Filled With Joy

This is a Facebook post that I don't ever expect to see again during my teaching career. This is a first. This month has been especially hard on our students at school. (Not my class. No one has been sick - no cough, no fever, no sniffle.) So, they closed down school for the day. The teachers, and all that work at  the school, will have a cleaning day tomorrow. Disinfecting wipes are being bought even as we speak. See ya later germs! Also, we get a catch-up day. Wow!!! So much joy. Also, I hope it helps. Plus, parents need to keep their kids at home when they are sick. That is a soap-box not meant for this blog.

Indoor recess! The sound of it can make teachers quiver with dread and fear. But, not me. I turn on GoNoodle, which is a website that has all kinds of awesome brain break activities, moving activities, and 15 minutes of solid dance-jumping-balancing-singing activities. These activities are called "Indoor Recess" and the kids like them. Today it was -10. We had to stay in. I was laughing so hard while the kids did "Wobbly Man." Good stuff. It was a blast!

Sometimes, while walking to school, I look for things that bring me joy. This morning the sky was so blue-ish and clear. The moon and these two stars were so bright. I also saw a hint of sun rising about the horizon. The clear sky meant below-zero temperatures but, the hint of sun meant it won't be too long before I will be walking in lightness instead of darkness. Hooray for signs of spring! (Yes, I know where I live. And, yes, I know that spring arrives here in late May.) 😉

Calculators! Who knew such old technology could bring such happiness. While studying about the learning and teaching of mathematics, for my Master's, I read about calculators and how they can help build students' number sense. I was intrigued by this and did a little more study. My experience with calculators, in school, was to try to cheat the system and get the answer without doing much work. Sometimes it worked but usually it didn't. I'm pretty big on teaching number strategies and number sense so I thought it would be fun to get a class set. I wrote a grant and a it was funded. So, my classroom received 30 nice, but simple, calculators. We have used them for counting, spelling (you know 0.1134 upside down.), and lots and lots of calculations. We have raced the calculator while practicing math facts, and it has all be great. But, this past week we started working on SUBTRACTION. It is a pretty intimidating concept for 2nd graders. It takes a lot of work and e...

Today was Sunday. I really like Sundays. I love my calling to serve at the JCC. There is a special spirit there that I haven't felt anywhere else. I look forward to going there every week. Today I decided that after our JCC church meetings I would go to our own ward Relief Society. It was fun to be there and see some of my friends that I don't get to see anymore. I'm going to try to become more of the ward again. Since serving at the JCC we have lost a lot of that connection. Another favorite thing about Sundays is the time I get to spend just hanging out with my family. We take naps, watch movies, chat, and sometimes visit family. We also prepare dinner together. Today, Trent fixed dinner while I prepped lunches for the week. (That is eleven salad jars for three people.) This was new and kind of fun. I a made mess and Trent cleaned it up. He is always cleaning up after me. He is a good husband. I dare say that he is the best! I couldn't choose just one joyful th...

I love fog. Fog is unusual so we don't have to deal with it often. I like how the trees and bushes are covered in a white coat of frost when there is fog. Today we made a quick trip to Idaho Falls. There was fog the entire way. I kept looking at all the frost on everything and wishing that I had a magnifying glass with me to get an up close look at each individual crystal. I thought it was beautiful.

McKenna is in Hawaii with Justin's family. She went snorkeling in murky water while other people were watching sea turtles. I don't know if she saw the sea turtles. She didn't say. But, she did send a picture of her view to our family text message. Of course she didn't intend to make us jealous. haha Right after that, Katy, at her desk, while at work, sent a picture of her view. The snow has fallen off the roof right outside her window. She didn't want it to make us jealous, either. That is a lot of snow! The family text messages make me happy. I'm so glad our kids are such good friends. And, they are funny!