Queen Jen's Gems

 Whenever someone says, "Hello," it is usually followed by "How are you?" This is how many of us greet others. I know this is how I greet people usually. Recently at work, I was going to the copier room (you catch that available when you can especially this time of school year!) and one of my coworkers asked me, "How are you?" I said I was doing fine. She stopped and then asked me, "How are you really?" Then I said "I'm hanging in there. It's SOL review time. I'm planning the first few days, then I'll go from there." She said it is that time of year and it's a lot and then said take care 🙏. You see, SOL stands for Standards of Learning and there are certain objectives we have to teach here in Virginia. In other states, they are called something slightly different, but all have the same goal. At the end of the school year, certain grades have to take standardized tests in certain subject areas. I'm so thankful sh...

 Choices are everywhere! From the minute we wake up until the time we go to sleep, we have a choice to make about something. We decide whether it's a good or bad choice. Do we always make the right choices? No! I know I don't always. In the last couple of years especially, my family and I have had a lot of people pass away near and dear to our heart. Out of all the months, the month of April is always bittersweet for me because I have lost five family members in this month. My Dad, two aunts, a great aunt and an uncle all passed away in April on different years. Losing loved ones is never easy and it felt like just yesterday they were here. Most recently, my great aunt at 81 years old passed away on April 7th of this month. Her and I talked pretty much every day and we would exchange updates about what was going on in our days. I liked to call them daily check-ins 💜. I will definitely miss those! I will miss the visits and hearing and sharing stories and showing her pictures o...

 Have you ever started something, but didn't finish it? I'm sure we can all relate! Perhaps you were cleaning or sorting through items and then your phone rings or you receive a text. Maybe your phone happens to be nearby you and you pick it up for a minute. That minute turns into hours and before you know it, an hour (or more!) has gone by because you were scrolling social media. Perhaps you started an assignment you were working on for school, college, job-related and it gets started, but it doesn't get finished. As a teacher, I've seen students turn in work that was incomplete. When completing assignments and paperwork for myself, I've had to check it over and finish it because I left it undone. Now, when I talk to my students about incomplete assignments, I get several reasons why it's unfinished. Some have missed that there was another side to a sheet or two parts to a question. Some didn't feel like completing the work and left parts blank on purpose. ...