little obsession of mine

zooey deschanel.

it started with almost famous

continued with 500 days of summer

and now - new girl

and the best part, the very best part, her character is an 

elementary school teacher

and I am so in love with that

let's just say that Quirkiness with a capital Q

is actually my most effective teaching method

and I'm pretty into seeing a fun, fashion friendly teacher on t.v.

who walks around with a solar system model under her arm

with no mention to it

because, guess what, that's pretty realistic

go teachers

go zooey deschanel

image here

ten on ten - october

my first classroom set.  I must say the rain made my monday.  the best part of being a middle school teacher - no rainy day recess!  thanks to a bit of sunshine for this project - I'm pretty into it!  See other sets here.

sunday's "so they said"

Missed last week's "so they said".  I'm thinking weekends when I have class, posting will be pretty much non-existent.  So, here are a couple of my favorites from the past two weeks:

While seeing my kids from last year at the school's annual Fall Festival, my kids were full of quotes.  My favorites were...
"Mrs. Lewis, you are still wearing that bird necklace.  And your purse is the same.  And your shoes."
They realized that things haven't really changed even though I'm not their teacher anymore.  I realized that I am a creature of habit who prefers spending my extra money on pyrex, not accessories.

"Mrs. Lewis, the worst part of this year is you not teaching us science.  I miss that the most."
Go figure, the subject that almost put me over the edge is what some miss the most, I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought sometimes!

And finally, this week my 8th graders were pretty great too.  In response to my newly re-filled air freshener...
"Mrs. Lewis, it smells SO good in here.  Like a little piece of fall heaven.  Thank you for that."
You are welcome.
here is a little glimpse into our walk tonight.
these shots are from two houses in the neighborhood
that are real into decorating!

it's the weekend!

because it is the weekend

and I haven't had one in 12 days

and because of notes like these

left on my desk from a student

and for $2 pyrex finds on my drive home

when I hadn't been thrifting in so long

and for dinners with groupons & the husband

mmm...Sandra Dee's

I think I just need a weekend

this week I've been broke down pretty bad

I'm just trying to get to the weekend

I knew things were out of control when the husband brings home

my cup of noodle for dinner

only to realize that it wasn't the right brand

because it turns out, I didn't remember what kind of dehydrated soup

I ate as a kid

so he runs to the store, trying to restore me as a sane human being

even though it was SO my fault

I'm pretty lucky

but yea, I need a weekend bad

another highlight came after a meeting today -

my name sign finally got hung up outside of my room

made by some of my kids in woodshop

so now I can pretend to fit into my middle school

but again, it's really just all an act

people have made that very clear to me

at least I have my kids

they get me.

just art...

last weekend I spent two days working on all things art integration for my masters

and I found it odd when my professor continued to bring up

rationalizing art integration to parents and principals

I just kept thinking, hmmm, never had to do this
I guess she is just setting me up for my art rationale paper that is due

at the end of the month

well,  I must have jinxed myself

let's just say, today, I had to do a whole lot of rationalizing to a parent

apparently, my students have done nothing but draw in my class

and that my methods are very "elementary"

being super passionate about what I do made this attack feel super personal

and I know that these kinds of things happen

and it's all part of the job

I guess the first time is the hardest

the funniest part was when I got home and went to my district's webpage

right there on the main site was a video about a particular middle school site

and how they are doing some amazing things

what are those amazing things you ask?

well, it was all about art integration in US history

geez people.  that's all