Mrs. Spitzer's Garden

I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided to clean out every nook and cranny of my classroom.  I'm determined to be streamlined and organized this year.  The only problem......

it has to get worse.......

much worse.........

before it gets better.

I emptied all the cabinets along the wall and reorganized.  It's starting to feel much better, and I can actually see the surface of three tables.  I'll share pics soon.....hopefully of the finished room.  We have meet the teacher Friday afternoon, so I've got to get BUSY!!!!

While organizing, I came across one of my favorite books.  I try to read it every year at the beginning and the end of each school year.  It's Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou.

    

Each year, Mrs. Spitzer is given a packet of seeds from her principal.  She tends here garden, plants and waters the seeds, and keeps the pests and weeds away.  Some "grow quickly, pushing upward, eager, impatient," others "grow more slowly, unfolding themselves bit by bit."  The book has the most wonderfully whimsical illustrations by Tricia Tusa.  The seeds are really her new crop of kiddos for the coming year.  They each grow differently and have different needs, but bloom and shine by the end of the year, when Mrs. Spitzer hangs up her gardening equipment until she gets the next packet of seeds.  I love this book.  It was given to me my second year of teaching when I was named Teacher of the Year at my campus.  My co-workers wrote the most wonderful, inspiring notes in it.  It is very special to me, and I love to re-read it every year.  I get excited to see those wonderful seeds I have the honor of tending.  I can't wait to see their faces.  But one thing is for sure.......I've got to get their classroom in order so the weeds don't overtake us all by the end of the first day!!!!