Tag Archives: seventh grade

Friday

Friday, July 13, 2012, @ 8:45 amadventure, Family, pets, Scouting, sports, teaching, Weatherchildren, education, exercise, Family, fitness, great days, hard work, making the days count, pets, reading, seventh grade, sports, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

mile_swimmers — four-fifths of the Troop 35’s mile swimmers – 6/29/12

I have been up for almost two and a half hours and I have yet to start writing. Yikes, where did the time go? I spent some of it reading a couple of blog posts, some of it wandering the yard and watering the plants, and I just finished working to resolve an technical issue I have (and have had) with the teacher association website I run. I have ignored the issue for a while, telling myself, I will get to it in the summer. Well, it’s summer and I am on to it. It’s probably some setting or something simple, but I haven’t been able to figure it out; I e-mailed tech support and I replied this morning. Maybe, hopefully, it’ll be resolved and then I can move on to other things I have been ignoring for a while. Continue reading Friday →

Halftime, my second half

Wednesday, July 11, 2012, @ 10:29 amcountry, Family, jobs, Life in General, pets, Reading, Scouting, sports, teaching, travel, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, fitness, football, girls softball, history, making the days count, patriotism, reading, second half, seventh grade, sports, Summer Vacation, super bowl commercials, teaching, writingClay

Today is the fortieth day of my summer vacation. Unlike Phineas and Ferb – who live world of a hundred and four days of summer vacation, mine ebbs and flows depending on the school district’s calendar. This year summer break is eighty days long, last year summer break was seventy days and the year I began Making the Days Count dot org, it was eighty-two days. Today, I am in the first half of summer vacation and when tomorrow comes, it will be the first day of the second half and the countdown to the first day of school will be on.

I am home for a few more days, O’s team won their game last night in an 18-9 win, the girls played well Continue reading Halftime, my second half →

Summer Camp 2012 update

Monday, June 25, 2012, @ 11:50 pmadventure, country, Family, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, patriotism, reading, scouting, seventh grade, sports, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

leaves_of_three — Leaves of three, leave it be – poison ivy!

I am at summer camp with the Boy Scouts this week. We are at camp Tesomas in northern Wisconsin, not far from the UP (Upper Peninsula) and it is truly the north woods. It is good to get away; no, it is wonderful to be a boy all over again. This place takes me back in time, when I could play, and run, and swim, and fish, and just be outside.

I missed my Monday post, and Sunday post, too. I am blogging, but at a different location – I posted a short MtDC (Making the Days Count) with pictures this morning at the troop site – it is Wheaton Troop 35, please follow the link. The past two years I blogged and shared MtDC with the parents, this year I am blogging at the troop site. I had hoped to be able to do both the troop site and blog here, too – but I am realizing that it is difficult to keep up, so I’ll do what I can and keep you updated, via short posts with a link to see the troop post. Continue reading Summer Camp 2012 update →

Setting sail, catching the wind

Friday, June 22, 2012, @ 9:07 amFamily, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, scouting, seventh grade, sports, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

It has been windy, lately, and my sails have finally caught the wind. The past couple of days have been hot, humid, and windy. The days have been full, productive, and truly ‘countable.’ Like many things this summer, I started and did not finish yesterday’s post.

The weather this summer, so far, has been warm to hot and dry. Tuesday and Wednesday were very windy, juts the right amount of wind to pick up my sails and move me out of the doldrums. I still have a ways to go before I am at full speed, but there is nothing like a sailboat on a summer afternoon. Continue reading Setting sail, catching the wind →

Next stop, High School

Wednesday, June 6, 2012, @ 11:37 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, Dulles Jr. High Class of 1976, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, seventh grade, Sugar land Junior High Class of 1976, Summer Vacation, writingClay

I remember it like it was yesterday. I can close my eyes and see my classmates around me crossing the stage as we waited in the lunchroom for the ceremony to be over so we could bust out the door and summer could start. That was thirty-six years ago and last night I sat in the gym watching the same event from my parent’s eyes, except I wasn’t crossing the stage, William was. Continue reading Next stop, High School →

Summer Reading

Monday, June 4, 2012, @ 10:12 amadventure, Family, food, history, jobs, Reading, teaching, Writingchildren, education, Family, Good Reads, Guys Read, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, writingClay

Books can really slow me down. I have been on a tear to read adolescent literature since moving to Language Arts a few years ago. Before then I read books about social studies – books for big people, such as The History of the World in Six Glasses or Salt: A World History and it would take me all summer or a semester to read them. Now, I read, on average, a book every two weeks, not bad. However, I have a more ambitious summer goal – to read twenty books. That is a book every four days, and that means I am going to be reading a lot! I know I am going to make somebody unhappy! Continue reading Summer Reading →

What now?

Saturday, June 2, 2012, @ 9:58 amadventure, Cooking, Family, food, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Writingchildren, eating, education, Family, great days, hard work, humor, making the days count, Paris, reading, restaurants, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, VdF, VdF Woodfield Mall, Vie de France, writingClay

Several years ago, I left a job after over twelve years. I remember that first day after I resigned, I decided to take a week off and wait for my new job to begin. I was uncomfortable, bitter, and out of sorts – feeling as though I had lost something, but not knowing exactly what it was. I had a similar feeling yesterday at the end of the day. Friday was a short day, but it counted as a workday and an attendance day for the students. I was finished with all of my duties as a teacher, cleaned my room, filed my grades and I was on my way home. I was exhausted and spent. The previous weeks had been frenetic at work and I had put off things at home to finish things at school, and vice versa. I was mess. Continue reading What now? →

Last Day, summer begins

Friday, June 1, 2012, @ 5:29 amFamily, history, Reading, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

Summer is finally here! It is the day that most kids look forward to on the first day is here, the last day. It has felt like summer, off and on, since March, but today it is 50⁰F, overcast, and drizzling. It feels more like early fall than summer. However, it is here. Continue reading Last Day, summer begins →

Down to two

Wednesday, May 30, 2012, @ 5:20 amFamily, history, Life in General, pets, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, Guys Read, hard work, history, making the days count, pets, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

I can always count on opening my laptop to slow my productivity to a crawl. With three days left in the school year, there is the frenzy of finishing all the end of the year stuff, cleaning my room, and trying to channel my student’s energy in the right direction. I awoke early this morning, very early, because a) I set my alarm and it was ringing, and b) Ivy was barking about something. I let her out, started the coffee, and went outside to wait for her to finish the yard inspection and the coffee to brew. She came back to the deck satisfied the yard was safe, at least until daylight and we both went inside. I grabbed a cup of coffee and together we went to the basement; I went to wrap up grading a final set of papers and focus on Wednesday and Thursday and Ivy lay down beneath the desk and went to sleep. I think she got the better part of the deal. Continue reading Down to two →

Blogoversary, really

Saturday, May 26, 2012, @ 10:26 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, racing, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, geography, history, Indy 500, making the days count, patriotism, reading, seventh grade, sports, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

Two years ago, actually 104 weeks ago to be precise, I sat down and started writing Making the Days Count. It started as a dot com but, it has morphed into a dot org, however you can get there either way. You can even get there with dot info and dot net too, but it doesn’t matter how you got here, it is that you are here and reading, following along, thank you. It started because the previous school year had been crappy, from the beginning until the very bitter end in 2010. New curriculum, new schedule, crappy teaching (yes, I was crappy, very crappy), and some students who fought me every inch of the way made it even crappier. There were some excellent students that year, but they got lost in a year when I always behind, always unprepared, and contemplating whether I was cut out to be a teacher, or not. Continue reading Blogoversary, really →