whew

Exactly.  While I have been safe from flooding, it has been rather wet around here lately.  I do know that I've been carrying my shoes from building to car lately to save them~when the water is ankle deep, there's really nothing else to do.  (Somehow, the idea of wearing knee-high rubber boots when it is 98 degrees and raining is not appealing.  Plus, I don't own any.)

Two more day of this work week!

here's why

Have been laughing out loud all day at finding this in one of the practice rooms~part of the 7th graders attempt at song writing.

how we tell our stories

"You may do this, I tell you, it is permitted. Begin again the story of your life.” 

~Jane Hirschfield

stills from the first part of the weekend

Sweet Livy (whom you've met via Thanksgiving photos)~my pal for the weekend.

The purple is oh-so-subtle; going back next week to kick it up a notch.

Bittersweet

The hardest part of being a teacher is watching students leave.  Of course, we're ultra-proud and love to hear how their lives unfold.  But~at that liminal moment when they walk out of our classrooms?  It's sniffle time.  

wheeee

Well.  Tomorrow is technically the last day, but it's only the graduation ceremony and a reception; so, I think that this fully counts!

glitter!!!

One of my favourite teaching days of the year~glitter and glue and feathers and candies and excited chatter. 

I can't even.  We covered Magic Flute, Carmen,  and Hansel and Gretel~so where the turquoise nostril threads came from, I've NO idea.

from the humid rains of the last week of school, good Lord, deliver us

Amazingly, after I let them lie on the floor with their shoes off?  My boys' choir had a great rehearsal.

It's a week of high sentimentality. 

Charlie (from the musical) makes a masque in 5th grade history class.

Some smile and enjoy the process, others don't care for plaster water running down their necks and/or into their ears.  What can I say~when you're dealing with 10 year-old artisans, you pretty much take what you get. 

I've been blasting the a/c, trying to counteract the heavy humidity of the week, so that these are dry today for the fun of decorating.  I love (sincerely love) having my classroom covered in glitter.

A sweet and rather honest note given after yesterday's small recital.  My teacher heart is happy.

cookin' in a storm, not up

Oddly, felt the urge to make hot and sour soup today~turned out deliciously!

pretty much

And the continuing stormy weather is perfect for nap taking! 

Medea says it well.  Although, it's really two weeks left~with work week coming at us.

Cinderella

may not be completely right that a great pair of shoes can transform one's life, but they certainly can lift a day or week!  Classes are finished on Monday, then it's the whirl of exams, picnics, awards, farewells, many ceremonial events~culminating on graduation on Friday.   It's a lot to ask of a pair of shoes, but I think these will live up to it.

we write our lives

A friend sent this gorgeous poem earlier this week~wanted to share it with all y'all.

Performance Art

We write our lives
in the small things we do:
bare feet on the cold floor,
the bed made, sheet and quilt
pulled up just so;
hands dipped into a basin,
the still-damp towel
hung to dry. Your smile
warms me when I enter the kitchen
after the cold night.
We write our lives
in the things we do.
Our penmanship grows
better with practice.

– Steve Peterson

(One of my best childhood memories is my parents buying me a handwriting workbook at some teacher supply store~I think I finished it within the week.)

some days you feel like a nut

Or maybe just peanut butter cereal.  I can't explain myself lately~I don't even eat cereal, but my Littles have gotten me hooked on this.  And I am about to dye my hair lavender...maybe it's simply a turn of the page into summer!