The day that changed our lives...

September 10, 2001. I was in my 5th year at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN. I was spending the evening with some of my closest friends - my roommate Deb, my cousin Julia, and my marching band buddy, Betsy. We were prematurely celebrating my 23rd birthday by sipping margaritas made with my birthday present, a blender. We were having spitting contests off the apartment balcony, and we watched a black market copy of "Pearl Harbor." While watching the movie, the scene where Pearl Harbor was being attacked I made a comment to my friends that still haunts me today - "You know, Pearl Harbor was the last time America was attacked on our own soil."

I woke up the morning of September 11 around 5:30 a.m. to our mentally handicapped next-door neighbor Gus yelling and swearing at his alarm clock. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't ignore Gus' cussing and thumping so I woke up and grumbled to myself about how it totally sucked that I was woken up early by my stupid neighbor and how I was hoping waking up early was the worst thing that would happen. After all, it was my 23rd birthday and how dare my neighbor ruin my day.

I went through my usual routine - I watched a little bit of "Saved by the Bell" after my shower while eating my cereal. When it was over, I turned on my new. I got into the habit of watching The Today Show while I was getting ready for school. I had watched for a while and then decided to go do my hair. While I was curling my hair, I remember hearing Katie Couric's voice get a little louder and more frantic sounding. I went into the living room and listened to them speaking about a fire at the World Trade Center and could it have been an explosion or a plane having difficulties? I can recall thinking to myself, "There's no way a plane having trouble would just hit a major building." I was watching (half of my hair curled) and I remember my stomach just dropping when I watched the second plane hit. I knew in my core that this was some sort of terrorist act.

From that point in the day, I had to attend my classes for my professional semester. I remember very little of what happened during the rest of the day. I remember going to chapel and having a prayer for people affected. I recall coming home and there was a phone message from someone telling us to go out and get gas for our cars because rumor had it gas prices were up to $5.00 a gallon. Deb and I went to the gas station down the street and we were able to pull right in and get gas. By the time we were finished filling up, there was a line of cars down the street 15-20 cars deep. Deb and I still went bar hopping for my birthday, and it was depressing. At most of the bars we were the only ones in there. I think at one bar there were a whopping 7 people.

There was one act done during that day that was a small, fairly minute thing that I did that I feel changed my life in a way that I didn't realize at the time. Once the second plane crashed, I found one of my video tapes, inserted it into the VCR and pressed the "record" button. I did that because I knew history was being made and I would have to teach it someday. I think even though I had completed my first round of student teaching, that moment was the first time I felt I knew I would be a teacher.

I remember very little from that day. I remember being ticked off that my birthday was forever ruined. I was relieved that I lived in the middle of nowhere in Minnesota because despite what was going on elsewhere, I felt safe in the 56073. I remember also feeling a little bit scared because I was 6 1/2 hours away from my parents and my family. The one feeling that I do remember very well was waiting anxiously for my boyfriend to call me. I hadn't heard or seen him at all that day, and I just wanted to hear from him.

Ten years later, I'm watching all the shows about 9/11 recalling the events of that day. I'm marveling at how our world has become so much more paranoid and rightfully so. I'm amazed at how I've been fortunate to not know anyone who lost their life that day. I actually enjoy watching the shows because it gives me faith in society. I don't like seeing the carnage of that day, but I love the little stories of people helping people with no concern or regard for race, ethnicity, religion, social status.

Ten years later, I have a degree in Education and I'm working on my Master's. I have four years of teaching experience, and I'm starting my fifth. I have since married the boyfriend who didn't call me on my birthday in 2001, and I've also since forgiven him. I have two amazing children and a dog (and most likely another dog joining the family in late October). I have lived in four different states in those ten years.

Ten years later, I'm older, slightly more responsible, hopefully wiser, but I still refuse to grow up. The world has changed in the last ten years, but I am doing my best not to change. Ten years ago I was upset that a bunch of terrorists ruined my birthday. Now I'm proud to say that my birthday is September 11th because those terrorists brought a country together for a period of time, and we celebrate unsung heroes on that day.

Opening Pandora('s Box)

I owe my co-worker the world. I asked her if she put on music for her kids during rest time and she said that she used Pandora radio. I, being the technologically retarded individual that I am, asked how she got that on her computer. She, being the patient kindergarten teacher that she is, explained that all I had to do was set up an account.

From that moment I opened Pandora's Box of musical goodies. (I know most of these things are probably "well, duh..." moments for most people.) I can type in an artist, or dare I say, composer, and a radio station is created based on that suggestion?? WHAT?!?!?!?!? My mind was blown. Seriously.

I have a few stations created for my classroom - They Might Be Giants for some educationally and musically stimulating tuneage. Irving Berlin because they enjoy "playing" along with "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Beethoven because of the well-known statement that playing classical can enhance intelligence (and truth by told, my students need all the help they can get right now). Grieg because he's my favorite composer and some of his stuff is delightfully weird, as are my kindergarteners - it fits. And some Rockabye Baby because I enjoy listening to Journey, Aerosmith, Green Day, and U2 masked as lullabies during naptime.

Most of all, I'm enjoying listening to some pieces I've probably never heard before. I love classical music for all the intricacies and simplicity. So, Pandora Radio, and most importantly Miss Clarkson, thank you for reigniting my need for music in my life. (P.S. - Beethoven's Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Major, Opus 69, II and Chopin's Fantasy - Impromptu in C Sharp Minor, Opus 66 - my new faves.)

Not ashamed...

It may be no surprise that I've had an interesting and fun-filled first 8 days of school. I never could have imagined how completely different teaching in a public school is compared to teaching in the WELS. I've had quite the 8 days of coming home and poring over the internet to find ideas to deal with my school brood.

I decided instead of trying to handle this myself, I am asking for as much help as possible. This is something I've been criticized for already. I asked the Curriculum/Instructional Specialist for help. The principal has already been in to teach a lesson to see what I'm working with. But why the criticism? My job is to teach these children the best way I know how. I've used the ways I know and the ways I'm familiar with. But my ways aren't working. My way is not completely broken, but certainly isn't working to its optimum potential. I know that I won't be happy unless I can help this class learn and learn well, and right now that's not happening. Heck, I don't even have to swallow my pride to ask for help because I'm doing what my profession applauds - asking for help and finding solutions to problems.

Thankfully my principal even had difficulty handling my class, so that made me feel a little bit better about my situation. I have the school counselor coming in tomorrow to observe a few of my students, I have one of the APs coming in as well to observe another few students, and I have the CIS coming back in to give me some pointers to deal with my little balls of energy, as well as ideas to keep things as structured as possible.

So why should I be ashamed of asking for help? I'm not at all. Anyone who thinks for a second that I should be ashamed is ridiculous. I'm bound and determined to give my students the best kindergarten experience they can have, and darn it, they're going to get it!!

Stuff I'm thankful for...

Do you ever have those moments where you are suddenly and unexpectedly thankful for something? I have these moments where I'm unexplicably thankful for what seem like silly or insignificant things, but it's a legitimate moment of thankfulness. I've been cataloging these moments in my head the past few days, and here are some of the moments I've come up with:

** I'm thankful that my teachers in grade school (and even high school) made us memorize all those hymns. It comes in very handy when you're trying to wrangle two children in church while singing "I Am Trusting You Lord Jesus" and you don't miss a single word because your 1st and 2nd grade teacher made you memorize all 6 verses (except for some slight tripping-up on what used to be "thee's" and "thou's" which are now "you's" and "your's").

** I'm thankful that poop, pee, and vomit don't phase me. It makes it so much easier to be able to comfort my daughter after she "slurped" on the carpet at 1:30 a.m. instead of worrying that cleaning up vomit may in turn cause me to vomit. (On a side note: Parents, you should invest in Nature's Miracle odor neutralizing liquid. We bought it for our dog, and we've used it more for our kids and their "accidents". Works like a charm to get rid of smelly liquids that dogs and/or children may produce that end up on/in your carpet.)

** I'm thankful my kids are freaking adorable. It makes it that much easier to overlook and forgive their many and varied flaws, like throwing their quarters obnoxiously into the offering plate, creating an extremely loud clang, or taking clean (but unfolded) laundry and wiping your snotty nose on a different article of clothing.

What the heck do "criss-cross" and "applesauce" have to do with each other?

Yep, these are the pressing thoughts on my mind lately... but seriously, who came up with the "criss-cross applesauce" idea for having kids sit down crossing their legs? Yes, I understand the "criss-cross" thing, but it seems that someone was just desperate for something cutesy and rhyming. I suppose "applesauce" is a far superior rhyme to "criss-cross" than "I'm your boss" (albeit accurate for a teacher in a kindergarten room). After googling it, it's apparent that useful words that rhyme with "cross" are lacking. To me it makes more sense to describe what your legs look like while sitting instead of making a senseless rhyme, which is why I'm using the term "pretzel legs" in my classroom.

So my first two days of teaching are done and over, and somehow I've managed to survive. I do have a few challenging little goofballs in my classroom. My group of little peanuts are definitely challenged in the area of listening and following directions. I came up with a fabulous idea in my epiphany bathtub tonight. If Jelly Bellys work to potty train my kids, why wouldn't they work in quiet training my classroom??? I'm going to try the good behavior jar. When I see good behavior occurring - specifically using working voices and staying on-task - I will add a Jelly Belly to a jar. Once the jar is filled with good behavior, the sweets will be divvied up for all of us to enjoy. It might just be worth it. We shall see, it's worth a shot. And if nothing else, I will have a stash of Jelly Bellys to snack on whilst my lovely crew are driving me nuts and misbehaving. :)

Back in the saddle again...

So in case you've been dead to the world (or not on Facebook anyways) I'll be getting back in the teaching groove. Yay!! (Insert the Liz Dance of Happiness here...) I've missed teaching like crazy for the last 6 years, and I'm even more excited that I'm teaching kindergarten again, since I have a feeling that teaching in the public school is going to be a whole different beast than teaching in the WELS schools, and at least I'll have the slight familiarity of kindergarten curriculum.

I got to see my classroom at Reeces' Creek. I'm in room 104, in the block of six (yes, SIX) kindergarten rooms, and I think there may be another 3 kindergarten classrooms around the hall. I love the fact that my classroom has a tack board wall so I can thumbtack or staple anything (including unruly students) to the wall. I also love that I have a kid-size sink AND a kid-size bathroom, as well as ample storage space. An added bonus is that I also have a SmartBoard, a Promethean to be exact. How I'm going to utilize that in the classroom, I'm not quite sure yet, but I'll figure it out.

The two things that I'm noticing that my classroom is missing are books and toys. The only books that are in the classroom are the books that come with the reading program, so nothing that's really fun and interesting for the kids to read (which makes it hard to create a reading corner with no books...). How am I supposed to create children who love to read when the only books that are at their disposal most of the day are leveled readers? Sure, they can go to the school library, but that's not constantly accessible. I guess I'll have to work on that...

Another thing that's missing is toys. I've always thought of kindergarten as the perfect balance of school and play. They are starting the age where they can do seat work but they also still need play as a part of their learning process and socialization. As my friend from church (who was a public school teacher) put it, "There's no way the public school district is going to pay for toys." So now my issue is, do I add some toys in the classroom and be the only K teacher who does that, or do I just conform to the status quo?

Either way, books or no books, toys or no toys, I'm beyond excited to be back in the classroom again and to have a whole new gang of students to make me laugh and help me learn as a teacher.

(Everybody's Free) To Wear Sunscreen

As many of you know, I was a lifeguard/Water Safety Instructor for a number of years at the critically-acclaimed Cedarburg Community Pool. We had to sit through a number on inservices on topics we'd never use, like "How to Handle Drowning Drunk Mexicans" and "Poop: The Real Thing or a Babe Ruth, and How to Tell the Difference Without Jumping In". (Oh wait, we DID have to use those inservice topics...) However, we did partake in the Pool Cool program, which teaches sun awareness to children.

Since it's that time of year (at least down in Texas it is. Wisconsin, not so much...) when the pools open and people are flocking to them for some relief, I thought I would impart some of my pet peeves and knowledge of sun awareness to y'all. I've also read some articles on sunscreen, because while I personally despise sunscreen I do put it on my kids because, well, they're kids and I'm their mom and it's what I'm supposed to do.

#1 - Sunscreen that is greater than SPF 30 provides very minimal extra protection.

We seem to think that in regards to sunscreen that the higher the number, the better the protection. That's not necessarily accurate when it comes to sunscreen. An SPF 30 rating has been found to protect the skin from 98% of harmful rays. As stated in the article, anything above an SPF 30 doesn't do much more. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/health/07real.html)

#2 - Please for the love of Pete DO NOT put sunscreen on while your child is running into the water. Be kind, think ahead... As a lifeguard, my personal favorite (note sarcasm) was when parents and progeny burst into the pool area, and Mom slathered up the gang and pushed them in the pool a minute later. Sitting on my guard perch, you can actually SEE the cloud of sunscreen floating off the children's skin and into the pool water, clogging up the filters and burning the eyes of the ungoggled underwater swimmers. Sunscreen needs time to sink into the skin, so the recommendations state to apply sunscreen 30 minutes (I've also read an hour) before entering the water.

#3 - Wet white T-shirts don't do nothin'. Thankfully I think this is starting to become a thing of the past, so I'll be brief. Tempted to put a t-shirt on your kid to ensure sun protection? A wet white t-shirt has an SPF of 3. Colored t-shirts don't do much more than that when wet. (http://www.skincancer.org/sun-protective-clothing.html)

#4 - Don't forget the forgotten parts. We all know the obvious places to put sunscreen - arms, legs, face, back. Take it from the experienced one - don't forget to lotion up the ears thoroughly. An ear sunburn sucks. Also don't forget down the middle of your nose - it's happened to me and I had an awesome skunk nose. It's also helpful to make sure to get sunscreen under the swimsuit (especially on girls' backs) because as we girls know, our swimsuit straps, especially as children, rarely stay put or they move. Tops of the feet are also a somewhat forgotten spot, especially the little piggies.

#5 - The purple sunscreen turns white for a reason. We've probably all seen the sunscreen that's tinted purple (or any other pastel color) so that you know if you've rubbed it all in properly. Not rubbing the purple down to a white does not mean your child will receive extra sun protection. So please, do not let your child run around looking like a Purple People Eater and rub that junk in.

#6 - Spray sunscreens ain't that great. I have a few scenarios I've witnessed in my day that make me dislike spray sunscreen. First example: Mom sprays soon-to-be Little Red full of sunscreen on a windy day. Unless you spray that thing very close up, most of the sunscreen is flying away. And you need to apply a good layer of it for it to be useful. Second example: It's not like a spray-on tan where you get sprayed and wait for it to dry. You need to rub in the lotion well, just like any other lotion. Third (and most unpleasant) scenario: Mom sprays, kid inhales the fine mist, kid chokes on the fine mist, kid vomits a not-so-fine mist. True story.

The moral of the story/blog: We all know that we need to slather on the 'screen. That isn't the debate. I am kind of a purist when it comes to sunscreen - I don't need the fancy shmancy spray 'screen or the purplicious goo, just give me the regular old SPF 30 to put on 30-60 minutes before hitting the water, and I'm good. Make your own decisions about what's best for your kids and family, and hopefully I've enlightened you about some of the reasons why the lifeguards are rolling their eyes (if you can see that behind their sunglasses). There are many more reasons for the eye-rolling, and I'll get into those later...