Mackinac Moment

Mornings on Mackinac Island have been stunning lately. I snapped this at about 7:45 on Friday morning from Windermere Point. It was so quiet and still - with that fall chill in the air...

Classroom Redo: Chair

 

My desk chair as she use to be: gray, plain, and utilitarian. She was fine as chairs went, quite comfortable in fact, but she was just so boring. Well, not any more!

I recovered her in a lovely lime green. (Well, I think it's lovely.) Lime green with hot pink trim. As cute as that piping looks, it actually was a necessity.  After removing the hardware from the back of the chair, I had to get the two pieces apart. They were joined together with four plastic rivet-like thingies that I  had to cut with an old long serrated bread knife. The plastic pieces were meant to be permanent, so there was no way to replace them. As I was searching for suggestions on recovering office chairs, I found a woman who shared her frustration at not being able to get the two pieces back together as tightly as they were originally. She didn't like the small gap left between the two them.  (I wish I could remember where so I could give her credit.)

I thought piping would do a good job at covering up that space. The two pieces are screwed and glued together, but they are not was snug as they once were. I'm so glad that  little pop of color does a great job of hiding that fact. What do you think?

Best Year Ever

Two weeks? Really? We've been back at school for two weeks? I feel like I've blinked, and in the millisecond my eyes were closed, those weeks have whizzed by. Do you ever feel like that? I have clear memories of those weeks,  but I'm not sure where they went.  Then again, I kind of feel that way about my teaching career. This fall I started my 20th year. I have clear memories of those 20 years, but it certainly doesn't feel like 20 years. Guess I'm officially a "veteran" teacher now.



My school year is off to a pretty fantastic start, I've got to tell you. I'm teaching a combined 4th and 5th grade group this year and have the privilege of working with 13 of the most amazing kids I've ever met. They're going to achieve great things this year; I can feel it.

My two little ones are off to a great start as well. My daughter, pictured above, is so excited to go to school all day this year now that she's a big first grader. My son, now a second grader, has moved up into the 2nd-3rd grade classroom and is loving his new teacher...

Excursion: Round Island

 

We have been wanting to get over to Round Island all summer. The weather and waves were perfect this morning, so we borrowed a friend's boat and made the mile trip in no time. 

 

 

 

There was so much to do the kids couldn't

decide what to do first.

Should we explore the lighthouse?

Smash rocks?

Or find new friends?

 We were only on Round Island for a few hours,

but we had a great time.

The kids were disappointed that the door to the lighthouse was locked. (Surprise surprise.) I suggested we come back next year for the Open House, which is usually the second Saturday in July. Until then, I temporally satisfied their curiosity with this: