Life….

Wow, life really “gets in the way” sometimes, doesn’t it?! I need to stop making that as an excuse though.

I’ve wanted to write. I’ve written little things. I try to journal, but I usually end up typing things out in the notepad on my phone- pathetic huh? That I have to have my phone in my hand to get motivation to write. I blame it on the generation I’m a part of. I blame it on the things I have around me and the way I am “forced” to live- meaning if you don’t have and use a cellphone, do you even exist? It’s sad, I know.

I’ve finally started to trying reading a book, an actual books, vs online news or stupid articles.

My current book is, once again (for like the 5th time), “All I Need to Know I’ve Learned in Kindergarten”. I’m rereading it for a project, and I am loving it all over again). In his book he talks about the “Credo” that he writes every spring.

Talk about inspiring.

I want to start writing a credo.

A philosophy.

Every spring.

So, my hope to you (and to me) is to have my credo for next Tuesday. I started it last night while I was working my second job. No customers, and nothing to do, so I took out my notepad that is usually filled with orders for hungry people, and I wrote. I started neat and the writing got s l o p p y. But it was real and raw and it felt GOOD.

So, look back here next Tuesday, if you’d like.

But don’t get mad at me if life gets in the way, because it happens.

Looking for….

My first year of teaching in April I was introduced to poetry month. The activity where I would read a poem to my students aloud and they would respond by drawing what they saw. What a wonderful way for my 5 and 6 year old students to explore poetry. I’ve truly enjoyed doing a poem a day during the month of April. My students light up when I sit in my chair with the poem papers in my hand. They love  this, and I love that I am introducing them to poetry in such a fun and expressive way.

Poetry has always held a special place in my life. I used to write a lot. I loved turning my thoughts and feelings in to poems. I wish I was still as creative now as I was then. Maybe I am and I’m just not trying hard enough.

Besides writing poetry, I loved reading it. I would seek out poems pertaining to things I was feeling at any given time. Love, heartache, anger, hope, faith, laughter, happiness, forgiveness…I always tried to find one to relate to. I wish I had had a blog back then. I’d like to think I would have posted all of my favorite poems. But I didn’t, and who knows if I actually would have.

Here’s something I can currently relate to (I am aware this is a quote, but it’s still a beautiful arrangement of words that I fell in love with and connect to on such a deep level):

“I want to apologize to all the women I have called beautiful
before I’ve called them intelligent or brave.
I am sorry I made it sound as though
something as simple as what you’re born with
is all you have to be proud of
when you have broken mountains with your wit. 
From now on I will say things like
you are resilient, or you are extraordinary;
not because I don’t think you’re beautiful
but because I need you to know
you are more than that”

-Rupi Kaur

I can’t tell you how true this rings; how quick I am to say “that woman is gorgeous” or how often I tell my friends that they are beautiful and have “nothing to worry about”. I am all too guilty of focusing more on appearance, including when it comes to myself. My boyfriend will tell me wonderful things about me and I might ask him “well do you think I’m beautiful too?” And he just shakes his head, not only because he wishes I could just see and believe that for myself, but because he wishes I would stop focusing on the look pieces and realize the beauty within me.

I’d love for you to share with me poems that you love. Poems that you can relate to, or that make you feel something.

And if you have any good imagery poems for 5 and 6 year olds, share those too 🙂

 

When Will it End?!

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I can not express enough how much I D-R-E-A-D the end of the day. D.R.E.A.D.

It is awful. It is chaos. It is loud and crazy and I just want to roll in to a ball and cry.

What on EARTH do you do?! How do you end your days?!

The first bus gets called at 2:45. The last bus gets called sometime a little after 3:00pm.

I can’t put a read aloud on like I used to, because it gets so loud and the kids who need to be on the early bus get distracted.

I can’t let them read to self because they are so stir crazy and excited to go home that they don’t l-i-s-t-e-n. They read to each other (which is actually NOT reading..it’s laughing and giggling, and crawling around on the carpet).

I thought about a drawing book- each student can get a coloring/drawing book and they sit at their seats doing that until I call them to get their things ready to go home.

I haven’t tried that yet. That could work.

But I’m just SO TIRED OF HERDING CATS AT THE END OF THE DAY.

Please, give me your secrets to an easy (er) end of the day routine. My sanity depends on it.