Back to school!

And with that, the school year begins. For me it began at 4 a.m. Tuesday, despite being retired since 2006, since Cinnamon was out all night and refused to come in. By 4:30 I could see him on the bottom step. He had half a vole. 

 Shaking the food bowl – in he came. I could not get back to sleep. It had been a worrisome night with JB checking to see if he would come in or not. I'd captured a young fisher on the trailcam the day before and I was trying not to be worried. 

fisher from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Of course, I found Cinnamon on the same trailcam at midnight. He was so proud of himself. He lobbied all day Tuesday, once he'd had a nap, to go out again. As if! He was grounded.

Cinnamon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

He was out all night, little twerp. A large moth visited.

 🏫 I always loved the first week of school. The kids were nervous, and on their best behaviour. There were lots of hopes and dreams. The anticipation was wonderful. Ah, the good old days!

Our younger grandies had the last ice cream of the summer – at home in Vancouver! 

🎒Back to school prep done, our older grandies had haircuts this week, did some clothes shopping, some at thrift shops. Backpacks were packed with binders, duotangs, paper and locks, although loose leaf paper was in short supply at the store. Isabelle had to practice with her new lock. A rite of passage. 

I spoke to Josephine (gr. 10) and Isabelle (gr. 7) who are now in the same school building this year. It houses both the middle school and the high school kids, although they are separate programs. They will walk together to school, the better able to chat. Isabelle has to meet her peers on the football field, she tells me, where they will be divided up into classes and escorted to home room. Great excitement. What is fun is that Caitlin and her two brothers all went to the same high school. 

I texted both girls. Isabelle had a great first day and called her day awesome. She made a new friend. Jos had a great day and had a lot of fun. Caitlin posted a photo and said both had lots of stories and successes. 

Back to School!

Tuesday, September 4th

No, not for me! Never again. I loved preparing, getting ready, arranging desks, writing up my daybook. It always took me 2 weeks to learn everyone's name.

My first month teaching (1989), my junior kindergarten (JK) student told me "Daddy punched Mommy in the stomach last night." We know so much more about violence in families. I wished I'd known what I know now: that kids are affected by this.

I taught JK to gr. 8, plus a stint teaching student teachers at U of Ottawa.  I taught kids of all backgrounds, some had fled wars and gunfire, running into the hills. I taught beautiful students with special needs, I learned the most from them. 25 years. Gone. When my mother and dad died, I had to retire. It is bittersweet.

Tuesday morning

I'd weeded it the day before. This strange area under our porch. I was determined to lift up our bricks and stones, as they are sinking in the sand.  The bees and ants dig it up, and this has raised the level of the dirt around the stones. Also, in our big storms, the eavestrough overflows and it has splashback. (Good for the gardens!)

Tuesday afternoon

I'd had a difficult time with my client. It takes a lot of energy.
On the way home, a mother was having difficulty getting her child off of the bus. Then she stood and talked there for several minutes. I tried to be patient. It was the first day of school for our local kids.


JB said, "Let's go out to dinner. There won't be many days left!"
Off we went to Rideau Ferry. A red squirrel was happy.


It was yummy. I had their salmon on pita bread.


Dinner done, off to home. This truck (photo below) is one of the reasons we need the 'new' Health & Phys. Ed. curriculum, which teaches 'consent', that helps teachers explain the language to which children are exposed. "Slut shaming" has been common. Teachers need these tools. Women and girls need the language, men and boys need education. Teachers need the tools and the curriculum to help children recognize and understand the reality of same-sex parents, gender identity issues, and to respect differences.

Families have been changing. When I was first divorced (1993), society was shaming single-parent families. When I was newly divorced, a white, upper middle class teacher marched into the staff room and said, "I wish parents would think twice about breaking up their families."
I responded by telling her that living in homes where anger, hate, violence, or domineering spouses exist, is not a healthy place to be.
I ended up writing an article about this, which was published in our teacher newsletter. I hope it made a difference.

Thank goodness for people like Julie Lalonde. She is a speaker on violence prevention.

This morning @JulieSLalonde spoke to new students about consent and bystander intervention.
Thank you Julie for another great Orientation Week presentation! pic.twitter.com/8JO0bcVJEO

— TrentUDurham (@TrentUDurham) September 5, 2018

That was my Tuesday.

It's the end of summer; first day of school in Ontario public schools

It is a poignant time of year for me, as a retired teacher. You miss the sense of commu
nity, having spent the week before in the school, meeting with colleagues, catching up on their summers.

Classroom Covenant

Preparing class lists, creating day books, tidying, cleaning, rearranging the classroom. Doing up bulletin boards. Staff meetings with endless new notions, not yet good ideas, from principals, who had already changed my assignment and/or my classroom, from a great one, to a punishing one. (Heaven forbid we speak truth to power!)

I adored working with the special needs students. We were a community. We respected one another in my classrooms.

I loved teaching art

How do you feel today?

Integrating technology

We wrote songs

Negotiating with parents, colleagues, psychologists who knew everything, giving me a checklist of 10 things to do with ADHD kids, 4 things checked off for this child's $500 assessment. (I had files of these!)

Framed poetry writing

Grabbing supplies, before they disappear, negotiating with the young teachers who have taken all of the new math books for themselves. Oh, yes. It wasn't all sunshine and light.

Rushing into the library to book a convenient time, creating a weekly schedule, fitting in a slot into the crowded computer lab.

Hoarding of supplies was common, which would soon disappear by the end of first term.

I taught gr. 4s web page design.
Everyone had their own page.

Bulletin boards prompts

 

We wrote plays, this one about
'caring and sharing.'

One of my student teachers created this poster,
explaining how to structure a paragraph.

My favourite first day memory was seeing my students line up in front of me. My gr. 6's were set to go. The parents standing, nervously wringing their hands. Watching their kids. Holding their back packs for them, filled with new supplies, lunches, important stuff.

Remember when we taught them skills?
This is Katie's step stool

Homework chart

I told the parents, smile, back up slowly and go home. I've done this before, don't worry, we're going to have a good year!

Crows

Everyone and everything seems to be lining up!

Birdies on the wire

Motorcycles

Then were are clumps of those heading back for home. Boats and seagulls...

Clumping seagulls in
Cardinal, Ontario

Grackles at The Cove Inn

Locks in Merrickville