February is coming

This is Claude Monet

My children and I will be studying his art the month of February.

He was a French, Impressionist, artist--he used beautiful pastel colors in his paintings. I will be sharing some of his paintings with you this month--on my Blog--I hope you enjoy them.

January has been a cold, snowing month here in the Midwest. I, and those I speak with, are ready for Spring. We have February and March to endure first.

I hope that we will all be able to do more than just endure these next two months. I hope to find beauty in the ice and snow that will soon be melting and leaving us for a time. The trees have been a gorgeous sight to behold lately. We had several days in January that gave us trees covered with frost which reminded me of sea coral. The crystallization was wonderful. I would see it on the way to work then check it out at recess--the beauty only increased with the day. In my experience that early morning frost usually fades fast. In this case it lasted all day and into the next--what a gift!

I hope you all find beauty in the waneing days of winter--spring holds the promise of new life and warmer temteratures--but what a gift it is to be happy in the time and place we occupy at the moment--and not always be wishing and waiting for what is to come. Be happy and enjoy your day!

Take care,

MissT

Life is Good--If You Make It Good

Good morning all!

I am becoming a once a week "Blogger". I hope that is OK for those of you reading this--I have to trust all of you, because I only have 3 "official" followers and most of the time zero comments. I have decided to decide that that is OK. I am doing this for myself as much as anything else so I will continue to trust.

Life is Good--Life is Bad

Both statements are true--even within the same 24 hour period--So I choose to concentrate of the first of those two statements. If we dwell on the negative we will get stuck there. I am not for the "Pollianna" type approach of--"life is a one big happy family--all roses and sunshine all the time"--I just mean that we need to ACTIVELY think and talke and concentrate on the possitive. Make those parts of our lives BIGGER if you will, to "make it true" even if for a brief time it is not that true.

We have such power--our thoughts--to make thing better or worse. Many times a day--I could be disappionted--discouraged--frustrated--out there alone--etc...

I choose to be:

>>slightly inconvienenced--not disappointed

>>work harder or smarter--not discouraged

>>figure out a way for it to work--not frustrated

>>ask for help--not feel alone in a problem

It works for me most of the time. People want to do the right thing most of the time. So many time I and we do not give the people around us the honest feed back it takes to do the right thing. We have to be able to see our part in that or I and you, will get discourage, disappointed---etc. when we do not need to. It really is as simple as that.

I choose red and purple for the letters today because we are starting to do Valentine's Day things in our classroom--it is so fun to see the pure--honest love (and every other emotion possible) come out of the children I work with. I learn so much from them as I teach and observe them.

Good spread a little LOVE today!

Take care,

MissT

Friday

FRIDAY

This picture is by Norman Rockwell.

Once again, it is the end of another work week. I have had 3 very busy and challenging weeks at work. My class got 7 new children as of January 4th. These children need a lot of extra attention to become familiar with the work in our room, the rules we have, and in general--get used to being away from Mom and Dad and be happy in school.

Things are going very well. It is nice having more children in the room. Nineteen seemed to be a small class. Now we have 26 (when everyone is present) and we are busy, and the children seem happy. The "new" children are fitting into the classroom routine, and making friends. It is great to see that happen.

As for the teachers--there are three of us in the room most of the time. The addition of 7 more children is good for us--we all have plenty to do and that makes the time go by quickly.

I had a particularly great group activity yesterday. We talked about several thing. Starting with the calendar. I told them that yesterday was in the past, today is the present, and tomorrow is the future. After doing our calendar activity I turned the conversation another direction. We talked about how Norman Rockwell (this month's featured Artist) painted pictures that helped teach people lessons. The conversation lead to a discussion about HOPE. What do you HOPE for. Many children hoped for a certain treat like ice cream or candy. Then I said--OK, no more hopes about food, what else do you hope for? A 5 year old boy said, "I hope one day I will have only one house to live in." (His parents are divorced and have shared custody.) Other children hoped to become Basketball players and Ballerinas. It was one of those magical moments in the classroom. I was so proud of being a teacher that day!

My advice to you today is to think about what you HOPE for. Think big so that you will go about your day and week with HOPE IN YOU HEART.

Take care,

MissT

Good Morning People

We are having what people call "a long winter". Of course the winter is exactly them same number of days long each year, but we are having wintry weather every day this year. I took my class outdoors to play in the snow drifts yesterday. It was pure JOY! It took longer to get them bundled up and then get them unbundled and dry---but it was defiantly worth the effort.

To see the world through a child's eyes is really a gift. I get that gift everyday--if I choose to open the gift (by paying attention).

• they see the snow as fun--------we see work


• they delight in climbing a drift--we see work


• they walk on top of a drift-------we fall through (I did)


• they throw snow around-------we shovel it


• they fall down and laugh---------we fall and break a hip!!!!

Try to see life like a child today--have some fun!

Love Your Life

I would like to send out a message to anyone interested in hearing it this evening.

That message is to Love Your Life! I am very aware of the fact that Loving One's Life is not always the "state of affairs" for a lot of us. What I say to you is this, if you do not "Love Your Life" then systematically go about to change it into a life you can and will Love.

I know it is easy to say and not so easy to do--but what is? Believe me, it is well worth the effort.

To live each day not enjoying life is tragic. We are put here on earth, I think, to make every effort to live a good life that we can be proud of and it is very sad if we do not enjoy what we have.

This was a strong message--but one I really wanted to "get out there".
I hope everyone reading this is well and ready to "take life by the horns".

Have a wonderful evening.

Take care,
MissT

Back To Work

We are all back to work and school after a nice Winter Break. The snow is piled up high outside and the temperature is very low. We had -15 degrees this morning. THAT IS COLD!

It is nice to be back to the familiar routine of work. I like to have breaks but I am usually ready to get back to work too. This year especially so. I had 5 new students start in my classroom today and one more will join us next Monday. I am glad to say that it went very smoothly today. One child cried for a very short time, but everyone seemed to be happy to be back to school. It will be a very busy couple of weeks while the new children get settled into the classroom--but I am happy about how things are going. I like my job and that makes going out in the cold each morning easier.

Take time to count your blessings today. I am sure you, like me, have many things and people to be thankful for.

Have a wonderful evening.

Take care,

MissT

Back to work

Looking Forward

The new year is full of possibilities. We can all look forward to what could be. We can all think of this as a chance to start over and do better and be happier. That is an exciting perspective on life. To look at the new year as a new start is a positive way of approaching the new decade we are beginning. 2010 is the start of a brand new decade and I will try to make it good in many ways.

When we think of the new year in that way it is easy to see why we would want to make and keep those New Year's Resolutions we hear so much about. If we do not resolve to make positive changes there is very little chance that our life will be better. I think it all starts with ourselves. We are in charge of making our life into what we want it to be. If we do not take time to think and reflect on what we want there is not a good chance that we will get what we want.

My advice to you today is to really thing about what would make your life better. Latch on to one or two things you could do to make that happen. Those would be resolutions worth keeping.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Take care,
MissT