New Year, New Goal

Ok...I have been a terrible blogger!
I just looked at my "new" blog and realized that I have ton of drafts that I have started and have not published any.  I have so much to say so why am I so hesitant to pull the trigger and post??????

Enter A.J. Juliani and the "30 Days of Blogging" Challenge. I teach first grade, I am a mother of teenagers, I have all of the excuses but here is my promise.
I am going to start posting.
It may not be every day....first graders are exhaustingly lovely and energetic.

So for my first post I will share my OLW (One Little Word) that I have chosen for 2019.

I need to be reminded that all that I do is enough. 
In the day of Instagram, twitter and Facebook, we are constantly bombarded with images of classrooms, lessons and celebrations that we are comparing ourselves to. We all need to remember that what we do and what we are for our students has to be enough. 
It is okay to be inspired and motivated by these other teachers but the most important thing is to be there for our students. 
No beautiful classroom makeover will ever replace the love note from a first grader.
Ever.
That is enough.

I am posting.....now.......

A Letter to My Daughter

Dearest Natalie,

There was another school shooting today.
Another senseless, tragic loss of life.
Teachers like me.
Sophmores like you.
Every time you hear about a shooting, your heart breaks a little more.  I can see it in your eyes.  When there is a drill at your school, you panic.  You know the places to hide in every one of your classrooms. We watch the news and think, it won't happen to us.
I hope that it never does but I am not sure that I can make that promise. 
I remember when you were little and we were talking about the Sandy Hook massacre and you realized that as a teacher, I would put my life in danger to protect my students. We talked about how your teachers would do the same for you.
I remember thinking that this would never happen again.
Now that you are older, we talk about why this is happening. What makes people so desperate that this is the only solution for them?
How can we make people's lives better so that they seek the help they need?
You are kind.
You are a good friend.
You are in youth group and the music groups at school and have friendships with good people.
I wish that was enough to protect you.
You say that you are happy that when you are out of high school you will not have to worry about this anymore.
I wish that I believed that were true.

Love forever,
Mom

Story Poem - National Poetry Month Challenge

This has been a year of challenges for me.  I am continuing the challenges by participating in the "1 Subject- 30 Ways" poetry challenge. In honor of National Poetry Month, Amy VanDerwater is fearlessly leading us through this adventure over at her blog, The Poem Farm.  Amy is challenging herself to write 30 different poems on the same topic!

I am not sure if I am going to be able to hold out for 30 poems, but I am going to try. The most difficult thing was picking a topic that would last for a whole month. I finally settled on writing about my flower bed. Right now the flower bed is brown and looks to be dead but there is some magic beginning.....

The first poem that we wrote was a list poem. Here is my poem:

The second day challenge is to write a story poem. This proved to be slightly more difficult for me. There was an active drafting stage.

I finally moved onto the computer so that I could move some parts around more easily.

Here is my finished product! It is inspired by the 2 chipmunks (maybe more?) that live in my flower bed.  I love to watch them tear around my yard, avoiding all of the dangers in their way. I have even had to un-invite one from exploring in my house. That may be a poem topic for later!

Chippy

The sunlight calls and out she comes.
Blinking, blinking.

Off on an adventure to find some treats.
Scurry, Scurry.

A shadow passes over.

Tweet, tweet.
Duck under a leaf...all clear.

Meow, meow.
Hide quietly under a rock...safe and sound.

Safe to scamper on.

Alas!

The glory of sunflower seeds...cheeks are full.
Happy, happy!

Make the journey home...back the way she came.
Scurry, scurry.

Simplify

I have spent many weeks looking for the perfect blog layout, pretty graphics and the perfect catchy title.  Then I decided I wanted to go simple. 

So here is simple....

Now I am who I am and can't deny that I like the cute and catchy so this blog may develop along the way but I for now, I just want a place to share, archive and connect as I head back into the classroom this fall. 

Okay....Maybe I will start with a blog signature....a simple one. 

Lori