Stories with Sophie

I started a poem on the bus to contest today, thinking it would be my celebration. It was cozy and warm and full of love for my speech kids. We had a great day. Good performances. Half of the groups are moving on to state competition. Great day. As always, I posted pictures on our Facebook page When we first started the Facebook page, it was private and only the current students could join it. Once they graduated, I would delete them. And then I quit that. I decided to leave graduates part of the group because, really, they are still part of us. They are our foundation. And I like that they will post comments supporting those who are still there even if they don't know who some of them are. And tonight, as I was sitting here telling my husband what a great day we had and how much I love my speech kids. And how proud of them I am. And all the great moments we had. I received this Facebook message from an alumni I cried.  Honestly, as I write this, I still

I have returned to these words over and over since I found them. I leave them up on my computer. I have them posted by my desk and the bulletin board at home. They speak to me of balance. They speak to me of the two sides of me. They calm and inspire me. Be Water.

SSSSSSSSllllllllllllooooooooowwwwwww That's how I'm trying to start second semester. In looking back at last semester, I feel like I rushed many things in my classes. I ran lessons according to the calendar and not according to my kids. I was so worried about getting though each unit, units that I knew so well, that I forgot it was the first time students were going through them. And, of course, because we are 1:1, I forgot that some of my kids still need me to walk them through setting up their digital portfolios. Some are unsure of themselves when it comes to new websites and software. Even though I assure them they won't break anything, they need reassurance that they are doing things correctly, at least for awhile. SSSSSSSSllllllllllllooooooooowwwwwww Last week's cold days helped me do that. Before Christmas, I had two weeks to a month of lessons planned out for my kids. Some were tried and true. Some were tweaked. Some were brand-spanking new. And the

Click right here to join us and celebrate your week! You'd think after Christmas break I wouldn't be thankful for a couple of snow days, but I am!  I realized after going to work on Monday, that I really didn't have any me time during break. I was either getting ready to go somewhere or getting ready for people to come here. I baked and cooked and wrapped and cleaned by way through break. In fact, the boys went home last Friday morning as I went to work. I watched the weather with interest and anticipation Tuesday night. It was going to be cold. I mean REALLY cold. 30 to 40 degrees below zero wind chills COLD. Sure enough, we missed the day on Wednesday. So did I do the relaxing me time activities I had imagined? Nope. I took down Christmas decorations. But it's OK. Things are organized! WooHoo. I did take out time Wednesday for a little #snowdaychat with other members of my Iowa PLN. We chatted about 21st century snow days and how we could keep the lear

Clearly, the mice are trying to gaslight me. Each time it gets REALLY cold, they leave me their calling card. Now the last time they showed up, was the day the boys and their families were coming to celebrate Christmas. On Tuesday, I open the towel drawer to grab a dish rag and there it is--the calling card. Now, if you have followed the mouse story, you know I want to throw each and every towel and dishrag out. But I don't. I take them to the laundry and wash them in HOT water and bleach.  I go on with my chores. I open the silverware drawer to grab a spoon. Another calling card. I wash all the silverware. I wrap it all in a plastic bag. I clean and disinfect EVERYTHING in the kitchen. And honestly, I'm afraid to open any drawers. Fast forward a couple of days. Everyone has left and finally, I can put out the traps again. Trying to be smarter than the mice, I put a dab of peanut butter in the middle of each trap. I put one in the towel drawer

Start celebrating! Share your stories at Ruth's blog! My OLW . A L O H A I tried to live it, embrace it, keep it. It was an amazing word. I hate to give it up (I probably will always to Live Aloha), but a new word keeps popping up in my life. I don't like it. It doesn't have the emotional ties that Aloha did. It doesn't bring me JOY . But it keeps nudging me. It whispers in my ear. It wakes me up at night. I think my new word started coming after  hounding me when my husband and I took Chloe and explored South Dakota this past summer. We had so much fun. We did what we wanted, when we wanted, where we wanted. Then, we had a couple of fun weekends.  One in November with our Hawaii traveling companions and one the first weekend of December with lake friends. Great times with our favorite people. And I kept thinking, we should do this more often. We could do this on long weekends during the school year. Or even normal weekends. Why don't we t