I Can't

Current mood (but at least it's a snow day and I get to revel in poetry and books and art and naps which is just what my soul needed today):

I Can’t

I can't do it anymore.

I can't lie to you and tell you that tests don't matter when

Everything we say and do depends on the score

And we track all the data

And every moment of your life is a test.

You don't get a participation trophy

And people are always watching but rarely helping

And you don't get unlimited time to reach your dreams

And a little stress is good for you

And what you do with the time limit matters

And pretending that it doesn't or that the world will just let you be

Is not what I want for you, either.

I can't have visions of a better world

And daydreams of the future with you and

Hope

That you bring every day with your

Pebbles in your pockets and your

Made-up words,

Your million wonderful questions

And your view of the world as so black and white

But not the people in it...

I can't let myself soar with you because

I am a grown-up

And I know

That most of those longings will never be

And I wonder if it's fair to you to pretend that they will

If we’ll both just be disappointed,

When I'm holding on to the balloons right along with you

But my feet still touch the ground

And I wonder how long I can keep the air pulling upward for you, just for you.

I can't tell you to be brave

But then run and hide from the world when the light goes out

I want you to feel empowered

But if he has a gun then go behind the bookshelf and be very quiet and still

In the dark and don’t cry,

Make sure you stay inside

Where it's safe.

Don't be a bystander,

And stand up to bullies

And make your strong voice echo from the mountaintops when you're a grown-up

And please be powerful and beautiful and smart and good as a grown-up,

Especially good,

But don't let the monsters come and eat you before you get there,

So for now let's just keep this between us

And be a little scared.

This is the day I get the rest of my classroom stuff, even though I still can't get in.

I sure hope I can get in soon, though! Classroom stuff is taking over every part of my home and it is driving us ***NUTS!*** I'm hoping this week sometime??? Maybe by Saturday I can have my classroom decorating party??? Please pray for me. :) I don't know how much longer we can live like this:

In other news...

I love Extra dessert flavors! They are (slowly) helping me wean off so many sweets.

Polymer clay is quickly becoming a new favorite medium. The girl I tutor made these beads this week during our arts and crafts time! I will be making many more treasures and will share as we go.

I have another craft to share but it has to wait 'until after my sister's birthday...just in case she reads this in the next week. :)

"Healthy" chocolate peanut butter oatmeal is my new favorite thing. It's actually a *lot* healthier than it sounds. :) And it tastes like I'm eating a no bake cookie for breakfast every day. Win!!!

This week was entirely too hot. It needs to cool down about 20 degrees. Obi and Voodoo agree!

That is all.

This is the day I figured out my lunch count. :)

Seeing the space has made such a difference! I won't have much wall space, so a lot of bulletin boards and such wont do me much good. And while the room is plenty big, it's also not *ever* gonna be big enough for all those ideas and people! :) But I finally thought up a system for lunch count that goes along with my theme AND takes up almost no space--it's stacked vertically, see?

There are other dots on the back for names. They'll all go in a basket by the clip chart and it'll be part of the morning routine. Whew! Cross one more item off the list!

Just in case you're wondering, here are some other things I've been up to:

Whole class reward system...made out of these:

The dogs like the cheese balls as treats! :)

Differentiated work for early finishers and a file to find make-up work. :)

Book hospital, to go in the library for torn books.

My reminders board, to go by the door--I'm always forgetting things in the rush of the end of the day! And homework will be written on there, too.

Other than that, I've been working on parent flip books for open house and, of course, finally looking through my books (now that I have them!). Lots to do, but it's coming together, and that makes me excited!

It looks awesome when everything comes together:

This is the day I see my classroom for the first time.

It's not quite ready for me to move in yet, but they were nice and let me in so I could take some pictures and measurements and grab all the teacher editions...got a bit of work to do now...and the room is a bit of a fixer-upper yet...but I saw it! And I can't believe it's mine!

My monster teacher desk! Lol. It's too big to move!

My initial sketch of how I *think* I want things...subject to change!

My homework now...and for the next month at least!

If you don't hear from me in a while, send up a smoke signal or something... :)

The Coolest Library App Ever!

So. In anticipation of hopefully having a classroom of my own next year, I've been giving some serious thought to how I want the little things to run. One thing of particular concern is my library, especially not knowing what levels I need to stock up on or really figuring out how I want it to all run...

...until now!

BookRetriever is an AWESOME app that lets you scan in all your books, create a class list, and allow students to check in and out books. If your book doesn't have a barcode to scan, you can generate one right from the app! It's super user friendly, even for kids. I could easily see us eventually doing something like this around the house, too!  Anywho, I'll walk you through the basics, in case a cheap app isn't appealing enough for you...and then tell you what I don't like about it.

Here is what the home screen looks like. Clean icons and simple labels. Love it already!

When you click on "Add Book," you can choose to scan barcode, search by title or ISBN, or input manually. Here's the manual part. Note the many different ways you can record the level a book!

You can see your library and all the books you have. Handy. You can also check here to see what books are checked out, etc.

If you click on students, you can add people here. Obviously I don't have a classroom yet, so I used a few family/friend names to see how it all worked. You can add new people just by clicking the + and you can even add in parent and contact info!

If you click on a student's name, this screen shows up. Notice how there's a chance to see what books that student has out, as well!

When you go to check out a book, this is what comes up. You literally just scan your book and scroll down to your name and click on it. Voila! Finished!

This is the screen that comes up when you want to make a barcode label for your books. I have been surprised how many of my books, especially the classics, don't have barcodes! This is easier, I think, than having kids search for titles each time.

Pretty sweet, huh? I'm in love. Did I mention it is ONE DOLLAR? Cause I'm pretty sure it was. :) The only real drawbacks are that it occasionally crashes and you have to restart it (especially when building your digital library), and the limited database. Only about 1/3 of my books actually scanned, so manually inputting each book (not to mention I haven't even looked up levels yet) is time consuming in the beginning. Also, the editing option is limited to how many copies you have (so if an author is unlisted you can't just list it, etc.). Hopefully these are things they will fix soon. But it's still VERY worth it.

My classroom librarian will have more to do than just tidying up the books occasionally--they'll get to create labels, check in on how many students have books that are almost or over due, and get to hound everyone for me! All at, literally, the push of a button! Wahoo! 

I love this day and age.