SOL 17: Feeling Green

One year, my mother made pitchers of green beer.  I was way too young to partake in the celebratory slug; however, I gathered that this was some sort of adult holiday that made people act crazy.  Another year, my aunt dyed her hair green. Let the partying begin was her motto that year! While neither of them had an ounce of Irish blood, they eagerly borrowed my father's heritage and celebrated readily!

This year, like most, my sister wore green from head to toe! To an adult, she looked like the Jolly Green Giant from Birdseye commercials; however, she takes this adult holiday and makes it special for Pre K students! At least she is 50% Irish and there will only be green eggs and ham!
In the NYC area (where there are MANY who claim to be at least a "wee" bit Irish by heritage), there will be parading and partying that will likely last well into tomorrow.  There will be green hair, green beer and lots of people who just feel green.  With the exception of my sister, this still seems to be an adult holiday that centers around partying! 

While I could, by birthright, be wearing the green and partying today, I have other plans.  I do think a little hair color (NOT green) is in order at a nearby salon.  I will clean the gray dustballs and dirt of all colors from the counters and floors in my house. I will add some green kale to my soup at lunch.  I will cook up some corned beef in my crock pot for a good Reuben sandwich tomorrow! I will gaze out at the little glimpses of green that are emerging in the garden and be grateful for spring.  I will think of my dad, wearing a green shirt, and reading his NYTimes (like every other day) while the partying ensued around him  I will also say a prayer that those party goers everywhere either have designated drivers or take cabs home.  If you're feeling really green today, please don't drive.   

SOL 16 Yearning...For Something

It started.
Waves of memories swept over us as we discussed possibilites. 
The mission: Crafts for a four-year old's birthday.
We stayed focused.

Painting birdhouses,
Making crayons,
Decorating cupcakes. 
We were tempted to look for adult crafting fulfillment.

Eight hours later.
It started, again.
Sharing new-favorite crafting blogs.
In pajamas, we dreamed, downloaded, and explored.
Possibilties.
Potential,
Crafting Dreams.    

http://www.lilblueboo.com/free-downloads



http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/



http://www.ohfransson.com/

SOL 15 APPR - it's a slice of life these days

Annual Professional Performance Review

It's a slice of teachers' lives

Please sing along with me to the tune of YMCA.

APPR

Teach-er, there's no need to feel down
I said teacher-er, pick yourself off the ground
I said teach-er, it's all over town
There's - no - need - to - worry!

Teach-er, there's something you should know
I said teach-er, worry, but t let it show
You'll make it, and I'm sure you will find
Ways - to - get- through -this - time

We can't avoid A.P.P.R
Everybody's got some A.P.P.R
Somehow we'll endure
Just make a fair plan, that's for sure

We can't avoid A.P.P.R
Everybody's got some A.P.P.R
You can get observed more,
Think of this as your core,

Teach-er, are you listening to me
I said teach-er, politics caused this be
I said teach-er, just be the best you can be
But - you've - got- to - know - this - one - thing

No teach-er, does it all by themself
I said teach-er, put your pride on the shelf'

It's coming

To  your school and mine

Just - remember - why - you - became - a - teacher...

http://www.elyrics.net/read/v/village-people-lyrics/ymca-lyrics.html

SOL 14 Go Play Outside

On our way home, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, we saw a young child on a tiny motorbike.  He / she was SO young he / she needed training wheels on that motor bike! OH MY! 


  
This is a google image - I did not stop to photograph - yet  the image of that child riding around has stuck with me!  I do realize that motorized bikes, cars and toys have taken over, but I think the cost may be far greater than parents imagine!  These children, some too young to even balance on a bike, are riding around in the sunshine, but they are using very few muscles! 
In light of the obesity epidemic in America and with the every increasing need for PT and OT services for children with low muscle tone, I am pretty sure there a connection! 
Kids need to get outside, run, play and move their bodies to grow strong and be healthy. 

While so much of my own professional focus has been on classroom learning, I know that going outside to play is important for learning to read,write, and develop fine motor skills as well as becoming self-reliant.  Kids need to get outside and play - there will be a time to drive 2 hours a day - trust me on that one!
www.activelivingresearch.org/files/Active_Ed.pdf

SOL 13 Out on a ledge

At the beginning of this challenge,

I was on a ledge

A dangerous but exciting place.

There was ice,

 I could slip

Fall to the abyss,

I threw caution to the wind.

Now, 

The sun in stronger,

The ice has melted,

I feel stronger and safer.

In this new season of my life,

 I doubt I'll head back.

Students

Beware

I'm challenging you

To write every day.

So you, too, will learn

To be a writer

SOL 12 Food For Thought: Chicken In a Pot

In most families, there are cherished recipes. Many are meals to be enjoyed on holidays or special occasions, like Grandma's eggplant.  Not us, we're into something called affectionately, chicken in a pot (CIP).

The recipe has roots in my mother in law's kitchen where as a busy working mother (back in the 1950s when few women worked outside of their homes), it was a way to make the cooking of one chicken last 3-4 days!  It started as soup and later, with  canned tomatoes added, was popped on top of pasta.

In my own kitchen, CIP has slowly changed as our family grew and changed.  As a working mom with busy children, it became a Sunday staple that reappeared on Monday and Wednesday in some form or other.  It was always available as a healthy meal even if sports' schedules disrupted cooking time.  With Minute rice (fast) or pasta, I could make it stretch where few meals could go!  When they came home from college or when I visited, CIP was the requested meal.  When friends came for dinner, they all seemed to all know about CIP, and were disappointed if something else was served!
There are no rules for this recipe and this recipe is far easier than my MIL's original.

Chicken In a Pot

Take onion(s) -green, yello -  whatever you have and garlic - saute in a little oil

Push them to the outside of the pot when they are soft cooked

Add boneless chicken breast or thighs - cut up - whole - if still frozen, just add anyway

Cook a while, then add cut up peppers (frozen or fresh) - red - green - yellow

Cut up and add whatever veggies you have available (eggplant, carrots, green beans, peas)

If you have no other veggies, that is OK too!

Add canned or fresh tomatoes - not too much juice - just the fleshy parts

Add basil + oregano - fresh or dried

Add onion powder and salt

Variations include, adding black or kidney beans and chili pepper; or an all veggie CIP (just leave out the meat and add more beans!)
The beauty in CIP is that YOU CAN NOT MAKE IT WRONG and it never is exactly the same although I have concluded after many batches that onion powder and tomato pieces are the key!  Thus, you can eat it every week....and we have been....for many years.....but still, when they come home, or when I visit...they ask for CIP!

SOL 11: Repurposed

In my "world" there seems to be lots of "re purposing" of "old" things like the wonderful old railroad bridge in the photo. After nearly 50 years of sitting vacant in the wind, thousands of visitors now walk where trains once rolled high above the Hudson. While many people were critical of the tax dollars spent on that project, it's a pretty amazing view of the valley and connects some pretty amazing biking and hiking trails (themselves re purposed from old railroad trails) that have brought countless hours of enjoyment to people of all ages! While I never rode a freight train over the river during the ol' bridge's first "life," I have walked it many times during the last few years.  I suspect it looks far more beautiful than in its prime!

Recently, we hiked around Beacon, a small city that just a few years ago was a pretty scary place! It too is going through some pretty impressive, privately funded re purposing. The shot above is the Beacon Falls Roundhouse...once the crumbling site of the Mattewan Hat Factory...and now soon to be an upscale restaurant and pub. To be honest I am guessing it has never looked so good...not even in its prime!

I guess all this gives me hope for the future.  Fuel prices might soar through the roof and our politicians might never agree on how many angels really can dance on the head of a pin; however, we are smart enough to be using public and private money towards a few good causes that will provide healthy outlets for the next generation. 

While change is inevitable in life, these "slices" of life are evidence that change is not necessarily "bad" and might even be good!

SOL 10: Winds of Change

It was VERY windy the last few nights.  As I lay in bed, listening to the wind blow, I was thinking of the MANY changes every day that we all experience:

Our personal children start out as totally dependent but then change to individuals who only "need" us at fleeting moments of extreme happiness or stress.
Our parents start as our caregivers but then depend on us more and more.
At school, the children take on more and more responsibility for their own learning.
There's APPR, CCSS and RtI and other lenses to scrutinize and reflect on professional practice.
Technology increasingly becomes part of what we do and teach.
Writing is changing as we can get support and build community from afar!

    Change is hard and often we miss the comfort of what we knew; yet, as they say in
    Lion King, "It's the circle of  life."  
   .   

SOL 9: Exercising fingers

I'm many things; however, I am not particularly athletic.  The closest I ever came to being an "athlete" was when I joined (you did not have to try out for that one) the synchronized swimming team in high school!  Things were different back in the "old days" before Title IX; however, so I am not sure if I had some innate capacity that never developed or if I am just not particularly athletic! 
For my kids, it was a very different story.  They gravitated to movement and sports with a passion that took me by surprise (ballet, tap, gymnastics, track, basketball, softball, football, baseball, wrestling......).  I was a reluctant sports mama and tried very hard to make academics their "vocation" and sports their "avocation."  Sometimes, I had to draw the line in Sharpie marker to make sure one of them could see it! 
Perhaps that is why I tend to marvel to the intense spirits around me.....my own children as well as my nieces and nephews....and have wondered where their affinity for sports came from....
Now I have a hunch..

This week, I've been thinking that, perhaps, it's not the competition aspect of sports that attracts and keeps people coming back for more...
Perhaps, it's the community part - being part of a community of people who share a similar passion.
Perhaps that is why people set their alarms early to go play golf AND to get up and write! 

I wonder if we need to talk about writing (or talking, discussing) as if were a more like sport?  What if we talked about writing as if it were "exercise" for our fingers?  What if we thought up ways to have more writing challenges, like this one, for our children! 
We are exercising our fingers!  WOWSERS...what a week! 

SOL 8 New Flash: Writing Clarifies Thinking

When I wrote yesterday, my post flowed - so quickly it amazed me.  I needed to write...I needed to talk...I had thoughts I needed to say.....and all this got me to thinking...

Our children (at home and in school) don't always hear what we say....but they are always watching and learning from the what we, the adults who care about them, do.  Some parents and teachers model an "exercise" and "fitness" filled life by exercising at the gym and running a marathon every few months.  Some parents and teachers model healthy eating by making whole grain bread from scratch and shopping at the organic food-mart.   Some parents and teachers model how to relax and vacation when they go on cruises or off the their beach homes. 
I'm beginning to realize that "my" kids have a slightly different model!

From the time they were big enough to hold a pencil, I told my "personal" kids to write their thoughts and ideas downs on paper!  Admittedly, as a working mom, there were times I told them to write things down just because I could not stand a moment more of bickering or any more discussion....and there were times when I used that as a way to stall them and force them to clarify their thinking about whatever they wanted at that moment.  Over the years, they have done just that.
For example, when my son desperately wanted his license - a few months ahead of our planned schedule - he wrote a passionate plea about his worth and good decision making - drafted overnight on the ol' family computer, that turned his "iron-clad" father into mush at the breakfast table!

Since that first NWP workshop I attended LONG ago, I have used a similar model at school encouraging kids to write for real purposes AND writing them notes - making my thinking visible to them.  Admittedly, as a busy teacher, there were times I told them to write things down just because I could not stand a moment more of bickering or any more discussion....(just like at home)....and there were times when I used that as a way to stall them and force them to clarify their thinking about whatever they wanted at that moment (just like at home)!   Yesterday, one of my former students wrote ME a note (ON A STICKY NOTE!) about her younger brother's improving reading prowess:
                                                           
                                         He's getting very good at reading.       
                                         But, not as good as me yet.
                                                                                      
Yesterday I realized I am writing as a way to organize and clarify my thinking.   It helps - it really does!