to kinders at week 36 of school. Lesson learned, I will need to play around and finagle some, but we'll get there eventually.

All in all, I am very happy with where we are as a class this year. I cannot wait to see my kinders grow, learn, and excel this year. It is always so exciting to watch them as they grasp new skills and have aha moments. 

In addition to my new group of kinders, I have a new group of grade level teachers. So far they have made teaching so much more enjoyable! We work together very well and get along perhaps a little too well (it takes forever to lesson plan, but we have a great time doing it!)! They truly love their students and they are invested in their classrooms. We talk every day and share ideas. We are helping one another grow and become better teachers every day.

I have heard from friends that year three of teaching is the best, and at week three, I must say that I agree.

back to school

It is hard to believe that summer has come to an end (at least in teacher terms). Teachers started back on Thursday and our kiddos will show up bright eyed and bushy tailed (right?) on Monday. I personally started back about a week before it was mandated in an effort to get my classroom together. It isn't finished yet, there are some things that will require student involvement in order to get our walls filled up, others that will require teaching, and others still that simply require me to have more time. Until that time comes, take a look at my classroom as the students will see it on Monday morning (minus the changes that happened this afternoon when I stopped in for about an hour with the mister in tow).

new mexico

Home, sweet home. After five weeks on the road it was nice to roll across the state line on Tuesday morning. We weren't ready to put an end to our adventure yet though, and took a little side trip to Capulin Volcano, just east of Raton. As we drove, you could see the features of the volcanic field rising in the distance.

raton-clayton volcanic field

We ate a quick lunch, made from our remaining food stores, and then went to check out the couple of trails at the monument. We hiked the first trail, winding through the cinders. The second trail took us through one of the vent areas around the volcano. As we hiked the Boca Trail my heels started to blister since I hadn't taken the time to find socks in our overstuffed car. The clear solution to prevent further blistering, and the one that was employed on this hike, was to start running. Running on my toes meant that my heels weren't rubbing. Perfect. We saw an awesome trail, we got some running in, and, for the most part, my feet were happy.

With that out of our system, we drove up to the crater of the Capulin. We hiked around the rim of the crater and then down into the vent. Looking out from the rim trail we could see for miles. The volcanic field was somewhat moderate, but beautiful none-the-less. We could see storms forming in the distance, and so we took that as our sign to get down to lower elevations. 

inside the vent

At that point we were exhausted. We tabled our plan to go to Bandelier National Monument and instead made the push for home. As nice as it would have been to get one more tent night in, it was fabulous to sleep in our own bed after being gone for so long. Ah, home, sweet home.

colorado

Upon our departure from Nebraska, we moseyed down to Colorado to spend some time with Sarah and James (and Lucy, Monkey, and Milo). It was nice to get some more relaxation in, eat some delicious food (if you have never grilled romaine or peaches, do it, now), and just catch up.

grilled peaches

On Monday morning we went out to Chautauqua Park to explore. This is one of our favorite city parks of all time. The mister was able to run Green Mountain, and I hiked and ran all over the place. With the Flat Irons looming over you, nicely groomed trails under your feet, and friendly outdoorsy people all around, it is hard to not have a smile on your face the whole time you are on the trails. It also helps that during the summer there are fun summer programs going on, like play sword fighting, in the green space.

the flat irons

the mister at the top of green

spotted on my run/hike

That afternoon we went south to Golden to meet up with my friend Michelle and get in an afternoon hike. We played around at Mount Galbraith Park and had a great time on the lollypop trail there. The views were amazing and it was nice to catch up after not having seen one another for a year. Plus, Michelle had just helped one of her aunts clean out her classroom and she gifted me with some items that have already been put to use in my classroom!

the mister playing around on mount galbraith

me and michelle

After our day of exploration, we met back up with Sarah to go out for sushi. We waited forever, but our rolls were pretty tasty. It was fantastic to sit, talk, and spend time together. After eating fantastic food, we had some pretty awesome milkshakes from Sonic (for half off since we were there late). It may not be an everyday thing, but those milkshakes were awesome (and served as a mid-morning snack the following day as we made our way to New Mexico).

aren't they cute

nebraska

Oh, the good life. There's just something about Nebraska that feels relaxing and comforting. Perhaps it is because our time there is always spent with family and friends. As our summer came to a close, it was fantastic to once again connect with family and to spend time with friends.

Alice loved taking selfies

Our time in Nebraska began on the east, where we were able to spend a night with the Blair Halls. We played with Alice, ate good food, and rode our bikes out for ice cream. Heather and I stayed up for hours on end chatting, and JD made a delightful breakfast of crepes in the morning. As always, our time quickly came to a close, but it's nice to have those moments to connect whenever we can.

photo by Heather Hall Photography

After Blair we began to work our way west. We stopped in Omaha for lunch with friends and then moved on to Lincoln for dinner, ice cream, and a night of walking the city. We had a lot of catching up to do, and we got as much done as possible with non-stop conversation. 

Leaving Lincoln, we made a turn south to Beatrice to visit the Homestead National Monument. It was a little out of the way, but it was well worth the trip. We saw a traditional homestead, listened to an interview with the last homesteader (1974), and walked through the prairie. We saw the tools that were used when individuals worked on their claimed property, learned about the hardships faced, and gained a better understanding of life as a homesteader. 

the proportion of land in Nebraska that was homesteaded

Finally, we really made our way west. We rolled into Ogallala in the late afternoon and once again relaxed with family. We were bombarded with great food (as usual) and were able to catch up on all that has happened since Bruce and Linda visited in June. Chris busied himself with yard work throughout the visit, but took a break to introduce me to some of his high school friends at his class reunion. And then, on Sunday it was time to take off again.

hanging out in the grasslands

The problem with summer is that it comes to an end. And this summer it has meant cutting things short thanks to a late start on our road trip. But, that's the way things go sometimes and all that we can do is make the best of it (which I think we do a pretty good job of doing).

kentucky

After we left Maryland we passed through the rolling mountains of West Virginia and into the Bluegrass of Kentucky. The landscape was welcoming and made for a relatively easy drive. We were hit with bursts of rain as we wound our way into the center of Kentucky, in search of a big hole in the ground. 

We made it to Mammoth Cave National Park in the early evening and were surprised to learn that we had passed into the Central Time Zone. We were just a few minutes late to check out the visitor's center that day and so we moved on to find camping. We discovered that while there were numerous sites open, they were in a section of the campground that can only be used with reservations or if you had an RV. We found this to be odd since the vendor in charge of the campground was essentially saying that they would not take our money because we had not reserved a space online and did not have an RV. One would think that they would simply be happy to get $17 a night, but instead we drove around to the "primitive" campsites on the west side of the park. We had luck here and instead of paying $17 a night we paid $12, camped right on the water, and only had about ten other campmates (as opposed to 110). I'd say we won in the grand scheme of things, we just had a bit of a drive from the center of the park.

Once camping was figured out we settled in for a night of bad country music and abundant campfires from our neighbors. We found the local hotspot for a Saturday night for sure. 

For our first full day of exploring at Mammoth Cave we adventured above ground. We had a rocky start as I managed to wipe out on my bike about ten feet into our ride, but after that we had roughly 17 miles of uninterrupted riding on the park's Railroad Bike and Hike Trail. After finishing our ride we had some lunch and then set out on the hiking trails. We had views of the Green River and numerous sink holes; we were able to check out the natural entrance (and natural air conditioning) of the cave system; and we came across hundreds of miniature toads. While most people go to Mammoth Cave simply for the experience of going into the world's largest cave, I would recommend taking the time to see what is happening above ground as well. It's pretty spectacular.

bike and hike trail

nature's canvas

look closely for bullfrogs and dragonflies 

toads the size of my pointer finger nail

golden salamanders

On our second day at Mammoth Cave we spent the morning visiting some trails that wind through some of the more prominent sink holes in the park (Cedar Sink and Turnhole Bend) and then we prepared for cave explorations. Even in the middle of summer caves can be quite chilly. We bundled up and listened as our Park Ranger explained how we would be going over the bottomless pit and climbing several hundred stairs on the Historic Tour. We were also warned that Mammoth Cave is not a wet cave - this means that there are not spectacular formations (like stalagmites and stalactites) - but that we would see the remnants of saltpeter mines from the war of 1812. This was a whole new caving experience for us. The passageways were quite large (except for fat man's misery and tall man's misery) and the rooms were monstrous. It was great to see just how different caves can be when they are formed differently.

the natural entrance

the sign says it all

We had a slight break after finishing the Historic Tour before going underground at dusk. We went on a lantern tour to explore the Star Chamber (this place once inspired Emerson to write the poem, "Illusions") and to see Gothic Avenue. After the introduction by the Park Ranger (with warnings to not touch anything) we once again passed through the natural entrance of the cave. This time our passage was different from our earlier tour as everything was transformed in the light of a mere 12 lanterns as opposed to the standard stage lighting that runs through the cave. We passed by rooms that had been used in attempts to cure tuberculosis patients and into the famous Star Chamber. 

In the chamber, with our lanterns having been removed from our immediate surroundings, the night sky appeared above us. The stars began to twinkle and you could see the edges of the canyon walls that enveloped us. And then we were brought back to reality. We were 160 feet underground. Everything that we were seeing was a breathtaking illusion. Then, we dove into darkness as the rangers took our lanterns on a walk. One of the experiences that I always look forward to in a cave is this exposure to pure darkness. It is a moment that is as relaxing as it is tense. It is freeing, yet claustrophobic. And then some kid stomps his feet to make those annoying little lights start to flash. With teacher voices coming out of the mouths of every other person on the tour, this youngster stopped pretty quickly, but the moment was lost. I am of the opinion that with all of the requirements that are in place with regards to entering caves, flashing shoes should join cigarettes and fire arms on the list of banned items.

We finished this final tour with a pass through Gothic Avenue. Here we saw the names of those that came before us - carved and smoked into the walls of the cave. Some names were backward thanks to the brilliant idea of using cosmetic mirrors to lessen the strain on one's neck when defacing the cave (and to keep animal fat from the candles from dripping on one's face). There were cairns that had been built over the course of tours after writing names had been banned. It was fantastic. We did turn the lights on for a short while as we left the passageway so that we could have a better look at the names, and then we finished the tour by light of the lanterns once more.

names with a cairn built to honor kentucky (yes, it touches the ceiling)

some of those backward names

We climbed out of the cave into more darkness. We cleaned our shoes (to help prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome) and then went our separate ways. For us, that meant returning to the car for a night of driving. Kentucky was fun, but with the end of summer approaching, we had to be on our way.