Another "Fred Under the Bed" Photo
Saturday brought much excitement for Tyler and I in the Kingdom! I started the day with yoga while he worked on his bookcase in the woodshop. We dropped off the recycling, went to the Derby Farmer's Market (and bought excellent pork tamales and a gooey cinnamon bun), and then made our way to the Old Stone House Museum for an Antique Engine show - Tyler's idea, not mine. While I found the engines to be interesting, I was not nearly as entertained as Ty. I found a woman crocheting and struck up a conversation with her. She had an awesome collection of antique ice picks, ice shavers, ice crushers, etc. that she was very proud of. Next to her, another couple had a variety of antique kitchen devices that was just as interesting. I'm not sure why, but the engines just didn't do it for me!
Tyler's friend Barrett met us at the show to go fly fishing... Barrett knows how to fly fish, so we thought we'd learn from him. Eventually, we stopped for worms though (and then a hot dog and ice cream) so that I could fish with my new pole. Tyler taught me all sorts of things about stream fishing. I've never fished so actively in all my life - in FL I fished but it pretty much involved casting and then sitting around shooting the bull for a while! We wanted to make it to a show at the Haskell Opera House but there was just too much to be done before Tyler left to D.C. for his Civil War seminar. (Which he is enjoying immensely!)
Sunday we were up at 5AM to go have Father's day breakfast with Ty's Dad, Sandy, Elijah and Matt. After visiting a while (and feasting on some delicious whole wheat-blueberry pancakes!) we had to get to the airport. Although I knew that Tyler was only going to be gone for a week, it was still sad to say goodbye at the airport. I think my brain wasn't convinced he'd be back in 7 days and not 7 weeks! The drive home was VERY long! It took 2 hours to get from Burlington to Newport. Even with the worst Atlanta traffic you could still get to the airport faster than that!
Fred and I have been doing some serious movie watching. Sunday night it was
Platoon, yesterday was the Ken Burns' DVD on
Thomas Jefferson, today we will start Ken Burns'
Civil War. I signed up to run the Glover Day race (5.5 miles) so I started "training" for that yesterday. Tyler says it will be a piece of cake, but 5.5 miles doesn't sound too easy to me!
I had the opportunity today to go back to school to check out my classroom and to place my orders for next school year. I met the school secretary, Jocelyn, who was lovely and very helpful as well as the AP (I think her name was Val?) and the 6th grade teacher, Jessica. My principal came in to my room to look around and we talked about next year. I have really enjoyed speaking to everyone at the school and feel like I will truly enjoy working there.
This is the trash pile I created today with just a few hours in the room... yes, those are the 1970s and 80s textbooks!
It's funny not to see a room full of desks! But my largest class will only have 12 kids!
I learned that the kids are not expected to bring in any school supplies (they can't afford it), so teachers receive a small budget to purchase everything they need
and everything the kids will need for the following school year. In comparison to RCS - where teachers receive basic supplies each year from the school, the kids purchase their own (for the most part) supplies, the department has money, the PTA gives you money and there used to be "Sonny Money" to spend - this is a big change. I really had to think hard about what I want the kids to have next year, and I am confident I'll be spending a lot more money out of pocket to add to the materials over the course of the year. School supply sales will be a must when I am down in FL and GA this summer!
I spent about 4 hours at the school working on my purchase orders and cleaning out stuff. The floors had been cleaned. but there is still much to do! In the pictures it looks like there are a ton of classroom novels, but many of them are falling apart or are so old the kids won't read them (think 197os!). I plan to email some of my former students to have them make a list of their favorite books, so I know what kinds of books kids are currently reading to re-stock the bookcases. I will be coming back into the room next week to finish cleaning out the cabinets and miscellaneous junk - but I left today feeling really optimistic about next school year!
On a random note, it was a year ago last night that I met Tyler at Stratford Hall in Virgina. At that time I had just returned from my Dad's surgery in Charleston and was figuring out what to do with my life (and what to do without my luggage on a 3 week trip to the middle of nowhere, VA!) when Tyler from Vermont told all of us gathered around the living room of the Cheek Guest House a hilarious and very animated story about a band that he heard at DuPont Circle in D.C. with his cousin. Although almost 2 weeks would pass before we really got to know each other, I am exponentially thankful that I was given the opportunity to study there last summer.
Our last night at Stratford...
In the cupola at Mount Vernon...
Finally a blog post! I was beginning to go through Fred withdrawl.
ReplyDeleteI knew that Tyler was going to D.C. but I guess I assumed that you were going also. If you're looking for some company bring Fred over to meet Sparkle. They said she's good with other dogs. Julie is here from France with Estelle and Baby Lena.
Your classroom looks huge.