Freezer Meals

I spent yesterday chopping, simmering, boiling, and stirring.  I put up 3 bags of spaghetti sauce, 3 pans of shrimp and grits, 4 pans of chicken spaghetti, 2 pans of poppyseed chicken, 3 pans of mashed potatoes, and 2 pans of vegetables to roast.  Making meals ahead of time makes the beginning of the school year so much easier!  Eating out constantly gets old quick, so pulling a meal out to stick in the oven is the perfect solution to a busy evening.

                            

                                                

Pivotal moments in my first year of teaching

1.  When I struggled.  Week after week.

2.  When I was supported.

3.  When my students "got it" for the first week.

4.  When I was bragged on by a parent.

5.  When I had to fill out IEP and 504 forms.  To have to check boxes identifying with what a student struggles, but to not be able to annotate with details about the sweet note she wrote me, or the distraction from school because of his heartbreaking home life, is completely frustrating.  I expect I will feel a similar frustrations when my performance as a teacher will be summed up by my students' scores on a test at the end of the year.  What will not go on the record book will be that one student was up late the previous night night because of a crying little brother.  Another student was dealing with horrific flashbacks each time he sits still.

6.  When my babies were proud of themselves at the end of one of the toughest grades in elementary school.

What I'm Learning From My Students

I teach English language arts and social studies.

And table manners.

And problem solving.

And respect.

And empathy.

And self esteem.

And persistence. 

And positivity.

Guess which "lesson plans" are on my mind the most.

When I go home in the evenings, I'm not critiquing my interactive read aloud, close reads, or group projects as much as I'm reflecting on how I talked my students through conflicts and frustration.  In turn, I reflect on how I handle conflicts and frustration in my own life.  Am I setting the best example I can through my words as well as my actions?

Camping and Canoeing in Canada

For Caleb's college graduation, his parents took us on a trip to Ontario a few weeks ago.  (Edit- now a year ago!)  Caleb and his dad's plans started with looking on Google Earth for a place to visit.  They found the English River, which flows into Barrel Lake, and went from there.  I'm so glad we drove the whole way and got to see all of the sights along the way.  Once we arrived in Canada, we picked up our canoes in Thunder Bay, then spent the night in Ignace before beginning our adventure.

The scenery was absolutely stunning, obviously.  Once we left the camp in our canoes, the only signs of other human life we saw before we got picked up were a few motor boaters each day, and one island that was courteously furnished with a port-o-potty and a lawn chair with an unopened drink in the cupholder.  (The polite Canadian stereotype is apparently true!)  We couldn't see a road, a house, a dock, power lines, nothing.  Of course we didn't have cell signal either, which was one of my favorite parts.  It was so refreshing to disconnect.

Everything we needed for camping, fishing, and eating was carried in our two canoes.  Camp meals were delicious.  Each morning for breakfast we had sausage or bacon, eggs, potatoes, and biscuits.  All of our other meals were either peanut butter crackers or freshly caught and fried fish with veggies!  We dined on pike, small mouth bass, yellow perch, and walleye.  It rained on us a couple of times, which required a homemade clothesline to dry out our clothes.  The rain is mild in comparison to hardships we could have faced.  We all felt the hand of the Lord over us the entire week- providing places for us to camp, plenty of food, and nearly perfect weather.