Monthly Archives: September 2008

>We bicker like family.

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>Our staff meetings are loud. Passionate, enthusiastic, fast paced, argumentative. People interrupt each other, speak forcefully, gesture with their clipboards and coffee and pens and knitting needles (knitting needles? I thought knitting was supposed be calming?!). No one wants to give in; each and every one of us wants what we need and what we want. Bend an inch? No, thank you. Putting together a testing schedule, accommodating requests, making class lists, establishing services for special groups, balancing budgets, determining goals or mission statements, and getting enough supplies… all take cooperation and compromise. Somehow, we get it done, and we do what’s best for the children we serve.

Lunch periods are rushed. I usually spend my 40 minute lunch break making copies, setting up math materials, cleaning up science labs, and returning phone calls and emails. That is, if I’m not fielding concerns from one or two of the many teachers in my team or listening to colleagues rant because they know I’m a safe sounding board.

But when push comes to shove, I cannot imagine a more caring, spontaneous, and supportive group of coworkers.

I walked in last Friday morning exhausted, lugging my heavy schoolbag, my purse, my lunch bag, and a special treat for surviving a challenging week: a cup of hazelnut coffee from Jo to Go. I walked down a few stairs to put my lunch in the lounge refrigerator, back up those same three stairs and tripped. Hard. Down on my knees, rammed my right wrist on the floor, and lost the entire cup of coffee. As I watched that precious liquid coursing across the floor, I felt ridiculously close to tears.

Immediately, before I even stood, I was surrounded by five people sporting rags and paper towels, helping me stand, asking if I was okay, wiping up the coffee, moving my bag and purse so they didn’t get damaged, and generally taking over to make sure all was well with the world again.

And then the physical education teacher brought me a fresh cup of coffee from her own personal stash in the office off the gym.

Again, even as I laughed at my klutziness, despaired of my bruised knees and ego, I had a sense of gratitude and a feeling of being very, very lucky.

If I had to have a bad day, I’m glad I work here.

Happy Love Thursday, everybody.

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>Tomato!

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>That’s the title of the cookbook I found in the grocery store bargain bin. How could I resist at book with a big photo of fresh tomatoes and the full title Tomato: a tantalizing tour of ravishing recipes?! It was only $2. I bought it. Then I gathered a bucket of tomatoes and made sauce. As usual, I did it with my own special touches.

Chunky Tomato Sauce
adapted from cookbook Tomato, mentioned above

1 tbsp oil
1 small onion
1 small green pepper
1/4 cup grated zucchini
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6-8 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, coarsely shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, green pepper, and garlic and cook over low heat to 10 minutes until very soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for an additinoal 10-12 minutes until the mixture is pulpy. Add basil leaves, zucchini, and salt and pepper. Cook gently until all the ingredients are hot. Serve.

To prepare tomatoes:
Choose tomatoes that are soft to the touch for a sweeter taste and easier handling.
Place tomatoes in a large bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand for 2-3 minutes, then lift out one at a time. Using a knife, pierce the skin and peel it off. Cut the tomato into quarters, then cut out the central core and seeds. Chop the remaining flesh and place in a large bowl.

The original recipe called for black olives and anchovies. I added zucchini because I had a little left over from a batch of zucchini bread. This recipe didn’t make as much as I thought it would, so I added it to a can of tomato sauce and served it over spaghetti. It was a winner with my family!

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>Reclaiming the surface

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>The surface of the dresser, that is. It’s a lot like reclaiming the kitchen table. This project had results just as dramatic, and it, too, is an ongoing battle.

The before picture, wide angle. In the foreground you see a crate overflowing with Braille books, in the background a dresser masquerading as a bookshelf.

Close-up of the dresser; it has more than just books on it, but the books are the hardest to handle. Note that the actual shelves to the right are full to overflowing. I can’t help it; books are awesome!

Here’s a closer look at the overflowing crate. Amigo isn’t likely to reread these; his favorites are already on his bookshelf. Now what?

The solution: sort.

1. The Braille volumes are in the box on the left awaiting donation to either the local school system or the state school for the blind.
2. The orange crate is the “hold” crate for books that I might part with — or maybe not.
3. On the right are the books designated for new homes. I posted every title in this crate on Paperbackswap.com.

The result? I can see the dresser top now! My geode bookends look lonely, though. Maybe I need a few new…. no. Just no.

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>The Great Minivan Trade Up

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>Have you met Dad of Divas? He’s a great Dad and a very creative guy. He and his family are working on an innovative project to procure a lovely family vehicle. He describes it best in his own words.

I was reading recently about Kyle McDonald who traded one red paperclip to eventually trade up (14 trades later) for a home in Kipling Saskatchewan , Canada . I even found that now they are trying to trade up the house!For those of you that have been following me for a while, you know that J-Mom and I have been looking at getting a minivan for quite some time, but for us it has been an issue of money (being on one income and all). In reading about Kyle and his project, I have decided to try something a bit unconventional. In our research, J-Mom and I have decided that we really would like to get a Toyota Sienna. We chose this based on our test drives, safety features, reliability and overall value for the product.
Why a minivan you may say…well, if you have ever tried to lug around kids, family members, the kids’ friends in vehicles that only hold 5-6 you may now understand our dilemma.What I am offering is to try a new trade up project for a new (or very gently used – preferably new) Toyota Sienna. Do I know whether this project will work, no. Do I hope it does work, sure thing!I will promise this to all of my readers, if this does go anywhere, you are sure to hear more about it along the way no matter what happens (it should be fun). (I wonder how quickly something like this could potentially happen???) What I am looking for is for people to offer trade ups that have some value to others. Seeing that I live in Northeastern Wisconsin and have a more limited travel budget, I am looking for things to be somewhat transportable (yet again, of value). If items are products, please make sure that items are in working order. If trades are for services, events, vacations, etc, please specify the parameters that must be followed.So what do you get in return, well first, you get some items that may be valuable to you. Second you get to be a part of history! Third, you will get notoriety and free publicity as I will make a big deal regarding my trade ups! Fourth, for the person, company, etc, that does finally get me to my goal, I will promise you praise beyond compare on this site, and if you would like a continual product review (a year in the life per se of a Toyota Sienna owner) So don’t call me crazy, just call me industrious and creative… I look forward to what happens!
So be a part of history as I have never found anyone that has done this type of trade up… and help me to achieve my dream of becoming a minivan family! Even if you don’t want to trade up, please share this with friends, colleagues, other blog networks. Thank you for your support!!!!

If you would like to check out the progress of this endeavor, Dad of Divas is here. If you have an idea for publicity or if you’d like to offer a trade, please email him at dadofdivas at gmail dot com. It’s been a fascinating ride so far, and I predict it will get even more so as his trade values get higher and higher.

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>It was too good to be true.

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>The honeymoon’s over.

The boys’ bathroom pass has disappeared. I don’t want to know where it is.
Two of “my” boys got detention yesterday. Another ended up in Homework Room for his nonstop mouth in class.
I caught two girls trading clothes with each other in the bathroom at recess.
No one noticed that the flag directly outside our window was at half-mast, but when the 5th graders took the flag down, half the class ran to the windows and wouldn’t come back!!

What next?! No, don’t answer that.

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>How can I be overdrawn? I still have checks left!

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>Another envelope arrived in my school mailbox today, this one promoting a financial management curriculum for elementary schools. Apparently banks and credit unions will often pay for the curriculum materials if they know someone local will teach it.
Our instructional minutes are limited, very limited, largely because of standardized testing necessary to meet federal laws. I usually toss envelopes like this straight into the recycling barrel, but this one caught my eye.
At what age can children learn about money? How much should they learn, and when? What kinds of tools can parents use to teach about money: allowances, lemonade stands, savings accounts, Certificates of Deposit and money market accounts?
Schoolchildren learn about money in math class as early as second grade. But do they really understand interest? Mortgages? Loans in general? Credit Ratings?
If I asked (or even if I didn’t), my students could probably sing the clever jingle to the Free Credit Report web site. But do they know what credit is or what it means? At age 10, I doubt it.
However, it’s not too soon to teach kids the value of money. Many of my students are from poor families; our school qualifies for several grants and programs that serve disadvantaged families. Every year at least two or three in my class are homeless. Allowance? Forget it; these are families investing every meager penny into putting food on the table and getting to work.
We teachers are then faced with a tough job; how to teach the value of money to children who have none.
Our local high schools added a personal finance course to the graduation requirements a few years ago. In Amigo’s Work Experience class they have the option of opening a credit union account at the institution with a satellite office in his school commons. La Petite, now in her senior year of college, ran a lemonade stand at age 8 and started independently managing her own checking account around age 16. If Amigo thinks he’s ready, opening a credit union account of his own would be a good idea.

Parent Bloggers Network teamed up with Capital One to sponsor this blog blast. Capital One now has an interactive site called Moneywi$e Learning Tool that helps families learn about money management.

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>Energize!

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>Politics energizes me.

Let me rephrase that. Political activism energizes me. Talking with people who share my passion for teaching energizes me. Putting the two together makes me feel like yes, we can make a difference.
Social issues. Economic conditions. Budgets.
The cycle continues.
Social issues: Students without role models, without support, living in homes where normal is what most would call dystfunctional.
Economic conditions: children without crayons, children without lunch, children without homes.
Budgets: Inflation pushes costs higher and higher, operating budgets stay the same, and teachers are left to do more and more with less and less.
Social: child misses school frequently due to head lice
Economic: family can’t afford to buy the chemicals and wash the bedding and clothes
Budgets: School secretary has to continually check the child’s head because there is only a nurse in the building once a week for half a day.
Social Issues: Children determined to succeed
Economic conditions: Children in poverty, unable to buy materials
Budget: Class sizes get larger and larger because the districts can’t afford to pay enough teachers

And so on, and so on, etcetera, etcetera.

The saddest part of the cycle is the potential result, the results we keep fighting and fighting one day at a time, one child at a time. When we look at today’s second graders, we see the graduates of ten years in the future. We teachers know that when these little kiddos grow up, they’ll need to know how to read, write, handle basic math, interact with others, and much, much more.

We know, we teachers do, that no one can look today’s second graders in the eye ten years from now and say, “Gee, we’re sorry we didn’t teach you all you need to know, but y’know, the economy was bad, we did our best.”

Education can’t go into an economic slump; today’s second graders need more skills, not fewer skills, to succeed in a world where the future is just not certain. Budgets are tight, and we’ll keep pinching pennies, but before my thumbs start to imprint Abraham Lincoln, please realize: this cycle affects everybody. That’s why, my dear readers, I’ll continue to be politically active.

It energizes me because I know those in office hold a lot of power.

I’ll keep putting my energy toward electing those who will make the right decisions on social issues, economic conditions, and budgets, because all of those directly affect education.

And education can’t slump, or the cycle will continue.

This is a reprint of a guest post on PunditMom.

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>Lesson plans and recipes

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>On the night before Amigo started school, the night before my own Open House, two nights before my students were due in the room, I did what I do under pressure: I went into the kitchen. It was too hot to bake (zucchini bread, I’m ready!), so I worked on planned-overs instead. Planned-overs, for the uninitiated, are leftovers created on purpose.
Example: Beef and bean burritos are delicious. The original recipe came from a mom with seven kids. Seven! So I cut the recipe in half and still have leftovers. The leftovers become huevos rancheros, scrambled eggs topped with a substantial spoonful of beef/bean mix and a dollop of sour cream or grated cheddar (Don’t worry, Amigo, yours didn’t have cheese or sour cream).
On Labor Day I labored in my classroom from 7:00 AM until 11:00 and then gave up in the heat. I packed my schoolbag and headed home to A/C comfort. After a few hours of schoolwork on the computer (and Twitter and Plurk and browsing the MOMocrats latest reactions), I made supper. But while I was in the kitchen, the “Oh, no, it’s school time and I won’t have a chance to cook and everyone needs lunches and whatever will we do” panic set in. It’s okay. I can cope.
Today’s solution:
While grilling superburgers for supper, grill hot dogs for the fridge and freezer.
While simmering baked beans on the stove, brown a pound of ground beef for tacos or sloppy joes later.
While outside tending the fire, harvest the latest batch of spinach.
While the food is cooking, soak and rinse the fresh spinach. Tear it, place it in steamer, and while blogging (Ha! you knew that would be on the list), let the spinach cook. Place cooked spinach in small containers in the freezer for an incredible addition to a winter soup.
Somewhere in this time period, I diced a batch of wax beans for the freezer as well.
Belinda at NinjaPoodles put away enough to feed an army, it seems, or at least a growing kindergartener. I’m not in her league, but I do have a good batch of yummies ready for later.
Next: crockpot tomato soup, perhaps.
And while the spinach cools, make desk tags for the class.

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