spring

I may be jumping the gun a bit here, but it seems as if spring has come to Gallup. Last week we had afternoons in the fifties, contrasting heavily with the mornings in single digits, but that's spring in the desert. 

Spring has also come to the Hall House. With this spring semester we found ourselves exhausted by the start of a new semester of grad school and we found ourselves sifting through items that we rarely use and making trips to Goodwill to donate that which was still in good condition. (We even managed to drop off our goodies without going in to replace it all, as is our usual modus operandi.)

It has been fortunate that we had a three-day weekend following our first week back to our very busy lives. We have been allowed to mix work with fun, cleaning with relaxing, and all in all, have a pretty balanced weekend. Sure, there are chapters to read and papers to write, but we're taking things at a more relaxed pace which is nice.

For me, this is quite the change. Perhaps a good one. I generally go full force, right out of the gate. But, maybe after so many years of go, go, go, I'm figuring out how to apply my slow and steady running strategy to life. When I have a due date that is several weeks away, I don't need to be working on the assignment now. I can balance my drive to be successful in school with the joy that I find in long, lazy runs and afternoons of crafting.

Spring is here. A time of new growth, of blossoms, of sunny afternoons. For me, it may just mean a time of growth in how I approach life. Spring is good.

testing and snow

We returned to school on Monday and in the afternoon at professional development we learned that we had to do our next round of standardized testing. Our testing period is over next Wednesday, but as a grade level we decided to schedule our testing days for yesterday and today. Since my kinders are rock stars, we had perfect attendance yesterday and today. That means I am done. No make ups to do. Tests are turned in. Check!

To top off the excitement of finishing up testing, it started snowing this afternoon! And the ground was covered when we released students. They were so excited when we went out to wait for rides. They were running around, catching snowflakes on their tongues, laughing as snowflakes settled on their eyelashes, and of course making the occasional snowball even though it was explicitly stated that students were not to make snowballs upon dismissal. The joys of being in kindergarten. Actually, the joys of snow. I don't think it matters how young or old you are, if you enjoy the snow it is always an exciting experience to stand out and watch the flakes fall around you.

Now it's time to play the "What will tomorrow bring?" game. Will we have a normal school day? A two-hour delay? A snow day? Only time will tell.

oh hail

Literally. This afternoon my kinders kept on telling me that it was going to rain. In the desert, you can smell it coming. Today we had a bitter chill though, so when the rain did come, at student pick-up time, it was not liquid, but solid. At first everyone was excited because it appeared to be snow. Then it came down harder. So hard, in fact, that it hurt. We rushed all of the kiddos inside to look for their rides and signed them out from the warmth of the building.

I hope that this weather doesn't continue through the evening. While I would appreciate a late start, I really don't want it to be tomorrow. With two thirty minute practice sessions a day for our trip to the nursing home tomorrow, I really want to make sure that it happens. The kiddos are so excited about performing and riding the bus. Right now the fact that they get to trick or treat while we are there hasn't even crossed their minds. They just want to meet the special grandparents. 

Fingers crossed for a whole day of Halloween havoc tomorrow.

busy busy blah

Saturday and Sunday flew by once again. Saturday morning the mister and I walked downtown to peruse the farmer's market and to grab a few goodies from the co-op. Then it was home with our noses tucked into grad school work. We did manage to go out with friends on Saturday evening through, which is always a pleasant escape from the world of work and more work.

Yesterday was a fantastic day. The mister and I both ran in a local half marathon. It was a little chilly, but we had a beautiful day out on the trails. We both ran faster than we did last year (an easy feat for me since I did not run last year). Of course, once our time on the trails were done we rushed home to more work - chores, planning for the week, and grad school work.

Today was my blah. I was in training all day, which I will say was fantastic, but the energy that I have while teaching was missing. I don't know if that was the result of running yesterday, but I suspect that it was the result of sitting all day and listening to someone talk. The presenter was really engaging, but I am used to getting up and moving around nearly every fifteen minutes - I have grown accustomed to the attention span of a five year old.

Now it's off to more grad school. Tonight is a reading class, and thankfully it should not entail more sitting. We have a gallery walk of how our school and/or classrooms promote reading. Here's a little look at what reading looks like in my classroom and school.

go away

Rain, rain, go away. I never thought that I would say that in the desert, but seriously, I have seen more rain in the past month than I did in all of last year. Today, it really hit the kinders. No outdoor recess means crazy kiddos crammed into a small space. That also means crazy teachers! 

My assistant and I did all that we could to keep our little learners engaged. Some of our strategies worked. Some did not. Mostly, our kinders just needed to go outside and run it out - which they could not. 

One strategy that worked wonderfully for about twenty minutes was the reveal of a newly delivered book order box. This was a first for my class this year and I had them try to guess what was in the box. When they guessed books, I opened it up for them to see. I explained that when they ordered books on the monthly book order forms they got books and our classroom got books. Our student who ordered books in September received her order and we clapped and cheered because our classroom earned fourteen books thanks to her! 

After our cheering subsided, we looked at the titles and covers of each of the books that our classroom received. The students oohed and aahed and then they were able to tell me which one they wanted to listen to. After their choices had been voiced, I pulled the named books out and they were able to vote. When the votes were tallied up, the winner was...

They LOVED it! They laughed, they predicted, they elaborated, and they retold the story. It was glorious. Then things fell apart again until the next strategy that worked for about five or ten minutes, and so the day progressed. But, for twenty minutes, they were mine. They were in love with a book. They were my little kinders. Hopefully the weather will improve and they'll be my little kinders all day long when I see them again on Tuesday!