I have had an on again off again relationship with Facebook and I'm tired of it. It's divisive and unhelpful in my life. It's the only good way I have to connect with some people so I'm not going to delete my account, but I'm giving it a wide berth.
Olivia gave me a start of a yellow rose bush and I planted it in our yard. I fertilized the soil and watered it deeply. I'm going to give it as much attention as I can. I know I planted it too late but I'm hoping the crazy cold weather will offset that.
If it doesn't make it, I will try again because Olivia has thriving yellow roses and so do my parents. They came from my grandma and grandpa Dahl's yard and I want some too. I won't give up on this one.
I am also not giving up on fighting the good fight on hospital bills. I really like our insurance and I am grateful for it. There are bills that have slipped through their cracks though. I keep getting the same bill from the hospital from when Emma had her surgery in December. I call the insurance company and they agree with me that yes, the insurance should have covered it. They tell me they will resubmit the claim. Then the next month I get the exact same bill from the hospital and we start the process over again. Every month since January. It's been a lot of fun. But I'm not giving up.
Emma got a long overdue bill from the electric company on an account from her last apartment that she thought was all closed and taken care of. She freaked out and I promised her I'd help her get to the bottom of it. I told her that a lot of adulthood is the frustration of trying to figure out things like that. It helps when the hold music is good. I won't stop until we get it resolved.
My principles are not iron clad though. My principles faltered and I turned on the heat. In June.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Monday, June 8, 2020
Such a lovely time
I didn't take one picture! Luckily people I love and who love me enough to let me steal their pictures did take pictures.
We had a wonderful weekend in Nevada.
Friday we went to Hyrum's graduation. It was one of those unique Covid 19 kinds of graduations. Desi was describing it to her roommate and her roommate was shocked that 1) everyone in the class had a truck and 2) they would then all fit on the football field.
It's Wells, Nevada so of course they all had trucks and I think the baby boomers were the only ones who had classes bigger than twenty something.
The graduates' parents were in the trucks and the seniors were in the truck beds. They drove around the track and stopped off at a platform to be handed a diploma. Then they parked on the football field. We stood with the Hyrum fan club outside the fence and I can tell you we were an effective cheering section.
There was a parade through town after the graduation and the best part of that was Olivia throwing smarties candy at the graduates and missing about 3/4 of the time.
The plan had been to go to a restaurant and celebrate after but I had this terrible allergy attack and we were all pretty tired so we went to Elko to our hotel room and spent a really horrible night. Sometimes we struggle in hotels. Mark had the best night and he slept on the sofa bed.
Saturday we went to visit with my parents. We tried our best to keep our distance. It was hard to remember to stay away from my mom. I kept ending up right next to her and would back away. My mom has been going through bins of pictures and mementos and she gave me some things including some silhouette drawings from when I was in primary, a 16 x 20 inch photo of me as a bald smiley baby and my tithing notebook. When we were little we had these little spiral tithing notebooks to keep track of how much we owed. It delights me. I loved seeing the entries for $.10 here and $.07 there. I told my dad that I demanded higher wages when I saw that he'd paid me $.70 for hauling wood. He said he doubted I was worth that much. I did have a record of my mom paying me $5 for finding some medicine so she was clearly the better one to work for.
In the afternoon we went to Olivia's for a potato salad making party. I think I've made potato salad in my own home maybe once and I've made it with my mom and sisters many many times. I love the process of making it. And with our daughters helping it was speedy quick. My mom made the dressing and I remembered when I was a little girl and my great grandma Jaynes was the one who made the dressing. There's no measuring involved. The matriarchs just intuitively know.
Later, my sisters and Adam and Robert and some of our kids were sitting around talking and it got a little heated as we turned to politics and the state of things. Our kids were uncomfortable but my sisters and I have been arguing for four decades so we were fine.
At least no one pulled anyone's hair.
Earlier I had had a similarly intense conversation with my parents and I'd cried (because I'd started talking about my students).
I was talking about it with our kids later and I said that I was glad that I'd been raised in a family where we could disagree and express ourselves. That is a blessing.
That evening we had a dinner to celebrate Hyrum. Braeden and Anna came in time for those festivities and I loved having them there as well. Marianne had my parents get their food first. Then she had the "lucky men who were married to Dahl women" go next. Robert and Edgar and Adam are a happy (and I should add lucky) trio. They enjoy being around each other. I ate dinner with them. When I sat down, Adam and Robert were talking about the length they liked to mow their lawns. I almost rethought my decision to join them, but the conversation shifted and I'm glad I stayed. We stayed into the evening, visiting and enjoying being together.
Sunday was an even better day. It was the day that Omar was baptized. He was going to be baptized in Boulder Creek which was a fabulous idea and then the weather didn't agree.
It was cold. So unseasonably cold. It had been in the upper 80s on Friday and the high was in the 40s on Sunday.
It was snowing a little that morning and Olivia and her family prayed that it would be sunny for the baptism.
Tabor and Katie, who have moved to Lund, Nevada arrived and we were a happy group. We gathered in Olivia and Edgar's living room with Robert presiding and my mom on the piano and Marianne leading the singing. It did not take long until I was in tears. It was just so nice to all be together and I felt the Spirit strongly as we sang together and some of those kids can sing!
Mark and Hyrum blessed the sacrament and Morgan and Marcos passed it. There was a wonderful feeling in the room and I felt the purest kind of joy.
Lili gave a sweet talk on baptism and then Olivia and her kids sang a song. Wow, I'm proud of my sisters. They are such terrific mothers and women and I'm sorry I used to pull their hair (but they sort of deserved it).
I told Braeden I wanted him to be close and be ready during the baptism. Boulder was running pretty high and Omar is just a little guy. Clarissa's husband, Timeon is from Kiribati and since he grew up on an island, he basically grew up in the water. Clarissa said he would be ready too. And he was. He wore a sulu and flip flops and white shirt and tie. Kiribati is on the equator so you would think Timeon would be too cold for the high desert melted snow rushing past but as all his admiring cousins-in-law decided, he is a beast.
Also, the wind stopped and the sun started shining.
Brave Ruben baptized his little brother. You can see Timeon downstream behind the bushes being a baptism lifeguard. It was wonderful and very memorable. The minute Omar came out of the water, Olivia scooped him up in a blanket and carried him up to Edgar who took him to their warm and waiting car. Ruben wrapped up in a towel and followed and once Edgar was driving away, it started snowing again.
So the takeaway is if you really need something, have the Cobians pray for it. They got their sunshine.
Here's my sunshine:
Emma snapped this picture of my parents walking to the baptism. I love it. The winter parkas look out of place on a June day but I promise they weren't.
We all went back to Olivia's for Omar's confirmation and then a dinner. Edgar cooked hot dogs and hamburgers outside in the falling snow and Adam joined him in solidarity (and because he likes hanging out with Edgar).
These cousins recreated a picture. Here is the original:
Here they are now (different horse):
Cuties.
The snow kept coming and we decided we should probably hit the road. Not too far on the other side of Wells, the snow stopped though.
It was 20 degrees warmer in Pleasant Grove than it had been in Starr Valley, but still cold. Adam wondered if we should turn on our heat. I said that on principle, we can not turn the heat on in June.
I'm very grateful we got to spend the weekend with our family. It's been a long time since we've been together and I also loved worshiping with them and being together to celebrate big milestones in their lives.
Families are where it's at.
We had a wonderful weekend in Nevada.
Friday we went to Hyrum's graduation. It was one of those unique Covid 19 kinds of graduations. Desi was describing it to her roommate and her roommate was shocked that 1) everyone in the class had a truck and 2) they would then all fit on the football field.
It's Wells, Nevada so of course they all had trucks and I think the baby boomers were the only ones who had classes bigger than twenty something.
The graduates' parents were in the trucks and the seniors were in the truck beds. They drove around the track and stopped off at a platform to be handed a diploma. Then they parked on the football field. We stood with the Hyrum fan club outside the fence and I can tell you we were an effective cheering section.
 |
| Hyrum's sisters were responsible for decorating the truck |
 |
| The handsome graduate! We are super excited to have him at BYU. Emma made him a membership card to the Davis Dining Club. It was pretty fancy. |
There was a parade through town after the graduation and the best part of that was Olivia throwing smarties candy at the graduates and missing about 3/4 of the time.
The plan had been to go to a restaurant and celebrate after but I had this terrible allergy attack and we were all pretty tired so we went to Elko to our hotel room and spent a really horrible night. Sometimes we struggle in hotels. Mark had the best night and he slept on the sofa bed.
Saturday we went to visit with my parents. We tried our best to keep our distance. It was hard to remember to stay away from my mom. I kept ending up right next to her and would back away. My mom has been going through bins of pictures and mementos and she gave me some things including some silhouette drawings from when I was in primary, a 16 x 20 inch photo of me as a bald smiley baby and my tithing notebook. When we were little we had these little spiral tithing notebooks to keep track of how much we owed. It delights me. I loved seeing the entries for $.10 here and $.07 there. I told my dad that I demanded higher wages when I saw that he'd paid me $.70 for hauling wood. He said he doubted I was worth that much. I did have a record of my mom paying me $5 for finding some medicine so she was clearly the better one to work for.
In the afternoon we went to Olivia's for a potato salad making party. I think I've made potato salad in my own home maybe once and I've made it with my mom and sisters many many times. I love the process of making it. And with our daughters helping it was speedy quick. My mom made the dressing and I remembered when I was a little girl and my great grandma Jaynes was the one who made the dressing. There's no measuring involved. The matriarchs just intuitively know.
Later, my sisters and Adam and Robert and some of our kids were sitting around talking and it got a little heated as we turned to politics and the state of things. Our kids were uncomfortable but my sisters and I have been arguing for four decades so we were fine.
At least no one pulled anyone's hair.
Earlier I had had a similarly intense conversation with my parents and I'd cried (because I'd started talking about my students).
I was talking about it with our kids later and I said that I was glad that I'd been raised in a family where we could disagree and express ourselves. That is a blessing.
That evening we had a dinner to celebrate Hyrum. Braeden and Anna came in time for those festivities and I loved having them there as well. Marianne had my parents get their food first. Then she had the "lucky men who were married to Dahl women" go next. Robert and Edgar and Adam are a happy (and I should add lucky) trio. They enjoy being around each other. I ate dinner with them. When I sat down, Adam and Robert were talking about the length they liked to mow their lawns. I almost rethought my decision to join them, but the conversation shifted and I'm glad I stayed. We stayed into the evening, visiting and enjoying being together.
Sunday was an even better day. It was the day that Omar was baptized. He was going to be baptized in Boulder Creek which was a fabulous idea and then the weather didn't agree.
It was cold. So unseasonably cold. It had been in the upper 80s on Friday and the high was in the 40s on Sunday.
It was snowing a little that morning and Olivia and her family prayed that it would be sunny for the baptism.
Tabor and Katie, who have moved to Lund, Nevada arrived and we were a happy group. We gathered in Olivia and Edgar's living room with Robert presiding and my mom on the piano and Marianne leading the singing. It did not take long until I was in tears. It was just so nice to all be together and I felt the Spirit strongly as we sang together and some of those kids can sing!
Mark and Hyrum blessed the sacrament and Morgan and Marcos passed it. There was a wonderful feeling in the room and I felt the purest kind of joy.
Lili gave a sweet talk on baptism and then Olivia and her kids sang a song. Wow, I'm proud of my sisters. They are such terrific mothers and women and I'm sorry I used to pull their hair (but they sort of deserved it).
I told Braeden I wanted him to be close and be ready during the baptism. Boulder was running pretty high and Omar is just a little guy. Clarissa's husband, Timeon is from Kiribati and since he grew up on an island, he basically grew up in the water. Clarissa said he would be ready too. And he was. He wore a sulu and flip flops and white shirt and tie. Kiribati is on the equator so you would think Timeon would be too cold for the high desert melted snow rushing past but as all his admiring cousins-in-law decided, he is a beast.
Also, the wind stopped and the sun started shining.
Brave Ruben baptized his little brother. You can see Timeon downstream behind the bushes being a baptism lifeguard. It was wonderful and very memorable. The minute Omar came out of the water, Olivia scooped him up in a blanket and carried him up to Edgar who took him to their warm and waiting car. Ruben wrapped up in a towel and followed and once Edgar was driving away, it started snowing again.
So the takeaway is if you really need something, have the Cobians pray for it. They got their sunshine.
Here's my sunshine:
Emma snapped this picture of my parents walking to the baptism. I love it. The winter parkas look out of place on a June day but I promise they weren't.
We all went back to Olivia's for Omar's confirmation and then a dinner. Edgar cooked hot dogs and hamburgers outside in the falling snow and Adam joined him in solidarity (and because he likes hanging out with Edgar).
These cousins recreated a picture. Here is the original:
 |
| Ruben, Liliana, Mark and Hyrum--they were all practically doing the splits on that huge horse. |
Here they are now (different horse):
Cuties.
The snow kept coming and we decided we should probably hit the road. Not too far on the other side of Wells, the snow stopped though.
It was 20 degrees warmer in Pleasant Grove than it had been in Starr Valley, but still cold. Adam wondered if we should turn on our heat. I said that on principle, we can not turn the heat on in June.
I'm very grateful we got to spend the weekend with our family. It's been a long time since we've been together and I also loved worshiping with them and being together to celebrate big milestones in their lives.
Families are where it's at.
Friday, June 5, 2020
Grateful Friday
I was so so so (SO) grateful yesterday that I was able to get in to the chiropractor. I had been on the waitlist for a few days and my whining appeals to the kind office staff finally paid off.
I had three ribs out of place and if you have ever had three ribs out of place, you know that doesn't feel great.
I am grateful for Mark. Yesterday I was standing at the sink washing celery stalks that I was about to cut up and eat with peanut butter. (Is there anything better? And it has to be Adams peanut butter and I'm not just saying that because Adam is the love of my life.) Mark was out mowing the lawn and I saw something brown and still across the yard. I thought it was either a dead squirrel or a deer leg that some animal had dragged into our yard. Mark was on the other side of the yard. The next time I looked out the window, he had stopped mowing and he had a snow shovel and scooped up the dead squirrel (turns out that is what it was) and hurled it onto the hill.
When he came inside I told him he was awesome (because I wouldn't have done that--I would have gone and found him and had him do it). He shrugged and looked at me like I was a weirdo because what else was he going to do?
A few days ago, Adam had Mark check all the drip irrigation in the yard. He did and he also reconfigured the whole set up in the front flower bed because he thought it would work better.
That is exactly the kind of thing either one of his grandpas would 1) know how to do and 2) just do without being asked because what else were they going to do?
Every time Mark is like his grandpas it makes me happy.
I'm grateful for Emma. I love having her around. She just adds this Emma-ness that isn't the same without her. I love how she listens without any sort of agenda. She's always been one to soak up and process information quietly.
I'm grateful for Adam. That kid works so hard. His capacity for hard work and also his capacity for smart work amaze me.
And then he'll stop working and grill chicken for dinner.
And then after I go to sleep he goes back to his office. This month is a super busy one for him. I'm hoping things ease up as time passes.
I'm mostly grateful today that we're heading to Nevada. I don't even remember the last time we went. Maybe around the New Year? It's been a long time. We are going to socially distance visit my parents and help celebrate Hyrum's graduation and Omar's baptism.
(Ruben is baptizing Omar in Boulder Creek and it is supposed to be cold. If nothing else, it will be memorable.)
I'm so looking forward to spending time with my family.
I had three ribs out of place and if you have ever had three ribs out of place, you know that doesn't feel great.
***
I am grateful for Mark. Yesterday I was standing at the sink washing celery stalks that I was about to cut up and eat with peanut butter. (Is there anything better? And it has to be Adams peanut butter and I'm not just saying that because Adam is the love of my life.) Mark was out mowing the lawn and I saw something brown and still across the yard. I thought it was either a dead squirrel or a deer leg that some animal had dragged into our yard. Mark was on the other side of the yard. The next time I looked out the window, he had stopped mowing and he had a snow shovel and scooped up the dead squirrel (turns out that is what it was) and hurled it onto the hill.
When he came inside I told him he was awesome (because I wouldn't have done that--I would have gone and found him and had him do it). He shrugged and looked at me like I was a weirdo because what else was he going to do?
A few days ago, Adam had Mark check all the drip irrigation in the yard. He did and he also reconfigured the whole set up in the front flower bed because he thought it would work better.
That is exactly the kind of thing either one of his grandpas would 1) know how to do and 2) just do without being asked because what else were they going to do?
Every time Mark is like his grandpas it makes me happy.
***
I'm grateful for Emma. I love having her around. She just adds this Emma-ness that isn't the same without her. I love how she listens without any sort of agenda. She's always been one to soak up and process information quietly.
***
I'm grateful for Adam. That kid works so hard. His capacity for hard work and also his capacity for smart work amaze me.
And then he'll stop working and grill chicken for dinner.
And then after I go to sleep he goes back to his office. This month is a super busy one for him. I'm hoping things ease up as time passes.
***
I'm mostly grateful today that we're heading to Nevada. I don't even remember the last time we went. Maybe around the New Year? It's been a long time. We are going to socially distance visit my parents and help celebrate Hyrum's graduation and Omar's baptism.
(Ruben is baptizing Omar in Boulder Creek and it is supposed to be cold. If nothing else, it will be memorable.)
I'm so looking forward to spending time with my family.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
Idyllic mornings
I try to time my morning walks in the sweet spot between the cougars are no longer prowling and it's not too hot.
About a month ago there was an early morning cougar in our next door neighbors' backyard so yeah...I think about it.
Lately 7:00 feels about perfect. I put in earbuds and listen to my favorite podcasts. I smell the flowers and feel the mist rising from sprinklers in yards I pass. I duck under leafy branches of trees that spill onto my path. I see a handful of people I know, also out for either walks or runs. We wave hello and good morning and carry on.
It's one of my favorite parts of the day.
And I know that many people don't have the opportunity to take a lovely walk in a super safe (except, you know, the cougar) neighborhood. I never see police but I would never imagine they would suspect me of anything as I stroll along listening to my podcast.
I used to not totally understand the term white privilege but I think I grasp it more now.
I don't apologize for being white and for my privilege because I was born white. I am not doing anything wrong by being white.
I am sorry that everyone can't feel safe the way I do though.
I truly am sorry for that.
About a month ago there was an early morning cougar in our next door neighbors' backyard so yeah...I think about it.
Lately 7:00 feels about perfect. I put in earbuds and listen to my favorite podcasts. I smell the flowers and feel the mist rising from sprinklers in yards I pass. I duck under leafy branches of trees that spill onto my path. I see a handful of people I know, also out for either walks or runs. We wave hello and good morning and carry on.
It's one of my favorite parts of the day.
And I know that many people don't have the opportunity to take a lovely walk in a super safe (except, you know, the cougar) neighborhood. I never see police but I would never imagine they would suspect me of anything as I stroll along listening to my podcast.
I used to not totally understand the term white privilege but I think I grasp it more now.
I don't apologize for being white and for my privilege because I was born white. I am not doing anything wrong by being white.
I am sorry that everyone can't feel safe the way I do though.
I truly am sorry for that.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Collaboration day 2: change of venue
We had planned to meet at the school at 9:00 AM.
Around 7:45 AM, I got a text from Kate, asking me if I'd seen the district email about internet outages. We wouldn't have the internet at the school.
I said, "We can meet at my house. We have WiFi...and AC."
So they said sure.
And I spun into triage-deathbed-repentance tidying.
We haven't had people over in any way shape or form since March. (Besides Braeden and Anna that one time and they aren't really "company.")
The main floor is usually easy enough to straighten up but I realized that since we were doing some different online classes, Janelle may need to use my office.
It's not really a public space so I did some mad stashing and straightening.
In the end, our house was I-had-an-hour-to-make-it-look-good clean. It was OK.
It was weird to have my teacher friends in our house. Like worlds were colliding. Adam emerged from his office shell shocked a few times. He is in such an intense busy time, working crazy hours and barely coming up for air.
He was a good sport about having three loud mouthed teachers in his kitchen.
In the afternoon, Kate and I did the online class Janelle had done earlier. There were three math tasks for us to do, the first two were easy and basically familiar and the last one was pretty much nonsensical.
I figured out how to do it but I had no idea how or why it worked and that was the point. We were supposed to see that you can know how to do something but not understand why.
We're supposed to teach why and teach so children can conceptualize and represent the math. I'm still in the process of wrapping my mind around the whole common core math stuff. It's different than how I was taught, but I think it's good.
It's how Adam just naturally does math and it's why he's so good at math. It's why I can ask him any math problem and he can just spit out the answer faster than it would take me to pull out a calculator.
I showed him the third problem that was so crazy town to all of us.
He said, "Hmm."
Then he said, "Oh."
Then he explained it to me because it all made perfect sense to him. He was gesturing with his hands showing me where the numbers were on a number line and how they relate to each other.
He conceptualized and could represent the problem and all I could think was, Adam is smart.
Around 7:45 AM, I got a text from Kate, asking me if I'd seen the district email about internet outages. We wouldn't have the internet at the school.
I said, "We can meet at my house. We have WiFi...and AC."
So they said sure.
And I spun into triage-deathbed-repentance tidying.
We haven't had people over in any way shape or form since March. (Besides Braeden and Anna that one time and they aren't really "company.")
The main floor is usually easy enough to straighten up but I realized that since we were doing some different online classes, Janelle may need to use my office.
It's not really a public space so I did some mad stashing and straightening.
In the end, our house was I-had-an-hour-to-make-it-look-good clean. It was OK.
It was weird to have my teacher friends in our house. Like worlds were colliding. Adam emerged from his office shell shocked a few times. He is in such an intense busy time, working crazy hours and barely coming up for air.
He was a good sport about having three loud mouthed teachers in his kitchen.
In the afternoon, Kate and I did the online class Janelle had done earlier. There were three math tasks for us to do, the first two were easy and basically familiar and the last one was pretty much nonsensical.
I figured out how to do it but I had no idea how or why it worked and that was the point. We were supposed to see that you can know how to do something but not understand why.
We're supposed to teach why and teach so children can conceptualize and represent the math. I'm still in the process of wrapping my mind around the whole common core math stuff. It's different than how I was taught, but I think it's good.
It's how Adam just naturally does math and it's why he's so good at math. It's why I can ask him any math problem and he can just spit out the answer faster than it would take me to pull out a calculator.
I showed him the third problem that was so crazy town to all of us.
He said, "Hmm."
Then he said, "Oh."
Then he explained it to me because it all made perfect sense to him. He was gesturing with his hands showing me where the numbers were on a number line and how they relate to each other.
He conceptualized and could represent the problem and all I could think was, Adam is smart.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Collaboration
We have three days of collaboration as a third grade team this week and then more in August (When we have a better sense of what the school year will look like...I don't want to think about it). We met in my classroom and the AC in the school wasn't working because it never does and since we also have major budget cuts as a district....I'm glad we're only collaborating for three days. It was 83 degrees in my classroom.
I gave them t-shirts, earlier Kate gave us each a Swig gift card and today Janelle gave us mugs filled with chocolates and the chocolate melted in the hot classroom.
I love my team. We are in 100% lock step over the essentials. We give the bulk of our creative energy and time to literacy and math. We brainstormed and came up with what I think is a great strategy for really targeting next year's third grade literacy needs. We know they are behind. Everyone is behind. But we have a plan that will involve a lot of cooperation and planning but I think will be great. And we also freely acknowledge if it crashes and burns, we will come up with something new.
Because sometimes the things you think will be amazing...aren't.
What I love is how we differ too. Our classrooms have their own cultures that reflect the teachers. I insist on silent reading time and the others don't. Jamie joined us for collaboration (which was awesome because she is awesome and has so many good ideas).
She said, "The research doesn't really support silent reading time as being that key for teaching reading."
I got a little riled up (and maybe it was the heat).
"I don't care what the research supports!" (Those words actually came out of my mouth and I stand by them.)
I told them about Braeden being a reluctant reader and I MADE him read silently 30 minutes a day. It was 100% non-negotiable. He read Garfield comics over and over and over and then he finally gave up and read actual books. And then he turned into a reader.
I only do 15 minutes a day in my classroom but it is staying. Don't argue with me about it. Especially when it is 83 degrees and my chocolate is melting.
I also do art and music appreciation and other teachers do things like character lessons and insist on making time for class meetings to build community.
We have these tiny snippets of time that are, I guess, discretionary and I love that we put our stamp on them.
Speaking of stamps, Janelle also gave us each a self inking stamp with our last names on them.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love where I work and who I work with?
I gave them t-shirts, earlier Kate gave us each a Swig gift card and today Janelle gave us mugs filled with chocolates and the chocolate melted in the hot classroom.
I love my team. We are in 100% lock step over the essentials. We give the bulk of our creative energy and time to literacy and math. We brainstormed and came up with what I think is a great strategy for really targeting next year's third grade literacy needs. We know they are behind. Everyone is behind. But we have a plan that will involve a lot of cooperation and planning but I think will be great. And we also freely acknowledge if it crashes and burns, we will come up with something new.
Because sometimes the things you think will be amazing...aren't.
What I love is how we differ too. Our classrooms have their own cultures that reflect the teachers. I insist on silent reading time and the others don't. Jamie joined us for collaboration (which was awesome because she is awesome and has so many good ideas).
She said, "The research doesn't really support silent reading time as being that key for teaching reading."
I got a little riled up (and maybe it was the heat).
"I don't care what the research supports!" (Those words actually came out of my mouth and I stand by them.)
I told them about Braeden being a reluctant reader and I MADE him read silently 30 minutes a day. It was 100% non-negotiable. He read Garfield comics over and over and over and then he finally gave up and read actual books. And then he turned into a reader.
I only do 15 minutes a day in my classroom but it is staying. Don't argue with me about it. Especially when it is 83 degrees and my chocolate is melting.
I also do art and music appreciation and other teachers do things like character lessons and insist on making time for class meetings to build community.
We have these tiny snippets of time that are, I guess, discretionary and I love that we put our stamp on them.
Speaking of stamps, Janelle also gave us each a self inking stamp with our last names on them.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love where I work and who I work with?
Monday, June 1, 2020
Respite
Adam has had a very busy work schedule and all of us were feeling weary and discouraged by the news. We decided to head for the hills--or mountains as it were for a Sunday drive.
We took Braeden and Anna with us so we took two cars, Adam's Subaru and Joan. It was Joan's first time on a dirt road. I baby her like she isn't a Jeep, but she is, in fact, a Jeep and did fine.
The mountains were beautiful and restorative. We tried to get to Cascade Springs but every route was closed. So we drove around the Wasatch back up some very narrow and winding roads. We got up to where the aspens were just getting their leaves and there were still a (very few) patches of snow. We were at almost 9000 feet.
When Braeden and Anna were in our car (they're the popular couple so they took turns being with Adam and me and Emma and Mark), we were talking about our feelings of helplessness. I said something about all the blessings I have been given and what am I even doing? Anna said, "Well, you are a mother."
I am. Here's my message to the world:
Braeden found that stick and said, "What a good stick!" He asked Mark if he still collects good sticks.
Mark kind of smiled at him indulgently because he doesn't still collect sticks and said, "If you turn it upside down it will be a better stick. You want the biggest part on the bottom."
My boys and their sticks....
(When it was time to leave, Braeden said he didn't want to take it because it was such a good stick and maybe someone had left it there and still wanted it. I said probably their mom didn't let them take it home. I said, "Sorry Anna, Braeden and his sticks are up to you now." Braeden left the stick behind. He is, you know, 23 now.)
Mark climbed up on a post and appears to be pontificating which is nothing new. Emma stood at his feet and said, "Here Mark, trust fall. I'll catch you."
But Mark just leaped down onto the uneven ground like a 17 year old boy.
How I love these four:
Spending time with them is good for my soul.
It is not lost on me how fortunate I am that I live in this impossibly beautiful place where I've always felt safe. It is not lost on me that I've never been suspected because of the color of my skin and that I have always had opportunities and safety nets. I never did anything to deserve any of it.
The horrible things happening in our country make me incredibly sad. I don't understand the violence and destruction people are resorting too. I don't understand how they can wreck their neighbors' livelihoods. I don't understand that level of hopelessness and fury. I don't understand. And I recognize that it's because I've never felt that level of hopelessness and fury that I don't understand.
We talked about it as part of our Come Follow Me discussion. We talked about iniquity and inequality. We talked about power and kings. We talked about who our actual King is. We talked about what we can do. (Not a lot, it feels like.)
We decided we can vote. We can try to be a positive light in our realms of influence and to the people around us. We can pray.
I reminded them that we don't live in the kingdom of Davis. We aren't in charge and we don't have to fix everything. We live in the Kingdom of God. We have a King and He loves all His children. We need to follow His commandments and love His children too.
He is at the helm.
We took Braeden and Anna with us so we took two cars, Adam's Subaru and Joan. It was Joan's first time on a dirt road. I baby her like she isn't a Jeep, but she is, in fact, a Jeep and did fine.
The mountains were beautiful and restorative. We tried to get to Cascade Springs but every route was closed. So we drove around the Wasatch back up some very narrow and winding roads. We got up to where the aspens were just getting their leaves and there were still a (very few) patches of snow. We were at almost 9000 feet.
When Braeden and Anna were in our car (they're the popular couple so they took turns being with Adam and me and Emma and Mark), we were talking about our feelings of helplessness. I said something about all the blessings I have been given and what am I even doing? Anna said, "Well, you are a mother."
I am. Here's my message to the world:
Braeden found that stick and said, "What a good stick!" He asked Mark if he still collects good sticks.
Mark kind of smiled at him indulgently because he doesn't still collect sticks and said, "If you turn it upside down it will be a better stick. You want the biggest part on the bottom."
My boys and their sticks....
(When it was time to leave, Braeden said he didn't want to take it because it was such a good stick and maybe someone had left it there and still wanted it. I said probably their mom didn't let them take it home. I said, "Sorry Anna, Braeden and his sticks are up to you now." Braeden left the stick behind. He is, you know, 23 now.)
Mark climbed up on a post and appears to be pontificating which is nothing new. Emma stood at his feet and said, "Here Mark, trust fall. I'll catch you."
But Mark just leaped down onto the uneven ground like a 17 year old boy.
How I love these four:
Spending time with them is good for my soul.
It is not lost on me how fortunate I am that I live in this impossibly beautiful place where I've always felt safe. It is not lost on me that I've never been suspected because of the color of my skin and that I have always had opportunities and safety nets. I never did anything to deserve any of it.
The horrible things happening in our country make me incredibly sad. I don't understand the violence and destruction people are resorting too. I don't understand how they can wreck their neighbors' livelihoods. I don't understand that level of hopelessness and fury. I don't understand. And I recognize that it's because I've never felt that level of hopelessness and fury that I don't understand.
We talked about it as part of our Come Follow Me discussion. We talked about iniquity and inequality. We talked about power and kings. We talked about who our actual King is. We talked about what we can do. (Not a lot, it feels like.)
We decided we can vote. We can try to be a positive light in our realms of influence and to the people around us. We can pray.
I reminded them that we don't live in the kingdom of Davis. We aren't in charge and we don't have to fix everything. We live in the Kingdom of God. We have a King and He loves all His children. We need to follow His commandments and love His children too.
He is at the helm.
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