Question and Answer

I found this essay at this Preschool Education Website.

What Are You Doing Teaching Preschool: added 3-4-02
Original Author Unknown

There are those days when the logical mind says, you must move on and do a better job of supporting yourself.
Those days when the logical mind say, why did you choose this career, it is not reasonable.
If the heart can still the mind, then the answers are apparent.
Perhaps logic did not play a great part in choosing our jobs as teachers.
If we are truly teaching life’s most important lessons to the little ones.
The lesson of love, to love oneself unconditionally and to share that love with others.
Perhaps we were guided and chosen to be in this place.
For teaching love in a crowded, confused and often angry world, is not something everyone can do.
Though our wallets may not be overflowing,
How many people are hugged and told they are loved by the people they work with each day?
How many people own original art works created expressly for them?
How many jobs allow you to wipe away tears and make the world a better place for others?
How many people are allowed to see a tired, weary world through fresh new eyes, where all things are possible,
To hear laughter and joy for no big reason, just for being?
When the logical mind says, what are you doing teaching young children?
Listen to your heart one more time.

If anyone knows who wrote this wonderful essay, please let me know. It’s amazing and honest and I really wish I knew who the author was.

Mrs. V

A book you can really sink your teeth into

No, it isn’t Pillars of the Earth, World Without End or even Dr. Zhivago.  Those books are all great reads, and I’ve read the first two this summer, and I’m currently reading the third one.

But I’m rambling.  Again.

I’m talking about a children’s book.  This particular children’s book is one that I start off every school year with. 

Here it is…

Drum roll please…

  Don’t Eat the Teacher written by Nick Ward.

This fabulous story is about Sammy the Shark’s very first day at school and his “unfortunate habit (as all young sharks do) of biting things” when he gets very excited.  You’ll follow Sammy through his school day as he learns many new lessons.  At the end of the day Sammy’s mom asks him what he has learned on his first day of school.  Guess which is the most important lesson of all? 

It is a sweet, simple, very funny story that grabs those little preschoolers’ attentions right away.  It’s predictable, and they can guess what might happen next, so it provides interaction with the students who are just beginning to know me as their teacher.  I like that it gives my preschoolers the confidence to speak up and contribute at storytime, right from the beginning of the school year. 

My copy is 10 years old.  It was my son’s book when he was little.  It is dog-eared, colored in, and torn in some spots.  It is a well-loved book, and I may have to put it into retirement and purchase another copy. 

So get yourself over to the library and “check it out.”  (I think that was a Reading Rainbow line.)  Watch those Scholastic Book Orders for it, or I think you can find it used here.

Enjoy!

Mrs. V

Five Freakin’ a.m.

In 24 short days I will have to return to waking up at this horrific hour Monday through Friday.  It is absolute torture for me.  Okay, it isn’t really torture, but it is as close to torture as I want to get.

I love summer break for many reasons, but one is that I can stay up late.  Late being defined as 11:30 p.m. or midnight, which really isn’t “late”, I guess.  Which leads me to another reason to love summer break:  I can sleep, a solid glorious sleep, until 6:30 a.m. or maybe even snoozing into the 7 o’clock hour.  Then I rise and take my excercise walk, eat my breakfast, sip my coffee, take my shower and then I might be ready to face the day around 9:30 or 10 a.m.  I am not a morning person.  I can achieve a lot between the hours of 10 a.m. and midnight, but before 10 a.m., I’m practically useless, just ask my children.

I really shouldn’t complain about 5 a.m., since I have the summer off.  However, I find myself cringing at the thought of it, yet again.

At five that alarm will ring, and I’ll need to move.  Quickly.  And that is a task I dread.  Moving quickly in the morning, and functioning on a level that is productive is something I have not yet mastered.  Every fall I promise myself that I’ll get it together, but I never quite get there.

5 a.m. seems so dark to me.  It feels foreboding.  In the winter I find it cold and unwelcoming.  Everything about 5 a.m. shouts “SLEEP”  to me.  I really do not understand how people can love this hour of the day.

So now I begin the slow and annoying task of resetting my internal “clock.”  I wish it was as easy as setting that awful alarm.

I do have a few things to look forward too.  I don’t have to set the alarm for a few more weeks, and I’ll also be able to sleep in again next summer.

Mrs. V

Sunset or Sunrise?

 

Summer slowly sets

Autumn rises once again

Orange glow silent

Mrs. V

Today’s Favorite Song is…

“Mercy” by Duffy. 

I absolutely adore this song. I love her voice and it makes me want to dance. 

Enjoy. It’s a “hot” video for a hot day.

If my technical abilities have failed me, you can find the video here.

Oh, and I am in love with her red heels in the video. I want need them.

Mrs. V

The shoes are hard to see in this video, definitely easier to see on TV. Red patent leather 5 inch heels… totally impractical, but completely awesome!