Pineapple Express...not really

Catherine and I have started propagating pineapples and our first one is in the garden with two little "pups" coming off the sides. Pups are smaller suckers that can produce fruit so this is exciting. We will soon have pineapples to enjoy (in 2-4 years)! The first step is picking the perfect pineapple. It should have green leaves that are not easily pulled out. I should be a little on the under-ripe side. When you cut it cut right below where the crown meets the fruit. Pull off about 1 inch of leaves until you have a some bare stem. You should be able to see little nodules of roots beginning. The pineapple below is about 2 weeks old.


A closer view of the little roots just forming. When the roots are about 2 inches long you can plan them in a sandy soil and wait (and I literally mean wait) for the magic to happen.


We are currently using this little jar but only because it was in the clean dishes when I was looking for something to use. I have used cups with success. It's important that the stem is in the water but the leaves are above the water as they are prone to rotting. I change the water when it gets cloudy and smells funky.


Best of luck! Here are some more shots of the cute little pineapple plant :)


New growth inside the middle. This is where the stems will come with the flowers and eventually the fruit. YUM!

Kinder Treasures

I have some treasures from kindergarten that my students made. So I thought I would share them. This is me standing on a student...I also have fangs!


In this one my hair is really crazy and apparently I am going on a treasure hunt because X marks the spot.


This may not be of me at all but rather a family at a beach. My favorite part is the sun is saying "Go". Let this be an admonition to indeed GO...to where? no idea but at least go.



I am standing on the right side of the paper...next to a chair? I'm not sure.

Ms. A, is that a rainbow on your head? No, no just my hair.


Again with the crazy hair...it's like there is a pattern over time or something.

This is not me...It's Mario. I thought the kid had a cousin named Mario who was a plumber but then it all started to make sense when he talked about Luigi.

This is my favorite one. I am the circle person and I am holding hands with my friend Uh-uh from the earlier post. The sweetest gesture he made ever. I hung it on my desk and will continue do so to remind me that the kids who are the most difficult need the most love and patience.

Easy Come, Easy Go

My life has been so full of transition that I was waiting until I was absolutely positive to post a new message. I haven't taught kindergarten in a while and to that I can only say, "Thank God Almighty I am free at last". So apparently if you start something with full blown optimism and somewhere deep down you know that the situation is a train wreck waiting to happen then there is quite a bit of relief when it ends abruptly. So that sums up kinder for me ....optimism, screaming, train wreck, relief. I have done a lot of crazy things in my life but kinder is by far the craziest thing that I tried. For the most part, the kids were cute, funny, interesting and endearing. Then there were the kids who make hairs gray, sighs weary and days long. We will call them No and Uh-uh. Literally all they did everyday was say No and Uh-uh...of course that's when they weren't crying, throwing, or trying to escape. It was ridiculous! It seems as though according to the other kinders I won the lucky honor of having "The class". You know the class that starts in kinder and strikes fear into the hearts of the next years teachers. So needless to say I was elated when they had to close a class due to enrollment.

This leads us to what I have been doing for the last two weeks. I gave the WRAP and Express Placement (lame-o assessments) to all the kinders (about 90 kids in all) and then gave it 30 more times in Spanish. Apparently I have mad skills. That pretty much took a whole week. I also had the privileged of doing lunch and recess duty. There is nothing more uplifting then yelling at kids you don't know for a solid hour about rules you think are ridiculous and that suck the fun out of being a kid. Because our school has uniforms, 80 percent hispanic kids, and an excessive amount of hair gel being used it's extremely difficult to yell at kids using descriptors...ie Hey you kid! Stop that! No not you the kid in the white shirt (they are all wearing white shirts), Yeah you with the black hair (they all have black hair) and the faux hawk (most have faux hawks) STOP!

For the past week I have been the lunch monitor/recess lady and teaching computer lab. Let me tell you there is nothing to instill your place as the coolest teacher at school then to be related to the computer lab. On Tuesday, I found out that I will be teaching 5th grade starting on Monday. I am really excited about it. I have been working in the class and they are delightful kids...there are enough "High Fliers" to keep it lively but not so many that is overwhelming. I am excited to take over and get all my stuff in the class. The teacher who is there is transferring to a different school and is working on getting her stuff out so I am kind of in limbo. I will have a lot of work to do this weekend but am really quite excited! I'm not sure if it will be more exciting to teach 5th grade or to not be in kindergarten...only time will tell.