Literary Enthusiasm

As this year has progressed, I'll admit that I've found it, at times, difficult to adequately challenge my advanced English classes.  At the same time, I have struggled with how to get them more engaged in authentic, voracious reading.

Over the Christmas holidays, I searched my mental catalogs for ideas, and my mind wandered to my undergrad work in adolescent literature.  After thumbing through my literature journal, I decided I'd challenge my kiddos to create their own.  Of course, I created a number of guidelines and scaffolded the semester-long project with interim due dates to help ensure their success.

The basic journal entry requirements include the title, author, publication information, a plot summary, personal analysis and reaction, and a discussion of theme(s) in each book, plus a peer review of each entry.  In an effort to encourage my kids to also read more news and explore current events, I decided to require journal entries on current news articles as well as books in various genres.

I presented the project when we returned to school on January 7th.  My kids seemed a little nervous, but many of them also seemed excited at the prospect of having a challenge.  Aaron told me in a very respectful tone, "I think it's a little much," to which I replied, "You're in pre-AP."  He dove right into reading some new books that day without another complaint.  (I also created a less demanding project outline for my academic English classes.)

As the first due date draws near, I've watched something very interesting and exciting happen.  My kids are helping one another with their entries.  They are doing honest peer reviews for each other, and they are talking about what they are reading.  They're doing it without prompting, and their discussions are passionate.  Real.  Engaging.

One of the seeds of literary zeal was planted in the form of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.

I had a student who came in super excited about having read this book over the Christmas break.  We chatted briefly in class that day, and that evening, I realized I had read another of his books, Paper Towns, last summer.  So the next day, I suggested that book to her.

Over the next week, I started researching books for next summer's pre-AP reading assignment, and I ordered Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.  In the meantime, I learned that many of my students were passing around copies of The Fault in Our Stars.  Once I finished Where Things Come Back, I realized it wouldn't be a good summer read  because it is too mature and has too much objectionable language for me to feel comfortable requiring it.  But it is a fantastic book - smart, well-constructed, and genuine.  

 So the movie trailer for The Fault in Our Stars debuted yesterday, and the student who first introduced me to the book came in to first period super excited this morning.  Like any good teacher, I seized the opportunity to engage my students.  I showed the trailer to the class  (there is one very brief part I censored), talked about how much those who had read it enjoyed the book, and encouraged them to read it before the movie debuts in early June.  This started a really enthusiastic dialogue since several in that class have now read the book, and I took heart in the fact that my suggestion to read the book first was met with the ardent commiseration of my fellow bibliophiles.  :)

Anyway, as we discussed John Green, I decided to introduce my 8th grade students to Whaley, and I had several ask to borrow my copy of Where Things Come Back.  I also talked to them about what I had observed evolving among them over the past few weeks.  They seemed really connected and interested in the idea of authentic reading.  Reading the way REAL PEOPLE read.  Not reading for a test or because something was assigned, but because they find a connection with literature.  And they are so impassioned by that connection that they want their friends to experience it. 
So they share.  Fervently, earnestly, and wholeheartedly. 

On the flip side...

After school I had a 7th grader who is an English language learner and who sometimes struggles ask if he could stay after and get help with his journal entry.  I sat with him and helped him locate the copyright information and other details in his book.  Then I helped him navigate Microsoft Word as he wrote his summary and his analysis.  Finally, we talked through his grammatical edits.  When he finished, he just sat there smiling at his computer screen.  Then he printed his journal entry and asked if our principal was still there because he was so proud of what he had accomplished, he wanted the principal to read it! 


By the end of the day today, I had emails from several parents saying their kids had called or texted asking them for books.  And I borrowed The Fault in Our Stars from one of my students.  I'm 20 pages in, and I'm thinking I might stay up all night reading if I'm not careful.  Pretty sure you couldn't wipe this smile off my face if you tried right now!

And so...
I fervently, earnestly, and wholeheartedly implore my fellow teachers to read The Book Whisperer and Readicide and In The Middle and anything else you can get your hands on that emphasizes the importance of getting kids to connect to literature in authentic ways.  Internalize their messages and then make them your own and put them into action in your classrooms.  I did not come up with these ideas on my own.  I have spent years reading other teachers' accounts of how they got kids engaged in reading and reciprocal discourse and talking to fellow teachers about what works for them (and what doesn't), and I've taken it all and cobbled together something that will work for me - something that will complement the way my crazy mixed-up brain works.  And I have to tell you, it's simply amazing what can happen when we persevere through the frustration of trial and error that's necessary to figure out how to make these ideas work for each of us.

Poetic Triumphs

We dove into poetry headfirst last semester, and it was quite an adventure!  I thought I'd share my technique along with better pictures of some of the anchor charts you might have noticed in my classroom photos.

My introduction technique for poetry came from Genre Connections: Lessons to Launch Literary and Nonfiction Texts by Tanny McGregor, published by Heinemann:

http://www.heinemann.com/products/E03396.aspx

I loved the "jar" idea for introducing poetry.  Here's how it went down:

I started by asking how poetry is like a jar as I held up a jar for the class to see.  I then gave a very bland, factual description of my dad.  Next, I talked about my dad in emotional terms, describing the way he shows his love and the kind of personality he has.  As I gave these descriptions, I wrote them on slips of paper and dropped them into the jar.  I then asked my students how poetry is like a jar.  They started to make observations about the way I described with emotion and more description, then put those words in the jar.  I told them they were on the right track and to keep thinking, then I asked them to discuss with their groups.  It took a little work, but we eventually got around to the class deciding that poetry is like a jar because it is a vessel for holding emotions and feelings.

We created these charts after a collaborative activity where I distributed a number of poems in various formats.  I gave the kids about 10-15 minutes to work in groups as they explored the poems and made observations about the format, content, meaning, and anything else they noticed.  I drew the basic outlines on chart paper with the "Poetry  Can" text ahead of time.  I put them up on the wall and wrote their responses as we discussed what everyone had noticed during their discovery activity.

When selecting the poems for the discovery activity, I purposely chose some poems that didn't look like traditional poetry, and some that had distinctive traits that I hoped my students would key in on.  For the most part, it worked!  There were a few observations that I sort of steered, but overall, I was really impressed with what my students contributed.

One very interesting thing that I noticed about these is the difference in some of the more insightful observations made by my students.  I have two 7th grade classes, and in one of the classes, over 2/3 of the students are struggling readers or students who perform below grade level in reading and writing.  In addition, a number of them are ELLs.  The other class is much more balanced with a proportional mix of academic abilities.  Guess which class revealed deeper insights?  I'll give you a hint - it was the class whose chart is shown in the second photo.  Yep, my class with mostly lower-performing students! 

I think the most exciting moment for me through this entire lesson occurred after we had completed this activity and debriefed.  I turned to the class and asked, "So, if poetry doesn't really follow any rules, how can we tell when something is a poem?"  Students in my higher level class immediately started blurting out guesses.  None of them were wrong, per se, but nobody really hit the sweet spot with their answer, either.  When I asked the same question of my "lower" class, I got a bunch of blank stares and a few thoughtful looks.  Mindful of the ever-important wait time, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.

After what seemed like an eternity, one of my more gregarious boys widened his eyes, shot his hand up, and very nearly hopped out of his seat.  I called on him, and he looked me straight in the eye, clutched his chest, and said, "You know it's poetry because it hits you right in the heart, Mrs. Bonner!"

Oh. My. GOODNESS!!  I'm fairly certain tears welled up in my eyes.  He got it.  And his classmates chimed in their affirmation.

So very, very cool!

Lemonade

This Christmas break was by far the most relaxing vacation I've had in YEARS.  I brought lots of things home to work on, and then made the conscious decision to not work on them.  I enjoyed relaxing, spending time with family, and just "being" each day.

I knew I'd have a big job when I got back in today because I got new flooring in my classroom over the break.  What a blessing to have a fresh, new floor to start the year off!  My room wasn't exactly as I'd left it.  In fact, it was in such a state of disarray, I might have felt quite a bit of despair. Still, I wasn't quite prepared for what I found.  When I arrived, my neighbor was moving his things out of my room and surveying my textbooks stacked atop his desks in his room.  :)

Random stuff in random piles

Notice the nice, straight rows of desks.  LOL!

 











 I have fabulous coworkers and many offered to help reclaim my classroom, but honestly when tackling a job like this, it's best for me to just jump in and work alone.  I have awful spatial reasoning skills and need to see things in place before they make sense.  As a result, I often don't even know what I want, so asking someone else to help me would just be plain rude.




 I decided it was a perfect time to rearrange a few things that weren't working as well as I'd hoped the first part of the year.  It took all day to get things in order, and I still have papers and files tucked away in filing cabinets, but the room is functional and ready for my kiddos to return tomorrow.

Somehow, 1/3 of my Greek & Latin Roots word wall (on the left of this photo: black background with green, yellow, orange and blue) got ripped off during the reflooring.  I hope to have that repaired by the end of this week.

 

 

I like to move my desks around frequently depending on what we're doing in class.  While I have them in rows right now, they may be in groups of three or four next week.  I'll post some close-ups of some of my anchor charts and word walls later this week.

My room has a fresh, new floor and a layout that should work well for us the remainder of the year!  Lemons = lemonade

Resurrection

(of the blog, that is...)

My last post announced that I had officially gone off the deep end and applied for graduate school.  And it was pretty deep.  I jumped right into grad school at the end of my first full year of teaching, continued through my second year of teaching, and finished during the beginning of my third year.

It seems only fitting that this post should announce that I FINISHED graduate school!  I earned a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on reading.  I enjoyed my courses and feel like I learned a lot, but I keep wondering when I'll start to magically feel like an expert.  LOL!  I guess my perfectionism won't allow that to ever happen.  I have learned that I will almost always second-guess myself, and if I fail to do that, I will certainly be very critical of my abilities.

This blog was originally started as a way to share my jewelry making pursuits.  That was many, many years ago.  And while I still own all of my tools and most of the supplies I had on hand when I stopped making jewelry, that's just not who I am any more.  I finally listened to that inner small voice that has always told me I am a teacher, and I have fully embraced my profession... my true calling.  Because this blog chronicles so much of the journey that got me here, I didn't want to start a new blog and leave all this behind.  It just seemed more genuine to revamp this one. 

So here's my philosophy:  I work to make my classroom a welcoming, inspiring place for both my students and other teachers.  I think we work best together, and I often gain inspiration from other teachers and students.  Guided by this philosophy, I have renamed my blog "The Inspiring Classroom."  I hope that by sharing my trials, successes, and struggles, others will laugh with me, rejoice with me, and learn with me.  Learning is a lifelong pursuit, and we are immensely enriched by a diverse community.  I look forward to sharing and learning with you!

Heading Back to School!

Yup, I really am insane.  :)

I have been fully accepted into a curriculum and instruction graduate program at my alma mater, UT Tyler.  I will start classes in May, and I am so giddy that it almost feels like when I went back to school in 2008.

So, what will I study?  Funny you should ask. . .

I originally considered programs that I thought might open up opportunities for better paying positions within public education.  I stressed myself out and worked myself up and agonized over the decision for weeks.  I declared special ed as my focus, seeing the great need for special ed services, but after researching the opportunities possible via the curriculum and instruction path, it became evident that pursuing a master's in special ed curriculum would not do much for my career.  And as much as I'd like to be very noble, I have to be honest and acknowledge that I am just not cut out to give those kiddos what they need for 7+ hours a day every single day.  Special ed is probably not the place for me.

I was discussing my angst over making a decision with some fellow teachers - all more seasoned than me - and one of them asked, "Well what do you want to do?" while another suggested I do what I makes me happy.  Novel idea, huh?  So what should I choose, then?  I love reading.  I love teaching reading.  I love when kids get excited about books and want to share their thoughts.  I love discovering new worlds and practicing escapism through reading.  But what should I choose as my cognate?  

I.Love.Reading.  When I was offered a position teaching reading, I could not believe how blessed I was.  It's what I wanted.  It's what I mentally prepared for as I was taking my college courses.  It's exactly what I had wished for and what I had dared hope for, even though I knew with the current economy I better just take whatever job I was offered teaching whatever subject I was offered (if I was even offered a job at all).  I remember driving home with tears rolling down my face after being offered a job teaching reading because I could not contain my joy in knowing I would be teaching READING.  I remember thinking, "Wow, He really does give us the desires of our heart."

So what should I choose as my focus for my Master's degree?  

"Reading, stupid." 

That's what I told myself when I finally consciously made the decision.  durrrrrr...  I'm truly giddy now that I've admitted that I WANT to do my Master's in reading.  And it's okay that maybe it's not the most lucrative or noble or selfless choice.  It's the right choice for me.  And besides, I LOVE reading.

Small Town Perks

Living in a small town is hard.  I know, I grew up in one.  The cliquish mentality of the always-haves can be oppressive to the never-hads.  Your business is everyone else's business, 24 hours a day.  There's little opportunity to grow into your full potential, unless you stretch your wings and break free of the small town.  And yet for those of us who grew up in small town USA, there is no place better.  A sense of community, security, and belonging are there for anyone willing to settle down and make a home.  There is a certain comfort in knowing that if you hit a snag, someone will be around to offer a hand.  You know if your car dies in the middle of the road, not everyone will zoom past, angrily honking at your misfortune.  Somebody will stop and offer a tow, a phone, or a ride.  Even if they don't know you.

If living in a small town is hard, moving to a small town and trying to find your place is even harder.  We wanted to raise Aaron in a small town similar to the one we grew up in, and we've always felt drawn to Kaufman.  We ended up building a house just outside of Rockwall in 2000 instead of moving to Kaufman because the drive seemed too far.  In 2007, Rockwall county's growth was pushing in around us and we decided we had to get out of the chaos and pandemonium.  So we put our house up for sale and started preparing to build on the land we had purchased in Kaufman county the year before.  After realizing building was not our best option, we sold that land and bought an existing home in the country.  The adjustment was tough (for me - notsomuch for Pressly, who would do without people altogether if allowed).  We had very few neighbors and didn't really know anyone in town.  Several people invited us to visit their churches, but beyond that, no one really reached out or even seemed interested.  We were just outsiders encroaching on their small town, not worth a second glance, because who were we, anyway?

We've been here 4 1/2 years now and we have made a place for ourselves.  We know a few people, either by name or at least by familiar faces.  I have a job teaching here, and am getting to know more and more people through work.  I can get from home (7 miles outside of town) to anywhere in town in under 20 minutes.  Traffic is nonexistent, and our vet is level-headed and super cheap.  One of our few neighbors is a precious woman whom we've grown to love like a grandma.  We help each other out.  Yesterday she called me in a panic because she'd locked her keys in her car at the grocery store, so I ran to her rescue with a spare key.  She picks Aaron up from school and hangs out with him when I have meetings.  Our other neighbors own the feed store.  When I called today to find out if they had de-wormer for our dogs, she not only told me my choices, but offered to stay at the store late to meet me or bring it to the house later this evening so I wouldn't have to drive back into town for it.  I love living in this small town!

Goodbye, Beth

A while back, I shared a link to the blog Beth and Dave James kept to chronicle her battle with pancreatic cancer.  My friend Beth passed away today.  Thankfully her battle was relatively brief.  She spent a year fighting it, and really suffered the last three months.  My heart aches for our loss, and for the fact that her children will grow up without her, but I find comfort in knowing she is in the loving arms of our Father, free from the pain that enveloped her these past months.

My prayer for her children and husband is comfort and peace.  God surely has wonderful things in store for them.

Before anyone told me she was gone, I knew it.  I felt it somehow.  When Pressly came home from work, he asked what time she had passed, and I said I didn't know for sure.  He said for some reason about 6, he just knew that she was gone.  She had been on my mind all afternoon, and shortly after 6, I had a sense of relief when I thought of her.  My prayer has been that God would take away her pain, and He has.  Just not the way I had hoped.

This was the scene from my back porch after I received the phone call confirming what I already felt. 

Thanks for the splashy farewell, Beth.  

We love you and will miss your effervescent spirit and beaming smile.

Oops! (The first day of school!)

When I turned the final corner on the way to my school this morning, I knew I was in trouble.  I thought I was getting there early.  Just for the record, parents who are eager to dump their kids and reclaim their daytimes think early is actually much earlier than I thought.

After flying into a silent rage over a parent blocking the ENTIRE entrance to the parking lot, I finally parked, ordered Aaron out of the car, grabbed my rolling cart and fled into the school pushing fresh faced children asunder.  Okay that last bit was a lie.  But I did pass up quite a few of them on the way in.  I couldn't believe at 7:20 there was already a line of parents waiting to drop off.  And the parking lot was full.  That meant there were probably already kids in the school.  I walked into my room at 7:28 and saw 16 bright shining faces attached to 5th grade bodies sitting quietly at their desks.

And get this... they were at the CORRECT desks!!  I had put name tags on the desks and the kids figured out where to sit without being told.

During my conference, I was chatting with another teacher and laughed at my timing error.  The 15-year veteran assured me it is impossible to beat the first child there.  She arrived shortly after 7:00 and had a precious sitting outside her door.  

So, lesson learned for next year: arrive at 5:00 a.m. to beat the rush.

Scaredy Kat

Our dog Katy is a strange duck.  She's afraid of everything.  When she was younger, it took a good thunderstorm or nearby fireworks to send her scrambling to sit on my head.  Have I mentioned she weighs over 60 pounds?  There has been more than one occasion when I woke up suffocating under her girth.  I'm not kidding.

Nowadays, anything a little out of the ordinary sends her over the edge.  She's not one to shrink in the corner and shake with fear.  Oh, no.  She needs the comfort of a human in close proximity.

Last Saturday morning, I awoke to the sweet, sweet sound of a slow rain. Apparently it's been so long since we had rain, she found the peaceful drip-drip-drip menacing.  She refused to go out into the scary water-falling-from-the-sky; instead, she opened both bathroom doors to let herself in while I was on the toilet and wedged herself behind the porcelain.  Have I mentioned she's not a small dog?

Stop envisioning me on the toilet.

Saturday afternoon, we bought a new TV.  Apparently new electronics are now sinister.  She sought shelter between Pressly and the cabinetry as he was leaning over trying to reach the inputs on the back.

This dog is nutso.

I Have No Words . . .

. . . for this:

We parked waaaay out on the edge of the Kohl's parking lot in Rockwall and when we got out of the truck, this is what we saw. 

Here's a closeup of it:

 

Looks like someone took a huge bite, chewed part of it up, decided he/she didn't like it and returned the partially masticated bread to the loaf.

What the heck?  And also, ha!!

Swag!

Orientation on Friday was actually enjoyable!  The superintendent shared his passion for education and his love for the district.  He and several other speakers were pretty funny!

There were only 11 new hires; 9 of us were teachers, plus 1 nurse and 1 counselor.  This compared to a typical year when there are 30+ new teachers - I feel so blessed to have been chosen to work for Kaufman ISD at all, but especially this year!

A local business, ABOX Packaging donated a ton of supplies to help us stock our rooms so we have things for those kiddos who get to school with nothing.  Lookit!  And this wasn't even all of it - there were baskets full of stuff on every table, too:

Our principals, who were also at the orientation, told us to "go shopping."  So we did!  At first we were all being very conservative, but then someone decided to heck with that, and we all started grabbing up all the things we knew we each would use.  Once our bags were about to split and we all felt like we had been too greedy, we looked around and saw that there was still lots of stuff left! 

This is what I ended up with:

 

I didn't inventory all of it, but there's a lot of stuff there!  The large blue and black bags on the right were gifts from the chamber of commerce and the school.  The First Days of School was a gift from the district for all first-year teachers.  I already have a copy, but figured I could share this one with someone!  The green, pink and b/w gift bag is full of post-its, colorful binder clips, push pins, etc.  It was a door prize from Lee's Pizza in Scurry.  

The Chamber of Commerce, Texas Health Kaufman, and American National Bank provided a delicious barbecue luncheon from Jackson Street BBQ on the square in Kaufman.  I had chicken and beef and both were tasty!  Their sauce is really good too.

I'll be sending out thank you notes to all the businesses and organizations who helped make our welcome to KISD a real event.

Turquoise Toes?

Yes, please!  

 

That super fancy background is my new classroom clock sitting atop a bunch of paper I've been using to cut out lettering.  Hey, it was close by and looked prettier than my carpet or a dining room chair.  Classy.

 


I bought this Finger Paints brand polish earlier this summer and I just love it!  The color is called "Tiffany Imposter."  Tomorrow I have to dress more formally than I'm really comfortable when it's 110 degrees out because in the midst of orientation, there will be a luncheon hosted by the school board, chamber of commerce and a local bank.  So this is my little bit of "me." 

Calm

I don't know why, but I'm calm today.  I get all orientated tomorrow.  I've been told there will be more introductions and hand shaking than I've ever experienced.  I sure hope there's no test over the names, since I'm horrible at remembering them!

Yesterday I managed to come up with a furniture setup for my classroom that I like.  I think it overcomes most of the obstacles I was facing, and it's a little offbeat, so it suits me perfectly!  I have an area reserved for student computers (hope,hope,hope I get some!) and for a reading/library corner.  I still have no bookshelf, no extra table, and no chair for my desk, but things are coming together nicely!  Once I get things on the walls, I'll post pictures.

Setting it all Up, Or not...

I was so exhausted yesterday, but I resisted the urge to take a nap.  I just knew I'd be able to fall right asleep last night.  Notsomuch.  I tossed and turned from 11 to midnight, then gave up for a while.  I finally fell asleep after 1.  My mind was spinning about how I'm going to set up my room.

I spent several hours yesterday covering bulletin boards, arranging furniture, etc. 

Yes!  I have furniture!  The big teacher's desk has one dubious leg.  I'll need to watch that to make sure the steel behemoth doesn't threaten to amputate any young toes.

But I still do not know how my room setup will work.  My document camera/projector cart needs to be 10 feet from the nearest electric plug on one wall.  It will have to be  12 feet from my computer on a different wall because the network drop is waaaayyyy over there.  And I can't seat kids directly behind the cart, or they won't be able to see.  Oh, and I need to create a small classroom library area.  So I need to think about cords, visibility, space efficiency, seating arrangement, and who knows what else!  These are things the general population doesn't consider.  Can't someone just come set this up for me and then I'll make changes to suit me? 

On the upside, I got keys to the building and my room yesterday, so I'm no longer at the mercy of others to let me get in there to work.

The Script

Last night I pulled out my The First Days of School book, determined to finally finish reading it.  There's lots of free online content that goes along with the book, and every time I'd settle in to read (on an airplane, in the car, at the orthodontist's office), I'd stumble over the fact that I didn't have my computer with me to look at the additional content while I was reading.  I had only managed to work my way through about 2/3 of the book so far.

I didn't finish reading last night, but I did get to the root of what was bugging me the most: the script.  I wanted to see some examples of effective first-day scripts, and I found a couple with great ideas on the Wong's free website!  I've started building a fun and informative PowerPoint with basic rules and classroom procedures.

Yes, in spite of myself, I did write some procedures, even without knowing exactly how my room will be set up!  I decided to just force it, and I did leave some blank bullet points.

You may think that 5th graders are too young for a PP presentation.  Rest assured, I'm keeping it simple.  And this is a novelty to them at this age!  They are not like the PowerPointed-to-death college students who would rather pull out their eyelashes with duct tape than sit through another booooring slideshow.  Most of these kiddos have probably never seen a PowerPoint at all.  I have the luxury of making it fun and adding animation.  :)  And I'm designing it as an outline to remind me to hit all the important points, rather than typing out all of the information, so the information will be coming from me, not a succession of slides.

I was up until 1:30 working on my script.  I still need to brainstorm on it a little more, but I feel so much more settled since I have the framework started!  My stomach still feels like a rocking boat, but today it's more like a canoe and less like a cruise ship.

Like a Rocking Boat

To coin a phrase from Aaron, my stomach feels like a rocking boat.  I'm not sleeping well at all, and when I'm awake I'm anxious, nervous and excited all rolled into one mega emotion.  This Friday is new teacher orientation.  I'm a little concerned about it because the schedule implies that they will dominate my entire day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., including a working/networking lunch.  At the very heart of me, I am an introvert and very reflective.  I need space, at least for a few minutes, to gather my thoughts when I'm feeling overwhelmed or when I'm in a new situation.  While I was long-term subbing at the end of last year, I learned that I'm usually one of  "those teachers" who doesn't lunch in the lounge.  I prefer to sit in my room, gather my thoughts and use the time to prepare or decompress.  Alone.

And I still don't know what my first day with my kids will look like.  I can't even begin to think about my first-day script or procedures until I know how my room will be set up.  I know that's strange, but it's just the way I am.  I don't have a good sense of theoretical spatial organization - I need to actually be in the space and see it.

We did finish painting my room Saturday!  Pressly was such a sweetheart to help me, and several people who came in said it was a "relaxing" or "calm" color.  Perfect!  I'm accenting with bright, stimulating colors like orange, tropical blue, lime and hot pink so the kids won't immediately fall asleep.  But calm is definitely what I was going for.

I have been creating lots of new letter cutouts for my class walls and have some other ideas that I want to vet out once I have my room set up.

I had a nightmare last night that I got into my room and the kids' desks were all mis-matched.  Some of them were the newer sturdy tan and blue desks, others were half pink, half yellow, even others were the old melamine (fake wood) desks, so when I tried to arrange the desks in groups of 4, they were all different heights.  Crazy stuff my brain comes up with, but since I don't even know what kinds of desks will be in there, it's a valid fear, I guess.  They waxed the floors over the weekend - I'm hoping they put furniture back today.

So the Power of God Can Be Seen

I have a dear friend who is battling pancreatic cancer.  The crazy thing is I didn't even know her a year ago, and we've never shared a meal or even spent much time together.  But I have grown to love her and her precious family over the past year as we've gotten to know them through their children's ministry at our church.  Their son was in the class I was assigned to the last two months of last school year, and their daughter loves to pester Aaron by chasing him around and acting like a typical little girl (squealing, giggling, and generally being silly) during youth activities.

Beth and her husband Dave have very openly and honestly blogged about the entire journey So the Power of God Can Be Seen.  So far nothing about her journey has been medically typical.  We are praying for a miraculous healing.  Please visit their blog and add them to your prayer list.  You can read about her diagnosis under "Our Life Changing Week" and catch up on all they've been through by reading the archives.

Ozone

I thought I had decided on a color for my classroom, but the more I looked at it, the  more I felt it was a bit too bright.  I chose a few shades lighter than carribean blue, but it didn't provide the serene feeling I was going for.  So I stood in front of those racks at Home Depot and looked and looked and looked.  Aaron tried to help, but he kept choosing colors named things like cherry red, competitive orange and sunshine yellow.  Uh, not exactly what I was looking for, but thanks anyway, kiddo!

I knew when I found the shade I would just know it.  Finally I laid my grubbies on a sample from the Behr Ultra display.  Ozone.  It's perfect: a pale greyish-blue shade that is calming and acts as a nice background for the other very brightly colored things I've already chosen for my room.  It's blue, but not baby-nursery blue, and I think it's fairly gender-neutral.  At any rate, it's the color that will go on my walls because I've spent the money now!

Huge thanks to Home Depot for this color swatch.

Malfunction

Aaron walked out of his room at 7:00 this morning holding one of the big blue glue chunks that are supposed to keep his teeth from closing all the way.  I called the ortho as soon as they opened at 8 and got an appointment for 11.  As soon as I hung up, he also presented me with a bracket from one of his molars.  It's from the same tooth the glue plate was on.  Good thing they can get us in today!

Random

This is Spencer.  He used to be my sister Jessica's dog, but now he's ours!  He's such a sweet boy.  And maybe a little sassy, too.  Check out those crossed paws.

Speaking of sassy, Aaron snapped this picture of me on the way to church Sunday.  I still can't believe I have only ONE chin after all these years.  It catches me off guard when I see a photo of myself.  I wonder if I'll ever get used to the way I look now?

I went today to see what kind of progress has been made on the construction in our building.  My classroom is almost complete.  They just need to put a few more ceiling tiles in place.  I am going to buy paint tomorrow.  I'm not sure photos can do the scene justice, but I'll try:

I'm not sure the colors are right in these photos.  The walls are sunshine yellow, orchid purple, teal and Pepto pink.  When I first saw my room, the lights were off and in the dim lighting, I though the colors were pretty cool.  After going back and actually seeing them with the lights on, I realized that: a) I don't care for the color combo at all - in fact, I have a very unsettled feeling when I'm in there; and b) the walls are really dirty and marked up.  I think I'm going to paint all four walls a serene shade of blue and if that goes well, I might add a lime green stripe.

Having all brand new ceiling tiles already makes the place look clean and fresh.  Once I get everything painted, I hope it's a relaxing, welcoming place for my kiddos.

In other news, I did spot a teacher's desk in the hallway with my room number on it, so I will at least have a desk.  Not sure what else will be there.  I plan to write a before/after post once I get all moved in and settled in my new classroom!