‍But here's the catch: it doesn't last forever. Don't worry, I'm not here to rain on your parade. I'm here to guide you through the post-honeymoon phase and

This game is one of my favorite games ever. It’s killer easy and it’s way fun. You can use candy (M&Ms are my favorite) or any other type of marker (I’ve used Cheerios, Goldfi…

A complete literature unit for the book, "trouble don't last", by Shelley Pearsall. This unit contains everything I sell separately for the book, EXCEPT for the Battle of the Books questions. There are also some "extras" I don't sell on the site included. The items in this unit are as follows: Short Answer Comprehension Questions Short Answer Test Vocabulary Word Packet Chapter Title Connection Chart Character Motivations/Roles/Impacts Chart Mulitple Figurative Language Sheets 12 Project Challenges Bio Board Layout Cover Analysis Bookmark for Recording Story Elements 10 RAFT Writing Prompts and blank chart Award Worthy Opinion Response Primary Source Evaluation Sheets (2) and copies of several Authentic Reward Posters Reward Poster Two Voice Poetry Project Art Evaluation Two Voice Poetry Project These items are priced at a much lower price when the unit is purchased compared to buying each item separately. The items are available for separate purchase, though, if that fits your needs better.

I learnt this poem when I was in the Girl Guides (Scouts, for our US viewers!) for one of my badges, although I’m sure the last two lines were different – I’ve always remembered t…

Whoa, it’s been a while since my last post! ;o; Don’t worry, everyone, I’m still alive! Just very busy! I promise to get back to posting more regularly once I get caught up – should be sometime in …

Barbara Zangerl free climbing the Nose (changing corners) on El Capitan in Yosemite, California _______________________________________________ FREE SHIPPING TO CANADA AND USA _______________________________________________ ALL SIZES AREN'T AVAILABLE IN ALL 3 FORMATS, MAKE SURE TO SELECT THE MATERIAL FIRST TO SEE ALL THE SIZES AVAILABLE I’m stoked to finally offer print versions ! For now, shipping will only be available for Canada and the US, but I’m planning to expand this later on. Please contact me beforehand for any shipping outside North America. I’m offering prints in 3 different formats. Please refer to the secondary pictures here for some samples (in order : canvas, foam core, framed pearl prints). More infos : http://www.aeggermont.com/photo/prints/ CANVAS The classic canvases ! Very easy to deal with. I find that the quality is not as detailed as a pearl paper print or a foam core print, but this gives a great texture, it’s easy to hang anywhere, it’s light. It’s definitely an easy fit ! FOAM CORE PRINT This is personally my favourite, although it doesn’t work for everyone. I find the quality of printing to be impressively good, and I like how sober it looks. It’s easy to hang with some of these hangers. https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=3M+command+hanging&ref=nb_sb_noss I personally like it a lot. These can be framed or standalone. Framed is probably the best option, although it does look pretty unique as a standalone as well. Frames aren’t included nor shipped. Beware that you need to hang them quickly, don't leave them out of the box for more than a day or they will bend. PEARL PAPER PRINT Final option, the easiest : prints on pearl paper. Basically photo paper. Very good quality, but it does require a good frame for it. The bigger the better frame you’ll need as you’ll be exposed to more “waves” and reflections if you don’t put it under pressure correctly. "Like matte prints with a slight satin feel, pearl paper will give your photos a quality feel and smooth, professional look"

Matt Groening's Life Is Hell ended last year. Today, one of his comics resonates. This is the time of the year when I'm in the bottom two rows, teetering into the last row. I lose sleep. I think of new ways to try to hold on to the motivation and engagement in the class. I worry about the piles of papers that seem to grow. I browse the job sites. I wonder what it would be like to leave the classroom. Standardized tests loom over me. I've grown weary of walking into buildings before the sun rises, of cold weather, of wondering what will happen, of trying to reach someone determined to be unreachable. These are the literal and figurative darkest days of the year. But, there are sunny moments that hint at the changes to come. This weekend has three events I'm particularly looking forward to: The clocks move forward and the days of pre-dawn school arrival and departure are over for the school year. Though I will miss the hour of sleep, the sun does much to improve my mood. Also, I attend the Northern Virginia Writing Project's Language and Learning Conference during the first weekend in March each year. As with my November trips to NCTE, the L&L seems to come at the perfect time to keep me moving and excited about working with kids. Finally, it will be warm enough to open the beehives and check on their progress. We'll ensure they have enough emergency food to last until the nectar flow really gets going, also in a couple of weeks from now. So, my pre-dawn slice today in anticipatory. Tonight, I've been awake most of the night and working on school-related assignments and worried about what there is left to accomplish. However, I know the darkness won't last, even though it seems like I'm still stuck in liminal space and time. In the next couple of weeks, I will see more sunshine, get more excited about my work, clear the hurdle of annual state writing testing, and have a week-long Spring Break before charging toward the next tests and the end of the year. I'm looking forward to the light.

*** Finally! The "Kirtle of Perpetual Procrastination" is complete! I'm now one step closer to finishing that elusive fitted gown outfit that I started planning an embarrassingly long time ago (like, an absurdly long time ago...to that point that it's getting ridiculous). I first sketched out this version some 3 years ago, but I now know that so much about the outfit --from the materials to the colour scheme-- isn't supported by historical evidence, and as a result it's languished a bit. It seems historical-ish on the surface but I can't find much evidence of a kirtle in this colour, and the material (a mottled wool cashmere) is definitely off for the period. BUT...I had already purchased the fabric --it's been taking up room in my stash for years-- and so I finally decided to commit to finishing the outfit, historically correct or no. In the end I'm really glad I did! It actually turned out much better than I had hoped, and as my first all wool gown it's at least more historically correct in that sense (compared to my earlier outfits which relied heavily on linen outwear). Eventually the kirtle will be worn under a brown wool over-gown (in a darker version of this same wool cashmere fabric) or with separate, detachable sleeves. However, one of those sets of sleeves will be made from the remains of the aforementioned dark brown fabric and so I'm waiting until I finish the over gown to cut those. My second choice would have been to use the grey linen I used as trim, but in the end I only had enough left over for one arm. So for now I remain sleeveless... *** *** This kirtle is very similar in shape and construction to my earlier brown linen kirtle, so if you're looking for a blow by blow Dress Diary please check out that earlier post. Right now I'm just going to focus on areas where I deviated from that process, or go further into depth on steps that I've glossed over in the past...so this might be a bit of a hodgepodge and I apologize in advance for any confusion. First off, a brief history on the evolution of the pattern for kirtle...especially the bodice. As you may remember the pattern for my previous kirtle was adapted from the Tudor Tailor pattern for the Dorothea Sabina von Neuburg corset/bodies I made a few years ago (which I had, in turn, adapted for front lacing). Please ignore the cat...but you get the general idea. Basically the point has been significantly reduced and the straps widened, most noticeably over the shoulders. Almost everything else, including the boning pattern and shoulder placement remain the same. I liked the fit and line of the new bodice, but after a day out at Faire I started to develope some lower back pain. I think this was due in part to the way I divided the skirt pleats (with too much fabric --and therefore weight-- at the centre back) and partly due to the fit of bodice...and especially my posture while wearing it. Of course like most people who work at a computer all day I have terrible posture, but this was not helped by the construction of the bodice and the way I was lacing myself into it. I realized that as I was lacing myself up I was bending over quite far to see the lacing holes, extending my back muscles in the process. Not only that, but I was effectively lacing myself into this unnatural position. This was further exacerbated by the placement of the shoulder seam, which had a tendency to want to slip from the top of the shoulder to the front of my shoulder head, thereby pulling my shoulders down and pinching them inwards...which by extension put more strain on my back. So I moved the shoulder seam to the back of the shoulder head and widened the straps at the back to offer more support. I was also careful to keep my shoulders arched back as I was lacing myself up. The difference is not hugely apparent, but I think you can see the slight change in posture, especially at the shoulders and bust-line. This is much more comfortable! I also converted the back panel to a single piece (as opposed to two pieces with a centre back seam) and curved the straps so they more closely resembled the kirtle pattern found in The Tudor Tailor. This curve will be more evident in later photos of the bodice when laid out flat. Okay! On to the construction! As with my previous version I pad-stitched the layers together, only this time (since I knew I wasn't going to be removing it later) I didn't do such a piss-poor job of it! Also, there are only two layers of fabric as opposed to three, since Hemp Traders finally got their 10.5oz twill back in stock. Pad-stitching is completed on front and back pieces. Boning channels are sewn in at the front, back and sides (though only the front will contain actual bones, the rest are just for extra quilting and support). The boning pattern is also a little different, with the "cups" being smaller and a little shallower than before... I found the cut-out area was too far down my torso in previous versions. The stitching is then removed from the boning area (front pieces only). Now it's time to insert the boning. This is a step that I sort of glossed over before, so I took a few more photos of it this time around. As with the corset and previous kirtle the two channels on either side of the lacing area are boned with 7mm plastic coated spring steel (pre-cut to length). Those are inserted without alteration. The rest of the bodice is boned with 5mm synthetic whalebone, cut to length. The bones are then filed down with a fine metal file (it's best to do this outside or in a well ventilated area...and do wear a mask if possible, you don't want to inhale plastic dust!) They are then checked for fit and inserted between the two inner layers. And here's where things get vague again... The rest of the construction is pretty much identical to the linen kirtle. The outer fabric is basted to the inner shell... ...and the pieces sewn together. The seams are clipped, turned under and stitched down with a tight herringbone stitch. Lastly the hidden lacing strip is added (no photos of this bit, but there are lots on the previous post...and I did correct the eyelet spacing error I made last time!) and shoulders joined. Finally it's time to add the trim! The kirtle is guarded in medium weight (5.5-6.5oz) grey linen. I don't think trimming a wool garment in linen is supported by evidence...except perhaps in the form of woven tape. I really tried to source some silk or wool that I liked as much, but in end I didn't find anything that was as nice a colour as the linen, and since we've already covered the historical issues above I didn't worry too much about it! The bodice is trimmed with 3/4" bias tape, stitched down with a tiny fell (vertical hem) stitch. With the bodice complete it's time to finish the skirt. Like last time the skirt is made up with 3 panels (which is still probably one more than I truly need) but this time they are shaped rather than rectangular. So whereas the last kirtle had a top and bottom circumference of just under 180" this one has a top circumference of about 90" and a bottom of 165" (making each panel 30" at the top and 55" at the bottom). The skirt is attached all around with 1/4" cartridge pleats and hemmed with a strip of self-basic bias tape. Again, please see the earlier kirtle post on how to cartridge pleat to a pointed bodice. EDIT: Actually, DON'T see that earlier post! Or at least not yet...because I botched the skirt rather badly and it ended up a good 2" shorter in the front than the back. The skirt has since been removed and re-leveled but I never explained how I fixed it. I'll do so now... (though I don't know if this way is 100% right either, but it did fix the problem) I didn't take any photos of this process (or none that I can find) so instead I'll demonstrate what I did with the original kirtle and then illustrate where I went wrong. First I placed the bodice on some graph paper and traced the curve from the centre back seam to the front point (A). Then I traced a line across the back seam, and down at a right angle to the point (B) Now, this made good sense to me at the time since the instructions I was using were based on a bodice pattern in which the bottom back and front centre lines were perpendicular to each other. The only problem is that my front and back lines were NOT perpendicular (on account of the bottom back seam being slightly curved). This can clearly be seen once line B is superimposed onto the original placement. The bodice front actually follows a slightly different angle (C)... This is the actual line I should have been using. However, what you DON'T want to do is this (continue the line of the back straight across to the front). This results in a waistline which is just below the bust (and thus clearly wrong). This is because the waistline and centre front should still be perpendicular (at right angles) but by tracing a line straight across you end up with a front angle which is much too acute and therefore too high. Instead you have to treat each bodice piece separately. So using the centre front a guide, draw a perpendicular line just as far as the side seam. Okay, now it's time to divide the skirt into sections. As with before you follow the waistline (Point A to the side seam and then from the side seam to point C), and make perpendicular lines down to the edge of the bodice....in this case I'm dividing the bodice into 2" wide sections. The only slightly tricky bit is at the side seam where the angle changes slightly... to get around this I measured to the side seam (about 1.5") and then continued on the other side (0.5") so that the total measures 2". So far this has solved my leveling problem, but I can't guarantee it will work in all circumstances (say, perhaps with more extreme angles). When you go back and compare line B and C you can see that the difference (D) accounts for the extra 2" I took out of the skirt at the waistline, which resulted in my original skirt being too short in the front Luckily the excess was just folded back rather than cut away, so I was able to take the skirt apart and re-level it using this method. Anyway, that's the fix! You can now reference back to that earlier post for the rest of the skirt pleating and attachment process... So having figured all that out the skirt is cartridge pleated to the edge of the bodice...properly this time. Because the seams are more obvious in this light colour there is no seam down the centre front, instead a 8" slit is made in the fabric. A thread bar is worked at the bottom of the slit to relieve strain at the bottom of the point and to keep it from tearing. Finally, the skirt is guarded with 2 rows of linen bias tape. The top is double the width of the bodice trim at 1.5" and the bottom is slightly wider at 2". Both are attached by hand with a fell stitch. And that's it! Kirtle done, brown fitted gown is next! (probably...) Final thoughts: I couldn't be happier with the overall fit of the bodice! The wool is very forgiving and completely hides the boning channels, creating a really smooth, even line through the torso. With any luck it will prove to be a very handy foundation garment and one that I can easily (and happily) wear on its own during warmer weather...I'm very glad it isn't still languishing in my fabric stash, despite all my earlier misgivings! As a dear friend often says "Done is beautiful!" *** *** Resources & Materials Pattern: -The Tudor Tailor (book and/or ready-made pattern) Fabric: -Dove Beige Cashmere/Wool from Mood Fabrics -Grey "Judy" linen (5.5oz) Gray Line Linen -Hemp/Cotton twill (10.5oz) and Hemp/Cotton "suede" (10.5oz) from Hemp Traders -Muslin for mockup (also from Hemp Traders, but any muslin should do) Thread & Lacing: -Brown silk thread (for channels and seams) -Grey silk buttonhole thread (for eyelets) -Grey silk thread -Linen tape (1/4" for lacing) from WM Booth Draper Boning: -7mm Plastic coated spring steel bones (4) from Vena Cava Design -5mm Synthetic whalebone also from Vena Cava Design Other Supplies: -Swedish pattern paper from Amazon. (This stuff is great! You can iron it!) -Pattern weights -Purple vanishing fabric marker -Blue washable fabric marker -Tapered tailor's awl -Eyelet tape (for mockup) -Small bulldog clips

Last year a lot of people called me crazy for doing this because it’s too “early” and they “aren’t ready”. But I don’t like to limit my students. You never know unless you give it try ❤️...

So in my last post I talked about why people perseverate. Let's face it, we all do it. We just (sometimes) know what situations it is appropriate for. Our students often don't. So, what can you do to address verbal perseverations? I want to share 4 strategies that can be used effectively as well as some examples and then I have two freebies for you to try. Clearly which strategy you try will depend on the function of the behavior, as I talked about last time, as well as what works for you, the student, and the situation.

Sometimes it can seem like there's a fine line between the two. But don't let fear of being overbearing silence you into not sharing light and truth.