Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

This is being linked several places this week…and as I link, I’ll update this so I can remember everyone I visited. We’ll start with here and here…my regular Wednesday postings. And here…here…

I hope you’ll join in this week.

So Long Summer, I’m Sad to See You Go!

Today is the first day of school here in my little area of the world.  It doesn’t matter what I do I’m always nervous on the first day.  This year may be a bit different than most though, I’ve taught the better part of my class, either last year or three years ago, so I have a pretty good idea as to what I have to look forward to.

Of course with the first day of school comes the crashing end to summer and not just summer vacation.  The weather this past weekend was very much autumn-like with cooler temperatures and the sure sign that summer is coming to an end.  The leaves have started to change colours and are even starting to scatter the ground.  We have had a hotter than average summer, but I am honestly sad to see it go.  The long days of sunshine does a body and mind good.  I love the longer days, I’m more awake, I get more done.  With the end of summer comes the end of productivity.  Sounds pretty pathetic doesn’t it?  It’s true, especially once winter comes around.  I go into hibernation mode.  But we’re not quite there yet, so I have some hope left in me.

One thing I think I will miss most is all the time I have been able to spend bouncing through blogs, seeing what’s up in people’s lives, what people are creating, what people are sharing.  I found some really awesome blogs over the summer and I very much see my Reader being very full during the week.  I guess the good thing will be some relaxing time on the weekend getting caught up with everyone.

I am going to try and keep as caught up on my writing too. I have enjoyed writing as much as I have this summer.  It’s been very enjoyable for me.

It’s not all doom and gloom though.  I’m looking forward to this school year.  The group I have will be a bit of a challenge, half are in a testing year, half are in a different division (my split, crosses the line between junior and intermediate grades).

I’m looking forward to teaching what I have planned, it’s going to be a busy and exciting year.

I’m looking forward to the one field trip I have planned.

I’m looking forward to working with a new teacher at our school…it’s his first year with his own class and the enthusiasm is almost sickening, but also the most invigoratingly, positive attitude and you need that sometimes.

I’m looking forward to red and yellow leaves (although I’m not looking forward to clearing them off the yard).

I’m looking forward to snowy white fields (although not yet and not long).

I’m looking forward to watching my students grow into a new maturity (although the hormones can stay outside the door!).

I’m looking forward to Christmas presents being wrapped.

I’m looking forward to hanging with Hubby during his Christmas break.

I’m looking forward to the reading conference I’ve been doing to for four years, in February (already letting my principal know I’d like to attend a day…even though it’s NOT on a PD Day this year).

I’m looking forward to reading a few books over the coming months (I’m optimistic…hopefully 3 or 4, which is really quite sad).

I guess the end of summer isn’t so sad after all…I mean another one will come around again next year.  Right?

Another great Tuesday linkup or two…

I don’t have too many problems with spammers, in part because I do use a filter.  I did notice a difference before I had one installed and that was before I was posting as often as I do.

This one has been coming to my spambox almost daily this week and it kind of makes me giggle…because of the first line.

“Why have you deleted my post? It was very beneficial information and i guarantee atleast one person found it helpful unlike the rest of the comments on this website. I’ll post it again. Tired of obtaining low amounts of useless traffic to your website? Well i want to inform you of a brand new underground tactic that makes me personally $900 each day on 100% AUTOPILOT. I possibly could be here all day and going into detail but why dont you just check their site out? There is really a great video that explains everything. So if your seriously interested in making quick hard cash this is the site for you.”

Why have you deleted my post?  Giggle.  And each time I read it I admit that I say to myself…because you’re spam, that’s why.  And lo and behold, the same bloody message is in there the next day.

Thankfully this one is VERY tame compared to the ones I was getting several months ago, those ones made me blush.

So let’s see if I get another one of these in my spambox now that I have posted this here…at the very least I’ll probably still get it, but you still won’t see it unless I decide to click the publish button…and really, why would I,  don’t want comments THAT bad.

Hope you’re enjoying your Labour (with a ‘U’ in Canada) Day weekend.

This week’s post is brought to you by kicking and screaming, moaning and whaling!

School starts on Tuesday, three days!

Thank goodness it’s a long weekend.

It’s all about school these days.

I’ll get over it eventually…maybe.

Would you do me a favour and stop by Cate’s blog to see what others have to say.

Okay, I’m cheating a little bit today.  Thursday was the first official day back at work after summer vacation, although I have been into the school four other times in the past two weeks, and I’m tired.  Of course, the fact that we have been under a ridiculously humid heatwave and Hubby worked a double-shift meaning he didn’t get home until 11:30 last night…and he couldn’t sleep, so I couldn’t sleep…you get the picture.  Thankfully I had the rest of this post actually scheduled, I just didn’t get the chance to add much more to it, than what you just read.  I’m sure next week, I’ll be back with plenty to say about the first week of school.  Stay tuned.

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Bouncing around the Tuesday Follows I came across this little site…and after taking the quiz found out…

It’s funny actually, because Paris is the city that has always called to me, the Eiffel Tower, bread, cheese, the Louvre.  What’s not to love?!  Then I started reading Eat, Pray, Love and I have to admit I think Rome and I would get a long fine, fabulously even.

I think in part it’s the history, that’s not to say that Paris doesn’t have history.  But Rome, well, it’s just a little bit older now isn’t it.

Then there’s the food.  Again, Paris has bread and cheese, but reading all about the pasta and the pizzas…I was ready to hop on a plane then and there to go and enjoy the food!

I still want to go to Paris, but I think Rome may have replaced it on the top of the list.

Care to join in on the fun…or to see what others are writing about today?

These little guys won’t be around here much longer.

This is being linked several places this week…and as I link, I’ll update this so I can remember everyone I visited. We’ll start with here and here…my regular Wednesday postings. And here…here…

Thank you to everyone linking up, I appreciate your joining in.

I find it funny that I used to love watching award shows. Used to. Now, I just can’t be bothered for pretty much all of them. I occasionally watch some of the Academy Awards but that’s about it, and even then, my attention is usually pretty short.

I think I watched about 2 minutes of the Emmy’s that’s it. I did however log on to People.com to see the dresses afterwards and I’m watching Entertainment Tonight as I type this. I guess my attention is drawn to snippets at best. I do understand that I should probably hop over to Youtube to see if I can find the opening…I can’t imagine it’s not there.

Anyone watch the Emmy’s…did I miss anything else?

Update: Just watched the opener…oh my goodness, that was bloody AWESOME.  I don’t think I have ever seen such a great opener for an awards show.

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Mother Nature has decided to tell us that she is still very much in charge. Last Friday I froze because I went out in shorts and a t-shirt, determined to wear them a bit longer. Well, that lasted a whole 24 hours before she decided to throw another log on the fire and turn the heat up again. It’s in the low 30Cs and that doesn’t include the humidity…that just makes me melt. I may actually get to bring the dog in for one more swim before school starts next week.

What’s really annoying…by the weekend the temps are supposed to be half of what they are now. I know I live in Canada, but it still amazes me that we can get such temperature swings. And apparently we are going to get warm weather through Halloween. I can’t complain about the temps, but the allergies, that’s another story!

What’s good about the weather…the only day I have to go into the school this week, Thursday, is supposed to be rainy and the start of the temps starting to drop.  That will certainly make it a bit easier to go.

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SIL was in a dragon boat race on Saturday.  To park, we ended up parking on the bike path – I didn’t know it at the time, but we lucked out by not getting a parking ticket.  There just wasn’t enough parking for the number of people who were attending.

This was the first race she had ever been in…as a matter of fact, it was the first for most/all of the team.  And…

They came in first in the gold category.  The only category higher was platinum…and they almost made it into that category on their first race.  After the first race they were 11 out of 59 teams.  Not bad for a bunch of newbies!!

And while we were there, we saw the biggest husky I have ever seen.  I’m 5’5″ and the head of this dog was above me hips.  Apparently he wasn’t done growing either.  I found out from SIL afterward that the dog was just a pup…at six months old!  Holy crap, that’s going to be one BIG dog.

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Shopper’s Drug Mart…what are you doing?

I went into my local Shopper’s the Monday and wandering the aisles I came across quite the “display.”  Not only was there Thanksgiving decorations, with a bit of Halloween thrown in…and Christmas.  There was also Easter and Valentine’s Day.  Really, seriously!!  I think this brings a whole new meaning to the one stop shopping idea.

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Anyone got a pressure canner they want to lend me?  I’m not fully serious about this, but I was hoping to can some of the HUGE bag of green and yellow beans my neighbour sent me home with on Sunday night.  Alas, I think I am going to have to survive with freezing the beans instead, as there doesn’t seem to be a safe was of preserving them without a pressure canner and I’m not spending $150+ just to get one.  Either way, homegrown beans in winter will be awesome!

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If you’re a NASCAR fan, you’ll probably know about this t-shirt.  Kevin and DeLana Harvick made the most out of a stupid comment made by Joey Logano and decided to raise money for their charity.  I just helped the cause.

The look on the one girls face made me laugh…not your typical t-shirt for small town Ontario!

And just incase you were wondering, I’m linking this post up…

While bouncing around my regular visits I came across this crazy awesome idea on:

She’s incredibly talented to begin with, but think this is one of my favourite posts since I have been visiting.  Look at how cool this closet is:

That’s a bookshelf on that closet door.  LOVE IT!

Second last weekend of summer vacation.

Two more Saturdays until school starts.

Another week of 6WS brought to you by the lovely Cate. Please stop by to see what others have to say.

*If you live in Canada you know the annoying Staples commercial to which I make reference. I don’t have a problem with going back per se, but the song drives me nuts!

Some of you have been blogging happily about your kids going back to school this week.  Yeah for you!  Here in Canada we don’t go back until next week and in most cases the week after.  My students will arrive all full of enthusiasm and fear on September 7th.  Some of the students I will have are in my room by request, others based on the conversations with staff members to see how each students works, how they get along, etc.

I have a grade 6/7 split this year.  Unlike last year where I had 3 grade 7s, this year’s group is almost 50-50.  Either way, it’s not a great split.  It’s a split that crosses two divisions, which for one thing means the grade 7s have more work, not just generally speaking but because the social studies get split in grade seven to be history and geography.  Tee-hee-he!  I get to give that one away.  And the grade 6s have to write the provincial test.  For me, the test is no big deal.  I’m going into my seventh year at my current school and six of them I have taught a grade that has provincial testing.

I don’t stress provincial testing, until we get the results, which sadly/gladly rarely surprise me, after all I taught the students for an entire year.  Why don’t I stress the test?  Simple, I teach the curriculum and know that I have done everything I can to get each group of students through the year and ready for the test.  Do I teach to the test?  I’d be lying if I said no.  Unlike my American cohorts who have testing every year, we only have it in grade 3 and 6, in the elementary grades.  I teach to the test from the standpoint that I look at tests from the previous year and share strategies with my students on how to go about answering those questions.  I teach them how to write properly, I try to teach them how to problem solve.  See, it’s not really all that hard…and gee, aren’t these two skills that the students will take beyond my teaching them anyhow.

I’m actually going somewhere with this post.  Several weeks ago I left a comment, actually it was an email because the comments were closed at that point, about the lack of creativity in schools.  Sadly there are quite a few teachers who insist on teaching using what is affectionately known as the drill and kill method, or rote learning.  I’m not one of those people.  Love it or hate it, I’m one of those teachers who rarely uses her desk for anything more than a coatrack and dumping ground.  I’m one of those teachers who is constantly looking on the internet to see what other’s are doing, to see what I can do better.  I’m one of those teachers that some teachers don’t like.  It may be because I make them uncomfortable, it may be because I use technology.  I don’t do this for either of those reasons.  I do what I do in my classroom for my students.

I have only been teaching (in the classroom) for eight years and I can honestly say that I am not teaching the same way now that I taught then.  I have changed my teaching probably every year.  What worked for one group may not work for another group.  This is one of the reasons I do not believe in the drill and kill method, because students learn differently.

I had a student a few years ago who just needed to stand to work.  The student was in on was disruptive when working, as a matter of fact as long as he could stand to work, he was no only on task, but often so on task he almost zoned out.  I had no problem with this method of working at all.  My supply teachers, well that was another story all together.  It drove them nuts!

I’m not saying any of this to toot my own horn. I’m sharing this because of the email exchange I had with this person (I’m sorry, but I don’t have a blog name, just the email addy).  I’m sharing this more to tell you that there is definitely creativity going on in schools, I promise.

Have you read Mocha Momma?  If not, why not?  She’s an educator who inspires me to keep up my crazy ways. She’s also proof that there is creativity still going on in schools.

It’s coming, maybe not this year, maybe not next, but there is a change going on in schools.  It’s just a matter of time before people are not needing to post about the lack of creativity in schools.

This is just another example.

I found it fascinating to read about what is going on in the education system in New Orleans since Katrina.  I just hope it doesn’t take a disaster to bring change to your schools.

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Care to join in on the fun…or to see what others are writing about today?