2 by 2

I was cleaning out my email today and found this forward Taryn sent me months back...I always meant to return it

You know the deal....copy it, answer it, and send it to your friends :-)

* Two names you go by:
1. Mama
2. Mrs. Springthorpe

* Two things you are wearing right now:
1. sweater
2. jeans


* Two things you would want (or have) in a relationship:
1. love
2. Trust

* Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Read
2. play with my kids

* Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. for a snow day from work tomorrow
2. for the boys to sleep most of the way on the plane to BC

* Two pets you’ve had:
1. Skippy (cat)
2. Duffy (dog)

* Two things you did last night:
1. Went to Jaclyn's Christmas Party
2. cooked tortellini

* Two last things you ate:
1. cheeseburger
2. fries

* Two people you last talked to:
1. Jonathan
2. Elijah

* Two things you’re going to do today:
1. battle laundry mountain
2. pack Christmas gifts

* Two longest car rides:
1. cross Canada - 8 hour days for 8 days straight
2. BC to California

* Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Easter

* Two favorite beverages:
1. Empress Afternoon Tea
2. Chai Tea Latte

A Compliment...I think

Last week one of my grade 7 students told me that I was a mean teacher, but that it was a good thing because I'm mean the way teachers are supposed to be mean. HMMMM...I wonder what that means.

just when you have had enough...

...they go and do something really sweet (3 year olds that is). It was just one of those days with Elijah...I don't know if it was the houseboundness of a snowday or what but bedtime couldn't come fast enough tonight. So of course he's up again an hour past when he was originally put to bed (as I said, just one of those days) and I tuck him in again and prepare to leave, he asks if he can pray for me. So he prays his usual prayer, "Dear Jesus, thank you for blessing my mommy, Amen, Bye-bye" he looks at me and asks, "Mommy, are you still sick?" (I've been battling off ear/throat infections for a month now)...so I told him I was mostly better, but still had a sore throat (2 rounds of anti-biotics and I'm heading back to the doctor), so Elijah puts his hands on my head and starts to pray again this time: "Dear Lord Jesus, please make my mommy all better so she's not sick any more, Amen, Bye-bye"...then he gives me a kiss and rolls over to go to sleep.

Blog, oh blog...do you still love me?

Not that I've had anything else to do during the past 2 months besides teaching at 2 schools (21 classes), being a mom to 2 little lads, being a wife (to 1 man), co-running a household, volunteering with church stuff, directing choir, planning assemblies and musical gathering school stuff, battling off illnesses (more on that later)...you know just life stuff...

how else am I blogging?

One of my goals this year in teaching (yes, we have official growth plans) is to use more technology in my teaching. Actually, I've gotten that "I'm such a cool teacher" feeling as a result of this...yes, I laugh at myself over that too. The first time I got that feeling this year was with my grade 7s. I'd designed a unit on Elvis Presley and I was trying to figure out a way to show him as the performer he was. Thanks to YouTube, Blogger and and LCD projector, I did. I gathered up a few of his performances, starting with his first appearance on Ed Sullivan and ending with his last performance 3 weeks before his death in 1977 and posted them on a site. The kids loved it! I actually had a table of boys so enthralled that I caught them trying to style their hair like Elvis.
The current unit I'm teaching the 7's (yes, it is currently the grade 7's I'm trying to impress, 5 years of grade 7 music, maybe I'm starting to get it right) is Music Around the World. I was inspired to play Name that Tune by Country as our introductory lesson. Again, thanks to YouTube and Blogger and some help from Wikipedia, I was able to. I found 15 different music videos that represented 15 different countries and played them for the kids. They had to try to name the song, artist and country...I actually haven't shown them the videos yet, I just played the music on my laptop with the screen away from them. Again, they were captivated. The noisier and more difficult to impress class were so quiet you could have heard a pin drop, I couldn't believe it. There were some students who came late and the other kids were like "quiet, we're playing a game"...if you knew who the students were that said that, you'd be even more impressed.
If you'd like to check out my sites they are: http://elvispresleyvideolessons.blogspot.com/
and
http://aroundtheworldmusic.blogspot.com/
try your hand at name that tune (okay, some of them are labeled, some of them are not, but I'll let you know how you did)

I'm sorry

I've been shamefully ignoring my blog this month...terrible of me really. I have good reason though. I've been busy...here's what I've been up to.
I'm back at work teaching at 2 schools music k-7. Then there's my boys to take care of. Elijah is back on with the potty, and Jeremy's crawling everywhere backwards. We (Jonathan & I) have been working at finishing the kitchen renos and getting the house ready for winter. There's a couple other top-secret projects that I've been working on that I'll mention when they are finished...I've been pretty pleased at the way we've been working at getting the routine down and keeping the house in order. I'm starting to feel like we're settling in. I wasn't looking forward to going back to work (and I still would rather be home). But I know I enjoy my job and feel quite at home in the classroom. It helps that I have such a great base school. Actually I had a moment of "I'm such a cool teacher" last week. I'm doing a unit on Elvis with my 2 grade 7 classes and last week we watched some of his performances that I put together on a blog so they could see the span of his carreer. You can see it here http://elvispresleyvideolessons.blogspot.com/ I'm really enjoying teaching that unit. Well GO Diego Go, I've gotta go again...not that I'm busy or anything!

Add to this list as you please