Slipper Day

Friday was Slipper Day at Sanislo. How fun to be in toasty slippers all day! Only two of my kindergartners wore the exact same slippers and those were Spiderman slippers. On the first Friday of every month it is school spirit day and we have an assembly at the end of the day. Kids can sign up to showcase their talent. This month, a second grader showed us his Irish dancing and two first grade girls and a third grade girl played the piano. At the end of the assembly we sing Happy Birthday to students and teachers who celebrate birthdays during the month. They are simple, no pressure assemblies for the teachers and the kids really enjoy seeing each other on stage.

The Women

Chris Bennion, photographer

Busy, busy weekend for me, and lots of fun too! It began Friday night at the ACT theatre where I went along with about a dozen other teachers/friends to see Clare Booth Luce's stylish 1936 play The Women It was described as "venomously funny" and I must say that is an accurate description. I also thought it was an appalling commentary on how some females communicate with each other; lots of cattiness and backstabbing. The script left no doubt that the 'good old days', really weren't all that great for women. The best part of the play was the detailed and extravagant costuming of 1930s women's wear, everything from lingerie to evening gowns.

Rain, Rain Go Away

On Saturday there was snow and now today it is 56 degrees out and it has been raining nearly steady since last night. Many areas of the state are experiencing serious flooding and a stretch of I5 near Chehalis is closed. Some small towns are being evacuated by boat. All Star Fitness here in West Seattle has been flooded and is closed. Check out the West Seattle blog for photos. Personally, we have nothing disastrous to report at our house but I do know more than one of my coworkers has a flooded basement. The photos above show the lake that has taken over our playground.
This isn't going to drain anytime soon!

December Is Here!

Nothing like a couple inches of snow to usher in the holiday season! I am glad it was a Saturday as I really don't want the school year to drag out in the spring. At the start of all this snow, I was in 'old Burien' and the little specialty shops and boutiques were having their open holiday house and there were carriage and hay wagon rides up and down the street. It was quite picturesque and I sure wish I had brought my camera with me. I just know on Monday the kids in the classroom are going to be full of chatter about this lovely, although wet and brief snowfall. This morning it sounds like rain and looks like sleet coming out of the sky; quite miserable. The Midwest also got snow yesterday but from looking at the news, it probably was a bit heavier and is still around today. Here in Seattle the snow seems like a dream.
Well, time to make some pumpkin bread and then start decorating the tree!

Mercedes World, that's Meredith, tagged me today. Here are the rules of this particular meme: Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. My house is always clean but my counters are always cluttered.
2. I am not particularly fond of shopping, unless it is for buying plants and gardening tools. I'm a sucker for nursery shops in spring and summer...oh, let's be honest, even in fall and winter I at least troll the online catalogs.
3. I have sleep apnea.
4. My father was on the cheer squad for the Green Bay Packers in 194? Yes, I am a Packer fan.
5. It is challenging for me to read a book cover to cover. I usually read ahead and then go back and fill in the gaps as I find the time.
6. My mother grew up on a Wisconsin farm. Sundays at Grandma's and Grandpa's were a big part of my childhood.
7. I lived in San Francisco on my own, at age 20, for one year.

Some of the bloggers below know I am a regular reader and others don't know me from Adam (or shall I say Eve). Give 'em a read; we're all connected, in one way or another.

1. Quiet Life
2. Learning to Live
3. Time for Change
4. Piffle
5. A Snowball's Chance In...
6. Poetry and Ideas
7. The Happenings in NYC

For Graham Crackers

So, for what do you give thanks? On last Wednesday the kids had PE after recess and I met them at the door with the snack in hand. Instead of the usual "Thank you!" little 'B' looks up at me and quips with gusto "We give thanks for graham crackers!" and I get one of those warm 'fuzzies' that many people say are make up for the lowly status of teachers on the pay scale. I've gotta say, it did give me an inner grin. We had read a book about Thanksgiving earlier and we had discussed reasons to be thankful. The discussion went well enough but it felt a bit contrived. B's thanks was so much more heartfelt or shall I say 'tummy felt'. Kindergarten kids are so immediate; so in the present. Say your thanks now. You can change today if you say what you mean RIGHT NOW. For adults, Thanksgiving can be reflection, but for kids that is strange territory. The 'here and now' is what it is all about for them.
I hope your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as ours was; time to eat lots of great food with friends, time to take long runs, time to clean the house AND sweep the garage, time to put up Christmas lights, time to do a bit of Christmas shopping, time to talk on the phone with relatives, time to tackle report cards, time to wash the car, time to go to a play (Cook's Story), time to explore other blogs, time to take take pictures of a lovely full moon. Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of time.

My Honey Girl

My 'honey girl', that is what I called Anna Rae when she was just a wee little baby of six pounds and one ounce born on November 11, 1987. She turned 20 this year and she continues to amaze and delight her dad and I. She has spunk, smarts, and a sensitivity that is not always obvious. And at 5'2"(oh yes, and eyes of blue)she continues to be petite. In fact, the two young, 6' statuesque blond women who share her apartment never cease to let her forget that she is miniature. They designed an unforgettable birthday dinner for Anna Rae. Here is a descriptive explanation from Anna Rae's email: "My friends threw me a little birthday dinner last night. It was incredible. there is a long running joke about me being "miniature" compared to most of my friends. So Meryl, Cassie, and Emma made me a miniature dinner. For everyone other than me there were two normal chickens , baked potatoes, salad, cake, and bread. then for me there was a Cornish game hen, a baby potato, a salad with cherry tomatoes and baby carrots sliced up in it, a mini loaf of bread and a baby cake. The baby cake was four layers, my friend Emma went through h a lot of effort to make it. The thing I was really impressed with was that whereas everyone else got normal Coronas with limes in them....I got a 7 oz. Coronita with a key lime in it." The box her dad and I sent with love DID arrive in time but we have not heard much on what she thinks of its contents. Not because she doesn't want to tell us but because she has laryngitis. We called her to bestow our birthday wishes and were greeted with a softly croaked "Thank you!" Upon hearing her we said, "Hang up, go to bed, drink plenty of fluids, and don't you know, whispering is more stressful on your vocal chords than talking in a regular voice?"

Leaves that Linger

OK. So yesterday I had a post written to go with these pictures but something interfered and an error message came up and "poof!" no text. So I shall try again albeit cautiously. I just checked and it seems to be working. On these gray days of fall as the branches of many trees are bare against the sky our deck view to the west includes a peak at the Puget Sound. Even so, my eyes are drawn more often to the east corner where a birch tree shimmers with yellow leaves and the ruby leaved sweet gum rises up to nestle underneath it's drooping branches. Even today, with the 50 mph winds and driving rain, most of those colorful leaves stayed put. It was not until recent years that I learned that not all trees DROP their leaves, some PUSH them off with the growth of new buds. Such is the case with the sweet gum and oak in our yard.

This Lovely Day

So this morning I woke up leisurely, had coffee in bed, and finished reading The Kite Runner; an excellent read but oh so sad. Then, seeing the rain had stopped I went out for a 4 mile run. Some runs are exercise but my Saturday runs are extra, just for fun. I don't normally push myself on the weekend and because the sun is up I can take in the progress of neighborhood gardens and I listen to my Ipod. Well, at about the 3 mile point a slim hipped blond (she could not have been 30) with a bouncy pony tail goes breezily past me and this was at a downhill stretch. (Although, I must say that middle aged caution kicks in when I'm running downhill.) "OK" I think, "She IS younger." but it is really the kick in the butt I need and as I hit the corner of my street (uphill by the way) we are running abreast. I turn, smile, and say "Enjoy your run." and that felt so fine.
After the run I showered and indulged in my other favorite past time, gardening. I went to the West Seattle Nursery's annual fall Open House and bought Cyclamen, Ornamental Kale, a Guacamole Hosta, a May Apple, and a few more yellow Speedwell.
Then after a bite of lunch I took the 125 bus downtown where I went to the barbershop in the Market for a haircut a good gab with my former neighbor and hairstylist, Paige. She is string bean thin, at least 20 years younger than me, has LOTS of interesting tattoos and her currently blonde hair is no longer than an inch at any point on her head, and she was raised Mormon. Could we be more different? In many ways no, yet I think she is 'a dear one', a hard working single mom raising a bright, sociable 4 year old little girl. We had lots of talk to catch up on, she had changed salons, I had lost her number. We had reconnected by chance and I was happy to have my hair back in her hands.
Pike Place Market was packed with tourists and I felt happy knowing this is my city, a place I can navigate easily, and instead of taking it for granted, I pulled my camera out of my handbag and took these few pictures just like the many tourists who were also enjoying Seattle on this lovely November day.

Everybody Loves a Party

These kids are growing on me. Things are settling down in my classroom and I find something gives me an inside chuckle almost everyday. Kindergartners are party obsessed. We do not let kids hand out party invitations and we do not do so for the parents. We have created a phone list and we ask that parents call the families of the children they would like to invite or they can pass out the invitations themselves as the class exits. That takes us off the hook. There is just about no greater hurt to a 5 or 6 year old than saying "You're not invited to my party." No matter that the child who is saying the hurtful words is only 5 him/herself and his/her birthday is months away and who's to know if his/her parents have any intention of having a party. Yes, they are party obsessed. On the day I took this picture four little girls eagerly invited me over to my story chair and excitedly told me: "Look the dinosaurs are having a party!"

Happy Halloween!

Anna Rae's Halloween History

Anna Rae is now two weeks shy of twenty years old. I wonder if she remembers these Halloweens from years ago. Deciding the costume and then making the costume were always big deal decisions for the two of us. To take her trick or treating, no matter how foul the weather, was usually the responsibility of Chris. This year she tells me she is a Ninja. Her two roommates are a bear and a cowboy. Their costumes are based on college game analogous to Rock Paper Scissors. They call it Bear Cowboy Ninja. Go figure!

Day Is Done

I'm so congested with this cold that I can hardly breathe but the weather was so perfect(although chilly);I just couldn't resist taking my camera and going out to catch a few 'Day is Done' shots. And that is that! Time to get some sleep to help tackle this cold.

Good Morning!

With a moon like this, running at 6:00 am is not a problem. The silvery shimmer on the Sound is just lovely. Even so, I have a crappy cold so I so I opted for using the eliptical machine in the gym instead of a moonlight run. And now it is time to iron my clothes and get on with the day. It looks like a weekend of good weather for us! Yipee!

At My Feet

My head was in the clouds but my eyes were on the ground as I meandered through a small stretch of Longfellow Creek Trail on my way home from work today. And what should I spy at my feet but this perfect colony (Is that right? Is a group of mushrooms a colony?) of little smooth, yellow mushrooms. I've hiked the 3+ miles to work many a time and always said "I should take some pictures." It was these yellow fungi that caused me to stop, rummage through my backpack to unearth my camera, and snap these shots.

I Wear My Socks

I wear my Smart Wool socks and the furnace whirrs on every now and again as I sit at the computer. It has rained and rained; more days than not the rain has found us and the wind has whipped the leaves off many of the trees. It is an unusually wet October. But even on the grey days, the foggy days, there is beauty.
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~Albert Camus

Weaving

Our first Science unit of the year is Fabric. We use three FOSS Science kits per year. This lesson's focus question was "How is some fabric made?" and the children made their own weaving of yarn on simple cardboard looms. They chose from red, blue, green, and orange yarn. Most had AB patterns going but there were also ABC, ABB, and even one AABBCCDD pattern. We are lucky enough to have 3 parents who volunteer faithfully plus 2 instructional assistants at the weekly Science hour. We are able to break into groups of 7 or 8 students with all this extra help. They did a really good job this year. Everyone was so intent on their weaving. you could only hear a murmur of conversation about their work as all 54 kindergartners bowed over their weaving. In the picture one early finisher is coaching his classmates on the over-under pattern of weaving.

Where's the Money?

Where is the money for the Arts in Education? At our school we have an Art specialist, a phenomenal Art Specialist. After only 25 days in school they had their first lesson in how to draw faces. Pretty amazing results, in my opinion. In years past we have had a Music Specialist, but never both. Why should we have to choose? We are required to have 80 minutes of reading a day and a comparable amount of math. So we may be preparing for the next Einstein or Sir Isaac Newton but what Pablo Picasso, Jacob Lawrence, Chopin, or even a Johnny Cash, could we be overlooking by underspending on the Arts?

Sharon at Home and In China

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Above is a photo of Sharon at home. To be exact, she is in the Home Center with students in our kindergarten classroom. This is our 14th year of teaching together. To the right is Sharon at the Great Wall in China. She taught English to teachers of English in Henan, China through a Lutheran mission program called China Service Ventures. She was there for six weeks and spent time in Beijing and Tibet in addition to the time spent working in Henan province. The weather was incredibly hot and humid, the pollution hid the sun in Bejing, the plumbing was not always pleasant, she came face to face with a rat in her hotel in Tibet, and she ate exotic food but said "No thanks" to the eels. On the other hand, she made new friends both within the group from the U.S. and in China. The young teachers they were training were open and friendly and eager to improve their English so as to better teach their own students. However, five weeks would've been plenty for most of the people in the CVS group. By time week six rolled around they were having daily conversations about the food they missed the most back in the U.S. Also, I think the constant learning curve, the continually being the 'stranger in a strange place', has to be exhausting.

Can you guess?

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Oh come now, does this need a title?

Interesting

More China
Originally uploaded by mtnester

Fishing cormorants, pet bunnies for sale, man with cart, and a bug on an umbrella

Mamas and Babies

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Who can resist a baby? I wish I could tell you more about the background of this picture. I do know that Sharon knew at least one of the mothers in this photo. She used it to point out to me the reason why China isn't buried in diapers. Notice the little boy in blue. The answer is in the design of their clothes; they all have an open crotch. The parents simply train them to squat outside. So, watch where you step in China!

Hmmm....

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Now just what could this little girl be thinking? It is my favorite of Sharon's
'kids in China' photos.

So Sweet

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Isn't this shy little guy a cutie?

Studious

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Sharon took more than one photo of children studying intently in small shops or restaurants as their parents went about their work.

Peace!

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

See My Sister?

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Actually, it may have been cousin since the 'one child' rule is pretty well adhered to.

Young Ballerina

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

This photo was taken in a 'MacDonald's look alike' restaurant.

Sure!

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Originally uploaded by mtnester

Whenever Sharon asked parents were always delighted to have her take pictures of their children.

Who's that?

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Originally uploaded by mtnester.

Is Dinner Ready?

My creation
Originally uploaded by mtnester.

These photos were taken by my friend/coworker, Sharon, during her visit to China in July & August of 2007. She ate almost exclusively at the hotel restaurant where the staff was accustomed to cooking for tourists. She never got sick once and she tried some pretty unique dishes although I think she passed on eating eels and preserved eggs. She did eat soft boiled eggs that were cooked in tea for many of her breakfasts. See the pump and the wood fire on the bottom left? This was at the home of the grandmother of one of the Chinese workers from the school where Sharon also taught English.