ugh

It has been days since I have posted last, but "sickness" can do that to a person and a family for that matter.  Families...we share everything, including the germs.  It's just the getting rid of those germs that can sometimes be so difficult. ugh.
~Carrie

student interest

This year, I have learned that the best laid plans can always be changed.  Although you can get a vision and weeks of work planned out, your vision can be altered due to one thing...student interest.  And isn't this the most important of things to consider?  Without student interest standards, projects, and exciting books are left in the dust! And I am writing this down, so I too don't forget.
~Carrie

Family Fun Night!

I love it when our kids can go to an event, and when you look around, you don't feel threatened.  I love it when they are in the same room with you, but you don't have to watch their every move.  I remember the days growing up with those type of events and I think to myself....man how the world and how the task of parenting has changed, my parents were so lucky!
~Carrie

Online dependence

It is crazy how much I have come to depend on the internet and its usage.  It was yesterday throughout the entire day that I tried to blog at school, and the internet just wouldn't agree.  I felt cut off from the world, as I couldn't complete the task at hand and couldn't receive any new messages via email.  It makes me wonder...how did we communicate before "on-line" began?
~Carrie

Kindergarten Storytelling

I sit here tonight uncertain of what I should write.  I honestly don't feel like writing either.  I guess this is how students feel when we tell them..."go write a story".  My kindergarten partners and I have been working hard to incorporate verbal storytelling into our writer's workshop this year.  We know that kindergarten kids can tell all kinds of stories, but when it comes time to write a story they freeze up.  I'm sure some of it is the fear of not knowing how to write certain words, but I think a lot of it is they don't realize that the stories they come in and tell me with excitement can be the same stories they write and publish. 

This very idea is what we are trying to accomplish with verbal storytelling.  We spent many days just telling stories during writer's workshop, trying to work our way up to the bridge that takes us from telling to writing.  Many of my students have crossed over, but not all.  Only with time, practice, and comfort will they be ready.  It is our jobs as teachers to guide them and give them the tools they need to make it to the other side. 

The Party's Over

Ah, the amazing yet painful feeling of sitting down at the end of a long and productive day.  We had a birthday party tonight for my youngest daughter and all my hard work is done.  She had a great time and I was excited that I was able to do all the "little things" I had wanted to do for her to make the evening special.  My feet and back ache, but tonight the pain feels like accomplishment instead of annoyance.  There is nothing like a 6 year old birthday girl.
~Hope

sleeping children

No matter the wear and tear of a day, there is noting better than "checking" on my children after they have fallen asleep.  Something about those deep breaths and a calmness that can't be explained, it's just amazing. 
~Carrie