theinfamousmissbeth

"Just watching" in Edinburgh. Yogi Berra was a major league baseball player. He spent most of his career playing for the New York Yankees. He was a catcher and went on to be a manager and a coach as well. He was also known for saying some pretty unique, sometimes strange and/or confusing, things. One quote attributed to Yogi was "You can observe a lot by just watching." I tend to agree.  You not only can observe a lot, but often times you can learn a lot by just watching. One of the requirements of my former job was to observe. I observed grownups working with and teaching young children and I also observed young children playing and learning during their day at "school."  I was called to a child care center to observe a classroom of young three year olds.  They were having some trouble with transitions (pretty common with that age group) and wanted to have some suggestions/advice about how to handle these times in a more appropriate way.

Sometimes, advertisements for early childhood teachers include the statement, must love children. While I suppose that is admirable, why don't the ads ever say, must appreciate children? For example, you must appreciate that infants learn through all of their senses.  This includes through taste. As in, every single thing that comes within their reach goes into their mouth!   A note: And you must appreciate they may even use that mouth to investigate another child's arm or even your shoulder! You must appreciate that even the youngest infant in your care needs to be talked with, sung to, held, rocked, and snuggled. Most importantly, their cries need to be answered. It's the way they communicate with you. You must also appreciate that even very young infants need to be free to move. Keeping children in swings, cribs, or an exer-saucer/walker contraption doesn't allow them to stretch, reach, roll over, scoot, crawl, pull up and "cruise" the fu

If you have ever been a classroom teacher you know what I'm talking about. For those of you that haven't been a teacher I will try and explain the phenomenon that I call "collecting crap." It seems to come naturally when you are a teacher. Every thing that passes through your hands or you find in the junk drawer or see sitting unused at someones house or see behind a store or shop "wants to be saved" just in case it can be put to some use in the classroom. Especially in preschool classrooms that are set up in learning centers. Those centers require a lot of stuff! I don't know if it's just me or not, but I seem to still have the urge to collect. Even though I have been out of the classroom for several years, I still find myself thinking, "This extra wrapping paper would look good on a display board or I wonder if anyone would want these bottle tops for a loose parts basket." So, one day while I was cleaning out extra office s

Way back in the late 1980's, I was attending a staff development workshop. We were gathered in the media center ( that's what they called the library), listening to someone, I don't recall whom, tell us all about something, I don't remember what. However, I do remember the bell ringing three times. Everyone looked around and wondered why the bell would ring when school was not in session. Then it rang again, three times. By this time, some teachers were getting up and heading for the hallway to see what was going on. This was about the same time someone realized that the signal for an "intruder in the building" was the one that was identified by three short rings of the bell. Soon sounds of trash cans being overturned and thrown and loud voices telling these intruders to leave were heard. It turned out that the intruders were teenagers out looking for trouble, for lack of a better term. There were no injuries to anyone, but it was a scary situ

A Bump(y) on a log, somewhere in Scotland. Well, the first month of the new year is over and I have just decided on my "resolution" for 2018.  As some of you know (if you are a regular reader, which I hope you are!), I have chosen one word resolutions for the past couple of years. Last year it was faith .  I have to admit, there were times when I felt I wasn't making any progress, but since the world is still spinning and I am still spinning with it, I guess I did okay. This year I have decided (drum roll please) to "branch out" .  I know technically that is a two word resolution, but we'll just have to deal with it. I have already "branched out" by trying a new brand of black beans. Before you are laughing so hard that you can't go on reading, just hear me out.  It's a texture thing, people!  For ever, I have really, really liked Ranch Style Black Beans. Well, wouldn't you know that the only place I was able to get them was

In a recent phone conversation with my ten year old granddaughter, the topics varied from snow day activities, spending time at the bead shop, and talking about a movie that she recently watched with her parents. She asked, "Nana, have you seen the movie Hidden Figures ?" I replied that I had not seen it but I read some reviews about it. After assuring me that it was suitable for the whole family to watch, she then proceeded to tell me the plot line. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know what it's about. But if like me, you haven't seen it, I'll fill you in here. Hidden Figures is the story of three brilliant African-American women at NASA who serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history, the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Anna seemed to be amazed that everyone thought that these women, first because they were women and second because they were African-American, were not qualified for the job.  As

I originally wrote this for a church choir newsletter in the year 2000.  I think it is still relevant today and hope that you do too! I'm writing this to confess.  I didn't put up a Christmas tree last year and I don't intend to put one up this year either.  I know what you are thinking.  What kind of a grinch doesn't decorate a tree?  Let me explain. It all began around this time last year during a routine visit to the vet.  Our adorable hound dog puppy, Zoey, was seven months old at the time and very much exhibited the joie de vivre that only hound dog pups can.  After several minutes of maneuvers that looked like something from a World Federation wrestling match, Dr. Jim looked at me and said,  "You aren't thinking of putting up a tree this year, are you?"  It was really more a statement than a question.  Not wanting to appear ignorant in puppy raising protocol I replied,  "Oh, of course not." On the way home I pondered how to brea