How did the twelfth month of the year get here already? Seems like just yesterday we were cleaning up Christmas items and getting out the new planners for the year.
Planners, I have an obsession for planners. I have passed this on to Allison and we both get so excited when we can get a new one. One problem: I seem to have too many, I am super organized and yet I feel as if I have planners here there and everywhere. I have a plan book for school and a calendar at home and a planner that I write lists on and so on and so on. I know only have one and it will be great. Not!!! I can't seem to stream line my school planning to the computer which is required, cause this 45 soon to be 46 year old brain still likes to plan with the pencil and the tiny little squares that have helped me for the last 10 years. I try to color code all my daily work and put it in folders, and then the class wakes up and we have to switch gears in mid day and so on and so on.
I plan to the point that I sometimes think I forget little things. I then give myself a break and not do certain chores, and then the day later, I feel so behind. A vicious cycle if there ever was one.
I am not decorating for Christmas as we are going to Arizona and I really feel no guilt for this. I feel relief and I hope that we can remember this Christmas and hope to repeat it again soon. I want to plan to not stress and not fall into the trap where we have to do Christmas as Walmart wants us all to do Christmas. I am grateful that we are able to travel, have decorations to put up if we wanted and that I have the ability to plan. I hope to not plan over the holidays so, that means lots of planning for January in the next two weeks. I know I have a sickness and I must learn to accept that I am an organization freak and I need a new planner cause the old one only has 31 days left to fill in the blanks.....Peace to each of you.
Jeff and I
Twenty-Eight Years
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Colors
Color is a part of my life everyday. I am the keeper of the crayons. I can hand them out at will, I pick them up off the floor about 1000 times a day. I discuss the slight differences in colors when the dispute arises as to if this is green or light green. To most this may seem trivial. It is a big deal in the first grade classroom.
It is amazing to me the number of children that I have had over the years that have never had a coloring book.
A good friend of mine, Janet and I used to talk about how calming coloring can be. We would try to have our class learn the technique of coloring and show the children that we enjoyed this activity as much as they did.
Yesterday I was helping my children with a math page. The page asked the children to color the picture after they had figured out the math facts. They were to use three colors and color the numbers and see what the picture was. This was a good page because the picture was not obvious until they began coloring. As they colored some said,"It is a car", no "it is a car and clouds" etc. As we finished the picture one child asked if he could color in the color book I had given each child at the beginning of our year. I said yes, he came back to the table and said will you color with me. Joy, I love that. I said sure and as I colored the others asked why my picture looked so much better. I said it is not better, I just have practiced a lot and I try to color the same direction and showed them how to outline, use harder pressure and lighter pressure to see the differences. Anyway as I am doing this my little boy that is so hyper and never stays still says to me" Ms. Comer I got it." I said got what? He says You have to "BE THE CRAYON". I smiled and said yes!!!!!!!!!
Oh, the colors in my class...... Some may actually be the brightest crayons in the box........
It is amazing to me the number of children that I have had over the years that have never had a coloring book.
A good friend of mine, Janet and I used to talk about how calming coloring can be. We would try to have our class learn the technique of coloring and show the children that we enjoyed this activity as much as they did.
Yesterday I was helping my children with a math page. The page asked the children to color the picture after they had figured out the math facts. They were to use three colors and color the numbers and see what the picture was. This was a good page because the picture was not obvious until they began coloring. As they colored some said,"It is a car", no "it is a car and clouds" etc. As we finished the picture one child asked if he could color in the color book I had given each child at the beginning of our year. I said yes, he came back to the table and said will you color with me. Joy, I love that. I said sure and as I colored the others asked why my picture looked so much better. I said it is not better, I just have practiced a lot and I try to color the same direction and showed them how to outline, use harder pressure and lighter pressure to see the differences. Anyway as I am doing this my little boy that is so hyper and never stays still says to me" Ms. Comer I got it." I said got what? He says You have to "BE THE CRAYON". I smiled and said yes!!!!!!!!!
Oh, the colors in my class...... Some may actually be the brightest crayons in the box........
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Teaching
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a teacher. I tried to find a career that made money, ie. political science, but it was not a calling. Teaching is a calling. I am called each day to be in a building with children that are needy, whiney and hungry. I am called to be in a building that has holes in the walls, floods in the bathrooms and hallways,gas leaks, electrical problems ,too many stains to count, a classroom that is now the gym and a lack of insulation on cold days.
I am called to these halls with the voices of children being told to walk, where is your hall pass, and what do you mean you can't remember where to take the attendance slip.
Today I felt as if I would explode if one more of these children did not listen to me when I said, Sit in your chair and do not move your desk off this square. I wanted to explode, when the sixth graders did not listen to me as I asked them to get a hall pass. I thought I would explode, when the child that I had just given directions to on how to do the paper, asked, What do I put here again?. Some days, I am sure that this calling is a wrong number.
Then just as I want to hang up and tell the operator to find the correct party. I am told by the same sixth grader in line to get on the bus, that she wishes she could stay at school all day and night. I forget that even when I am at my wits end and the straw is about to break the camels back, I am the most stable element in these children's lives. I am making a difference each day if it is only to wipe a runny nose, tie another shoe or to make sure that the directions are given yet again.
My babies have so little, they eat all their lunch and breakfast and are still hungry. They do not complain that they wear their clothes two weeks before they get laundered. They are not upset if they have to share. They do not make fun of each other, they do not ask for more, they only ask that I am there everyday. They adapt to every situation as if change is all they know.
I wish I had some of these traits.
I hate to eat some food and would not hesitate to complain if my clothes were not clean. I do the wash but still. I hate to share. I have a teacher aide and find sharing with her hard.
I am spoiled. I am selfish.
This wrong number may not be a wrong number after all. I think I need to realize that I am these kids, 911 and if I can remember that, I am on the right road.
I am called to these halls with the voices of children being told to walk, where is your hall pass, and what do you mean you can't remember where to take the attendance slip.
Today I felt as if I would explode if one more of these children did not listen to me when I said, Sit in your chair and do not move your desk off this square. I wanted to explode, when the sixth graders did not listen to me as I asked them to get a hall pass. I thought I would explode, when the child that I had just given directions to on how to do the paper, asked, What do I put here again?. Some days, I am sure that this calling is a wrong number.
Then just as I want to hang up and tell the operator to find the correct party. I am told by the same sixth grader in line to get on the bus, that she wishes she could stay at school all day and night. I forget that even when I am at my wits end and the straw is about to break the camels back, I am the most stable element in these children's lives. I am making a difference each day if it is only to wipe a runny nose, tie another shoe or to make sure that the directions are given yet again.
My babies have so little, they eat all their lunch and breakfast and are still hungry. They do not complain that they wear their clothes two weeks before they get laundered. They are not upset if they have to share. They do not make fun of each other, they do not ask for more, they only ask that I am there everyday. They adapt to every situation as if change is all they know.
I wish I had some of these traits.
I hate to eat some food and would not hesitate to complain if my clothes were not clean. I do the wash but still. I hate to share. I have a teacher aide and find sharing with her hard.
I am spoiled. I am selfish.
This wrong number may not be a wrong number after all. I think I need to realize that I am these kids, 911 and if I can remember that, I am on the right road.
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