Showing posts with label classroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classroom. Show all posts

Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Beautiful Thursday Through the Lens of a Camera

There are not many early mornings as beautiful as today’s, but this one was so special I had to stop and take a few photos.  Every morning I leave the house just before 7:00 and go to our school’s central office and pick up the mail.  From there I drive out onto a state road and then onto the interstate for the almost 30 mile drive to my school.  Today when I pulled into our two laned Route 60, I was awed by the beauty in front of me and just had to stop and take some pictures.  The other folk on the road were not too happy with me jumping on and off the road, but I was a determined old gal.




You can see these beautiful mountains from my old middle school which after consolidation became the central office for Rockbridge County Schools.  Back in those days I only drove 5 miles to get to work.....I didn’t know how good I had it. Now I drive almost 30 miles one way! This is the same mountain range but from a different angle.




Here is the view from my school on the other end of the county when I arrived around 7:45. As you can see, it is a rural school surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  It is a gorgeous setting for a school...the tragedy is we are on the chopping block to either move into town to be combined with the another middle school from where I retired, or to a brand new school which would be built to hold both schools. Either way, I doubt I will make it that long.  Once I turn 72, it will be time to begin to seriously consider REALLY retiring!




Once inside my closet “cellblock”, I decided to make some colorful additions to perk it up a little bit more.  First I added another M.E. placemat left over from my birthday party back in February.  But I didn’t stop there.  A friend of mine who own a precious gift shop in Lexington have me a packet of M.E. Queen thank you notes.  Well, I put one of those on each side of the placemat.  Guess what????  I didn’t stop there.




On the old blackboard which I do not use, I hung the a red and blue I made before returning to work.  As you all know, I really LOVE red!!!




My next move was to hang my red, white, and green pique wall hanging on the door leading into the other half of the “closet” which houses the main system for the computers for our school. I made it one summer when I went to Arrowmont Craft School in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and it is one of my old favorites.




Adding all of this red to the room left my rocker pretty bland, so I hung a cotton quilt my son gave me years ago over the back, and I placed my red plaid back pillow on the seat for my back.



Even though I brought this in several weeks ago, I decided to close the post with Buddy’s and my favorite alarm clock which sits on my desk.  He and I are avid New York Yankees fans, and I bought this clock for him years ago during a visit to Ledgends Field in Tampa, Florida, but I took it off to work with me because the it is so funky.  When the alarm goes off, it yells out things like, “Gone, it’s a home run!” It’s programmed to say about 5 different things.  My principal allows me to call my BFF each day at 11:00 to be sure she is o.k. After 2 strokes, RA, and osteoporosis, I fret about her all the time.  He is really kind and understanding to allow me to touch bases with her each day.  When the alarm goes off, the kids get the biggest kick out of it.  My return offenders know I am calling Weezie, and as soon as I hang up - after about 2-3 minutes - they always want to know how she is doing.  I have multiple photos of the two of us on my desk so they all know who she is. 



You can see from this post that no matter how plain and drab a room can be, with a bit of tender loving care you can easily put a new face on it and make it much more enjoyable for the folk who spend time in it.

I LOVE MY SCHOOL!

In closing,  I want to share 1 last picture with you.  When I got home and was walking up to the front porch of the house, right to my left was the most beautiful single butterfly chowing down on one of our few marigolds still in bloom.



 Like I said at the beginning of the entry.....

THIS WAS ONE BEAUTIFUL THURSDAY!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Banner Is Flying High!


I did not forget the camera today so here it is....my precious banner from Elizabeth at Creative Breathing.  It is so special to have something made for me by a friend that I can enjoy each and every day.  You will notice I hung it so I can see it from the desk or from my rocker....shrewd move wouldn’t you say!  I had 4 children today, and they all commented on it. Since I am always calling the room “my closet”, I thought I would include some photos for you all to see.  It is VERY small, and there are times when I have as many as 8 in there at one time!


Bookcase as you walk in on the left...

The 4 stalls on the the left...2 students were in there when I took photo...

View of entire room...one more stall behind the rocker,  a table/2 seater to right of rocker, and another large desk facing my desk...

 Here you see my desk and the banner...behind it is the tall file cabinet and another table against the wall which holds my fridge and microwave.  I do not get to leave for lunch because students have “working lunches” in there with me. Basically, I am in there from 8:00 till 3:05.  Thank goodness there is a teacher’s restroom directly in front of my door so I can get there quickly and get back quickly!

The room is terribly small empty and even smaller when it fills up with children, but it has been my home away from home for 5 years...no windows and a door that remains shut to keep the other students changing classes from disrupting my little charges.  Having the banner in there has really helped perk up the place.  The table is full of ME stuff so that helps, too.  Now I am thinking about hanging one of my quilts either behind my desk or on the wall behind the rocker.  It is red and blue so that would help a little bit more. 

Once again, I want to thank Elizabeth from the bottom of my little old lady heart.  I love my banner, and my kids love it too.  It has a wonderful new home. Many thanks, my friend.

"There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship.”
~Author unknown