No car soon!

Here is a great essay about cars written in the early 1970s. Check it out, no car for me soon, hopefully!

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/11/social-ideology-of-motorcar.html

Busy forty-eight....

I thrive on information, action, organized chaos and every aspect in between. Sitting around has never been my flavor and the busier the better. The last 48 hours have been jam packed and I love every minute of it.

Thursday......

400am - Leave house for hour run

645am - At school preparing for language arts technology lesson that's being observed by my principal

830-930am - Spelling pre-test, math terms pre-test, grammar book correct

930-1030 - Language arts technology lesson, was flawless and received excellent feedback

1230-115 - Finishing up projects and documents for 300 meeting with my principal

115-300 - Technology lab with my class finishing up three different Power Point projects

300-600 - Meeting with my principal about presentations, websites, IEPS, 504s, documents, surveys, district events, and assorted classified information

600-730 - dinner with my dad at Cafe Esin,mmmmm. Pinto Noir flight with amazing food, dessert and Navarro dessert wine to finish

800-900pm - Assorted emails, unfinished documents, reading numerous blogs and preparing for Friday

Friday

400am wake up

600-700 - Dailey Method class with Stephanie, great way to start the day

715-830 - Working in my classroom, preparing Math Centers, calling Math book publishers for tech support with their website, emailing other teachers answering tech questions, filling out an application for Leap Frog reading materials for Kindergarten.

900-930 - Administering an IEP

930-1030 - Spelling test, math term test, grammar book correct, vocab book correct, finishing drawings to scan for latest Power Point project

1045-1230 - Math Centers with four parent voluteers

1230 - Lunch, except for me

1230 - Administering another IEP with Pre-school speech, Occupational Therapist, Speech Pathologist

115-300 - Technology Lab to finish up projects while half the class is at band

300-400 - Answering emails, sending documents and getting ready for next week, grading papers for Junior College, preparing a presentation for the SCTA Leadership Convention in LA next week!

Saturday - Dailey Method at 715am with Channing

Sunday - Half-marathon on Mt. Diablo in the rain

I want to visit Briscous, France....hopefully soon.

Some photos taken today by my 4th grade students....we're learning about leaves changing color and chlorophyl/photosynthesis. Very cool!

Quick facts...

Cycling and children...

• 50% of U.S. schoolchildren are regularly dropped off at school in the family car.
• 43 million miles of daily driving could be avoided if only 20 percent of school children living within two miles of school were to bike or walk.
• 356,000 tons of CO2 would be saved if that happened.

Wasteful technology...

• 85% of email in the world is considered spam.
• All that spam creates 19 million tons of CO2.
• What good is spam?

Hopefully President Obama will make an about face and put some real change on the table in Copenhagen, our planet depends on it!

Daily thoughts...

My daily thoughts of the mountains in France have been in my mind much more lately. Helping a 4th grader with math, stretching it out at The Dailey Method, teaching about teaching at DVC, a three hour run, sitting in the back yard....they are great thoughts however and I can't complain.

Coming through a beautiful and windy valley, I could have stayed, forever!

At the refuge, having some Orangina and resting before dinner...

Early morning step off, this was an eight hour day but we had an amazing trail...

What was to come...

Native Americans...

Part of our 4th grade curriculum is to learn about the Local Native Americans, and the different tribes that lived across California. I refuse to call them 'Indians' as I feel it's a name that was given to all Native People by someone who thought he had landed in a different country/part of the world entirely.

Either way, there is a great exhibit at the San Ramon Valley Museum that I took my class to yesterday and they have great art, cultural pieces, games and old maps of the area. Development has changed our world so drastically and all we have is more people with more stuff. The exhibit is open until November 20th!

Ladies and Adam...

My almost daily classes at The Dailey Method have been an excellent compliment to my running/hiking. I've been looking for a yoga/pilates/core class for some time and I had to email The Dailey Method to make sure men were allowed. Yes, men are allowed and I'm the only one, in the whole studio. It's a great workout and everyone is so nice and very interested in me being there. The majority of my teaching colleagues are women, so it's very normal to be stretching/strengthening with all women as well.

Get your work out!

Enough for years...

I have enough photos of the alps to last me for years on this blog. A return trip must happen soon, maybe next summer!

Single track trail, heading down...

Old military barracks near Briancon, France...

Single track along a very exposed and windy ridge...

Coming into Briancon, this was a nine hour day!

A small descent and then up through the proceeding valley, so beautiful...

30th birthday +1 day, having lunch in a valley!