Filed under: Wednesday
That’s what one of my students said today when I nabbed a big stack of Pokemon cards from one of my boys. He meant to say “June Box,” so it thoroughly tickled me. My June Box is where students’ toys and trading cards go for the rest of the school year to sit, especially if I’ve already spoken to the student before.
Among other things that are tickling me today…there’s a part in the movie, The Hangover, where one of the characters is sitting at a piano playing a song while they wait for the drugs they’ve given a tiger in their bathroom to kick in. Did you follow that? Chances are if you haven’t seen the movie, you didn’t. But it’s okay. Here are the lovely lyrics to that song:
What do tigers dream of when they take a little tiger snooze?
Do they dream of mauling zebras, or Haley Berry in her Cat Woman suit?
Don’t you worry your pretty striped head,
We’re gonna get you back to Tyson and your cozy tiger bed.
And then we’re gonna find our best friend Doug,
And then we’re gonna give him a best friend hug.
Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug, Dougy, Doug, Doug…
But if he’s been murdered by crystal meth tweakers…
…well then we’re sh*t outta luck.
Pardon the, um, language there at the end, but that might be one of my favorite parts of that entire movie. And this morning on the radio show I listen to they were discussing this part and they played a sound bit from it.
And, well, since then…it’s been stuck in my head.
All. Day.
And I keep on laughing every time it starts up because it’s so random.
Anyway, gotta hop off here and do some quick things before I pick up the kids in about 7ish minutes. Hope your day is going well! And look up “Tiger Snooze” online if you want a good laugh, just remember that the end of the song isn’t necessary safe for work.
Later taters!
That’s how one of my kids described the sugar cookies in the cafeteria today. I thought it was funny, and so I share it with you now!
Today was actually a pretty awesome day. We continued working hard, we used our clock buddies again, and overall I feel like it was a successful day. Let’s put a few silver linings up, though.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. Two more days. I’m just sayin’.
2. This weekend is the robotics competition here at the Dorton Arena and I’m pretty stoked to see how these events come together. It should be pretty awesome, so come check it out on Saturday if you have some free time–no cost to get in! 🙂
3. I was able to call that special boy of mine and chat for all of 4.65 minutes at lunch today, but it definitely was a bright spot of the day.
4. I mean, it’s flipping beautiful outside.
5. Today is my coworker’s birthday! I’m very glad you were born, Shirley. You certainly know how to keep us all laughing. 🙂
6. He had a horrid morning today, and it turned out he didn’t get meds. Sent him to the office to take care of it, and the rest of the day was fine. I even checked in with him for a sec today at recess and I said, “Hey, buddy, do you realize what you did? You took a bad morning, and you made it into a…” And he knew just where I was going. He said, “a good day.” Hallelujah.
I think I’m going to leave it there for today, since I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing things or pulling things from nowhere.
Today was a good day, tomorrow can be better. I’ve got a new mindset about the rest of this school year and I’m determined to make the most of it. My job is way stressful, but so is every other elementary school teachers, so I’m learning to find coping mechanisms and make it through the chaos.
I hope you all had a great Tuesday, and I’ll see you here tomorrow.
So I did it.
A 40-day journey of looking for the silver linings even when they’re pencil-thin. I’m pretty proud of myself, really. This was a pretty big commitment, and I wanted to go all in for sure.
So thank you to those of you who have been with me through this journey from beginning to end. Thank you also to those who may have just discovered this whole thing recently. Your involvement only pushes me to keep it up.
So here we go, for day number 40. Let’s see what we’ve got.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. We tried some new things today in our reading block, and I feel like it was a really productive period. We worked independently, I worked with small groups, and the kids had writing conferences with each other all at one time. Pretty cool.
2. My kids are getting so much better at hallway behavior. I feel like I’m walking with a different group of students at times with how much they’ve improved.
3. We got to go outside today, and I really didn’t think we would. And toward the end of recess, the sky opened up and we saw sun and blue skies.
4. Praise the Lord; this week is only four days long.
5. Have you seen the new Harry Potter website? It’s incredible.
6. I had such an awesome phone conversation with one of my favorite people last night. It’s always nice to catch up with good friends.
7. I could be homeless, but I’m not.
8. I could be jobless, but I’m not.
(I know those seem like trivial things, but really, they’re a pretty big deal.)
9. On a less socially-conscious note, there’s a new Gossip Girl on tonight that I am all over.
10. It’s been an interesting Monday, but I’ve survived it (I think). And hopefully tomorrow will only be better, right?
So, starting tomorrow I’ll probably stop numbering my posts. Each day will probably have its own title. My goal will be to keep this up as often as I have been, so continue to look back each day.
If doing this has affected you in any way, I hope that it’s made you open your eyes a little wider. There’s a lot in life that’s broken. But that doesn’t diminish the beautiful things.
And believe me, there’s a lot of beauty to be seen.
So there’s one more “day” of Lent, I guess, but we’re right on up to Holy Week. I’m making it a priority to try to attend all of the church services Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I don’t think I’ve done that before. Kind of excited, actually.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. Today is Palm Sunday, and I had kind of forgotten how this service goes. It was nice to enjoy it with two of the leading men in my life.
2. I forgot how awesome Life Savers are. I mean, for serious, they’re delicious. (Thanks, Sarah!)
3. I had a fabulous time last night watching great (though weird) movies with some of my favorite ladies, even though I was dog tired this morning because of staying up so late.
4. We sang one of my favorite hymns, “Were You There?” That hymn is so beautiful!!
5. I’m wearing a top today that was given to me by the lovely Linda, and every time I wear this top I’m given many compliments on how pretty it is. 🙂
6. I’m planning on going to bed early, and I’m kind of excited about that.
7. So, guess who’s tied for first in their bracket pool? THAT WOULD BE ME. (Insane!)
8. Even though tomorrow is Monday, it’s a four day week, which is kind of exciting. It also makes Monday a little easier to handle.
9. This is sort of after the fact, but the meeting that I mentioned on Friday turned out to be very enlightening. I’m excited to see some steps being taken to hopefully help a group of women who definitely deserve help. The cryptic stuff is sadly necessary at the time.
10. And I guess that wraps up today’s list. I hope you have a great day of rest, and I know it doesn’t seem likely, but tomorrow (despite being a Monday) could be even better than today.
Happy Sunday! See you guys tomorrow!
Holy week is almost here! That means our 40 day journey is coming to a close.
However…
I’ve quite enjoyed this process. I have to admit, I didn’t think that I would follow through with it (as I’ve been prone to abandon similar projects in the past), but I’ve found the whole journey to be extraordinarily rewarding. So I’m thinking that I’ll keep on numbering up to Lent, and then afterward, I’ll continue, but rather than count the days, I’ll give each day its own title.
My goal will be to continue updating this thing daily, as I find that it really has become an integral part of my day. It’s almost like self-therapy. Kind of cool, really.
So there you go.
Let’s get this day’s list going!
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. It is a beautiful Saturday in my neighborhood. I hope it is where you are, too.
2. I totally spent some time watching ABC Kids this morning…I mean, That’s So Raven!? Seriously.
3. I get to spend this day with some of my favorite people. Just hanging out.
4. This evening, I get to have breakfast for dinner!
5. I get to have said breakfast with even more of my favorite people!!
6. We’re going to watch movies and have an awesome slumber party. For serious. So what if we’re in our 20’s?
7. I came to library to post today and check out a few things…and there’s a kid with the coolest ‘fro ever sitting across from me. I mean, his hair is red and curly and EVERYWHERE. I wish I could rock hair like that.
8. I keep discovering more people who are enjoying this journey with me, and it’s so cool to think that something I really started for myself is becoming something that other people can enjoy.
9. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday! It’s a way pretty service, and I’m excited about it, really. It’s also sort of the start of Holy Week, which always gets me excited. This is possibly one of my favorite parts of the church calendar.
10. Check it out! 10 before noon! I can tell this is going to be an awesome day, can’t you? But no worries if today doesn’t turn out quite as awesome as you hoped–tomorrow can be even better! 🙂
Happy Saturday, loves. Hope it’s a great one for you!
Hello, Friday! I’ve missed you!
Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful day. 🙂 Here’s how mine is going so far:
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. We most definitely watched a Magic School Bus video today…the one where they go inside Ralphie to get the inside story on what’s making him sick. Amazing!
2. All of my report cards and done, proofread, and in their respective envelops. Score.
3. It is Friday, and that’s a silver lining if you ask me.
4. I’m attending what’s sure to be an interesting meeting after school. It will hopefully give me some insight, at least.
5. After said meeting, I am heading to that favorite place of mine with a bunch of my favorite people.
6. I didn’t think that we got to attend, but there’s a spelling bee for tracks 2 and 4 today, and we definitely got an invite at the last minute! My kids are excited because it offers a sneak peek of what they’ll be doing not too far from now.
7. I just realized earlier today that since Easter is next weekend, we only have a four day work week! Having a three day weekend is always a lovely surprise. 🙂
8. Today marks the end of third quarter. That’s pretty big. It’s also a reminder that EOGs are creeping closer and closer, and we’re about to dive into a whole bunch of EOG review.
9. As of right now, we’re all on green. Everybody! And I’m pretty sure this makes two days in a row. Awesome.
10. Wow, didn’t expect to be at 10 at this point in the day, but there we are! Today should be pretty awesome, but no worries if it isn’t. Tomorrow could totally be even better.
TGIF! Have a great Friday night!
Filed under: Thursday
I can’t believe how close we are to Easter. That’s amazing.
Anyway, happy Thursday! It is the day before Friday, after all.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. Today is what is known as the Annunciation in the church calendar. It’s the day that Mary was told by Gabriel that she was to bear God’s son. How cool! It is nine months before Christmas, though, so it’s just neat to think that a very momentous event took place on this day in Christian history!
2. My kids have been working hard this morning to get some unassisted writing samples done. And unassisted writing samples are a pain–they have to figure out what to write about and put it all together in one fell swoop without a ton of time to plan or draft. I’ve gotten some pretty amazing writings, though, which makes my heart happy.
3. When I leave school today, I will officially be done with report cards for quarter three. Hello, quarter four!
4. So, um, my mentor teacher and I are totally twins today. We’re both wearing black tops, jeans, black flippy floppies, and we have bright red toe nails. Creepy. (But fun!)
Yeah, that’s about it for this moment, but I’m sure I’ll have more to report at the end of the school day. I’ll be camped out at school for a while this afternoon/evening just finishing up and proofreading report cards, so it’s gonna be kind of a long night. But I’ll make it! And then…tomorrow will be Friday!
————————————–
No, your clock isn’t wrong…it’s actually taken me until 7:30 to get the rest of today’s list up. S’okay, though, because that means I was productive.
Productivity is always good! 🙂
5. I went over the Order of Operations (good ol’ PEMDAS) with my kids today and they really seemed to like it. They wanted to keep doing practice problems, which is always a good sign.
6. Everyone was on green today. Always a welcome silver lining in my book.
7. Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!
8. I am so going to bed early tonight. And I’m really excited about that.
9. Truth be told, I really like the people I work with a lot. I don’t know what the end of this school has in store for me, but I would love to continue getting to know all of the great people at this school.
10. Aaaand, that’s all folks. My day was a little long and a little stressful. But it’s all good, because tomorrow can be even better.
Happy (almost) Friday! See you tomorrow!
So, here we are, back to the grind.
Yesterday, according to notes left by my substitute, did not go as well as I would have hoped. There were no reported major behavior issues (outside of him, of course), and a few of my girls got into trouble for playing in the restroom. The biggest problem that the class had was simply being talkative (mostly in the hallways). Frustrating, but I guess not entirely surprising.
Aaaanyway. Let’s move on to a list for today, shall we? I’ll actually be borrowing some events from yesterday afternoon for today’s list, simply because yesterday was very eventful.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. Let’s start with a super cool thing from yesterday. I went back to my high school yesterday afternoon–mostly to do some work in the library, since my high school’s library is actually a small public library. It’s always neat to go “home,” so to speak, and this day was a great one. Firstly, I did get a good deal of work done.
2. On the same note, once the bell rang for the end of the school day, I was struck with the desire to look up a couple of my favorite teachers. I luckily found my all-time favorite teacher (she was my AP Psych teacher). She took a look at me, registered who I was, and gave me a huge hug (we haven’t seen each other since I graduated in 2004). We talked and caught up for about 45 minutes. She is exactly as I remember her–energetic, positive in spirit, and just revved up about teaching. (And she told me I made her semester by visiting. Score!)
3. I also popped over to my band director’s office, since he’s one of my favorite people, too, and ran into the father of one of my best friends–random! So I visited with him, then spent some time chatting with my band director. He, too, holds such a zeal for education. It’s inspiring, and it’s really cool to visit him now as a fellow educator. He shares pearls of wisdom with me every time I see him.
4. I had a very productive meeting with our school’s mentor coach today. I feel like she shared some helpful tips and I have some great things I’m going to put into place very soon.
5. Wednesday means it’s soup supper time, though this is our last one. That means we’re nearing the end of Lent! Crazy! Holy Week is next week!
6. It is once again quite beautiful outside. Always a plus!
And that about does me for right now–gotta go pick up the kids from the cafeteria! Hope your Wednesday is off to a great start! Stay positive!
%%%%%% (Aaaaaaand, we’re back!) %%%%%%
7. I have discovered a way that I think will keep my kids better behaved in the hallways. So pumped! I’m turning hallway walking and bathroom breaks into girls vs boys competitions. Whoever does the better overall job of following the hallway and bathroom rules gets 2 tickets for bathroom breaks, 1 ticket for a trip out of and back into the classroom. And it’s all or nothing. Today the boys blew me away and earned all of the tickets I handed out this afternoon. I think it got my girls’ attention when they didn’t win what they thought they had in the bag, you know?
8. I think this new competition really motivated him, because he finally sees a way for his chances of going to the prize box to be raised. Two birds, ya know?
9. Having an hour early release is pretty nice because it gives me more time to finish up report cards. I mean, of course we’ll be having our PLC, but I’ll be able to start working on report cards with a good hour and half of time to focus on them before I have to head to church.
10. And that brings us to our always constant final reminder. Today was pretty good, all things considered. Maybe your day wasn’t. But it really doesn’t matter, because tomorrow can be even better.
Happy Wednesday! See you folks tomorrow!
Filed under: Tuesday
Well hello and happy Tuesday to you!
I’m actually not at work today; I decided to take a day to work on report cards and such (since they’re going home this Friday), so today is kind of like a personal workday. It was nice to be able to get up when I wanted to, but there’s lots of work for me to finish with this day, so I’m gonna get my list for today up and it’s probably going to be pretty short and sweet.
Let’s get this party started!
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. As previously mentioned, I did get to sleep a good bit later. Always a nice thing, right?
2. Staying in bed longer provided my crazy cat, Maddox, and I with more cuddling time. I’ve missed just chilling with him.
3. It’s pretty flipping gorgeous outside today.
4. I totally have a Daddy/daughter dinner/hockey date tonight after my workshop. Soooo excited. 🙂
5. Today is the last session of my workshop I’ve been attending for the past couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to coming out with a lot of great resources to use.
6. I left a note specifically for him yesterday reminding him that the substitute teacher won’t know about him and our systems. Told him that I know he can have a good day, and gave him a survey to fill out about his day to hand in at the end of the day. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll have a great report when I return tomorrow.
7. Did I mention that there’s a hockey game on tonight? I mean, seriously.
8. My track out is officially a month away today. Still feels kind of far, but at least I can effectively count down to the day starting today. 🙂
9. There is something extremely comforting to me about spending time at the library…I don’t know why I’ve begun to gravitate toward the library so much over the past few weeks, but I’m just loving getting to come to a peaceful, (usually) quiet place.
10. No worries, loves, because tomorrow can be even better than today.
See you folks on Wednesday!
Filed under: Monday
Howdy, partners.
It’s Monday and, as usual, everybody (including me) is a little slower-moving. We long for the weekend we swore had just begun, and we’re just not ready to dive into a new work week. And yet regardless of our protesting, Monday always comes.
So why not give a go at looking for positives on a Monday?
I know, I know. It feels contrary to human nature to see Mondays in a positive light. But try it. You’ll be surprised, I think.
Let’s get today’s list going!
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. My kids were really quiet this morning. It’s either the calm before the storm or they’re all still half asleep, but I certainly hope it’s a sign of good things to come today.
2. He is so into reading The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I know he likes to read, but it’s cool to see him into something that’s longer and probably a touch more challenging for him to read.
3. As of this morning, both copiers are working in the work room, at the same time. This is something we haven’t experienced in a while, so that’s pretty exciting.
4. My kids worked really well during independent work time today. I was really happy with how quiet they were, and it let me get a lot done with the group I pulled today.
5. He’s having a pretty good day, really. Which is always a silver lining.
6. I read one of my favorite books from when I was younger to my kids today…there was something really neat about the moment.
7. We’re close to finishing book 2 of Charlie Bone, and I feel like we just started it. But the nice thing is that there’s more after book 2, and I think they’ll want to continue to read them.
8. Even though this morning was pretty yucky looking, the sun has come out and the sky is blue–which means we get to go out for recess!!
9. My dad made it home safe and sound yesterday despite numerous obstacles in his way. I’m glad he’s home, and I’ll be even more glad when Linda is home with him! 🙂
10. So there you have it: silver linings found on a Monday. It didn’t seem possible, but there they are. And the cool thing is tomorrow can be even better!
So I wish you all a happy Monday! Have a great start of the work week and I’ll see you guys tomorrow! 😀
The Positivity Project 