What's Up?

I remember thinking, right after Christmas, this is the year I’ll write a blog post every week.  Filled with optimism and good intentions. And then vacation was over.  I returned to work and was immediately inundated with things occupying my time and threatening to ovewhelm me (at times succeeding).

It’s nice to breathe again.

Committee Work

This year has been filled with extra obligations/meetings at school: writing committee, curriculum council, and school program committee. Then throw in the opportunity to plan a building update and visit by the school board. Who would willingly volunteer for all this?

New Curriculum

As part of a group piloting a new writing program, I’m committed to attending monthly training sessions (2 ½ hours one evening each month). The training is worthwhile and helpful, but tiring after a day of teaching.

I-Pads in Elementary Classrooms

The biggest change and time commitment, though, involved a new initiative in our elementary school buildings. I am part of a pilot program (2^nd and 4^th grades) – I received a classroom set of ipads in February to use with my students. It’s exciting and I’m amazed at how much the children have learned to do already; I’m so glad to be a part of it. But it also involves a lot of extra time trying to determine how to best use these tools.  Having a team of teachers from another school come to visit and see how it works in the classroom after only a week with ipads was also a little stressful (thankfully it went well).

Reading

I recently took a break from all the schoolwork and read The Hunger Games trilogy. Wow – what powerful books. They were so spellbinding I read them all in less than two weeks; reading the final book from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. last Saturday.

Diversion

I also finally found a type of replacement for my Pathwords word game and succumbed to “Words With Friends.” Played my first game (actually four games) last weekend and I think I’m addicted. My competitive nature is starting to take over as I search for websites with “words with friends words with Q” or “words ending in low.” I even downloaded a Words with Friends dictionary. I justify the time I spend thinking about words as exercising my brain.

Iditarod

Every year I follow the Iditarod Sled Dog Race (in Alaska) with my second graders. We have a winter reading incentive tied to the race and the kids track individual mushers. It’s a fun way to incorporate geography, math, and literacy skills. The race began last weekend and the first mushers should reach the end sometime this Tuesday or Wednesday. The owner of the kennel where I went over Christmas vacation is in the race too.

List

Knowing I work better with a list of tasks I can cross off and realizing I keep putting off cleaning my house, I made a list of tasks for today. Unfortunately, writing a blog post wasn’t on the list. So, after I quick post this, I’m going to add it to my list, cross it off, and move on to the next thing!

What a beautiful day - love the sunshine!  (Glad taking a walk is on my list.)