Bits of things.

You wouldn't know it from the looks of these photos,

but the last 11 weeks have been the most intense, enduring, and stressful of my life.

I went from one placement in a 1st/2nd grade classroom
with a mentor I adore almost as much as my own mother (not really, mom!),

to a 4th grade class at a new school, with a new mentor teacher, and yet another work sample to create and teach.

It's been a whirlwind of constant work, self-reflection, vulnerability, and, sometimes, self-doubt.

I'm doing what I can to get by. Emotionally and physically.

I am doing my best to fulfill all of my requirements, while doing it creatively, thoughtfully, energetically,

and somehow find it within myself to also be all of those things at home with my family.

The balance is not easy, but, perhaps anything truly worth pursuing should have some sort of intense struggle.

Who knows what I'm talking about. 

I'm tired. I should be sleeping, but I thought it was about time to update this ol' thing.

These photos give a little glimpse of the past few weeks.

Last week Ramona's grandparents took her across the state to stay with them,

giving us some much needed time to both relax/have fun, as well as work freely on things we needed to finish up.

I brunched, biked around the city, went dancing, and arguably could've/should've worked more, 

but my spirit needed that little bit of fun more than I needed to type a few more pages.

I valued that time more than I can even say, 

but after five days, I was sure ready to see my little lady again.

I graduate next weekend, WITH A MASTER IN TEACHING (!!!!!!!!!!!!),

although it seems a bit false since I have eight more weeks of school with my students.

I'll get there, and by then it'll be SUMMER.

For now, this gorgeous Northwest Spring weather is doing amazing things for my mood and energy.

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FIGHT YOUR WAY THROUGH THAT.

Student teaching is said to be one of the most challenging, yet rewarding periods of growth that every educator goes through.

You're under constant scrutiny, from your mentors and yourself,

your workload is arguably too much to manage,

and if you're like me or anyone else I know, 

your expectations are to be the best teacher right away.

This video brings me so much comfort, and I love that it can be applied to any creative endeavor.

Just when I feel like curling up into a ball and screaming that I just can't anymore, 

I know that anyone who has ever had expectations and dreams for themselves,

and who has struggled through that period where the reality of your accomplishments doesn't match your taste, 

those people do eventually get there.

They get there and they keep on going, because that taste they began with never fades.

It's in those exhausting hours, months, and years of falling short of where you think you should be 

that we grow, refining both our expectations of ourselves and of our craft.

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A NEW CHAPTER IN MY BOOK.

//These photos were taken over the weekend. 

We spent it at a beautiful schoolhouse/cabin near Mt. Hood with the Sandy River flowing in the backyard.

It was everything cozy and relaxing that I needed to send me off.

Family, a wood stove, fire pits, good food, claw foot tubs, friends, ping pong, books, puzzles.

It was just lovely, and how perfect that it was a schoolhouse?!// 

Friends, family, sweet readers of this blog,

I am beginning a huge journey this coming Monday.

It is time for me to complete my student teaching,

something that I have been working so hard to prepare for over the last two years.

I am anxious, just wanting to get going on it, hoping I will be able to fulfill all of the requirements

and somehow salvage a little bit of free time, a little bit of home life with my family.

It's a crazy-busy, 18-week whirlwind.

I'm ready to prove myself as an educator, to put all of my energy toward something I care so, so deeply about.

As with any new beginning, there are so many conflicting emotions.

The most difficult thing for me, I think, will be being away from Ramona 5 days a week.

She is almost 4, so she is at once as smart and able to understand as a 6-year-old, 

but sometimes her feelings are confusing for her, and she deals with them like a 2-year-old.

I have been an emotional wreck, telling her I love her about 1,000 times a day, 

as if I'm about to abandon her or something.

I realize I'm being unreasonable, she'll grow, I'll grow.

It's just the beginning of a very new chapter in our story.

For now, I will be continuing with THE 52 PROJECT, 

but will be putting the rest of this blog on hold.

I'm not even sure what this space has in store in the future.

I can't even express how much I've loved and appreciated the support and the connections I've made here.

The best, most consistent way to follow along with us over the next few, crazy months,

will be to follow me on INSTAGRAM.

wish me luck! 

xo

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HACKSCHOOLING.

This video made me cry.
This video gives me hope.
This video is a must watch if you are a parent, a teacher,
or even an individual who just needs to hear a teenager school you on how to be happy.

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CLOTHE.

cloth & stone denim / ace & jig skirt / zodiac cuff + more bangles + cheap aviators / betsey johnson boots

I was walking with Ramona around the neighborhood yesterday

 in search of every different type of leaf we could find for a little fall art project.

I encouraged her to choose leaves of different colors, shapes, and sizes 

and we spent the rest of the afternoon observing, as well as comparing/contrasting our finds.

Portland is looking especially gorgeous right now; 

all of the warmest colored leaves are falling all around, and we've had the bluest, clearest skies for days.

I'm just loving that I can still go without a jacket in late October.

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DEFINITELY BEAUTIFUL.

Taylor Mali is a teacher, a slam poet, and a serious bad ass.
When asked (by a lawyer) at a dinner party, "you're a teacher, what do you make?"
this was his response:

Taylor Mali on "What Teachers Make"

He made me cry, he reaffirmed my passion for this crazy thing I do,
and he makes a goddamn difference in the lives of children.
That's what Taylor Mali makes.

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Another incredible teacher who has clearly found her calling,

a mother of five/preschool teacher/the blogger behind magical childhood, 

wrote this eloquent article about what four-year-olds should know.

As a soon-to-be teacher of small children, myself,

I constantly hear concerns about whether a child is meeting "benchmarks,"
whether they are going to be ready for the next year.
It is especially concerning in the early years: 

preschool and kindergarten.

Let's love our little ones, stop pressuring them, stop comparing them.
They will absolutely succeed if they feel loved, safe, and free to be little.

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And while we're at it, let's value and respect our teachers.
Let's stop thinking about careers in terms of how much money they make.
We all know how fulfilling money alone can be (I am being completely facetious).

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Thoughts on teaching.

Truly the teacher of our time, Sir Ken Robinson, enlightening me again: here.

I just love his perspectives on education, creativity, and childhood.

He never ceases to move me, inspiring me to fight for my freedom as a classroom teacher to give my students the most comprehensive education possible.

His criticisms are so obvious, and deeply concerning to me as a parent and as an emerging teacher.

I think I have cried during each of his speeches. 

Good tears, tears that I believe we all need to shed before we can move forward.

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Schools Kill Creativity.

This TED talk, here, by Sir Ken Robinson is a straight-forward and perfectly blunt look at how the American school system kills students' creativity;
the path we took to get to this point, and where we might be headed.

If you are a parent, an educator, an artist, an economist... I know that this topic resonates deeply with you.
Let's teach our children to think laterally, rather than linearly.
Let's value our children's thinking.

If you're not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original.
-Sir Ken Robinson

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//...and here is his absolutely wonderful speech-turned-awesome-animation on Changing Education Paradigms//

Saturdays are for SORTING

I have been doing various Montessori-based practical life skills activities with Ramona lately and this button sorting one is really fun. 

I love getting new ideas from her genius preschool teachers. 

Sometimes when I drop off Ramona I like to come in and peek around for a minute at all the wonderful ideas. 

Their nature table is next on my list of things to replicate. 

It was the perfect lazy, rainy Saturday thing to do.

Ramona had a lot of fun doing it, and it helps with focusing attention! Win-win!

Happy Weekend!

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Educational iPad Apps: Mathematics

I previously posted my five favorite literacy iPad apps,

this post will be focused on the best math apps that I have found.

Just a reminder: my focus is elementary education, 

although many are customizable to meet the needs of many skill levels and ages. 

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Here is short list of great apps that promote the learning of mathematics: 

1. Montessori Numbers

What I love:

Varying levels of difficulty, focusing on a digestible, small amount of numbers at once.

Uses a variety of manipulatives to learn the quantities associated with numbers.

Easy to customize; change the time spent on reward games, the level of difficulty within activities.

Kids hear the name of the number repeatedly as they do the various activities.

Easy to use (my almost-3-year-old loves it!), and it grows with your child (ages 3-7).

The graphics are ok, but I'll admit I'm kinda a snob about aesthetics. 

2. Long Division Touch

What I love:

It starts very basic, with tutorials that help to refresh skills and boost confidence.

Being interactive, it is a lot more appealing to kids than the old pencil and paper.

It gives instant feedback on each problem, working through incorrect answers. Amazing!

The design is simple and fluid, easy to manipulate, and it's free!

3. Intro to Math - by Montessorium

Just like their wonderful Alpha Writer app that I featured in the literacy post,

this app is designed so beautifully and is perfectly on-point with the montessori philosophy. 

What I love:

It is designed for the youngest learners, to introduce the concepts of the numbers 0 through 9.

Kids can learn numbers, counting, quantities, and sequencing.

Uses various visual representations that are familiar and easy to understand.

Like before:  I have yet to see such a functional app quite as streamlined and aesthetically appealing.

Lays a great foundation before preschool or kindergarten, which will certainly ease learning later.

Since it is for the little ones (4 years is the recommended age, I would start earlier even), the touch and drag interface is great for developing fine motor skills and coordination.

4. Love to Count by Pirate Trio

What I love:

It teaches the real world applications of math, the everyday relevancy of numbers.

The pirate theme is really adorable and engaging for kids.

The activities are taught in relatable ways, such as adding on a chalkboard or using fingers (teaches left hand vs right!)

Kids choose their pirate avatar, and we all know how fun that is! 

It teaches reasoning skills and self-direction.

5. Montessori Geometry

What I love:

The interaction is fantastic; you can rotate shapes and really interact with them.

Shape identification, as well as activities that link shapes to real-world objects.

It uses familiar shape names, as well as the technical terms; it is so great for young kids to hear these!

This app is good for kids of all ages who are needing an introduction to or a brush up on geometry.

The images are taken from vintage French textbooks - gorgeous.

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One final note, something I've realized is a great quality in apps (from the perspective of a mother) 

is the ability to use them on both your iPad as well as your iPhone.

Many of you probably know that when you purchase an app on your iPad, 

you can update your iPhone and access it in both places (and visa versa). 

Well, some apps can only be used on the iPad, but many are accessible on both and THAT IS NICE. 

(All of the five math apps I featured are accessible on both the iPad and iPhone)

It's not a deal-breaker, but it is awesome to be able to access apps you've spent money on 

in the event of a mid-meal middle-of-the-restaurant melt down. 

You know you've been there.

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Next subjects I'll be looking into: spelling, science, & geography.

I'd love to hear what is working and what just isn't in the classroom and at home.

Tell me what apps you love for your kids or students, and why! 

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Tiny, treasure-hunting hands.

Tonight, I had dinner to make and a little girl who really needed something to do,

so I threw together this little sensory activity that she absolutely loved!

I put rice (and after photos, I added lentils to create more depth) in a bowl,

gathered up a handful of her tiny toys (a tiny pom pom, a tiny pug, a button, a tiny and very freaky-looking baby, and a hello kitty ring), and jimmy-rigged a pair of chopsticks to make training chopsticks like my mom used to make for me, and voila!

Thirty minutes of uninterrupted motor-skill development fun! 

Happy developing!

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Preschool.

Our girl had her very first day of preschool today.

We woke up extra early, 

and ate a breakfast of blueberry pancakes to mark this very special day.

We said "have fun, see you soon!"

Ramona giggled, mama cried, and daddy laughed and put his arm around me, 

then the two of us drove away and got real sappy over a couple of coffees.

She did so well for her first day, 

her teacher said that she was very impressed 

 that Ramona knew to clean up her workspace in the art room after painting. 

My girl is a little silly about putting things away. 

I wonder where she gets that from...

It was a really, really big day over here.

I am all sorts of proud.

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Footnote: Ramona has never been in any sort of child care, so this is huge. We do lots and lots of things with other children, but between that and Ramona's incredibly headstrong ways, I was little nervous about how she'd be today. She isn't even three-years-old yet, so preschool two days a week feels just right. I can't wait to see how she grows and learns from the other kids. 

Procrastinating with slime.

Ramona and I have had a busy week.

It's been one of those where I've had a million things to do for school;

lesson plan writing, presentation preparing, interview conducting...

So naturally I have busied myself with everything else,

 like making homemade slime.

This is also the week our oven decided to stop working. 

You never realize how much you love to bake/feed your family until your oven is out of commission. 

To make this slime, just combine 1.5 cups clear glue and 1.5 cups liquid starch 

(I used Elmers glue and Sta-Flo liquid starch)

We mixed it with our hands until it was fully incorporated, 

then divided it into three bowls and added food coloring. 

She loved it so much! 

We we able to save it for later play in our handy little cups.

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Educational iPad Apps: Literacy

I was given an iPad as a sort of welcome into my Masters program and,

understandably, they would like for us to get to know them intimately and discover all of the wonderful ways we can incorporate them into our classrooms.  

I have been installing educational apps and playing around with them. Because there are so so many apps out there, even just within the realm of education, I have decided to keep my focus on just one area of interest at a time. This time around I was hunting for the best literacy apps. Keep in mind that my focus is also on elementary education, although some of these are applicable to many age levels.

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Here is a short list of great apps that promote literacy:

1. Pencils, Words & Kids

What I love:

It teaches the how AND the why of the writing process.

It takes emphasis away from grammar and spelling - great for beginning writers.

It uses art and other visual inspiration to channel creativity.

Well designed, in-depth, and tons of vocabulary.

2. iF Poems

What I love:

Separates activities into three age ranges: 0-6, 7-12, & 13+

There are 270 poems by poets such as T. S. Elliot, Lewis Carrol, or William Shakespeare.

You can search poetry by author, title, or subject.

You can record your own voice reading a favorite poem.

While reading or writing poetry, you can click an unfamiliar word to get the definition.

The illustrations: think modern winnie-the-pooh.

3. Alpha Writer, by Montessorium

What I love:

It's Montessori-based. 

I can see the wheels turning in my little 2.5-year-old :)

Helps hone fine motor skills with the touch-and-drag activities.

I love that you can select one of three artists who designed the graphics, what a cute touch.

I have yet to see such a functional app quite as streamlined and aesthetically appealing.

4. bookabi

What I love:

It's free!

Kids can create their own storybooks, with their own voice.

You can use the stock characters and images, but you can also upload your own images!

Promotes creativity and a love for telling stories.

Promotes the idea of sharing final products.

5. Montessori Crosswords - Spelling With Phonics

What I love:

Again, Montessori-based.

It teaches phonemic awareness & phonics memorization.

You can choose a sound category to focus on (long "a," "k," etc.)

Your child can grow with this app from the earliest stages of letter recognition.

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The thinking behind many of these apps is that students will take responsibility for their own learning and have fun learning to read and write. From a teacher's or parent's perspective, you could absolutely use these apps to have kids create poetry, a cartoon, engage in creative writing, or form the basic building blocks of reading and writing. 

I will continue my search in other subjects; math, spelling, & science are next on the agenda. 

Posts to follow.

What educational apps are you and your little ones/students using currently?

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Marble + paint.

We had so much fun doing this.

I let her squeeze some acrylic paint in the center of the page,

then we proceeded to roll a marble back and forth to each other across the paint for nearly an hour.

When setting this up, I had the genius idea (if I do say so..) to do it inside of a lid to a board game. 

It was smooth, flat, and kept the marble from rolling across the floor.

Our fingers were covered with paint, and Ramona got some great fine motor practice with her pointer and thumb; she was trying so hard to grasp that slippery little thing. Also, she was discovering that there was red paint there, and blue paint here, but where did this purple come from? Little discoveries.

A fun project, that resulted in a happy girl and some pretty pieces.

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Rainbow worms.

We made these colorful little "worms" last week,

they were a big, big hit with Ramona. 

We just cooked up a package of spaghetti, separated the noodles into a few different bowls, and dyed them each a different color. Only a drop or two of food coloring is necessary, trust me!

She played, she squealed, she squished, she even nibbled a few. 

I didn't think of this as we were making them, but she got her new scissors out and practiced cutting.

She did this uninterrupted for nearly an hour.

"wook, mama! noodle shoes!"

This was a super fun sensory activity, although, I may wait until next spring to do it again (outside).

The cleanup was a nightmare, but so worth it.

What activities are you coming up with on these rainy days?

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Measuring success.

I am currently reading Yardsticks , the wonderful book by Chip Wood. 

This book encourages teachers and parents to understand and honor each child's developmental needs. Wood breaks down (in a very easy-to-follow manner) the developmental characteristics of children at each age from four to fourteen. He describes the growth patterns, developmentally- and age-appropriate classroom behaviors, and curricula that supports each developmental stage. 

Children move through stages of early development at their own pace. 

We, as parents and educators, should absolutely be cognizant of these developmental stages, using them as a tool as we guide our children through social and academic learning environments.

I wish a happy and productive weekend to you all!
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