Summer Days

The school year ended and I went right into summer camp. I've taught drama at the enrichment camp at my school for about 7 years now. I've always done half days, but this summer I was able to pick up mornings teaching STEAM as well. It is laid back and fun, but working 8-5 each day at 6 months pregnant is hard. The extra money will allow me to extend my maternity leave in the fall though, so it is more than worth it!

My oldest starts kindergarten in the fall. She is at camp with me this summer and loving every minute of it! I actually stayed home today because her younger brother was sick. I finally had time to look at the presenter details for ISTE. I had no idea the poster area would be so large! I've done both these presentations at other conferences, but now that school is out I need work on updating and final touches. I'm really looking forward to the conference!

I also have wrap up posts planned for this week. I have neglected my blog in all the craziness of this school year, but there were several projects that I really want to share.

I hope your summer is going well!

Irish Summer

I've been to Ireland many times. My husband is from Cork, so I've made about eight trips over the last 10 years. This was my first summer trip and it was by far the most fun!

We spent two and a half weeks with my in-laws. The days were long, the weather was lovely. My kids spent time with cousins, aunts, uncles, Nana, and Grandad. We had a picnic at the beach and fed cows on a farm. From exploring the city to "Christmas in July" with the Irish family, it was the trip of a lifetime.

Now I have a million things to do. I have over a thousand pictures I'd love to edit/print. I have only finished 19 of 80 assignments for my online classes. I somehow managed to get myself locked out of my school e-mail tonight. I think I'm going to cave in to the jet lag and head to bed.

Making Plans

What a summer! I am working 25 hours a week at summer camp. I teach drama, songs, and games in my regular classroom.  The work is fun and easy, but it still means my time is taken. I am also taking two online classes required for my certification. I have put it off for too long and now I have to complete 80 assignments by the first week in August. I have only turned in 6 so far. Sigh.

I am off to work on that, but I've been invited to several demonstrations and meetings in my "spare" time this summer. It could lead to some amazing things next year and while they are all still in progress, I wanted to share them here.

Aquaponics
The middle school science teacher and I talked about starting a garden next year in the shared area outside our classrooms. We were planning to put in a few raised plant beds. On the first day of summer vacation I got pulled into a meeting with our STEM coordinator about aquaponics. It looks like things are on track for us to get an educational victory garden system. If all goes as planned, we will have a tank of tilapia and raised beds that filter out the fish waste. It should be pretty impressive! I've already warned them that I lack a green thumb, but I'm will to try.

WeatherSTEM
At FETC I saw a demonstration by WeatherSTEM. I was impressed at all the easy to use data gathered. They install a weather system with cameras and tools that feeds the information to a web based site. The graphs and information available is amazing. The weather system even has its own Twitter account to post auto updates about the temperature and rain for the day. (Here is an example of a site in action.) It looks like we will be getting WeatherSTEM for next school year. My mind is spinning with possibilities!

zSpace
Yesterday I went to a demonstration of zSpace. This video explains it better than I can:



I got to try it out and I can tell you it really is a cool as it looks. It is pricey, but they are looking at the possibility of acquiring funds to set up a lab where we can bring our classes.

Meanwhile, I'm back to my online classes. I hope your summer is going well!

Family Fun

I was sure that this summer I was going to have time to blog. I had it all planned. I was going to create products and post regularly. I worked for the first month of my summer. Since then I’ve spent time with my family.

All my daughter wanted to do on her vacation was go bowling and to go to the library. We did both in the first two days. The Irishman wanted to spend lots of time at the beach and the pool. Our oldest has just started swimming without her floaties, so she is all about the pool. One of these days we will convince her we should go to the beach instead!

Today’s fun was a local children’s museum. They relocated in the last year or so. We went for the first time today and loved it.



They had a Maurice Sendak exhibit. There were Wild Things, Chicken Soup with Rice, and In the Kitchen.



The kids had a blast!

~~~~~~~~

Confession – I started this post last night but fell asleep. We went to the museum yesterday. Today we did the beach and made homemade ice cream. Our two little pint-sized “ice cream maker helpers” did a great job of adding ice as it churned. The end result was super yummy!



Speaking of ice cream, you will want to stop by my blog on Sunday. I’m celebrating my blog birthday and National Ice Cream Day with a flash freebie you won’t want to miss!



It should be fun! Hope to see you then!

Five for Friday

1

Thursday night was the VIP reception at the Marzano Conference. Unlike the presenters reception I was actually invited and dressed appropriately this time. (Click here for that story)

We expected a large group of teachers to be recognized. It turns out that the team of five from our school were the only five teachers able to attend the reception. (The other team was from Arizona and did not travel.)



We got autographed books/certificates and mingled with the real VIPs. It was a surprisingly fun evening. We met a principal from Australia, talked movies with Bob Marzano, and were treated like stars.

2

Two of the teachers from our group have videos currently being used for LSI training. We did not know that until the trip. The two teachers kept getting stopped and called by name by people who had watched their video in training sessions. It was like walking around with movie stars.

LSI has lots of video recorded, but we didn’t know what it was being used for until now. (Other than the research study.) There were pictures of our kids in the promotional catalog and clips from our classrooms on the video montage at the end of the conference.

3

My daughter told everyone that I was going out of town for a concert. She is only three. I had to convince her day care teachers that a concert would be more fun, but it was really a conference for work!

4

I am still researching technology for the STEAM lab next year. A lot of the companies I am looking at will be at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio next week. I would LOVE to be there myself! I have a little bit of conference envy. I’m tempted to ask if the school would pay for a virtual attendance registration. 

5

I’ve already reached that point in the summer where I am panicked that summer is moving by too quickly! There is still so much I want to do! I’m going to make a summer bucket list tomorrow. What are you hoping to do this summer?

Five for Friday: Summertime

Even though school is out, I’m still working. Friday has not lost its appeal! (Edited to add: I was so tired last night I fell asleep working on this post. It guess that goes to show that some things don’t change!)

 

1

I am teaching drama in our afternoon enrichment camp at school. I’ve done this for the last 4 or 5 years. We call it drama, but I really do mostly songs and games. I usually do stick puppets around week three just to mix things up a little. It is easy, fun, and the pay is good.
The biggest shock is always the kindergarteners. They are really soon-to-be- kindergarteners. This year we have several with summer birthdays, so they are only 4 right now. I usually don’t take too much notice, but next year I will be teaching K-5. It is going to be quite different!
One of the littlest girls reminds me so much of my own daughter. One of the other teachers said the same to me today, so I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so. This little girl has started calling me the “Drama Queen.” Two summers ago I was very pregnant with my son. Another pint-sized camper called me “Drama Mama.” Gotta love it!

2

My husband usually puts me to shame with gift giving. This year I bought him something he has wanted for years. He is like a child playing with it. I’m having fun just watching him!

3

Next week I am going to the Marzano Conference. Due to my participation in the case study filming this year, I am considered a “special guest.” We were told that means that we are going to an extra event with all the VIPs. Before the school year was out they also mentioned that their writer was going to interview each of the five of us from my school who took part. We didn’t think much of it. The liaison we work with said it would just be a few questions.

Last week the five of us got an e-mail from the writer. They have set aside a room and cameras to film the interview. We already e-mailed to ask about the kinds of questions to expect. I was filmed 10 times this year - four lessons, three coaching sessions, pre/post interviews for my formal observation, and a Common Core planning session.

I worked really hard this year not to duplicate outfits. I didn’t realize the planning meeting was going to be filmed and I repeated a blue sweater. My biggest problem is that my “nice” clothes are dresses. I am a dress kind of girl. For filming you have to wear a microphone. Microphones work much better with pants or skirts.

I have a couple of gift cards to spend so I am going to try to find the time to pick out something new before I go. If we do this project again next year I’m going to need a new wardrobe!

4

I made a rough plan for my room next year. Now that school is out I’ve had a chance to dig around the new room some. I’m turning the art room into a STEAM Lab. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics)



This is NOT to scale. I’m not that good. On the far left are the built in counter/cabinets/shelves/sinks. I haven’t decided on the shape of tables yet, but the brown tables will be for iPad and art projects.
I’m looking at rugs. I found several here that I have been looking at.

The polka dot thing is this cabinet:



The purple rectangles in the bottom left are some of the same cabinets in purple that look only slightly better than the before picture. I have plans for them!

The blue tables will have iMacs on them. They won’t be blue either. My dad and stepmom helped me measure things out and pick out tables to fit the space.

The big problem is I haven’t decided where to put my desk. The best place would be in front of the gate where the kiln is stored, but that doesn’t sound safe. (Though I won’t be using the kiln that often.) We’ll see how it goes!

5

I had 5 things picked out last night, but I’ve forgotten the fifth. Today was a lazy day around the house. I cleaned the kitchen. We went to Costco for a chicken. Nothing worthy of being my fifth item.
Instead I’ll end with a question: How does your school deal with saving/turning in electronic student work? I read a blog about first graders turning in assignments through Drop Box, but I didn’t get an answer yet about how that works. Suggestions? Ideas?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I’m Back!

School ended for the students Wednesday at noon. I was in the car and on the way to Disney by 2pm. My dad was in Orlando for a conference and had asked if we would drive up for a couple of days. I’d initially said no because of the end of school. He called back and asked if the Irishman could drive up with the kids even if I couldn’t come. I talked to my principal who gave me the okay. She actually shooed me out the door on Wednesday afternoon.



Trying to get everything together to leave town on the last day of school was more than a little hectic, but it was wonderful to have a few days right after school to spend with the family!

I’m working afternoons at the enrichment camp at school starting Monday. I will be spending the mornings before camp packing up my classroom of 9 years and setting up my new room as a STEAM lab. My little break made it feel like summer was really here!