chat

I really miss the etsy chat. I do not handle change well. Why must the things that I like disappear? This is a small chat of crafters. Hopefully more people will join and it will become more interesting. It is not super interesting chatting with just one other person. Much more fun with lots of people. sigh

Much better day

Today was much better than the first 2 days. The first week of school is always difficult. I forget about all the little things I need to reteach and all of the paperwork and meetings that are in the first week. I gat another new student. I am up to 19 kids. Good size class. My etsy shop has had several sales this week. It is hard to tell if the increase has been because of new items being added, summer being over of the fact that I posted an ad on a blog. Perhaps I should not introduce so many variables. Listing takes a long time so I wanted to get that finished before school started. Here is a recipe from vegeterian news that I really want to try. Thin-skinned delicata and butternut squash can be roasted without peeling. Serve this satisfying vegetable roast with brown rice, steamed bulgur, or polenta. Sprinkle leftovers with grated cheese, and broil until bubbly for a delicious next-day dinner. 2 Tbs. olive oil, plus more for greasing pan 1 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary 1 Tbs. chopped fresh basil 1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.) 2 delicata or 1 large butternut squash, cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick rounds (2 ½ lb.) 1 acorn squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (1 lb.) 2 medium carrots, cut on the diagonal into ½-inch thick slices (1 cup) 2 medium parsnips, cut on the diagonal into ½-inch thick slices (1 cup) 1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch-thick wedges Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Whisk together olive oil, rosemary, basil, thyme, and garlic in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add delicata or butternut squash, acorn squash, carrots, parsnips, and onion; toss to coat. Spread in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, stirring every 15 minutes.

kindergarten blogs

Here is a page that lists kindergarten blogs http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/2011/04/kindergarten-blogs.html

First Day of School

Well, I made it through the first day of school. It went pretty well. It was so hot in the room that sweat was dripping off of my chin. Gross! I plan on bringing a fan in tomorrow. My class is pretty small. So far it is 18. Frequently parents enroll their kids during the first or second week of school. This drives me nuts! Who does not know that school starts in September! There are signs up everywhere. I was surprised at the number times that I gave a direction and had a kid say no. It is not like the project was the difficult. We were cutting and gluing a school bus. One kid kept yelling out "When it playtime?" He quickly shut up when I told him that I make the choice when playtime was and if he kept asking he would not have any playtime. Yikes, get some manners. Hopefully I made the point that I actually expect them to follow directions. (Without seeming like a total monster.) No one cried so that is a good sign. Tomorrow we will be working on name writing. I have several projects for this week that involve writing, tracing, building with letter blocks and painting their names. We will sort names by how many letters in the names, what letters they have that are the same and how many names we have that begin with the same letter. By the end of the week they will know everyones names pretty well.

I need more time in the day!

I have discovered the site site bizspeaking. Of course I had to create an account http://bizspeaking.com/u/mhaynes2009 Shopping online is much more fun than shopping in person. No lines, no screaming children, no one gets in my personal space, I can go to a bunch of stores in a few minutes and no screaming children! I cannot keep finding interesting sites like this. I do not have enough time in my day to check them all out.

Another Big Change

Another big change in my life happened last March. I had been having a lot of stomach problems. After going to the dr. several times and being told that nothing was wrong I decided to try fixing things myself. My dr. offered me some medicine to take away my stomach pain. I did not think that this was addressing the problem. I started about by taking wheat out of my diet. No change. Then I stopped eating dairy. (Shhhhh, I live in Wisconsin this is almost like treason!) My stomach problems got a little better. Then I stopped eating dairy and milk. Magic! My stomach problems stopped. Becoming a quasi-vegetarian has been an interesting challenge. Eating in restaurants is difficult. I eat a lot of boring salad when in restaurants. This is one of the many downsides to living in a small town. I have had more of a reason to try out new recipes. Some of my vegetarian recipes were great and some......well.....I ended up having a PB&J for that meal. The most surprising thing about becoming vegetarian is the reaction I get from other people. I do not bring it up but when I go out with others and just order a salad they are always questions. Many people look at me like I have gone crazy. One woman asked me "Do you do that for health reasons or do not not like to kill the poor little animals." The last part was said in a baby voice. Yikes, what a rude response. The best part about this big change is that I have lost 20 pounds without really trying. YEA!!

School starts again on Tuesday. I think that I am ready. I think..... I have a small kindergarten class this year. I am so excited that we have smart boards this year. My new favorite website is smart exchange http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0 There are so many lessons already made up. They can also be modified to fit your needs. I love technology!! The older teachers in our building are freaking out about the new technology. We also have a new math program and a new phonics program this year. Lots of changes but this is good. I am hoping that our district will be making some positive changes in terms of grades and reputation. My other fave sites are http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/ http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ What are some of your fave educational sites? What else is going on in my life? I had a busy summer! We went to St. Lucia to celebrate our 4th anniversary. I added new items to my etsy site. The 2 new coffee shops in town needed to be checked out. I read a lot of books (I think the last count was 23) I also started geocaching. For my birthday my husband is getting me a GPS or geocaching. This site explains geocaching http://www.geocaching.com/