I’m in my twenty-fourth year of being an elementary teacher and my passion has always been fostering a caring community. There is so much that can be gained from teaching young children social emotional learning. They need help learning how to navigate relationships, social awareness, and self-management which are all essential SEL tools to carry …
Wishing you a rosy school year
We’re back in school and if you try REALLY hard you can find the sweetness…my own kids are so happy to be back. My first grade students come to school with BIG smiles excited to learn in-person. Teachers are happy to teach at school and not virtually. It’s true that the soul is healed by …
Losing my Dad: Saint-Exupéry says it best
To lose a someone who has the most wholehearted acceptance into your soul is one of life’s most devastating heartbreaks. We lost my Dad a few months ago to melanoma. This quote from Saint-Exupery was read by my Dad’s law partner at his funeral and I think it speaks so true to how you feel …
Mockingbird Station: Mari Pohlman’s Summer Strong Visual Cue
The other day, my daughter and I were having lunch in Dallas and we walked by this summer mural in Mockingbird Station. I’m reading a book Visual Design Solutions for this class I’m taking and had been reading that good visual design can be an, “experience that creates a positive emotional state…” and “produces an …
Mockingbird Station: Mari Pohlman’s Summer Strong Visual CueRead More
Put some Arnica on it
Do you have a “mom phrase” that you’re known for? Mine is definitely “put some arnica on it.” There are two little things that I know help my children besides hugs… peppermints and arnica! They’re magical…I always have them in my Mary Poppins bag. Decades ago, one of my dance teachers told me to use …
Happy 20th in 2020
Twenty years ago on July 1, 2000 my husband, Derek and I said “I do!” My mom said to me the other day, “It feels like yesterday.” I think if feels just right…twenty is a beautiful number. I’ve been an elementary school teacher for twenty-one years. My first year of teaching, I didn’t have very …
Summer 2020
What have been your favorite things to do while you’re at home? These are mine… Paddleboarding. I recently got my very own SUP board and it’s made this time so much better. I toss it in the pool to practice yoga and Pilates and test my balance and then take it to the lake to …
La Pitchoune: Virtual Pasta Cooking Class
If you keep up with me on this little blog, you know that I adore all things French and that I’m a little A LOT obsessed with Julia Child. When I found out that La Pitchoune was offering virtual cooking class and it was on making laminated pasta, I made sure that my family, my …
Strawberry Jelly: the perfect summer gift to say thank you
My mom and I make tabasco jelly for Christmas presents and I thought…why not make strawberry jelly for the end of the school year to say thank you. After teaching first grade virtually for a few months, teachers needed to return supplies back to the kids. I decided to give my first graders some strawberry …
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April is for letters
Did you know that the U.S. Postal Service officially designated April National Card and Letter Writing Month in 2001 “to raise awareness of the importance and historical significance of letter writing?” A whole month dedicated to letters…yes please! Everything about a letter screams “somebody cares”: the name and address in familiar handwriting, the knowledge someone took …
Why Everyone should be scared out of their mind about melanoma
This is a guest post by my daughter, Zooey. She was working on her eighth grade English writing project and her legacy project that was inspired by her grandfather (my dad, Bill Wood, who is fighting Melanoma). Imagine spending all day out in the sun without any sunscreen. Sounds pretty innocent doesn’t it? That one …
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Gemutlichkeit
Gemutlichkeit is my absolute favorite word in the world. This feeling captures the holidays beautifully! Ezra Jack Keats wrote the most gemutlich book…Snowy Day about a small boy named Peter who experiences the joy of a snowy day. We just returned from a trip in the mountains. Let me paint a picture…Christmas morning it was …