Tweet!

Now that it's summer, it's time to try some new things - I'm going to start with Twitter! It's not like I have all sorts of fascinating things to say, but occasionally there's a thought or question that crosses my mind that's certainly not worth a full post.

Kind of like right now.

Anyway, if so desired the "Follow" button is on the right.

I loaded up the car with all I'll need to prepare for next year along with a few extras... this view wasn't planned but sums up the beginning of summer perfectly, don't you think?

Poster Sale!

If you haven't checked out learningzonexpress.com yet, now is the time! And no, sadly I get no money from them, I'm just a big fan. Not only do they have terrific resources, if you sign up for their email list you get to take part in their Terrific Tuesday sales during the summer! Every Tuesday they put up a slew of posters for $5, in addition to other great discounts. Here's one I added to my collection today (18" x 24" laminated):

Check 'em out! 

2012-2013

2012-2013...SURVIVED! Hooray for summer!

And I am proud to say, I cleaned/purged/organized 99% of my classrooms over the year, so next year I will be able to hit the ground running. One of my major projects was a storage area in between the two rooms, which I have converted into... my office! I LOVE it! Check out some pics:

This it the view from the door. The top shelves were cabinets I removed the doors from and added a maroon backing (school color). I have on the shelf my high school diploma, my BS, my master's degree, and my preschool diploma! And yes, I do feel silly bubbling out my name, but you know. That's a freezer off to the side, which I didn't utilize at all this year but is great for hanging my pictures on : ).

Gee, how many Pinterest ideas can you find in this photo? I especially love having my lesson plan binder displayed on the plate stand. The volleyball is signed by my favorite team, from two schools ago - I still carry their picture in my purse. Those kids just graduated from high school last week. Crazy how fast time flies by!

Currently June

You couldn't tell it from today's weather (50 degrees? Are ya kiddin' me???), but it is JUNE! And with a new month comes a new Currently from Farley!

Listening - at first intermission we are up by 2! Yeah buddy!

Loving - 3 hours, 10 minutes of students tomorrow, then SUMMER!!! The adults still have a full day, but we all know that's gravy once the last bus pulls out.

Thinking - How long can I put off my summer to-do list? I have A LOT of school work to do this summer, but I need to make sure that I truly take some time off as well so that I can return refreshed in August. Gah, I shudder to already be thinking of August...

Wanting - I've already accomplished most of the packing up, but I want to make sure I get everything wrapped up and locked up. I've spent an unfathomable amount of time getting these rooms the way I want them, I do not want to have to start over!

Needing - RECOVERY TIME! I've always had a good-sized to-do list for summer, and I've always started my timeline the first week school is out. Foolish, foolish girl, as most of the first week is spent in various forms of sleep. This year I'm just admitting that the first week will be more or less dedicated to napping and recovery.

Vacay Essentials - First and foremost, my Kindle! SO MUCH TO READ!!! Sunblock, as I burn easily. And of course my phone for all the photos I'll take (which I'll look back at during the tough times next school year).

3 hours, 10 minutes... Bring it on!

A Thousand Words

Note: this a completely unhelpful post, but amusing to me nonetheless.

This is an older photo from back at the beginning of the semester, but it captures the moment perfectly. Here is my cat, "helping" me with grading:

Yep, that's exactly how grading makes me feel, too.

The End is Near...

This weekend held my last still-trying-to-clean-out-my-classrooms-Saturday of the year. We have one more weekend left before the last day of school, but I'll be out of town then so this was it. Good times:

Yep, over 20 #10 cans of random food. No dates on the cans, but the careful observer might notice the OLD food pyramid printed on the label of one of the above. Frightening. And there is a label on the tray holding the mixers declaring "Broken Mixers." Why, why, why keep them when they have obviously been replaced? Questions that will never be answered. Back to the cans, check out the bottom of one:

Um, ewwwwwwww.

My other task for Saturday was to begin packing up that which needs to be locked up over the summer. I'm thinking it best to box up my pretty colored kitchen equipment and to store it in one of my many (now empty) cabinets.

Lots to do before the last day of school, June 3rd!

May '75

Another invaluable find from my classroom:

The writing on the masking tape reads "May 75 - Complete." This was found in a cabinet stuffed - and I mean STUFFED - with Singer accessories and supplies. 

There is not one Singer machine to be found anywhere in this building.

The silver lining of course being that I now have another completely empty cabinet that can be put to good use.

Happy Almost Friday!

A Few More Kitchen Tips

One of my pet peeves is when measuring cups and spoons are thrown pell-mell into a drawer; it's messy and it takes the kids about ten times longer to find the tool they need. Because of this I have them put these items back on a ring after they clean up. I highly recommend to them that they take them off of the rings to begin with so that they don't have to wash all of them, but at the end they need to be hooked together again, in nested fashion.

The problem with this is that the rings that measuring cups and spoons come attached to are usually difficult to work with. You have to struggle to get them to open wide enough, and to keep them open as you add things on or take them off. Hence, I toss the plastic rings and replace them with book rings... much more user friendly!

I couldn't find any yellow ones, but they are available in colors, if you'd like them to match your kitchens. Check out the pretty green book rings:

I also have all measuring equipment kept together in one crate; that way again we're not searching for random tools. As long as they pull out the "measuring crate," they have everything they'll need to measure. A few years ago WalMart had these mini crates for sale in a myriad of colors, a perfect fit:

Finally, I just found these baskets in the $1 bins at Target about a week ago:

I load these with dish towels and dish cloths before the first lab of the day and place them in the kitchens; the students are then responsible for refilling them as part of their clean-up at the end of the lab, so that the next class will be set up. One less thing I have to do myself, and prevents later classes from running back and forth to the laundry baskets.

Simple little things like these can make all the difference, don't you think?

Sewing Tool Box and More!

Here is one of the greatest purchases I have ever made for my sewing classes:

 A sewing tool box! All of your notions in one portable container - perfection! Every one of the yellow compartments is removable, so you can lift one out to pass out safety pins, take one out to put in a slightly larger object (like the scissor sharpener in the lower left), move them around without emptying and refilling... or you can take the whole thing with you somewhere. At the end of class, just snap the lid shut, place on a shelf or in a cabinet, then pull it back out when needed. I seriously love this tool box! It also has a support for the top shelf when you open it all the way:

I wish I had purchased something like this years ago, it has been so beneficial. Under $30 at Lowe's, worth every penny.

And while we're on the subject of sewing, a few of you have asked if I have done away with machine sewing since I drilled shut the cabinets. I still do a machine sewing project, but I rotate the kids through only two at a time. Here's my little sewing station at the back of the room:

Life is sooooo much easier when only dealing with two early teen melt-downs at a time. I have a third machine ready to go on the filing cabinets in the background, so if there are any machine issues that arise that would take more than 30 seconds to fix I just swap 'em out on the spot and deal with it later - should've thought of that forever ago!

And speaking of the filing cabinets in the background, I did more makeover work. Have you seen the idea on Pinterest for turning file cabinets back to back and making them a magnetic bulletin board?

This was of course brilliant. I had two cabinets that I wasn't even using back in that corner, so I turned them back to back, covered them with patterned contact paper, threw on a border and added a few signs (measurements for our current project, and a few of my "famous" sayings - now I can just point instead of always repeating myself).

Looks a heck of a lot nicer, and comes in handy too!

Lincoln

There's been a running joke at my house for several months.

Back in late fall, several classes went on a field trip to see the movie "Lincoln." When they returned, naturally the other students asked how it was. One girl replied,"Well, there were parts of it that were funny, but I wouldn't recommend it." Clearly, she missed the entire point of the movie.

So our joke is "Parts of it were funny, but..."

Well, finally, finally, "Lincoln" arrived via Netflix this past weekend so finally, finally, I got to see it.

About ten minutes into the movie I turned to my husband and said "There is no way that those 8th graders understood any of this," to which he exclaimed "I know! Did any of the teachers actually see this before taking them??" There were so many reasons this movie would have been difficult for them to enjoy:

A: The language was very different from today, obviously.
B: You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about the Civil War.
C: You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about the people other than Lincoln (Seward, Willie, Mary, etc).
D: You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about slavery/states rights/emancipation/etc.
E. You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about racial attitudes of the time.
F. You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about social conventions of the time.
G. You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about how an amendment to the Constitution is passed.
H. You needed a fair amount of background knowledge about U.S. political geography of the time....

And on, and on, and on, and on. While watching this movie most of those kids were literally sitting there in the dark having no idea what was going on.

Which leads me to wonder, how many of them experience that at school every day?

Seriously. While it's understandable that many 14 year olds wouldn't have the background knowledge needed to fully appreciate "Lincoln," there is an enormous amount of knowledge that they should come to school armed with at this age yet they are lacking.

Some are easily fixed. Take, for instance, food groups: when I give them grocery store ads, very, very few of them can pick out three veggies, three fruits, three proteins, etc without a LOT of help. While it saddens me that they don't know what fruits and vegetables are, I can help fix that, in relatively short order.

However, there are others that cannot be easily fixed. Like conflict resolution skills - hence the frequent fighting suspensions. Face-to-face communication skills - thank you Facebook, Twitter, and cell phones. BASIC READING SKILLS - the crux of everything we do in school, so many students are lacking.

These ideas are not new to any of us; it's just that every once in a while you have an experience that gives you a hearty dose of perspective and you feel the need to share.

And by the way, "Lincoln" was awesome! If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Now.