Diane Hodges, Ph.D.

Tie One On Day―the day before Thanksgiving

Diane — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:43:49 +0000

Tie one on (an apron, that is) to celebrate the spirit of earlier generations of women who wore aprons as a symbol of home and family. Have the staff members who wish to participate anonymously draw names. The day before Thanksgiving each person wraps a loaf of bread in an apron, places a note of encouragement or praise in the pocket for the person whose name they drew, and anonymously delivers the package. All staff members wear their aprons on that day. For more information, go to www.apronmemories.com.

This was sent to me in an email. I don’t know who the author is, but it gives nice memories of what an apron was used for.

“I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material.

But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coup, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen with that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace the ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.”

The author adds as a post-script, “Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron – but love.”

School Lunch Week is October 15-19

Diane — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:48:04 +0000

National School Lunch Week was created in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. This year’s theme ” What’s Cooking?” is about celebrating the positive changes that have been made in school lunch programs across the country.

Did you know that in 180 school days, 5.2 billion school lunches are served in 99,000 schools—approximately 32 million meals per day (Source: schoolnutrition.org)

The School Nutrition website has ideas on how students and the community can celebrate this week, but here are some others from Season It With Fun!…

Lunch is on US!
When your job is to make lunch for others every day, how nice it is to have it prepared for and served to YOU! Have the instructional staff members take up the kitchen and cafeteria duties so that the cafeteria staff members can enjoy a long (two-hour) lunch away from school at a local restaurant. Include a note of appreciation with the invitation to have a Lunch on Us! (Robert Graham, McHarg Elementary School, Radford, VA)

Golden Utensils Award
Spray paint kitchen utensils with gold paint and present them to the food service staff members to acknowledge the amazing job they do!

Please feel free to share your own ideas in the comments section below. Together we make teaching better!

Birthdays

Diane — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 21:57:20 +0000

Birthdays are a celebration of the individual and not a chronicle of years. Don’t be afraid to ask the person how he/she would like to celebrate their birthday because we change from year-to-year and decade to decade. Celebrate the passage of life. These are some birthday celebrations that you can have at work. Please add your ideas to this blog for others to enjoy.

Happy Burger Day

Have a birthday celebration where the featured food served is hamburgers and cheeseburgers with all of the fixings. Make a giant burger for the special birthday person.

A Gift of Years

When a person has a decade-advancing birthday (30, 40, 50, or 60), celebrate the uniqueness of the decade. Do NOT give “over the hill” presents, dress in black, and/or wear black armbands. Instead, make meaningful celebrations of these events.

Give the birthday person the appropriate number (30, 40, 50, 60) of a single item, such as:

Tulip or daffodil bulbs

Packets of flower or vegetable seeds

Golf balls

Balloons

Suckers

Candy bars

Bubble gum pieces

Snack size packs of potato chips, pretzels, cookies, etc.

Packets of bath salts

The corresponding number of weeks of a subscription to a magazine

Or present one item for each decade, such as (for a person turning 40):

4 books

4 picture frames

4 $10 dollar gift cards

4 layer cake

Another idea to celebrate a 40^th birthday is to use 40 Winks as the theme and give a basket full of sleep products such as bath salts, sleep shades for the eyes, melatonin, lavender sheet spray, etc.

Decorate a Tree

Give each person a long piece of fabric. Ask them to decorate and write a birthday wish on each piece. Tie the fabric pieces together to make a knotted garland. Drape the garland around a small tree or the branches of a tree as a table decoration.

School Lunch Week — October 10-14

Diane — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:17:13 +0000

School Lunch Week is October 10-14. Start planning now to honor these staff members. Here are some suggestions of activities you could implement.

Lunch is on US!
When your job is to make lunch for others every day, how nice it is to have it prepared for and served to YOU! During School Lunch Week in October, have the instructional staff members take up the kitchen and cafeteria duties so that the cafeteria staff members can enjoy a long (two-hour) lunch away from school at a local restaurant. Include a note of appreciation with the invitation to have a Lunch on Us! ( Contributed by: Robert Graham, McHarg Elementary School, Radford, VA)

Golden Utensils Award
Spray paint kitchen utensils with gold paint and present them to the food service staff members to acknowledge the amazing job they do!

What activities do you do in YOUR school? Share your ideas…

Football Celebrations

Diane — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:21:20 +0000

It’s starting to feel a lot like fall…and FOOTBALL season! Football season brings many opportunities for fun activities. Here are a few you might implement in your school.

T-shirt or Sweatshirt Day─All staff members are encouraged to wear a T-shirt or sweatshirt supporting a favorite professional or college football team or the college/university they graduated from.

Rival Team Fun─Colleges and universities have rivalries with other schools, and this makes the competition even more exciting. Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Michigan (U of M) are examples of rival universities. Staff members have fun when these teams play each other.

Staff members who wear OSU attire on the Friday before the game have their names entered into a contest. At the end of the day, names are selected as prize winners. The winners received a framed photo of Brutus Buckeye, a framed photo of the OSU stadium, or cheerleader pom-poms. Darlene Roll shares, “There were many cries of ‘Pick me, pick me!’ coming from the staff during the drawing.”

Those who dared to wear the maize and blue of the University of Michigan were given M&Ms for Michigan Madness. (Contributed by: Darlene Roll, Ohio High-Point Career Center, Bellefontaine, OH)

In Our Thoughts and Prayers

Diane — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:30:34 +0000

It has been a difficult time across the country with the storms hitting so many places and affecting the lives of many. It is at times like these that encouragement and an embrace mean so much. We have read the stories of homes, businesses, schools, and lives torn apart. I can relate to the devastation of a tornado as my husband and I were part owners of a 250 acre orchard in Michigan. A tornado swept through and destroyed the trees, the cold storage building exploded, and the packing house was leveled. Luckily, our house was not on the property, so we did not lose our home or our belongings as so many lately have.

At first, all you can do is look at the ruins in disbelief and cry. Then, you have to go on and make new plans. There were many helpful people who came to our aid in cleaning up the rubble, and then there were those who turned out not to be “volunteers” but rather sent an hourly bill for their time. It is times like this when you realize the goodness and the shortcomings in humanity.

We lost the orchard and the government took all of our assets other than our house. Starting over was a difficult task and challenges every part of your life. I wanted to just turn the calendar ahead a few years and have it as a memory rather than a reality. For those of who are experiencing the tragedy now, know that there are many who have you in their thoughts and prayers.

God Bless Our Troops

Diane — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:31:40 +0000

Everyone remembers where they were on 911 and how Americans felt a new commitment to our country. Flags were flown, t-shirts worn, and there was a sense of unity. My husband hung American flag and said it would not come down until bin Laden was captured. We have gone through six flags. One was stolen and others just wore out. Two of the flags have a special meaning. The first was sent to me from Afghanistan on Mother’s Day. I sent a regular shipment of goodies to the men and women there and this group of pilots flew the flag in their plane over Afghanistan and sent it to me. The most recent flag was given to me by Capt. Eric Sobecki. It was the flag that he packed in his bag on every mission he flew in Afghanistan. I had never met him, but he was recently married at our home in San Diego. He presented this treasure to us and touched our hearts. It is waiving proudly in our yard. Now that bin Laden has been killed, we could remove our flag, but we never will. Instead we are wearing our Navy SEALs and Ranger t-shirts, displaying additional flags in the yard, and are so extremely proud of our men and women who serve in the armed forces. They have such courage, and we are blessed that they are on our side. Please join us in celebrating our military.