theinfamousmissbeth

Okay, here goes. Every year I wait with great anticipation for the Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights to hit the shelves. And by wait, I mean if I see them in the middle of September I get really pumped up. But, as you can see, I bought my first box a week ago in the middle of August ! I feel like I have sold my soul to the devil! I don't even "decorate" for the "seasons". Well, that's not entirely true. I do put up a small seasonal door decoration and maybe a seasonal flag. I put up a Christmas tree, but never before Thanksgiving and I am still shocked to see Halloween decorations in stores in August, Christmas decorations in September, and Valentine's Day items in December. But apparently, I am behind the times because in the last week I have spotted two disturbing "articles" on Facebook. (Why I keep looking at FB I have no idea). Anyhoo, one of these articles seems to be encouraging people to put up "Halloween trees." Ap...

Today I am posting a letter that I would have received from a new preschool teacher, if any new preschool teacher had written in for my advice. Which no one did, but I'm giving this advice anyway. Dear Miss Beth, I am a "brand new" preschool teacher and I feel like I have no idea what to do! Other teachers are telling me how to decorate my room, how to arrange my schedule, and even how to watch out for so and so's sibling because apparently the whole family is "weird." While I appreciate the advice, I'm not sure I should follow it, especially the part about the "weird" family. Help! Sincerely, Misty Fied. Dear Miss Misty, I am honored that you chose to ask me for my advice. The first thing I must say is....Don't Panic. I can say this because I come from a long ancestral line of "panickers" so I know your pain. This might come as a surprise to you, if you're not a regular reader of my blog, but most of my advi...

It seems that every time one turns around, there is an article or blog post about the best names (apparently in the whole wide world) for your new baby. Some have been popular for years and are still being used, some are "old-fashioned" names that are making a comeback, some are of foreign origin, and some are, in my opinion, "out there." As in Landscape is not a name for a baby, just saying. With that being said, a new baby was recently welcomed into our family. She is, of course, adorable and everyone is smitten with little Madison.  According to the Urban Dictionary the top definition of her name is " A Madison is overall sweet, beautiful, smart, and caring." That's pretty impressive! And I'm sure our little Madison will live up to her name! Now in our family, there is a tradition, of sorts, to use Elizabeth as a middle name for our new little girls. Originally, there was talk that Madison would be added to this list that includes her ...

Haiku is a short Japanese poem used to evoke images.  It follows a strict form of three lines, with a 5-7-5 syllable structure and they quite often create images of nature, emphasize simplicity, intensity and directness of expression. There is a program I found that allows you to enter random words and then it generates a haiku for you. I thought "well, that's easy."  I did that, it came up with something really strange, so I decided to give it a try on my own. Here goes:  Autumn leaves fall down, children run, jump, squeal, fall, hide Teacher smiles broadly Winter winds blow hard, Inside children run, squeal, climb Teacher smiles faintly Spring flowers bud, bloom, grow Children laugh, mud puddles call Teacher hangs on tight Summer break arrives Children sing, dance, draw, grow, leave Teacher quietly cries That's all for now. Check back later!

There are a few things in this life that I just don't "get." When I say I don't "get" it, I mostly mean that I really don't see the purpose of said item, rule, etc. or I just don't see the need for such a thing. The first thing (and these are in no particular order) that I just don't "get" is: zombies. Are they dead, alive, seriously injured, do they need to seek medical intervention or what? They seem to do a lot of wandering about and a lot of folks seem to fear that at any moment they might join forces to form an apocalypse. They do get a lot of media coverage through movies and television so I guess they've got that going for them. Believe it or not, there is actually a show on A&E called Zombie House Flipping. The house, as you might guess, is in serious need of intervention and a group of people take on the challenge of rehabbing it into a livable habitat. They are not zombies. They appear to be just regular peopl...

I was on my way upstairs at the library when I met up with a mother and daughter coming down. The little girl was probably 10 or 11 and was on my side of the staircase. The mom told her to move out of the way, which she did, and I continued up as they continued down. A few seconds later as they reached a place that I am assuming the mother thought I couldn't hear her, she said, "Honey, that was an old lady and you need to be considerate." An old lady! Well, I have to admit I wasn't all that insulted, because after all, I have reached my "golden years."  Besides that, being an old lady isn't all bad. For one thing, I get to enjoy a fabulous granddaughter and adorable great-nieces and nephews. I am enjoying retirement and, in fact, I am writing this post while cuddled up with my pups! One of the first books describing the relationship between children and "old people" that I came across several years ago was Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Pa...

On the eve of the anniversary of Dr. Seuss's birthday I thought I would write a short poem. It goes like this: You were a strange one Dr. Seuss, You wrote a bunch of gobbledy-gook. As many, even most of you readers know, Dr. Seuss wrote such classics as Green Eggs and Ham,Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, and my all time favorite, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. For those of you who know me, my favorite comes as no surprise. Anyhoo, on with the post because I really want to talk about children's books that can help with language development and allow children to "play" with language. Leslie Layman, interested in all things related to early childhood, equity, access, and play has written, " Learning language is one of the most exciting and difficult tasks that young children achieve." She goes on to say, " Children practice language skills by imitating what they hear. Infants babble, toddlers begin forming words and short sentences, preschoo...