classroom

Feeling Blue

/ Quilly / 6 Comments

Welcome to Fun Friday in my Special Ed classroom.

It isn’t only the students who learn.

I put out paper, paint, water, and brushes. As I handed the last kid his brush I noticed paint on his fingers. I looked up. His cheek and lips were swabbed in navy blue paint.

“Why is there paint on your face?” I ask.

He says, “I no know.”

His teeth and tongue are also blue.

I say, “We don’t eat paint!”

He says, “No eat. Taste yukky.” And then he drank the paint water — luckily, it was still clean.

Fun Friday isn’t all fun and games. Some learning also happens — usually by me.

(For those now horrified, the paint is Crayola Brand, it’s non-toxic & washable. It is perfectly kid-safe. Some days, I am not sure I am.)

Project Green: Classroom Style

/ Quilly / 15 Comments

PROJECT GREEN: TAKE SEVEN

Project Green began with Anna of Anna Carson’s Photography.

My tired tootsies, cooling on the green tile floor,
shoe-less and resting in the aftermath of a field trip.

K.K.’s favorite crayons.
I don’t know why he chose three greens,
but I am glad he did!

And from the shorelines all around Oahu —

A Tsunami Warning Siren.

These sirens are tested monthly (I wonder if the bird knows that yet?) The first of April when the sirens went off, I was standing outside near a line of 1st graders. One child, excited, exclaimed, “What is that? What is that?” Another child answered matter-of-factly, “Oh don’ worry. Is jus’ the Suetommy siren. My momma tol’ me.”

AND — incase you were wondering where I was today …

We went swimming in a lagoon, teased some coral dwellers, ate in an outdoor restaurant, watched some whales, and enjoyed a sunset on Sunset Beach.

Here is a view of the rock and coral wall that forms the barrier around the lagoon. If you look closely, you can see a bit of water pouring over the wall.