i can't resist mega sales at bookstores...

 i was so drawn to the cover of this children's book

and as i was reading it, i decided to buy it

because it reminds me of myself/how i think i think:

then i also got this ^ graphic garden guidebook because

i plan on spending part of my summer

"creating a fantastic yard" and then 

sunbathing and drinking lavender lemonade in it,

with mops lying next to me ~ ~ ~

just realized i can now snapchat

my kiwi friend james...
KIA ORA

!!  ^____________^ !!

everytime i'm about to do

something big or make a decision

that i will have a GREAT day,

i turn on dirty paws and think about snowy mountains

of Kazakhstan.

CRAZY HAT DAY

i deliriously designed this template hat

at 12:30 am last night:

i love projects where you lay out

materials and first model for kids how to

twist/twirl/fold things and then let

them go wild. it was so FUN to
see how different everyone's turned out.
their personalities/spirits totally came out,
which is what i hope school can
do for all children. 

or as fijians would say:
 "yaloqu, lesu mai"
~ ~ ~

package from maryna-na-na!

she sent me wool socks,
home-made dehydrated apple chips,
and a beeswax candle with pressed flowers
(made in the santa cruz mts!)

THANK YOU! :) ) )

coffee oreo with salted caramel

+ purple ube with chocolate!

$1 tulip stems are one of my favorite things.

i cleaned the entire apartment just so
these flowers can look good in a clean space.

explored some new places today!

i sat in the "educational center"

at the SAM asian art museum and

read all these darling colorful picture books.
i want [almost] ALL of them for my future classroom!

"Growing up in Toyko" inspires me to design a

unit that explores what it's like

to be a child growing up in various countries.
I'm thinking it would be fun to learn about:

Japan, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Iran, Guatemala,

First Nations of Canada, Brazil, India,

Fiji, France & Sweden.

then, i stared at stunning puget sound while

eating my piroshky and holding my tulips.

exactly one year ago, i was standing right here,
wishing i could be admitted to UW,
so i could live here and have this view :~)

today's recess felt like a dream.

puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky.

children picking blossoms, making wishes

and prancing through the blooming fields.

this is the evergreen state.

this tumbling king can cartwheel

nonstop down a grassy slope.

 this has been the LONGEST week,

soOo good, but still:

T G I F

~seattle~
you're always the best commute view after a long day.

"are you checking her hair for....lice?"

"yeah...it's lice season."

my CT was out again, so i taught

another day of kindergarten by myself!

~*~*~*~*~

we crammed in a ton of reading, writing & math,

but also made time for dr. seuss, skittles,

drawing, surveys, songs and watching youtube

videos of newts (we are studying letter 'Nn.')

t i l a p i a
today, our class experimented with gyotaku

(Japanese printmaking with fish!)

it was SO fun and something new. what a great

launch into our fabric unit!!

it's that time of year again!

SPRING IS COMING.

row row row your umiaq boat.

on the field trip, i had to manage my group of

10 children on a boat........... 

eventually, i just sat back and took pictures
 while they rowed me around lake union.

celebrating finishing our 3rd quarter at UW

with yam tacos, drinks, bookstores

+ earl gray/honey lavender ice cream!!

somali folk tales,
jumping rope with 5-6 year olds,

waiting for the bus,

and coconut everything.

^ what my life consists of now.

adventures in
canada & hawaii

just gotta finish these last few assignments

and i'll be doneeeeeee

with my masters degree coursework.

drjslkrjeslkjerkldsflsjeresjfkj!!
!!!!!

then gotta find a way to
sustain myself for the next 3
months of full-time student-teaching,
TPA work, and staying sane
and have fun while doing so too. 

then i hope i can have some time
to relax & sleep.

H A I K U

We brainstormed topics about nature

that we can write a haiku about.

they came up with:

FISH

BUNNIES

THE SUN

LADYBUGS

BEES

GOATS

then we tried to count syllables to follow

the conventions of 5-7-5 syllable lines in haiku poetry.

coconut shrimp in a shack at the

bottom of waimea canyon!

daffodils + crocuses are blooming,
mr. a's turtle laid 3 eggs,
and it doesn't get dark at 4pm anymore,

which all means spring time is coming!!~*~

in the midst of my coconut-crazy frenzy,
i overheard some people talking about the "paleo diet"

and i became re-intrigued by the idea of

eating only fruits, vegetables, meats & nuts

and avoiding preservatives/food coloring/additives.

so i went on pinterest, found a paleo recipe and made

this "coconut milk chia seed walnut banana 

breakfast custard." my roommate said it
was "seriously one of the best things [she's] ever eaten!!"

last night, she made us burritos + guacamole for dinner

and it was sooo good!

hooray for co-cooking/sharing meals!

during our short time (15 minutes) at the dole
plantation on oahu, i discovered that unripe pineapples
are hot pink.

i invited my colleagues to anonymously

contribute their thoughts and feelings about the

debrief to a google doc. then, i used handy wordle.net
to make something tangible to begin monday's
student generated lunch conversation part II.
here is the creation:

siva afi

you thinking eating popcorn for dinner is bad? 

i ate crackers + brie with raspberry jam

plus a slice of dark chocolate cake for dinner..

:X

hanauma bay 

is a volcanic crater with a tropical reef inside.

this place seems too good to be true.

spam for breakfast

spam musubi for lunch

 we had a nice view of diamond head volcano.

i've never had other people acknowledge and

thank me for being brave before.

it all feels like a blur now, but
i somehow led my cohort into what i consider to
be the most authentic, honest, emotional
and vulnerable but powerful
conversation of the entire program so far.

in that moment, i decided that i wasn't going to
continue letting people use their privilege of
"discomfort" as an excuse to silence others anymore.

 ~  ~  ~  ~

"what's the news? what happened?"

"well, linda basically started a revolution in class today."

today, we made interactive cards that "hug back"

for FRIENDSHIP/VALENTINE'S DAY

[note the teeth along the mouth, to the right]

it's a nice feeling

to see how these dots/people/ideas
are all starting to connect, finally.
.... ... .. ......  ...   .. .

woohoo for productive snowy days at cafes!

how to nurse yourself back to health within 2 days:

1). eat mini saltine crackers

2) swallow cloves of garlic on a spoonful of honey

3) take 7+ naps (hopefully, your sickness

falls on a weekend)

4) make ginger, honey & lemon tea
5) watch snow falling outside~*~*~

once, morgan and i lived amongst chickens and
didn't see any other humans for 4 days.

my CT went to an all day Professional Development

so... i taught an entire day of
kindergarten by myself!

~*~*~*~*~

"i just love watching you grow."

- cathy, my CT
:)

waiheke island

we had a guest speaker who

shared with us concrete strategies/ideas

for culturally responsive teaching.

she had asked her students' parents to come in
to share their own "survivor stories."
one mother who survived living
in the amazon rainforest came into the classroom
and told stories of what it was like to
live off the land, hear screeching monkeys all day,
and travel across raging rivers.

i think i'm doing to do something

inspired by this for my

COMMUNITY, FAMILY, POLITICS ACTION PROJECT~*~

"if you bite the head first, you'll be smarter.

if you bite the tail first, you'll run faster."