A New Look for Spring

I suddenly was inspired last night to overhaul the colors and appearance of my blog. I had been wanting to make a header for a while and then the header didn't go with the background so I gave that a bit of freshening up too. My current color of choice is turquoise. I have this image stuck in my head of a black chandelier in a turquiose room and I'm not sure where I saw it...Lucky mag or Anthropologie probably. The chandelier I am thinking of is alot like this one.


In my mind I enjoy the strikingly modern turquiose and black contrasting the elegance and formality of the chandelier itself. The dramatic feeling of that image was my inspiration for the new spring cleaning of my blog.

I was very, very sleepy...AND NOW I'M ON SPEED!

Monday and Tuesday morning I almost feel asleep driving to school. And not just nodding off one time, I mean the entire 30 minute commute struggling to keep my eyes open. It was ridiculous, flying down the highway and falling asleep at 7:00 am. I tried cold, loud music, and my Spanish CD. Nothing helped. I dragged myself into school and started my long day of five classes of students who don't like to read directions.

Today, to remedy this frighteningly dangerous problem, I got 9 hours of sleep last night and my husband convinced me to have a cup of chai to help myself wake up and, MAN, did I not have to worry about falling asleep! I felt like the world was moving at slow motion all around me, like the squirrel in Over the Hedge or Hoodwinked. My mind was going faster than my car should go. My hands were tapping the steering wheel incessantly. My eyes were darting back and forth at the object flying past my window. I was running around my classroom getting ready, then down to 6th grade and back with materials. I was Superwoman! Except I don't think Superwoman laughs at how ridiculous this all is, she just is Speed.

And to make matters even better I had gummy worms in class so all the students were happy and I did not feel completely depleted by the end of the day and got a ton accomplished! It's not like I don't drink caffeine. I just don't drink it so early to kick start my day and I probably would have been fine with just one remedy, not both. But hey, being Superwoman is fun and everyone knows I take on Superwoman quantities of projects and tasks, so why not?

The Impending Ending

I can feel now that the end of my blissful vacation is near. My days of creative freedom are over. It is a paralyzing thought sometimes, but I am trying to make to best of it and keep the energy up. I have had so many ideas and felt so relaxed to pursue whatever I wanted this week. A nice feeling in the midst of winter and the school year.

Here are some photos from my trip to Rhode Island at the beginning of the week. Just random artistic views of the world.

Can you picture it?

This is A's chair, as of last night, dry fitted and propped up so you can get an idea of what it longs to be. It will have feet and a cushion seat.


I went to the local woodworking shop today and picked up a bunch of ends and scraps of nice wood for very little money. I am so excited to play around with some ideas I have. I have to go get it from the car now...through the wet falling snow.

abandon project

This is not my typical mode of art, but is fits this week's Inspire Me Thursday prompt. This is a dress I started making 2 1/2 years ago. It was cut out in pieces as of last week and now is much further along, but still not complete. I have decided to make it more funky so I bought ivory cotton lace (old fashioned type) and ivory satin ribbon for the hem and the neck line, respectively.

Winter: In Progress

This is a painting I started a couple weeks ago. It has a ways to go still...more mixed media and finish the cars and trees. It represents me staring out my window (it is the view from my desk in our home office) and dreaming of escaping the winter grey and sometimes feeling delusional and seeing things that I am actually imagining. Yes, there is a map in the sky.

So I have decided to deviate from my original idea that this blog would be solely about education...it is going to be both because I don't need to try to keep up two blogs for the two sides of myself.

SIGH, I love vacation...now off to continue working on A's chair. I am actually making progress and will post pics of it later.

Hilarious Quotes of the Day

Covering sexual and asexual reproduction always has very funny outcomes. Today was such a day.

Throughout the day students had fun having the opportunity to yell out SPERM! When well-timed this lead to many laughs. Kids will never get over the idea that plant "have sex" or rather reproduce sexually with two half cells combining.

One of the funniest things I tell kids is that pollen is a plant's version of sperm: a half-cell or gamete. I told one class today that they are often breathing in plant's gametes or sex cells. Then in one corner I had a student breathing out heavily repeatedly (as if that would rid his body of these innapropriate objects in the air) and another student yelled out "So when you breathe in pollen could you make a baby plant grow in your stomach?" [this is ridiculous because of course there is not a human half-cell in your stomach and you breathe into your lungs, not your stomach] Then another girl, looking horrified, asks "What would a plant-human look like?" When I explain that no, it was impossible, yet another girl said, "But cats and dogs can have babies, like CatDog!" Everyone laughed as I explained that only happened in the cartoon!

And, of course, their favorite example of weird mutants is the liger, with all the Neopolian quotes that go with it.

EXCITED with planning...what else?

I am so ecstatic right now! I just sat down and looked at the chaos that spring and MCAS bring and came up with an awesome plan that uses all the pieces I have lying around. See, my husband is making a movie with my class, I have units to complete, I am supposed to review all science before MCAS, through my new teacher's group I have to do an inquiry project on a topic of my choice (differentiation), and I want to go outside as much as possible in June.

So this is what I came up with. Differentiation inquiry project will happen dring MCAS review. Students will pursue a project avenue of their choice to learn what testing determines in their weakest area in science. During MCAS B will distract them from their torture by making a movie with them. Could be any topic but I or they need to think of a way to give it some focus. And then after MCAS we will do a series of outside observations of our schoolyard ecosystem and prep for the science fair.

Rock on! This means that after April vacation I will be mostly done teaching new content and they will be working on projects of their choice for the rest of the year! YES! I'd much rather they teach themselves all the time. :-) But wouldn't any teacher? Probably not, but I prefer to guide rather than yank, pull, and drag.

TWO WEEK TIL FEBRUARY VACATION AND 6 WEEKS OF SCHOOL BEFORE APRIL VACATION!

Just another crazy day

My first class now has 26 kids in it, which feels big compared to my others, but this is better because I have a really good aide in that class. Good help makes all the difference! My second class of the day is improving daily. And afternoon classes remain incorrigible and hillarious!

After lunch today one boy started singing "Hey Baby, Hey Baby, Hey" by No Doubt. I just stared at him in disbelief, which is a normal occurance with him. I laughed and then later got mad at him because it was then stuck in my head, and still is I might add. I also had a student tell me that if he got a B in my class he would be so happy that he would run around the school naked. After looking at him like he had just sprouted 5 heads I told him that he would be getting a C...he knew I was kidding. Another kid told me that he shouldn't have to go to middle school because it could offer nothing to leverage his career as a comedian. I argued that there would be plenty of things to joke about when reflecting back on middle school.

I don't know where they come up with this stuff, but it keeps me entertained and gets me through my day. Who would ever want to teach high school when you can have a constant comedy routine of randomness instead? What will tomorrow bring? I can't imagine.

Exerpt from another post on another blog

I want to do things alternatively. I want to shape my students into people more successful than previously thought possible. I want to get kids engaged in real science. I want students to work hard and learn more. I want to make school more creative and less systematic. Lately what I find most discouraging is that my students are so used to using textbooks and doing easy assignment that they ask for it and I get feedback from the people over me that my classroom is too hard, too confusing, too complicated. I know it is both confusing and different for them. I need to make the confusing parts extra simple to get them to the different stuff. I know this is important, but I still am constantly frustrated my the traditionalism around me because it makes two things to worry about instead of just trying to break the mold.