are all the children in?

i've heard this poem mentioned twice lately and i have it on my mind...

I think as the night draws nigh
Of an old house on the hill,
Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred
Where the children played at will.
And when the night at last came down,
Hushing the merry din,
Mother would look around and ask,
"Are all the children in?"

 

'Tis many and many a year since then.
And the old house on the hill
No longer echoes to childish feet,
And the yard is still, so still.
But I see it all, as the shadows creep,
And though many the years have been
Since then, I can hear mother ask,
"Are all the children in?"

 

I wonder if when the shadows fall
On the last short, earthly day,
When we say good-bye to the world outside,
All tired with our childish play.
When we step over to Jesus' Land
Where mother so long has been,
Will we hear her ask, just as of old,
"Are all the children in?"

how to walk into the room

disclaimer: this is a teacher-y post.

one thing i learned from both of my (awesome) cooperating teachers during student teaching is.... procedure, procedure, procedure.  and every good teacher i have ever seen has lots of procedures.  (why didn't they teach me this in college!?)

procedures for...
sharpening pencils
walking in
walking out
sitting down
standing up
passing papers
moving to the floor
writing your name

because when you have 25 6-year-olds in a room, well, you can imagine...

i have noticed there is a serious lack of music-teacher blogging going on, so maybe I'll somehow be able to use this to connect with others.  (i think media/tech + music teacher doesn't necessarily go together, understandably.)  hence, the teacher-y post.

so for teacher-y people who read this blog (or my mom who is kindly interested in everything i say - or at least pretends to be) I will describe some procedures I use in elementary music.

how about something basic like walking in the room? (oh yes, walking needs a procedure. haha

 K-2 enter in their straight line.  They walk their line through the room until everybody is in through the door.  I call people who look 'ready' to be in music class to go to their seat.  (I call them one by one.  This helps me learn names too!)  For the first SEVERAL music classes we watch each person or 2 walk to their seat and I point out all the right things they are doing (walking as opposed to running; walking around the chairs as opposed to moving chairs out of the way; not moving their seat out of it's spot in the row, etc...).  By now, all the kids have learned how I would like them to walk to their seats in my room.  It is safe and efficient.  Procedures mean minimal time-wasting.  Of course, this whole process sounds like it 'wastes' a lot of time, but in the long run, it is VERY beneficial.  It takes 5 minutes the 1st day of class when I have to learn their names and assign seats.  Other days it takes 2 minutes.  By the 6th or 7th week of school, it will take 30 seconds.  So worth it.

3-5  For the first few music classes, they did the same line procedure.  (one by one with me pointing out the way they should walk to their seat.)  This was to help me learn names, and because you just can't take for granted that they will enter your room like people (as opposed to crazy hyenas.)  In some classrooms, they are allowed to run to their seats, so I explain the first day the way I would like them to come to their seats in music every time.  If I see somebody do it wrong (by choice or accident), I simply say "the correct way to go to your seat is _______.  Please go back and try again."  After the few few music classes, we have 2 days where they stay in their line and I shorten the procedure to this: "please look around the room.  think about where your seat is.  when you walk to your seat, please be polite to those around you and careful not to mess up the beautiful rows of chairs.  give it a try."  and they all go at once.  this usually works out great and i shower them with praise.  for the next few class periods, i greet them in the hall, remind them of the walking-to-your-chair procedure and tell them they may head to their seat when they enter the room immediately.   Eventually, they can just come in and sit down the way I'd like them to.

step-by-step directions + practice, practice, practice = good procedure.

a 3rd grade teacher observed her kids stacking the chairs in my room to make room on the floor and said 'wow! that is a well oiled machine!"  she might as well have given me a christmas present :) that was HIGH praise :) it made my day!!

i love procedures. 
you? 

painted dressers

I've been toying around with nursery ideas, as I mentioned a couple days ago and one thing I'd like to do is a paint a dresser that will function as a changing table/ storage/ dresser.

These are some fun ones I've seen on the internet in all my time-wasting research.

from young house love - stained a $30 craigslist dresser and added a white top!  cool and classy but I probably will end up painting instead of staining.  one day when i'm fancy and have lots of time, i'll stain so it looks pretty like this.

i LOVE the color of this one! so cheerful :)

source

loving the yellow

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I also like varieties of turquoise/ teal/ aqua/ what-have-you

not a very good shot but you get the idea.... source

this one is a good color but I really love how pretty the dresser is 

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again, not the best pic, but you get the idea.

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so what do you think? green, yellow, turquoise, other??

I'm hoping to do pale gray walls but we

flag waver

I have a friend who describes himself on facebook as "Flag Waver. Door Opener. Sail Pointer. Light Shiner."  Somehow I stumbled across that description the other day and it got me thinking...
How do I describe myself? 
What is most important about me that I want others to know and see? 
And, if I describe myself as, for example, a light shiner, would others agree or disagree? 
It's not that what others think about me is so important.  Rather, it is important that my understanding of who I am and what is important to me is equivalent to what I portray to those around me.  Lord help me not to be fake - to think I'm a light shiner and door opener and yet everyone around me would raise their eyebrows and mutter to themselves "more like a light killer, door slammer in your face."


God has declared me righteous, precious, his child.
I also have roles as wife, teacher, daughter, friend, sister, and mother-to-be.
But I want to be careful about not letting roles define me.  I want to be who God has made me and do what he has called me to do in every role, regardless of when or where.  I want to be a "flag waver.  a door opener.  a sail pointer. a light shiner." 

These thoughts are still roaming around in my mind but I have nothing more to say about them right now...

Pensive,
Renee

priorities

i am so thankful to have a job.  a job doing something i love that i feel i am gifted to do... teach.
it is definitely the right thing for us for this season.

but there are things in my life that are being neglected so i can do work well.
and it's okay.  it's part of life.  give and take. you can't do everything.

some things that aren't happening lately are...
cleaning - beyond a quick clorox wipe after cleaning up after dinner
cooking - this is important.  we can't eat crap all the time. i'm working on finding the energy to cook after dinner.
reading books - miss it.
reading blogs - i'm okay with it.
crafts - meh it's a nice idea but SO not important


things that are top priority even though i'm working full time (and by 'top priority' i mean, i am learning how to balance and make work happen around these things that God has called me to do well in.) 

husband

bible study

budget

family

friends

needless to say, my 'to do' list is long and things get crossed off very infrequently.  on the other hand, it creates simplicity in a way... get up, go to work, come home, see my husband, go to sleep.  & repeat.  there's not much time for wasting and weekends are such a fun treat.  

changes are hard to process sometimes.  i'm not sure what to think about it all yet. just taking life one day at a time, choosing joy always, working hard, and relying on the Lord.

fall is around the corner...

in no particular order, top 10 reasons fall is my favorite season

10. perfect weather - cool, no humidity, but not too cold

9. sweaters

source  and no i would not spend a fraction of that on a sweater...

8. pretty leaves

7. cute boots & other fashion goodness. this might be my favorite season for fashion.  layers are necessary but it's not too cold.  

6. caramel apple cider 

i love the stuff at starbucks but this season i'm going to try to make it :)

5. my birthday

4. college football [yes, honestly, i enjoy watching the games.  it's a relaxing way to spend a saturday afternoon.  although i'm okay not to spend thursday and friday and saturaday AND sunday watching football. haha. plus my husband is SO SO happy.]

3. back to school

2. thanksgiving

1. this year, fall means we are that much closer to baby girl coming :)

what's your favorite season?
are you excited for fall? 

toothpick rhythms.

we don't often use books but they do have some cute songs and the kids love it when we get to use them to sing a song!  (plus the music reading skills are good) :)

1st time with books for 2nd graders... you may or may not be surprised to know there are so many things to learn about how to use a book in 2nd grade.  (oh, that's half the room!)

2nd and 3rd graders are combined at one of my schools.  I'm still not sure how to teach this group.  these pictures are of them working on rhythm with toothpicks and cheerios.  first, we all create the same rhythm and practice clapping it.  then, they get to create their own and show me when they know how to 'perform' it.  my principal walked in during this activity and it was surprisingly quiet and nearly all the kids were doing their work.  i have some... interesting... kids in this class, so let's just say that moment was a miracle.  she looked at me and smiled and said 'you are brave. very brave'  haha!!

they can be crazy sometimes and i'm not really sure how things are going.  we'll evaluate in a couple months.

but, pretty cute, huh?