A New Meme - 5 Things That Make My School Unique

I really enjoyed doing the "7 things" meme and reading everyone else's responses, so I decided to get the ball rolling with an educational meme about schools. I have found that each school I have worked in has a unique culture. Some of the things that create this culture are big, some are small and some you'd barely notice. Through this meme I thought we could reflect on those things that make our schools unique.

The general format for a meme is to 1) mention the person who tagged you 2) write your response 3) tag someone else. I want this meme to be flexible, so there is only one rule: "If the shoe doesn't fit, change the shoe". If you want to change the number of things, change it. If you want to change the wording, change it. If you don't want to tag anyone, don't. Take it and make it your own. (Feel free to pass this paragraph along)

Here are the 5 things that make my school unique:

1. Last year we got a brand new gymnasium for assemblies, PE lessons and any other purpose we dream up. The principal arranged for a fitness instructor to run sessions for teachers one afternoon a week at a minimal cost to teachers.

2. In the colder months we have a soup day once a week. Teachers who want to participate go on a roster and bring in a soup to share with the staff. Nothing beats hot, homemade soup on those cold wintery days.

3. Our Building Services Officer goes above and beyond normal janitorial tasks. If you want something special made - a display bookshelf for the library, tinkering station for kinder, or a presentation stand for the unveiling of a plaque - he will do it for nothing more than a "please" and "thank you". He drives a mini and is known to make the sound "mee-meep" as he walks past a classroom. The kids respond with a chorus of "mee-meeps" before getting back on with their work.

4. Our classrooms have very few walls. If you were to walk through my school you would see that it is VERY open plan. Some people worry about the noise level and high distractability, but I've been amazed by how well the students have adapted. It's a great set-up for teachers as it encourages teachers to team teach and allows for flexible groupings of students for differentiation.

5. We have a VERY dedicated staff. The teachers at my school give 110% and then still manage to give a little bit more when something special arises. Because everyone is learning, collaborating and challenging themselves, there are more programs and diverse opportunities for students as well. It's a very dynamic learning environment.

Now, because I want to give the meme a good chance to get started, I'm going to tag 10 people, but I hope that you don't all copy me! As I said earlier, do what fits for you. I tag:

Sharon Elin of Edutwist.com

Justine Driver of Digital Learning

Michael Fawcett of Room 9

Jenny She of Jenny's Learning Journey

Melanie Gibb of Moodle Girls' Blog

Kelly Hines of Keeping Kids First

Amanda Marrinan of 2M Gems

nsharoff of Just In Time Tech

Courtney Humphreys of Mrs. Humphreys' 3D Class

Tom Barrett of ICT in My Classroom

The Blogger Behind This Blog #3

7 Things You Really Don't Need To Know About Me

Lyn Tiernan tagged me with this meme. I'm actually very glad to have been tagged as I'm missing "my kids" and am struggling to think of interesting things to write! To make it interesting, I thought I'd make it a photo meme. (Thanks Lyn, I've had a fun afternoon going through ALL my photos - digital and printed!)

1. I like to paint. I'm no artist, by any means, but every now and then I get satisfaction from playing with paint. I like to paint in the abstract, but my hubby prefers paintings that look like the subject. Here's one I painted of my dog for my hubby's birthday. I love the texture of oil paints. I love how it stays all globby on the canvas. New York City brings out the artist in me more than anywhere else I've been.

2. I was in Times Square for New Years Eve 2006/7. I stood waiting for 10 hours for the ball to drop. Once you're 'in' you can't leave to buy food, drink or go to the toilet. We bought some Subway subs at 2pm to snack on during our wait. By 3pm they were all smooshed and sloppy from the crush of the crowd. Don't know that it was worth it, but not EVERYONE can say they've done it! All the paraphernalia I'm wearing was provided by the organisers and I bring it out for dress-up days at school!

3. We are a "fur kid family". My dog is like a child to me. We got him as a pup 7 years ago. He goes just about everywhere with us. He even moved to New York City with us when we lived there for a year. We've taught him all sorts of things so that our lives run more smoothly (and for fun too). He won't cross the road without our say so. We generally walk him off-lead, and when we want him to stay by our side we say "Stay close" and he does! He's also great company. When it's just him and me at home, I talk to him as though he understands English, and he responds at though he does. Here's a video of when I was teaching him how to swim. We used an old drink bottle and threw it out just a little further than he could stand. Eventually he got it!

4. When I was a kid I loved to climb. I particularly liked to climb the 'spider web' at a park in my city. I climbed rocks and trees and had no fear of heights. I remember the day my dad told me he thought I had gotten too old for climbing trees. I was probably about 14 at the time and had never thought a time would come when I couldn't climb trees. I understand that it's not socially acceptable any more, but it still burns within me. (I must admit, I did climb a tree at school this year because one of the kids from my class had got his teddy bear stuck up it!)

5. When I was in preschool, my grandparents came to visit and brought with them a lamb that they found wandering by the side of the road. We adopted him and called him Woolly. I took him to preschool and was very chuffed to be like Mary from the old nursery rhyme! He kept jumping out of his box and running around to the amusement of everyone. I was sad the day we ran out of grass and had to take him to a farm where one day he would become someone's dinner!

6. This is what my bedroom looked like when I was a TEENAGER! Need I say more? Just so you understand how embarrassingly 'nice' I was:

Yes, that is a teddybear on my bed - given to me by my mum so that I wouldn't need to hug boys.

Yes, it is a frilly, white, anglaise bedspread with cute embroidered pillows.

No, I don't know WHY I had a grizzly bear poster!

And all those little pictures on the wall? Most of those are pictures of babies photographed by Anne Geddes. (I went through a whole "baby phase" where I also cut out the lists of births from the newspapers each week and collected baby names.) Other pictures are photos of friends and arty farty photos I took for my photography class.

7. Finally, no list about me would be complete without SOME mention of "the hair". This is probably the most radical my hair ever was. As you can see, I had a fringe!! YES, a fringe. The rest of my life my hair has been as long as I can put up with it - usually somewhere between mid-back and mid-butt. Its never been dyed, permed or anything else. When I need a cut I usually have it done in-house. I've been using Pantene for years and swear by it.

And now, to pass this meme on, I tag the following 7 people:

Pat at Successful Teaching

AlannahK at Life is not a race to be first finished

Lili11 at Be Beautiful

Life Learner at Life is...all about Lifelong Learning

Carissa at Good and Crazy People (even though I know she hates these things!)

at Amy at Resourceful Mommy

and Bec who will one day start a blog

Don't feel you have to play along. But be sure to let me know if you do.