It's been a LONG time!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted! Things have been very busy at school, teaching non-stop. This year I'm only teaching reading. I miss teaching math... so love math... but I get to work with 1st to 5th graders this year, so that's nice.

Friday Friends does not exist this year. I'm sad about that. Somehow I knew that when Ashley, Timia Chickadoodle graduated last year that the program would come to an end. I have to say they were some of my most favorite memories... spending long Friday afternoons with a very creative and funny bunch of kids. Hope they had as much fun as I did.

So besides teaching, I've been busy trying to get a website up and creating business cards with one of my best friends, Barbara Jones. Remember Mrs. Jones??? She taught 3rd grade for quite some time. We have a business venture... a tutoring/instructional service. Check out our web site and let me know what you think! Better yet, post something on our guest page! Good Karma Math and Reading Instruction  (Of course it would say something like that, right?)

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Happy Birthday, Chickadoodle!,

Our favorite Chickadoodle celebrates her birthday this week! Let's give her a great big shout out! Love you, Chickadoodle!!

Ashley's BORED!

By the way, in case you were wondering,
this ISN'T Ashley.

You know things have to be rough if ASHLEY'S BORED! I ask you, WHY is she bored??? She doesn't know why she's bored, she's just bored! Hmmmm.... what do you think we should do about that? She sent me a picture of her cute dog lying around yesterday. They were BOTH bored! I wanted to know why they weren't chasing each other around the house like my dog and I do! She never answered. I guess she was bored!

Have you ever been bored? When? Why?
How can we help Ashley to not be bored? Should we help Ashley to be unbored? Is that even a word?

TIMIA CHICKADOODLE!!!!Get Better FAST!!!

This is my very sad and worried
face while reading
Timia Chickadoodle's email.

OH NO!!!! My Timia Chickadoodle's under the weather! I just got an email from her telling me that she'll be out of commission for SIX WEEKS!!!!! She wrote and told me she had to have surgery and won't be able to start the school year off with us! She's stuck inside and not allowed to walk around! Of course I had to call her right away to talk to her! She sounded really good and cheerful. (Have we ever known her NOT to be chipper and upbeat?) It was super great speaking with her!

So everybody, let's all get together and send out a great big giant humongous HURRY UP AND RECOVER message!!! I know she'll be looking to see what's up!

Recover quickly because I miss you already, Timia!

Time FLIES!

WOW! I can't believe I haven't posted since March! In that time, we made 2 fantastic podcasts... make sure you see them on iTunes or  Rowen's page on the School District's site.

So anyhow, it's summer, and thank goodness for ASHLEY writing to meeee : )  We've been in touch on and off via email. I would love to hear from you all!

I've been hanging out most of the summer, but I did manage to visit my daughter in Chicago. It was super to see her. She planned our entire visit- where to go, what to see, how to get there, and what to eat! (YUM) While we were in Chicago, my husband's sister and her family volunteered to take care of Jizo. Here's a fun little video I made of Jizo's vacation. (Yes, you know me! I'm a true techie through and through!)

Let me know what you think and how you're doing! xxoo yours truly.

Tell Us What You Think!

Rowen Roars When We Soar!

Hi Everyone! The Friday Friends are in the process of working on 2 podcasts about our school! We could use your input on one of them. As you know, each morning our principal ends our morning announcements with our slogan and motto. Tell us what the quote means to you... "Education is not a mere means to life... Education IS Life!" and we may even quote you!

Tips for the PSSA!

Here's a power point that Zoe made several years ago! Go Zoe! Anyhow, a lot of you have been asking me for some pointers... Hope this helps!

And Jizo Was His Name-O!

     I know the song is supposed to be "I knew a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o", but... we just adopted a rescue dog and we're going to name him Jizo! He's about one and a half years old, was found wandering the alleys in Northeast Philadelphia/ Bensalem, and was rescued by the Women's Humane Society! Now he'll be ours... in just 3 days! : )
     Guess what ASHLEY,  he's a Shih-Tzu mix! Isn't your dog a Shih Tzu??? You'll have to give me pointers on what to do!
     So everyone, it's been a long time since I had a young dog... Have any advice? Oh, and what do you think of the name? 
    P.S. The video is of Jizo at the shelter. I don't know why my sister-in-law is feeding him her finger! Yuck! (The video will come out sideways... so tilt your head. That's the way it streams from TeacherTube!)

HELLO Out There!

Mrs. Jones says, "I'm DONE!"

Hey!   Kashiyah's  been writing to me on an OLD post! Let's see if we can get her to write to us following this link. It sure would be good to get a dialogue going. Maybe she can even talk that good old Tamar  into writing to us, too!!!!

Any other former students out there that want to say hello??? Would LOVE to hear from you!

Oh... And here's my BFF, Mrs. Jones on her last days last summer for those that asked about her. She's doing just GRRRRRRRRRR-8!

Thankful for YOU!

It's Thanksgiving today! I was sitting here so early this morning thinking about what I'm thankful for. Guess what? All of you came to mind!

This week has been great. I have had many students come up at lunch to do extra skill work, had students from a long time ago drop by to say "hi", and have had many of you say wonderful things about your learning and lessons. Who could ask for more?

What are you thankful for? Look forward to hearing from you!

WAKE UP! Time to get to work!

Time to get up and get going! Lots to do this year!

Hello to my chickadoodles! There's so much to ask you. How is your new school year going? Do you like your classes? If you're at a new school, do you like it? What's happening in your world?

I can't believe how quickly time is going by. The month of September whizzed by! PHEW! It FLEW! I've been busy preparing lessons and activities and am just now clearing my head to answer questions many of you had- like when will there be math help and meditation. I hung up a sign up sheet for math help on my board in my room. Drop in and sign up for a Tuesday or Thursday if you need help. The time will be 12:45 (last lunch). Please be sure not to interrupt my classes if there are students in my room. (Just come in quietly and sign the calendar on your own.) Also, are you interested in joining us for meditation? I'm thinking I may try to have a group one day a week at last lunch to start. Which day do you think would be best- Mondays to start the week or Wednesdays in the middle of the week? Let me know.

Having Fun These Last Few Weeks

Mrs. Jones and I took a wonderful trip to San Francisco to a Meditation Center. (You guys all know how much I LOVE to meditate...) My sister, Zoe, lives in San Francisco, so we spent time with her as well. Here we are standing at the Golden Gate Park with the bridge behind us. Can you see the fog? Check out this cool link that gives information about how the bridge was built.  You can also click here to find some fun facts about San Francisco.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

So now there are only 2 weeks left of the summer. I'll be heading in to school to start putting my classroom "together" again. Any suggestions on room arrangements- or did you like it the way it was?

What will you be doing to get ready for school? How will you spend your last 2 weeks? Looking forward to hearing from you...

See you soon! : )

SUMMERTIME!

I do yoga on the patio in the morning. A beautiful
hummingbird comes to keep me company.

Hey out there! What's everybody up to? I got a message from Jabrella, Jahnya, and Timia. I know that Jahnya is reading and doing math, Timia has a birthday this week, and Jabrella is "hanging out." So tell me more! What are you reading? I remember reading "A Wrinkle in Time" and "Half Magic" when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Those were 2 of my all-time favorite books!

So far,  I've been busy reading, too! I have my library card and my ebook reader and have been enjoying the relaxing down time. I've also been working in my beautiful garden, running 2-3 miles every day, and doing my yoga. (I've been doing yoga on my patio.)  Here's a picture of my yard.

Tell me what's up! I miss miss miss you all!!!!!
xxoo

We've Got FRIENDS!

WOW! Check out the Overbrook Elementary School!  They made a really great podcast full of wonderful poems and thoughts. Super job, Overbrook and Ms. Sorentino!

Guess what! They gave the Rowen Reporters and DJ Big & little a shout out, too! They reviewed our podcasts and gave some great thoughts on what they learned.

Well done, Overbrook! We'll be looking to write to you next year! Have a super summer : )

GOODBYE

Soon it will be time for many of us to say goodbye. Jahnya has been posting about going to a new school; Aishah and Jabrella have been feeling the sadness of the graduates and thinking about their time next year. For me, it's time to say goodbye to students I love and some of my BFFs that I teach with.

Even though they won't be here anymore, I will still be in touch and spend time with them. (In fact, Mrs. Jones and I are going on vacation together this summer!) So let's look to the bright side. They are off to new and exciting adventures, and I am making new friends and still have 2 BFFs- Ms. Cooper and Ms. El- to hang with at school.

So tell me, who would you like to say goodbye to or are glad that's staying here with you? Are your BFFs hanging with you next year?

HELLO JAHNYA!

I'm so thrilled that Jahnya keeps writing to me. So this post is dedicated to her! She's an amazing kid who comes faithfully to my mediation group. She's already calm and peaceful, so having her there makes ME even more calm and peaceful! I'm so glad we're getting to know each other this year. I look forward to getting to know her better next year, too. (I've known her brother for at least 2 years. He really cracks me up. He'll be leaving this year and I'll miss him!)

Anyhow, remember how some of the guided meditations tell you to go to a beautiful spot? I keep promising to show you a picture of where my mind goes sometimes... and here it is! Do you like it? It's amidst the bamboo at Green Gulch Farms. Tell me what you think.

I blinked and suddenly it's JUNE!

WOW! Where did the time go? I can't believe I haven't posted anything since the end of March! What have we been doing? Why lots of learning, of course! 

Great mathematicians and incredible readers are getting ready to end their school year with me. My Peaceful Positive Meditation Lunch Bunch is still faithfully coming every Monday and Wednesday at lunch. My 5th graders are busy getting ready for their commencement exercises. (I'm going to be so sad to see them go! I'm so very, very proud of all the progress they've made.) My "Friday Friends" had their last session today. We shared our podcasts with our parents and celebrated a job well done. (You should definitely check them out on iTunes or at the School District's site. They did a fabulous job of giving pointers on Internet Safety.)

Sooooo... I don't think I'm ready for the year to be over yet! How about you? Are you ready?

SPRING SPRANG SPRUNG!

GUESS WHAT? I have a famous friend who is putting together a new album. Her name is Julie Gold and she lives in New York City. I thought I'd share one of her new songs with you because I love it and it makes me happy! Write to me and tell me how it makes you feel and why.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Spring is finally here! I am REALLY happy because there's no more snow! My friends and I are going to go to the playground with our moms. There are a lot of things to play on there. There are things to go inside of and climb on, and you can get spun around. I won't be happy when spring is over because then comes summer and it's too hot!


Write to me and tell me how you feel about spring!
           this post is written by Ashley : )

IT'S OFFICIAL! WE HAVE A NAME!

It looks like our two polls were split on paper and online between The Magic-B-Board and the Wii-B-Board. So the creators of both names decided that we should merge them to become... are you ready for this... drum roll please....

THE Wii-B-MAGIC BOARD!!!!!

Ta-Dum!!!! Hurray! So drop by and check us out in action... WE really do MAGIC in 214!