16th new beginning

Well it is my 16th time of doing this, starting a new school year. I have been reviewing my copy of Harry Wong's "First Days of School" and hope I do at least some of the effective suggestions. I have my list of instant activities for a variety skills ready to go with a few new ones brought from the national convention last spring, teachers start on Tuesday and another professional day on Wed then we finally have students in front of us on Thursday. I have a great feeling that this will be one of my most enjoyable years of teaching yet!

We Are Teachers

I am now one of the moderators for the We Are Teachers (WAT) website. It is worth checking out especially if you are interested in finding ways to market your talent.
This website (www.weareteachers.com) has a profile page for you to set up your information and a marketplace for you to easily buy and sell materials you have created and used over the years while perfecting your art of teaching. Check it out or email me if you have any questions about it.

Full time

Great news I have been hired back full time at school (after 4 years of 4 days) I am excited to get started back. Lots of changes and tough times the last couple of years so going back with positive attitude and high hopes for better days ahead. We start after Labor Day so this week I see lots of others schools around us going back (in Massachusetts school districts set up individual calendars) Here's to a great year

What a summer!

I can't believe it has been almost ONE MONTH since I have had a chance to catch up on emails!!!! I have been away from my desk and computer and am now paying the price trying to catch up. YOU will not believe (or maybe you will) my summer. I went to Monterey Bay in CA. for 2 weeks to babysit our two grandchildren, Mackenzie & Killian for my son & daughter in law (the Marines)--while they went on a trip to Hawaii. Man, if you have to babysit that is one nice place to visit. I cam back from that and I went on the ALLAGASH Wilderness River!!! My friend from Bethel, Bonnie, (Maine Explorations www.maineexplorations.com) who has done the Allagash solo a coupe of times, is a Maine Registered Guide and an Outward Bound instructor asked if I'd like to go along with her. What a great experience and the water level has NEVER been so high, the rapids were awesome and SHE knew what she was doing! What an incredible trip, one I have dreamed about for years and it all came true and out of the blue. I came back from that and then went on our annual family (car) camping reunion in Bridgeton for a week, two days after I got back from that my son flew out here with Mackenzie & Killian (the ones from Monterey, CA) for a week before he returns to another tour in Iraq! We had all 6 of our grandchildren here last weekend it was lots of fun but crazy. Mike and the kids flew out last night to go back to San Diego and I am just getting around to checking emails! I am home for the next two days and on Friday we are leaving for a week at C Pond in Andover, Maine for a week, this time I am going along with my husband so it will be nice to get a chance to spend some time with him this summer as well (although I think he has enjoyed having the house to himself most of the summer!)
So that is about it then I will be back to work when school starts after Labor Day What a summer!!!

Thoughts of school

Thoughts of school are starting to come into focus as August days on the calendar slip by. I have started looking into various websites and searches to help update my curriculum ideas. This year I will again be teaching kindergarten classes at one of the two schools I will be at. I will have full day kindergarten students two 45 minute classes a week and half day kindergarten students will have one 30 minute class. I wish all kindergarten students had the same amount of P.E. time to help with their transition into first grade but as in most school districts the financial aspects far out way the educationally sound practices. I hope to have a list of the websites I use as resources soon posted here and on my profile page at We Are Teachers.

summertime reunions

Hi I am home after 2 and a half weeks on the water. I spent a week and a half family camping in Maine on Long Lake and the other week under the stars on the banks of the Allagash River. Family camping was a lot of fun as usual. It is a family reunion every year for the past 20 years or so and we have relatives from New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. We rent 15 or so campsites and my 89 year old Mom is the leader of the fun. Seven of her eight children, 14 of her 15 grandchildren and 7 of her 9 great grandchildren were there along with several nieces and nephews and their children. In all the total was about 62 family members! Great fun.........

Allagash memories

I have been "off the river" for a couple of days now and have some great visual memories of the northern Maine wilderness experience. The ones that come quickly to mind are the unbelievable rain storm we had "blow through", the incredible stars -layers and layers of them- at night, the silence -with only the sound from the flow of the river, the bear, the many moose- one set of small twin moose with their mom, the bald eagles and many osprey, the sun, wind, rain and rapids, the high water level, the fast moving current, the many non moving solid BIG and small rocks in our path, the bugs, the outhouses, the people and the learning experience.

Allagash trip

I have decided to name my blog "In the Moment" to help remind me that I have so much to be grateful for and remind me to stay in the now. I always move on too fast and go on to the next thing before appreciating where I am now and what I am doing or have just done. Last week I was on a wilderness canoe/camping trip on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine. It was an incredible trip and I have so many great memories to post and share. I was with a friend of mine, Bonnie Pooley, who owns a company with Mac Davis, called Maine Explorations. Bonnie has completed the Allagash trip several times including solo trips so it was a privilege and an honor that she asked me to go along with her on this trip. The two of us were know as the "two ladies" out there, whenever we met up with the mostly male groups that is what we would hear "Oh you are the two ladies out here". I had a fantastic week and learned so much from the expertise, knowledge, wisdom and experience that Bonnie brought with her and was so willing to share with me.