This blog is unformed clay. I don't really have a direction, purpose, or any other reason for doing this except to play around with another part of the net.
Yep, I have been inundated by a very challenging school year. My blogging has dropped off considerably. Here is a month plus of photos.
Harvard Common has a very cool new playground. Rose explored the kitchen drawers when my parents were visiting. Fall was beautiful this year. The tree in front has these amazing multi-colored, Rorschach styled leaves. Rose is amazing. Snow is not. Rose likes to read and tear up catalogs.
The beginning of this year has been quite a mind stretch. I have not had to dig this deep into my teaching skills and rethink my basic approach for quite some time. This intense focus has kept me from things like blog posting and such. Here is a sampling of the last month.
The Autumn season brings lots of fairs and child centered events to the parks nearby. This is Rose enjoying walking near the big fire truck at one such fair. Rose is showing off her one-handed drinking skilz. Rose is happily playing with a comb after her first haircut. She no longer has hair poking in her eyes all of the time. Snow! This is the second snowfall of the year, and some of the gloppy, wet stuff is sticking. It is heading into the night, so temps might drop enough for some significant shoveling in the morning. I really hope not.
I had quite the scare on Friday. Sudden sharp chest pain on the right side had me worried. After visiting the doctor and the hospital for various tests, I come away from the experience believing it to be a rib cage muscle pull. Not fun, but not too serious either. Anyway, I am feeling much better at this time.
In the ongoing attempt to reclaim space and get rid of stuff, I went through college binders and copy packets. I really don't think I'll be reading the articles from my Schools in American Cities course taken in '91. Along with those, many other papers filled the recycle bin to overflowing and cleared up much shelf space. This moth alighted on the screen outside the dining room. Rose and I watched it for a while. The fabulous colors don't really show up in this photo. Siamese Pin. My room before school started. Rose showing off her gangsta in pajamas look. I drew two circles in green; Rose did the rest. Crayons are fun! We have just returned from Philly and celebrating Rosh Hashana with Reena's family. It is the New Year in the Jewish calendar. Interestingly enough, it coincides pretty well with the new year in the academic world as well.
The crops are being brought in, some places are near or past their first frost, so the agricultural year is winding down in the Northern Latitudes.
I am finding my way in this new year. I only have four students this year, and I have not adjusted quite right to the classroom management needed for a small group. Another growth opportunity. I am looking forward to this year, but a lot of work has to be crammed in at the beginning to get them ready for a secondary school entrance test and for next schools applications.
Rose continues to be amazing and a wonder. She learns new things daily and delights in sharing them with us.
One of my great joys in childhood was taking apart anything electronic. I loved making the gears into tops.
Sugar Hill is my all-time favorite contra dance weekend. It is a time of friends. Here are Joe and Ben. Joe was one of the first people to welcome me upon my return to St. Louis after living in Philly. He and I have held a great and wonderful friendship from that time on. Ben is a new friend in my life, and my life is richer for it. Sugar Hill is about maintaining and growing established friendships and being open to new ones forming. Sugar Hill is dancing. The hall is one of my favorites with its arched wood ceiling, large enough but not too large space, nice acoustics, and nature views just off the porch. The kitchen is to the left in this image, and I spent Saturday evening in there preparing the annual meal of burritos.
This image of David captures the feel of the dance. Details in focus as the world blurs around you. David is also a must dance partner. He plays, calls, and does just about everything else including sound. David also makes it easy for me to get to the dance. I flew into Indy and he gave me a ride to Bloomington. One of the wonderful people that make me want to return every year.This picture does not do the place justice. This building is actually one that is hardly used, but it gives an idea of the architecture of the few buildings we occupy. Camping is another reason I go each year. I did not take my camera to the lake, and it was too cold to swim much this year, anyway. I did, however, make my pilgrimage to the other side by canoe to comb the fossil beach for treasures of crinoids and geodes. Back to reality, and my classroom. It is in much better shape. All that is in my room is my own, and not much is not in my room that should be there. I am getting organized and ready with physical space for the year. Curriculum, however, needs much attention. I moved the white board and screen so that they were anchored to studs. The space beneath the screan will be where the smart board is installed w Rose does new things daily. She has clearly taken the "Bye bye" from her current care provider along with blown kisses into her vocabulary. A quick one can be heard on this video, though she is much clearer when walking around the room waving bye and blowing kisses.
This morning, Rose really took a liking to the blanket Uncle John gave us for our wedding.
Rose plays with the shadows of late afternoon. My class library spread out and ready to divide between fifth and sixth grades. I continue to chip away at the work needed to turn my room into a functional classroom. I also have devoted time to getting my curriculum together. Next week will be crunch time for those pursuits leaving me less time to get things around the house finished. I, however, only have one bookshelf to construct, two to mount, and a computer to relocate to finish the livingroom shelving.
I installed magnetic childproof (we'll see) latches on one set of doors on the shelves in the livingroom. We will see how Rose interacts with them! I hope they hold up to the abuse because they are by far the most elegant of the solutions out there.
Rose continues to walk and be excited by her newfound ability. She also enjoys playing with Reena's flip flops and my slippers.
The cabinets arrived and were stored in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we found that the corner cabinet, closest in the image, was damaged and had to be returned. The others, however, are in place, and only the floor cabinet is awaiting its top. Here is the floor cabinet. There is a perfect space to store the step stool next to it. I put together Reena's rolling file cabinet first of all of the many boxes of things to put together. I am bartering some work with Mike. This is the piece that is missing from one of his windows. Finding who manufactures it has been entertaining. I have sent them an email with photos to see if we can get a replacement part. I have husked the dvds and put them in binders. The empty casings will supply my yearly dvd school project for years to come. Here are some binders of dvds in the new shelf. The doors will get a baby proofing system soon, and then the pillows will not need to be stacked against them. I finished this bookshelf yesterday. It is mounted to the wall, cut to fit around the archway molding, and has a height extension on it. Now off to shower and to school where I am cleaning out a very filthy room. I love the space, but I have to get it ready just to think about how I am going to use this new room.
This last week has seen a great deal of productivity around and in the house. We have painting and work being done to the exterior. The ladder in the photo below belongs to that job. The lined up branches and chipper belong to the company that came to remove two trees from the back yard and trim the front tree back from the house. We now have a back yard! This is how the back yard looks with the massive tree mostly cut down. It is amazing how much light and how much more yard we now have. We will think about how to design the yard in terms of lawn space and garden, but it is nice to have these options!I also went in to school to do some work. This will be my classroom next year. Afterschool stuff and a computer lab are in there now, so some heavy lifting will ensue before I can make the space mine. I am happy about the location, and it will be the first time in the new building that I control my own thermostat! I will also be getting a smart board theoretically. yay. This is the china cabinet we purchased from a lovely couple off of Craig's List. It fits our dining room perfectly. Here it is loaded with Reena's grandparents' china and some of our own odds and ends. So starts the reorganization of the basement project! Many friends have visited this week, and Reena's blog has much more on that. Anna Maria stayed the night and had a great day hanging out with Rose and us.
Rose explored the kitchen drawers when my parents were visiting.
Fall was beautiful this year. The tree in front has these amazing multi-colored, Rorschach styled leaves.
Rose is amazing.
Snow is not.
Rose likes to read and tear up catalogs.
Rose is showing off her one-handed drinking skilz.
Rose is happily playing with a comb after her first haircut. She no longer has hair poking in her eyes all of the time.
Snow! This is the second snowfall of the year, and some of the gloppy, wet stuff is sticking. It is heading into the night, so temps might drop enough for some significant shoveling in the morning. I really hope not.
This moth alighted on the screen outside the dining room. Rose and I watched it for a while. The fabulous colors don't really show up in this photo.
Siamese Pin.
My room before school started.
Rose showing off her gangsta in pajamas look.
I drew two circles in green; Rose did the rest. Crayons are fun!
Sugar Hill is dancing. The hall is one of my favorites with its arched wood ceiling, large enough but not too large space, nice acoustics, and nature views just off the porch. The kitchen is to the left in this image, and I spent Saturday evening in there preparing the annual meal of burritos.
This picture does not do the place justice. This building is actually one that is hardly used, but it gives an idea of the architecture of the few buildings we occupy. Camping is another reason I go each year. I did not take my camera to the lake, and it was too cold to swim much this year, anyway. I did, however, make my pilgrimage to the other side by canoe to comb the fossil beach for treasures of crinoids and geodes.
Back to reality, and my classroom. It is in much better shape. All that is in my room is my own, and not much is not in my room that should be there. I am getting organized and ready with physical space for the year. Curriculum, however, needs much attention.
I moved the white board and screen so that they were anchored to studs. The space beneath the screan will be where the smart board is installed w
My class library spread out and ready to divide between fifth and sixth grades.
Here is the floor cabinet. There is a perfect space to store the step stool next to it.
I put together Reena's rolling file cabinet first of all of the many boxes of things to put together.
I am bartering some work with Mike. This is the piece that is missing from one of his windows. Finding who manufactures it has been entertaining. I have sent them an email with photos to see if we can get a replacement part.
I have husked the dvds and put them in binders. The empty casings will supply my yearly dvd school project for years to come.
Here are some binders of dvds in the new shelf. The doors will get a baby proofing system soon, and then the pillows will not need to be stacked against them.
I finished this bookshelf yesterday. It is mounted to the wall, cut to fit around the archway molding, and has a height extension on it.
Now off to shower and to school where I am cleaning out a very filthy room. I love the space, but I have to get it ready just to think about how I am going to use this new room.
I also went in to school to do some work. This will be my classroom next year. Afterschool stuff and a computer lab are in there now, so some heavy lifting will ensue before I can make the space mine. I am happy about the location, and it will be the first time in the new building that I control my own thermostat! I will also be getting a smart board theoretically. yay.
This is the china cabinet we purchased from a lovely couple off of Craig's List. It fits our dining room perfectly.
Here it is loaded with Reena's grandparents' china and some of our own odds and ends. So starts the reorganization of the basement project!
Many friends have visited this week, and Reena's blog has much more on that. Anna Maria stayed the night and had a great day hanging out with Rose and us.
