Living vicariously through blogs

It's the middle of March - only a 2.5 months until Summer Break and 4 weeks until I'll be in Colombia.

This season is busy with family  life (my own 5th grader's dance classes 3 days a week, her science fair project, and her burgeoning social life; life with our new doggie, Cairo, who has had severe allergies and has needed lots of TLC for his raw paws), personal life (finishing a Spanish class, scouting out a physical therapist to treat my rotator cuff injury, holding my dear friend's precious newborn baby as much as I possibly can*), and school life (lesson plans, field trip planning, standards-based testing prep, conferences, projects........)

Life....is full and I'm grateful.

I think about and dream about Colombia everyday - the anticipation is a very sweet part of any journey.
My imagination is fueled by the blogs of fellow TGCers who are currently traveling in Morocco and Ghana. It's been so much fun and so incredibly education to share blog posts with my students. I love being able to bring the world to my students in this way.

Tomorrow we begin standards-based assessments at my school, so I won't be able to share blog posts this week. I truly regret that.

For those of you around the country that are testing now or about to soon, I offer a few thoughts of encouragement....

First, I love the sign below and will hand it out to all testing teachers tomorrow.

Second, for the past four years, I've put together a little SBA motivational song for my students and colleagues. This year, ten 8th graders helped me with cup rhythm. You can listen to our performance from Friday here.

* If anyone knows how I could make a living as a full-time baby-holder, please let me know.