Why yes, I AM a party girl :)

Tonight my big Saturday night plans were a date with a treadmill at the gym.  I realize that admitting this to you all  might ensure that no one ever reads my blog again because this officially makes me a pathetic loser, but I'm not embarrassed.  It was all I wanted to do tonight...well that, and lay around reading after!

While I was disappointed not to be running in the Bloom & Zoom 10K this morning, when I woke up at 9 to gray skies and rain hitting my windows, I was MORE than happy to hit the snooze and go back to sleep rather than layering on running clothes and slathering my IT band with Bio Freeze...We definitely made the right choice to pass on this race.  Instead, I spent my morning enjoying this yummy bowl of oats at Corner Bakery along with some Teacher TalkLife Talk with Miss R. :)

Since I wasn't 10King this morning, I decided I wanted to at least give running a shot this evening.  I haven't run since my Tuesday 2 miles, as my IT band was sore a few days after that, and I definitely didn't want to push it.  It's felt much better the past few days though, so I gave it another shot.

What, don't ALL the cool kids go to the gym Saturday nights??

Hooray!  I made it 2.5 miles without pain!  Again I felt a TINY bit of discomfort...not enough to stop, but just enough to remind me that I'm still injured and not to push it.  I'm excited that I actually seem to be on the mend, and pumped that I'll be able to start my training for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in a couple of weeks.  Yay. :)

Slowly but surely...I'm coming back!

And now, I'm off to finish an awesome book...I've been reading Feed by M.T. Anderson.  It's another YA dystopian novel (sensing a pattern?), and it's really interesting/thought-provoking/different/GOOD.  I'm excited to see how it ends, and can't wait to tell you more soon in a book review.  Have a great Saturday Night!  Hopefully it's more exciting than mine. ;)

barnesandnoble.com

Friday Ramblings

This morning I attended a professional development on our new social studies series.  I am EXCITED to report that the series ROCKS!!!  I literally can't wait to begin using it, and actually plan to incorporate a lesson or two into my current social studies unit on the American Revolution.  We are using the TCI Social Studies Alive curriculum, and it is loaded to the gills with interactive components.  I know that I (and MOST teachers) spend hours upon hours trying to come up with interactive lessons and hands-on activities to bring social studies to life, and TCI has it all right there for you.  It even has a digital presentation to go along with EVERY lesson!  So. pumped.  I would love to hear more about it from a teacher currently using it!

Does anyone currently use TCI Social Studies Alive in their classrooms??

While I must say I was bummed to return to school after the training (I love my kids, but honestly a full day of grown up talk and a long lunch would have been nice...), there were several other "little happys" in my day. :)

Like this daffodil that was waiting for me when I got back to school!

And this note from a VERY VERY challenging student who hates me about 70% of the time.

And the cherry on top, the new Bondi Bands I ordered Tuesday arrived!!!

I couldn't resist using the 5 for $25 coupon I received when I ordered two of these headbands before my half-marathon.  I LOVE them and was thrilled to pick out 5 more of the super cute designs.  Seriously, they are so comfy and don't slide around at all.  Best of all, not only are they sweat-wicking, but they are super wide so they hold back all of my crazy fly-aways.  Now, if only I could RUN!!!

Which brings me to another topic...tomorrow I am registered to run in a 10K at a nearby arboretum.  I have been looking forward to it for months and was super excited about running with a friend and walking around the arboretum after.  Enter complications...

First of all, it is raining and nasty cold here.  It is supposed to be rainy and nasty cold tomorrow too.  Second, I have a sinus infection and next to no voice.  Third, I have yet to surpass 2 miles with my bum IT bands...

As much as I hate wasting money, all signs point to a NO GO for me for tomorrow.  :(  Oh well, there will be other races.  The bondi bands can wait.  ;)  Instead, I am looking forward to a quiet night in my jammies with a movie and tea to soothe my throat...and hopefully a productive work day tomorrow!  

What are your plans this weekend?  

Once there was a teacher...and she loved her students...

Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy...

And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves 

and make them into crowns and play king of the forest. 

He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples. 

And they would play hide-and-go-seek. 

And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade. 

And the boy loved the tree.......very much. 

And the tree was happy.

-The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein

Here's the truth:
I have another cold-turned-something-awful (I'm thinking sinus infection...).
I am losing my voice AGAIN.
I am exhausted from having to repeat the same few directions over and over to the same few students.
I am overwhelmed that I now have SIX (yes 6) kids on behavior charts that must be filled out after EVERY subject.
I am frustrated that it's April and my neediest reader is still not receiving the services he needs, no matter how much I try to get them for him.
I'm tired.

But today, I read The Giving Tree aloud while 22 fifth graders sat at rapt attention in a circle at my feet.  And suddenly it was all worth it.  Sharing my favorite books with my kiddos is absolutely my favorite part of my job.  Watching them fall as much in love with them as I am is even better.

goodreads.com

Reading this story aloud and discussing the powerfully simple plot reminded me again how much potential my students have...to think...to wonder...to care...

Today 5th graders talked about how their parents are like the Giving Tree, because they are happy to give them what they need, and don't ask anything in return.
They talked about how they can be like the Giving Tree when they share with younger siblings.
They talked about how they should show more thanks to the people that you love, shocked that the boy in the story didn't say thank you to the tree.
They talked about how their grandparents are like the Giving Tree, because no matter how long they're away, they are so happy to see them.
They talked about how when you give happiness away, you sometimes get it in return.
They talked about being generous to those you love.
They talked about appreciating what you have.

shelsilverstein.com

When, on the page where the boy carries off the tree's branches (like a knife to my heart, that one gets me every time...) I said, "This picture makes me feel a lot of things in my heart.  What does it make you feel?", the kind of question you might think 5th graders would laugh or smirk or reply sarcastically to...my class responded from their hearts.  And I was touched by their thoughts.

And even though sometimes I feel like the Giving Tree, bark and branches stripped away after I have given them every ounce I have during a school day...they are learning.  They are growing.  And I am happy.

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Yesterday was a very sleepy crabby day.  For the kids and for me!  Hopefully at some point in my career I will come to terms with the fact that Sundays should be an early-to-bed day and that Mondays should be a prepare-the-coffee-the-night-before day...oh well!

A few fabulous Spring milestones took place in the past few days...

**First time the temperature got over 80!!!  LOVE me some crazy midwest temperature spikes!!!

source

**First passion iced tea of the year!!!

**And the best one...first outdoor run in SHORTS (not including Disney of course) of the season. :)

Obviously with my favorite pink compression socks :) These things ROCK!

Yes folks, you caught that right, I managed another run today!  After successfully getting over the 1 mile mark with no knee/IT band pain Friday afternoon, and after enduring a painful but gratifying massage Sunday, I gave it another shot today.  Guess what?  I made it to 2 miles without pain!  *silent cheer*  I didn't even have a lot of pain at 2mi, just some nagging twinges...but I promised myself I would stop there pain or no pain.  Let's not get carried away...I still have a ways to go, but I saw my primary care doctor today who promised me a referral if things don't improve on their own in another couple of weeks.  Compromise.  I'll take it.

BTW in an effort to increase my cross training, I rolled my lazy self out of bed for an early morning yoga class Saturday, and am STILL SORE from the crazy hard poses and sequences we were doing.  Note: take the basic classes a few more times before venturing back to that one...Oh well, A for effort, right?

Time for the obligatory post-run foam rolling session aka my brief visit to HELL.  Don't worry, I fully plan to follow it with ice cream and a Katherine Heigl movie.  

On Gratitude & Courage

I have a confession to make.  Recently, I have convinced myself that I will never run more than a mile again.  (Mile = exactly the distance I have been able to go on my last few runs before my knee locked up thanks to the IT band)  Part of me knows I'm being dramatic and silly, but another part of me believes this 100%.  And this fearful part has consumed me lately.  And even though I have no pain walking, biking, or swimming, it's been keeping me from doing ANY exercise...I can't even really explain why, really.  I haven't wanted to try a little run/walking because I don't want to face the reality of the injury.  And I am just in a funk where I don't feel like doing ANYTHING if I can't run.  Which makes no sense.

Alright Feet & Legs?  Let's do this.

This morning when I woke up I decided that today was the day.  Today would be the day I changed my attitude and changed my actions.  I decided that today I would TRY running and evaluate my pain--is it worse?  Better?  Same?  I told myself that I would listen to my body and only run as far or fast as it would allow me to.  After school, I seriously considered ditching my running plans for some soy latte and reading time at starbucks...I was THIS close!  But somehow I made myself drive home and put on my running clothes right away so I couldn't back out.


Today's run was about courage.  In fact, most of my runs are about courage.

Thanks for the inspiration, John Bingham :)

 ...the courage to try something daring.
...the courage to crash and burn.
...the courage to push myself THIS much further than the day before.
...the courage to stop short when all I want to do is go further, because it's the smart thing to do.
...the courage to listen to my body and respect it.
...the courage to work at something that doesn't come naturally to me.
...the courage to believe.

I was delighted when this song came on my ipod right as I switched from warm-up walking to running...it's been a favorite for awhile now, but it was just perfect today.

Normally I like to start runs with a little "Til I Collapse" courtsey of Eminem, but today's run wasn't about pushing it to the limit.  It was about believing in miracles and just getting out there and getting moving.

Sometimes in my tears I drown

But I never let it get me down

So when negativity surrounds

I know someday it'll all turn around

I'd forgotten how good it feels to run outside without snow and ice.  It feels good.  I'd forgotten how much I love spring runs when it just smells NEW and FRESH and EARTHY outside.  A little mud is okay too.

My legs felt really good at the beginning, and I kept to 2/1 run/walk intervals.  While the backs of my knees felt tight after about a mile, I didn't feel any knee pain AT ALL until about 1.75 which is a full .75 miles longer than my last runs.  When the knee pain started again (BTW it's in both knees now...*resists urge to bum out about this!!*), I immediately switched to walking.  Because today courage on my run meant the courage to risk an imperfect run and the courage to put my body first.  And that's just fine.

Today I am not frustrated by the slow pace or the short distance.  I am not disappointed or angry.  I am grateful.

...grateful that my calves feel great and that my tibia finally seems to be completely healed.

...grateful that the sore foot that was plaguing me after the half-marathon was just a sore foot and not something serious, as it is also completely better.

...grateful that it is finally spring because oh how I have missed running outdoors.

...grateful that I ran .75mi further than last time without pain.

...grateful that I can walk 100% pain free...with the stress fracture NOTHING was pain free!

...grateful that I can still walk my 10K next weekend.

I think it's time to book a massage and consult the doctor though...I have to wonder if there's something nutrition wise going on with all of these muscle problems lately.   But I am grateful that my positive attitude is peeking out again.

Out of the mouths of babes!

Writing Prompt: Write about a place you would like to explore.  Explain why you would like to explore this place. (Sorry this picture quality TOTALLY SUCKS but the writing is just too good to miss.  I typed it out below...) 

"I would like to explore Bahamas because that's where my mom went for her honey moon.  If I go to the bahamas then I could look for old precious things like from the 1800s or something or a leprechan dancing around a pot of gold!!!!  I could go rock climbing!  I could go in dark deep tunnels to see if there's any diamonds!  If I could go to the bahamas I would take Miss Teacher with me and the leprechan and making shamrock shakes!"

Note the picture of me holding at least 6 Shamrock Shakes.  She knows me so well... God I am obsessed with this! :)  I guess the Bahamas are really a magically land where anything goes!  Go figure. :)  

I wanna...

I wanna lotta things, come to think of it. :)  But that's a topic for another day.  Today I want to share our latest writing pursuit in 5th grade.  I try to mix in creative Writing Workshop lessons with lessons geared towards the Big Three writing genres (expository, narrative, persuasive).  For the past few weeks, we've been writing persuasive letters.  We kicked off the project by reading the mentor text I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff (I will take any excuse to read a picture book in the classroom...) and discussed whether the character's reasons for wanting an iguana were valid or invalid.  We made this chart:

Next, we brainstormed things that we would like to ask someone (mostly moms and dads) for...

After choosing a topic, we worked hard to come up with VALID and CONVINCING reasons to support each topic.  For example, we did a shared writing piece in which the kids decided to persuade me to get a classroom pet other than a fish. (HAH!  Never gonna happen...In fact the kids don't know that I accidentally killed our fish over winter break.  I've just been telling them he decided to live at home with me...)  We discussed how "Teaches responsibility" and "Learning opportunity" would be more valid/convincing reasons than fun.  It was a great exercise in considering one's audience.

After we made it through the planning phase, the kids plugged away at the letters during Writing Workshop and Daily 3.  During a revising mini-lesson, we discussed persuasive language and I supplied these sentence frames:

The kids were instructed to go back through their letters and add in these sentence frames.  What a difference!  They really elevated the writing.

The final products have been trickling in and are pretty funny:

Kid logic rocks.  What is your favorite type of writing to teach?  I have to say, I really enjoyed this project!

Just call me Miss Furniture Mover...

Hi :)  It's been awhile.  Between my running rut (or make that NON-running rut...), an overload of organization in the classroom, and a nasty spring cold, I just haven't been in the blogging mood.  But I decided that today might be a good day to change that, as I sit here attempting to foam roll my nasty-tight IT bands while typing...which is no easy feat, let me assure you.

Can I just take 30 seconds to bum hard about how much I miss running?  Since my half marathon at the end of February, every time I've tried a run my crazy tight IT band-induced knee pain has cut me off after about a mile. Now I've had a hard time even getting myself out there to TRY running because I just anticipate how awful it will be and don't want to deal with the reality of another injury.  :(  Looks like next weekend's 10K will be a walking day for me!  I have a doctor's appt Tuesday to talk allergies (oh spring...), but I may slip my IT bands into conversation and discuss the odds of procuring a referral to a physical therapist...hmmm...

Okay, enough moping.  To make this post a little more upbeat, let me just share the two AMAZING desserts I shared with my family at a birthday dinner for my brother Monday...

YUMMMMY

MMMMMMM

Anyways...In the school world, my organization kick has slowed down, but this week I embarked on a new adventure: maximize the space in my classroom!!!  Because I INSIST on using 1/3 of my long and narrow room for a library/carpet area (don't let anyone ever tell you that 5th graders are too old to listen to a story on the carpet or sit in a circle for a lesson on the easle!), space gets a bit...cramped.  All year I've been tweaking things to figure out how to best make the space work for the students and myself, and I think we might have a winner!!!  The most recent change involved my desk and guided reading table.

Previously I had two trapezoid tables pushed together into a hexagon for guided reading.  It had pros and cons.  I decided to split them up into a wedge shape and pushed it further back in the room.  I'm a big fan so far!

The BIG change though is that I pushed my desk against the wall.  I finally decided that the desk was just taking up TOO MUCH SPACE!!!!  Since I only sit there when the kids are out of the room anyways, I decided it wouldn't be an issue.  After 1 day...I LOVE IT!  The extra space is ridiculous.  Totally worth it.

Where is your desk in your classroom?  Do you like it?

Okay, foam rolling/tears time.  :-/  Better have a little ice cream after to ease the pain...

Organization Week: Where I Store Things

Today at Mrs. Patton's Patch is "Where Should I Store Things?!?!?!" week (punctuation added by me :).  I must confess that last year I was of the "Put the $&*^ in any open cabinet, close the doors, and run away" camp, mostly because a) I was pretty much a hot mess teacher all year and had no energy left to organize, and b) I had no idea WHERE anything should go!!!

Thankfully I finally have a few systems worked out for all of the crazy amounts of STUFF in the room!  Here are our shared supply shelves:

I keep little tool boxes with extra crayons, colored pencils, markers, pens, etc. here.  On top are lined paper, white construction paper, and a tub of scrap paper (aka remains from Miss Teacher's many copy machine errors...)

This storage cart is in the front of the room under our board.  The top drawer has our dry erase boards, expo markers, and "erasers" (aka squares of fleece).  The other two drawers have our glue, scissors, and rulers.  I like to keep them communal, but it's always a fight!  My 5th graders are always trying to sneak them back into their desks...next year I might just give in and let them keep it all...Why fight it, honestly?  

Other supplies are kept in my storage closet.  These were very messy and disogranized until recently when I started putting everything in bins.  I don't have bins for my units or anything (in 5th grade a file folder will usually do!!  We aren't as cutesy as primary!!),  but these bins are for my cleaning supplies, party supplies, craft supplies, and all of the extra notebooks and folders I have.  I also keep my extra name tags, etc. in here so they're handy when I get one of our (frequent) move-ins.

That's about it for storage, but I HAVE to share with you my all-time favorite teacher store purchase.  I bought these magnetic pockets from Lakeshore before I started teaching and am obsessed with them.  The kids turn in everything to these babies.  I stick them along the bottom of the board every morning under my Morning Message and write on the board above each pocket what should be turned into it.  Result?  Neatly sorted homework!  Then, throughout the day I will put up a pocket for things to be turned into.  It's also nice to be able to just grab one off the board and throw it in my bag to take home and grade.  I would recommend these 100%.

Wednesday Little Happys

Three random things so far this week that made me smile:

ONE

Monday morning (first day post spring break) one of my girls came in before the bell to say hi.  She likes to come in a little early every day to unpack and help me.  When I said good morning, she smiled and said, "I forgot what your voice sounded like!"

TWO

Yesterday I read this post in one of the kiddos' journals in response to the prompt, "What is something you think is unfair?":

Love when they "think deep" in their journals.  :)  Love kids. 

THREE

By far the most amusing....this afternoon I was picking up the 5th grader I tutor and had his 1st grade brother in tow.  Walking towards my car, 1st grader asked, "Did your car cost 13 dollars and 1 cent?" :-D  It seems he had noticed my 13.1 magnet for the first time!  Loved this.

And now, after quite possibly the most horrifically painful foam rolling session of my entire life (Damn you, IT bands...), with 50% of my legs coated in biofreeze (which btw is making me really freaking cold!!!), I am off to bed...Goodnight!