January 13

January 13, 2012

I had the pleasure of spending some quality time in Neil's fourth grade classroom today. Out of the corner of my eye a sweeping black cape caught my attention. I took another look. 

Sure enough, a student sat with a black cape cascading down the back of his chair. It was even more impressive when he was up and moving around the room. And yet, I seemed to be the only one really noticing. 

My attention then shifted to another student wearing a very dapper hat, and yet another with sparkles and sequins. I started smiling. I started cheering inside. How totally perfect, right and wonderful that young children at Renaissance are free to explore and express their budding self-expressions. 

Calendar

January 16 - 20th:

Monday, January 16th: 

*No School 

Tuesday

* Potential Discovery Parent Orientation Meeting 9:30 a.m.

Friday:

*Teacher Professional Development day (no students)

              Job Alike Day

*See details below for plans
*FAC at Mary Sue's house :)

January 23 - 27th:

Monday,: 

* New Family Orientation 8:00 a.m.

Tuesday
* RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.


Wednesday
*All School Meeting

Saturday:

* WINTER FESTIVAL!!

Professional Development Plans for Friday, January 20th:

8:40 a.m.              "ALL I NEED" (whole group in library)

* Some of us will be at Job Alike Professional Development

10:00 a.m.            Leadership Team Meeting

*  All are welcome to participate. The focus of this meeting will be to make some decisions regarding math for the next year.  We will meet in the library.

11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.        

 Expedition Planning/ Genre Writing Studies/ Halogen goal journal update/assessment/other

4:00 p.m.              Sashay to your car...on your way to Mary Sue's or home

Love and Logic
Teacher-isms

Wise Words for Teachers

Great teachers are always asking themselves,

"If the tables were turned, how would I want 

to be treated by my teacher?"






Featured Folk
authored by Andrea Bollman

My name is P. Andrea Bollman.  Unless you look at my birth certificate, then my name is Philippa Lisa Wallenborn.  So who am I?

My mom (along with all my family in Germany and several of my mom’s friends here in the States) still calls me Philippa; or Püppi for short.  (Püppschen means “little doll” in German and that was my nickname as a child.)  My mom thought I was going to be a boy.  She already had a boy, my brother Julian, and, though she wanted a daughter, she couldn’t imagine having one since all she knew up to the point of my arrival was “boy”.  She was going to name me Philip.  (Now, I have a very good friend named Philip and nothing against him or the name in general but I’m glad I was not a boy and given that name…to me it’s a very dull name.)  When friends asked my mom what would the name be if I was a girl, she decided to turn Philip into a girl’s name and made up Philippa.  It wasn’t until years later when my parents met friends in England whose wife’s name was Philippa, did my mom realize she didn’t make up the name.  It is a very prominent name in England; there were several queens and princesses with the name and are a couple well known authors.  A few friends told my mom that Philippa was a cruel name for a girl so she gave me the middle name Lisa, which I used from the age I can remember through the 6^th grade.  (Every once in a while my best friend, who I’ve known since I was five, will “slip” and call me Lisa.)

Andrea came from my father.  When I was in third grade I got the name through his spiritual belief, Subud.  At the time he took me to school and announced that my name was now Andrea.  It didn’t stick until I was in 6^th grade.  I always liked the name and it means “Womanly” which suited me just fine since I was always told by adults throughout my life that I was very mature for my age and my dream was always to be a mother so I thought it a fitting name.  (My brother never used his Subud name, which was Leslie; he thought it too feminine.)

I almost went back to using Lisa in college but, at the time, I didn’t think I looked like a Lisa.  (I still really don’t see “Lisa” when I look in the mirror.)  Why not stick with Philippa?  Can you pronounce it?  How did you say it?  (You probably didn’t even try to say it; you just looked at it and skipped right on by.)  That’s why.  I don’t even really like the way it sounds when I say.  But I love it in the German accent.  So I will always be Philippa to my family.  And I use it for my writing; as a pen name. 

Yes, I want to be a writer.  I’ve had a couple poems published and I wrote a few sports columns for the Metropolitan Newspaper when I was in college.  My dream is to write novels.  I’m jotting down tid-bits for a kid’s chapter book; I have several titles and ideas for an adult romance series; and, over the holiday break, I finally completed the rough, rough draft of my children’s picture book I’ve been toying with for the past few years.  (I hope to read the rough draft to some of your crews and get some much-needed feedback.)

I grew up hippie; literally.  Libre is a hippie community in southern Colorado, west of Walsenburg and north of Gardner (if you have a good map, you can find Gardner), just under the south side of Greenhorn Mountain (Colorado City and Rye are on the north side of Greenhorn Mountain).  Libre was founded by my now step-father, Dean, (well, not officially my step-father since my mom and he never married but they have been together for 22 years now) and a few other artists who believed in the 1960 hippie movement but saw that true communes and communal homes were not working.  They liked the “community” aspect but saw the need for families to have individual houses, much like the Native American way of life.  Each person or family who becomes a member of Libre must build their own house.  The building process is an integral part of learning about yourself, working with the community, and building a relationship with nature.  All homes in Libre had to be built where no one else could see it; this made sure everyone had ample “space”.  Individuals do not own the land nor their house; Libre and all it’s properties are communally owned.  Growing up, all holidays were celebrated as a community.  Many meals were pot-lucks shared at a different house each month.  In the early years, we had one or two vehicles to share and trips into town for groceries were done communally.  The school bus refused to come up our road so our parents had to take turns car-pooling us to the bus stop five miles down the road.  By the time I was in 7^th grade, the bus came up to the last intersection, about a mile away from Libre.  Many times the car-pool parent “forgot” to pick us up and we had to walk home.  When I started high school, which was in Walsenburg, we had to drive the eleven miles to the paved highway and meet the bus.  By my sophomore year we convinced the school board to give us a small bus and one of my Libre neighbors was our first bus driver, picking up all the kids in the surrounding “communes” and driving us into Walsenburg.  We caught the bus at 6:30am.  (When I got to college, I vowed never to take a class that started before 8:30am.)

I studied Behavioral Science and Elementary Education.  My plan was to be a teacher or a psychologist.  Sometimes plans don’t pan out…  I started my education at CU Denver (my mom thought I needed to attend a “name brand” university but Metro State had the better Education program so I switched.)  After graduating Metropolitan State College in 1995, I moved to Dallas for a couple years.  My now husband, Steve, had been moved to Texas for work a year before I graduated.  (The story of our courtship is a whole ‘nother story…I’ll save it for next time.)  We moved back to Colorado in 1997 and got married in 1998.  We married in my step-father’s “orchard”, next to the outhouse, overlooking the mountains with eagles flying overhead.  We celebrated with a big pot-luck in Dean’s dome and dancing in the dirt to our local rock-n-roll band by the creek bed.  My white wedding dress, hand stitched by my mother-in-law with silver leaves cut from my mom’s mini-skirt wedding dress, turned shades of dark to light brown from the hem to the waist.  (The dry cleaner asked, “What did you do for your wedding?” And it took him three cleanings to get the “Libre mud”, as we call it, out.)

I have two wonderful, beautiful, talented, vibrant, loving kids.  Well, you knew that.  Sibria and Miles are truly gems in my heart. I thank each and every one of you for helping in their growth.  I am blessed beyond words to share Renaissance in our lives.  Deborah and Renaissance remind me a lot of my childhood principal and school, Julia Marchant and Gardner School. (Some of the Gardner teachers who came to tour REMS were MY elementary teachers!)  Gardner school was truly the “step child” for the Huerfano School District and they have tried for decades to close the school.  Julia breathed life into the school like no other.  I owe a great deal to her and her staff, as I do to Deborah and you.

Before you think you need an extra weekend just to read this “blurb” about me, I’ll part with one thing you may not know.  Aside from being a nanny to pay my way through college, I was a Hooters waitress.  OK, it’s out there.  My cheeks are red and I think I may hit the “delete” key…or maybe I’ll just explain that, through my best friend and another long-time childhood friend who both worked at Hooters, I got the job.  I was never very self-confident, especially when it came to my body so it was a huge ego boost when I was hired.  I suffered through the torcher of nylons, bought push-up bras and wore make up.  I think it was the one time in my life when I felt sexy.  No, I didn’t make it into any calendar, those spots are held for the Florida girls.   I did receive a proposition from a major league baseball pitcher but he was honest enough to tell me that, though he would buy me a house in Germany so I could be near my family anytime and I could pick any state in the United States to have a home, he would share his bed with others while on the road and that did not appeal to me.  Plus, he wasn’t very cute.  Money can’t buy happiness.  (See, even a place like Hooters teaches you something.)

That’s just a little bit about the woman behind the desk and “in front of” THE woman of Renaissance. 

Peek Into the Life of Our School

So, do you think Annabel is feeling the love?

I haven't seen Hanni in this  Diva outfit lately?

No, it isn't Sarah...but it's Sarah's great idea!
She invited parents to come and read their favorite holiday stories to her second graders throughout the day on our last Friday together before break. What an awesome idea for including parents and making the day meaningful and layered in relationship building!!!

Hope everyone had a chance to see Sandra when she was visiting!

Students at Renaissance are free to be themselves!

Do you think this young man looks like Eric?
Hint....(he should)

Guided Reading in kindergarten.
It may only be January, but it's a real celebration to see how far Jody has brought her readers!

Let the cup-stacking competitions begin!
Absolutely awesome activity for engaging both sides of the brain.
You might want to consider a cup-stacking 'station' in your classroom for that very reason.

Hard to believe Michelle can get up and down from the floor!
If you want to see some math differentiation, visit with Michelle!

You can barely see Cheryl, but she's there at the top!
She's getting fourth grader input into their Colorado musical performance.

Neil, Lindsey and Noreene
The Three Amigos?
Hey...did you guys call each other and decide what to wear?

Kathy excited about teaching the formation of the letter 'y'.
(Talk about finding the joy in small things!)

Lauren and Brittany 'gearing up' for Field Work

Noreene, the Butterfly Whisperer...who knew?
(Neil, Lindsey and Noreene went to the Butterfly Pavilion in preparation of some field work. When the butterflies landed, one landed right on Noreene's face! Thanks for sharing the photo Neil.)

Food for thought...
and fun!

An extended weekend....enjoy!!!!
See you Tuesday :)

Deborah