I’ve made some goals for myself that begin today.  I’ve been reading the book “The Happiness Project,” which I received as a retirement gift.  In order to bring more happiness into your life, the author suggests a little more exercise.  I have ignored my need for more exercise during the past year.  Seems I can only concentrate on one large project at a time!  And so in my resolve to add a little more activity into my life, I took a walk this morning.  I had given myself 2 weeks to pull myself together after closing the store … sleep in a little, go to some social events that I normally would have had to pass up, do some cleaning & painting, eat to my heart’s content.  My two weeks are now spent (and then some), so I puuuuulled myself out the door this morning.

 

On my last time around the block, I spied a penny on the ground.  I couldn’t pass it by.  “Find a penny, pick it up; all the day you’ll have good luck!”  Heads up!  And so it was!!  That lead me to think of other little ditties I learned as a child … “i before e except after c”, “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, and a myriad of others.  That’s how we learned back then.  You know ...  back in the dark ages.  Luckily things have changed.

 

When I was in elementary school, the closest we came to a classroom game was to divide the class of 50 … (yes, 50 students in one classroom( … into 2 teams.  No fancy electronic method of dividing us.  Start with the first child in either of the end rows and start counting off.  No differentiation here.  We were all expected to be on the same level or we flunked.  Plain and simple.  Once divided, each team took their place along two opposite walls.  (We were really very excited to be allowed out of our seats for ANYthing!)  Ok … now came the “game.”  The teacher would hold up a flash card with a problem on it for the math game, or fired out words to us for the spelling game.  Rules were the same no matter the subject.  Answer it correctly or you sat down.  Last one standing was the champ.  No prizes, no certificates, no ribbons, not even a sticker.  It was prize enough to go home and tell Mom you were the spelling champion for the month.  Oh yeah, baby!  (<insert happy dance here>)

 

Now that I get the chance to promote REAL games for the classroom, I am thrilled to see activities that are a pinch more engaging!  When we do the Family Game Nights and I sit across from a child who all of a sudden “gets it”, you can almost see the light bulb go on!  And then comes the smile!  Reminds me of being the flashcard champ of 2nd grade!  Hahahahaha

 

Carol

 


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