Spring is here

Spring has been a long time coming, but I believe it's finally here.  The sun is coming up earlier as the days are getting longer.  The blue skies are even peeking through the clouds to let us know they are there.  I thought I'd share some of the color that has painted streets, parks, and yards here.

"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size."  Gertrude S. Wister

First Day of School

This is NOT me, but it was donated by a dear
friend of mine who will remain unnamed.
(Thank you, Corey.)

The first day of school can be a day of fear, hesitancy, or embarrassment, but for me it has always been a day of great excitement.  As a child it meant seeing friends after a summer filled with camps and a trip to Colorado.  In college and graduate school, the first day of school was filled with great anticipation of meeting the people and being introduced to the curriculum within each class.  Now, as an adult, the first day of school continues to hold excitement and anticipation, but no longer do I look forward to seeing old friends or being challenged by the curriculum.  My role has shifted to modification of the curriculum for the benefit of the child with difficulty learning.  This week I experienced my first "first day of school" as an adult.  I continued in the tradition my parents started when I was a child by taking my picture at the beginning of the day and enjoying milk and cookies at the end.

First day of school
2011

It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in Mrs. Gallinger's kindergarten class.  My how the years fly!!!

Kindergarten class
1st row, 2nd from the right (HUGE glasses)

Some of my schooling this week has included learning about the semantic use of words in British English.  Some words that have been used frequently are as follows:

"told off" - (verb) to yell at. eg The child was told off because he ran away from the class.
"loads" - (adj) a lot of.  eg This pen has loads of ink.
"rubbish" - (noun) trash or (adj) not good.  eg Throw the rubbish in the bin.  This work is rubbish.
"deposit" - (verb) to leave.  eg Please deposit your coats on the hanger and return to your desk.
"collect" - (verb) to pick up. eg Your parents will collect you after school.
"row" - (noun) a fight.  eg The boys got into a row over who would go first.
"break" - (noun) recess.  eg How did you get along during the break?
"rubber" - (noun) eraser.  eg I need a rubber to erase my answer.
"boot" - (noun) trunk of the car.  eg Put the luggage in the boot.
"plot" - (verb) to plan.  eg We were plotting an activity for you.
"call out" - (verb) to speak out of turn.  eg Please raise your hand and do not call out.
"full stop" - (noun) a punctuation mark.  eg The first letter of a word following a full stop is always capitalized.
"proper" - (adj) true; accurate; correct.  eg Use proper sentences when writing.

Additionally, I've learned that the combination of words in a phrase may have subtle or very different meanings here. For example,
"That's a good girl/boy" means "Nice try, but you didn't get the right answer".
"I had to have a chuckle" means "I laughed about that".
"Have a bash" means "Give it a shot".
"That's a strange face your pulling" means "You are making a funny/silly face".

I could go on and on, but I will stop here and leave more to come in future posts.