At the end of each Slice of Life challenge I always look back on my month of writing for a recap on what happened.

This was definitely an interesting month in general.

We’ve had our dog Bozie for one month now and she’s doing great and a sweet.

We hit the “50 days left in school mark”- now who knows if we’ll ever go back this year.

I haven’t forgotten my phone at home- but I really haven’t gone anywhere.  But I did lose my keys.

Haven’t gotten a massage lately so I haven’t had a chance to have anymore “massage thoughts”

I still go down “memory lane” when I get the chance to listen to songs in my car- unfortunately haven’t been in my car much lately.

”Train game” is always a game I’ll play.. just waiting for the next time I’ll get stopped by one.

Reese had a great special lunch with her teacher and then ended up having another one on her “last day” of school because they all ate in their classrooms with their teacher.

I’m glad I decided to send her on that last Monday to school since we’ve been gone so long.

Not only did we get snow on St. Patrick’s Saturday, we got a big snowfall a week later- I’m thinking and hoping we are done with snow until late fall/winter.

Still missing the daily “laughs and smiles” I used to get from my kindergarteners daily.

I still continue to sign my school emails to parents “Stay healthy and stay in touch”

Since My daughter is on Spring Break I haven’t had another “ELearning P.E. class” with her as my teacher.  I am sure we’ll be back on next week.

Haven’t had any additional ZOOM staff meetings but again we are on Spring Break and I’m sure it’ll happen again

My ZOOM Friday night drinks with girlfriends was a huge hit!  We are already setting up another one!

I still haven’t found my lost keys but my husband did buy me a FIND keychain that’ll help me use an app on my phone to find my keys in the future.  Unfortunately it won’t help with my already lost ones.

It is always so interesting to go back and see what I wrote about it during the month.  My favorite post to write each year

 

 

 

 

What happens when a not so organized person doesn’t drive her car for 5 days?  She loses her keys that’s what happens!

This past Thursday evening I decided I finally needed to go to the store to get some things. Grabbed my coat, purse, phone, shopping list… no keys!  Not in my purse, not in my coat pocket, not on the hook labeled “keys” in the laundry room.

I knew the last time I went out and drove was Sunday. I made it home and so did the car do the keys have to be here somewhere.

Looked through the car, on the counter, in the drawers, in the garage.. nothing

Through my laundry- maybe it was in a pocket..  nope

Rechecked everywhere again just in case.  Still nothing.

Then I remembered that I had a spare car key..  but where?  I haven’t seen it in months.

So now I’m looking through different drawers and old purses trying to find my spare key.

Eventually my husband made it home and now there are two of us looking in the same spots again but still no luck.

Eventually and luckily my husband decided to check his truck..  the spare key-for whatever reason was in his center console.  At least I can drive my car.

Now it’s Sunday- 3 days later and still no sign of my original keys.  They could be anywhere I suppose or maybe were accidentally thrown away. No telling.

I stopped looking for the keys. I have the most important one/hardest to replace- my car key.  Maybe they’ll show up.

Guess that’s what happens when an unorganized gal doesn’t have a reason to use her car daily..

So Since I wasn’t sure what to write about today I decided to look back and see what I wrote about on this date last year.

March 28, 2019- I took a flight to Syracuse to spend a few days of my spring break with my best friend Shelley who lives in Northern New York.
I wrote about how did different it was from leaving crazy OHare to arriving in quiet peaceful Syracuse Airport.
How my drive from home to Ohare was on busy expressways, through busy suburbs, quite crowded.  But my drive from the airport to her house was on a quiet highway through some small towns, quite peaceful.
Flash forward to this year, March 28, 2020.  Not going anywhere.  The road to OHare is probably much quieter and I’m sure the airport is a ghost town. Would be a totally different experience making that trip today.

What a difference a year makes.  Wonder what I’ll be doing March 28, 2021.

When all this Elearning started 2 weeks ago I started hearing about a bunch of teachers using Google Hangouts and Zoom and sending videos to their kids and all those other technology type ways to communicate.  I was unfamiliar with or very “green” on those topics so I continued on my way with my emails and Seesaw to communicate with families.

As the first week went on I heard more people talking about them, ZOOM in particular, and how they were using it and loved it and how easy it was.  I was a bit more intrigued but still kept to my email and Seesaw.

Then we had a staff meeting on ZOOM on Monday and I got to see it and live it for the first time.  It was a great alternative to face to face communication and it was so nice to see faces I am use to seeing every work day.    Maybe I should try it with my kiddos.  Would definitely love to see their faces.

Then a parent asked if I was going to do a ZOOM meeting and mentioned how much her older daughter loved seeing her teacher and friends.  So I committed and told her that I was going to set one up..  Now I had to try. Really what else do I have to do.  It can’t be that hard can it?

Nope!  It was not hard at all!  And because I finally just tried I was able to spend 45 minutes with 10 of my kiddos this afternoon..  It was great and now I am all about the ZOOM.  Gonna schedule some more with the kids before we go back and I brought it into my personal life too! – Drinks with the girls via ZOOM at 7:30!!

Lesson learned- don’t always be afraid to try new things..  they may not be hard at all

Ever since we brought her home, I have been noticing that when I bring our puppy Bozie out into the backyard (we don’t have a fence so we either walk her around on a leash or she has one of those long leashes connected to the patio so she can play a bit outside by herself) she has been enjoying finding sticks and chewing on them and carrying them all over the yard.

She will sometimes bring the stick to the backdoor but we make her drop it as we obviously don’t allow them into the house.  Over the last few weeks that we’ve had her the pile keeps growing.  Every now and then I will notice a new stick (none of the others have been removed) stick added to the pile.

Last night when my husband was home and took her out he noticed the pile had grown.  I joked with him that she was probably stockpiling the sticks like the people are stockpiling the food due to the Coronavirus.  In fact while we were out on a morning stroll through the yard a new stick joined the pile.  Guess people aren’t the only ones stocking up!

Today one of the choices (she has to pick 6 a day) my daughters picked for Elearning was in PE and it was for her to make up a workout routine and teach it to someone.

It was a hard choice but I was the lucky one that got picked for her to teach (I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I was her only choice :)).  I didn’t mind, I could use something to force me to do some kind of working out, no matter what it was.

She said she needed some time to work on it so I left her to it.  Luckily I checked in on her a few minutes later because she was planning this elaborate dance routine which I know is technically working out, but there was no way I was going to get the moves (and I have done this before and it never ends until she is satisfied I get the moves done properly) and I did want to make sure as a fellow teacher that she followed the ELearning assignment to a tee!

So luckily she turned it into a workout routine.  And it went pretty well.

I was expecting jumping jacks, jump roping (as at one point there was a jump rope out), jogging in place stuff like that but she was all about the stretching.

I learned a few things/some I knew..

I know I was never very flexible but boy I am not even a little flexible!

My daughter is very flexible and runs a tight workout regimen.

I need to make sure that I am doing the counting while doing my wall sits and planking because she is not counting for me.

The workout even came with some feedback and a grade.  I must commend her as she started it off with a positive (I am very responsible- not sure how that came out through my workout but I will take it) before she went in to my areas that needed improvement (I need to work on my strength and stretching).

Overall I got a B+.  Not bad for my first ELearning P.E. class.

 

 

I grew up having dogs and I loved having them.  However it was never my job to train them, they were just there for me to play with.

I never had a dog as an adult. I still enjoyed being around them but I guess I never wanted the responsibility of taking care of it.

So when my husband ( a dog lover and someone who has had dogs and raised them) and my daughter who was at a good age to help and be responsible for some of the dog duties wanted to get a puppy I was fine with it.   I would be fine either way- get it or don’t, whatever.

So we got a puppy; actually my first blog was about our puppy. We’ve had her 25 days so far.

Turns out this puppy that I was ok with getting or not getting- I couldn’t imagine not getting!

Yes she has been extra work and yes it at times has been frustrating training her but she has been a joy!
She is actually doing well with her training so far and is quite the snuggler and lover.

Don’t think I’ll ever be okay with not getting a dog again..

 

 

 

A typical Monday during the school year..

It is usually remembered around lunchtime.  Myself or another staff member, although not wanting to hear a certain response, asks..

“Do we have a 3-4 meeting today?” (3-4 meetings are our twice a month but seems more like weekly staff meetings that happen on Mondays from 3 to 4, hence the name)

Couple of hopeful shrugs that maybe we don’t have one.  Couple hopeful guesses “Didn’t we just have one last week?  I’m thinking we don’t”.

But then someone checks the schedule and verifies..  “Yep, we have a 3-4 meeting today!”

Groans, sighs, mood change..

Usual responses/thoughts heard..

I was hoping to return some emails before I left.

I wanted to get those things copied for the week.

It’s Monday and I am exhausted, just want to go home.

It better not go past 4, I have got to leave right at 4!

I wanted to go to the store before I pick up the kids so I can go by myself.

We just had institute day what on earth else can we talk about already so soon?

We have report cards and conferences coming up- can’t we just have time to do those?

on and on..

Coronavirus Quarantine Monday during the school year

I remembered first thing in the morning- “We have a 3-4 meeting today on ZOOM!”

Didn’t need a reminder or to verify in my calendar.  I knew it was today!

I wasn’t dreading the hour long meeting.

Instead these thoughts were on my mind..

Good reason to shower and look presentable today (although I chose not to be on video during the call-no reason to scare anyone)

Whatever we are going to talk about sounds wonderful!

I get to see and communicate with other adults besides my husband and a grocery store worker!

I get to see my awesome co-workers and probably share a laugh!

Hands down the best 3-4 meeting ever!

Great to see you all my Edgewood friends!

A few weeks ago while my daughter and I were having our usual bedtime ritual that involves some talk time in her bed, she was wanted to tell me about a new game they played in her class at school at the end of the day.

It was called Rose and Thorn.  I have heard and played this type of game but is was called “Highs and Lows”.  Basically you share one or two great parts of your school day (Rose) and then one “meh” or bad part of your school day (thorn).  I thought that this was a great way to get her to share more about her school day.

So she had me go first and then I told her it was her turn.  She told me she had 2 roses- Mrs. Fisher her principal subbed in her class today while her teacher was at a meeting for a little while before the regular sub came in and her bus driver Mr. Joe gave her a spirit stick (little fabric key chains with words on them the kids collect for accomplishments or great behavior or what have you) on the bus today.  Those were great to hear.

But then it was time for her thorn.  She got all nervous and quiet.  Starting to tell me but stopping. Uh oh I thought “what happened?”.  Usually this quiet time talking before bed is when she opens up about stuff that is bothering her or that happened at school that made her sad (like friend trouble or something).  She is such a rule follower and kind and good student at school that I knew it couldn’t be a “I got in trouble”.

So my stomach starts to worry and the mom thoughts are running through my head. What is she so nervous to talk about it/

Did you have trouble with a friend today? No

Was someone mean to you? No

She tells me I might be disappointed when I hear it.

Did you get in trouble at school? NO!

So after what seemed like forever she told me the horrible “thorn” of her day.  The bad part of her day.  The part that just really stunk.  The part that her mom would be mad about..

“Today during reading, I was working with Blake because he is my partner.  We had to read this story and then answer some questions.  And there were SO many questions and my hand was getting tired and it took forever.  I don’t like to do those comprehension questions.”

And then what?  Was Blake mean?  Did he not help? Did you not finish and miss recess or get in trouble?  What is your thorn.  I was waiting for the dramatic finish that was so difficult to spit out!!

“No, my thorn is I didn’t like doing that reading comprehension work.  That was the worst part of my day doing that reading comprehension!”

Really?  That’s it??!!  Why would you think I would be disappointed?

“Because I didn’t like my schoolwork!”

Oh girlfriend, there are going to be LOTS and LOTS more schoolwork you don’t like and as long as you always do your best and do it I will never be upset.  My little dramatic worry wart.

Rose and Thorn is now a dinnertime game and you won’t be surprised that most of her thorns are doing work she does not like; which is fine with me.

 

 

Usually during the Slice of Life Challenge I find writing moments through my time at school with my kindergarteners.   Since I haven’t seen them lately to write about them I found myself thinking about some funny things they (well 2 of them) said this year- actually in the last month.

1. The other day during dismissal ( I walk my kids out everyday and stay until they are all picked up) I was,  as usual, checking in with a few of my kiddos that have different people pick them up throughout the week, regarding who’s picking them up today; “Who’s picking you up today Liam?  Papa or mom?” “Who’s picking you up today Easton? Grandma or Mr. Rocco?” Suddenly one of my other little boys looked at me and asked, “Who picks you up from school Mrs. Brunke?”  He was shocked when I told him I drive myself 🙂

2. Another boy in the other kindergarten class who I have for guided reading said the other 2 smile worthy memories. He has special needs and he struggles coming into small group sometime or doing what is asked. He gets loud and upset at these times.  This particular day he was doing fine but the rest of my guided reading class was extra chatty and repeatedly not following directions. I had had enough. So as they were supposed to be lining up to leave and we’re not cleaning up and lining up I finally had enough got upset and was using my “loud and disappointed” kindergarten teacher voice when all of a sudden this student looks at me and all calmly says “Mrs. Brunke you need to calm down.”  He spoke it so professionally- he definitely has heard that before 🙂.  I almost burst out laughing.  The two adults in my room turned their head so they couldn’t be seen laughing. I finally mustered out a “Mrs. Brunke will calm down when kids are following our Edgewood Guidelines”.
3. And just during the last day I had with the kiddos this same student who had a rough time coming into guided reading- yelling, arguing, crying (interrupting the class) finally got settled down and was working nicely with his IPad. He doesn’t wear headphones like the other kids do so he can hear my group.  Meanwhile my small group was playing a sight word game with me (Fun Friday in guided reading) and we were having fun and I was celebrating when they were getting the words we have been working on correctly. All of a sudden he looks up and says in a teacher voice “Mrs. Brunke can you please keep it down!  I’m trying to work and you are disturbing me!”  Once again I almost laughed.   Sure kiddo wouldn’t want to disturb you after you disturbed us for 10 minutes 😂.
I really miss the laughs I get from these kiddos who are not even trying to be funny.