Mostly May

I am loving my new blog design! Megan from A Bird in Hand Designs did an amazing job. She really captured the look I wanted. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a new look.

It has been so long since I blogged, I went through my phone last night an pulled off pictures of what we've been up to in the lab. My students are on a three day rotating schedule, so I see each class only 4 more times before the last day of school on June 4th. Crazy!

This post is a bit of a catch up. The pictures are mostly from May, with a little of April thrown in.

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I am responsible for this bulletin board. It is a beast. I still want to have every student get to take part in the design, so it takes me weeks! This one was put up before the Kindergarten Round Up. Each of my K-2 students drew a fish in pastels. The students got to select their shade of blue tempera paint. The sign hanging from the ceiling in front of the fish says, "We love our school!" Of course I had more fish than I needed, so they also swam down the hallway.

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Minecraft Club wrapped up at the end of April. At one of our last meetings I logged on to play. In exactly 2 seconds the screen flashed, "You died." I am seriously bad at video games. I do think that gaming in the classroom is a great tool though, so I am making an effort to learn. The staff member who helped me with the club brought in these cupcakes for our last meeting. Too cute!

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One of my favorite features of my STEAM Lab is that I have a working kiln in my room. I keep it covered by bright green curtains most of the time. For the big kindergarten Mother's Day Breakfast, the PTO asked if we could use the kiln. I had an art professor from the university help me. Even with guidance, it is a little unnerving to watch that thing get up to 1,800+ degrees. Cool, but scary!

The students made pinch pots that we decorated as lady bugs. (Inspiration came from this post.) There was not enough time to glaze them, so we used acrylic paint and a spray glaze. The students decorated the boxes like little gardens. For the cards, I embossed their thumb prints with red glitter powder before they added details with a marker.

For my first clay project in the STEAM Lab, I am happy with how it came out. I am going to apply for a grant for supplies so that I can do at least one clay project with each grade level next year. I've already started to plan my STEAM curriculum connections.

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The CHANGE Club gave me a mini grant to pay for new worms for my worm bin. I was also able to order coconut coir and gloves. The first bin was actually too full, so I found another that was empty outside the middle school building. My own kids came to school to help me transfer the worms. They thought it was the best thing ever!

I had a successful vermicomposting  program set up a few years ago. Fingers cross, it looks like I am on track again. I hope to have each grade level take a turn next year caring for the worms. There is so much potential there! Decomposition, mass of their food, life cycle, and so many other STEAM links.

This morning during my planning period I put up new signs around the worm farm. I'll post pictures of that soon. It looks as cure as worms can look now.

 

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The caterpillars are back on the outside my house. My daughter was terribly concerned that the lizards would eat them. We have not had a successful chrysalis in a long time. I agreed to bring them into school to "save" them.

I picked up some milkweed from Home Depot. I'd planned to move the caterpillars into a small habitat before they formed a chrysalis, but I misjudged the time. Instead I ordered a larger habitat from Amazon and put the whole plant in it. I brought in a total of 6 caterpillars from home. Two of them didn't make it, but 4 more have hatched. Thankfully my students haven't been paying much attention to the numbers. They are more concerned about when the butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis. I am afraid the first one will be over the weekend. We shall see!

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Enjoy your weekend!

Worries, Worms, and Winners

Well when I said I didn’t want spring break to end, this is NOT what I had in mind. My poor little man has pneumonia. We came into the hospital on Friday morning and thought worst-case scenario would be that they keep us overnight. We quickly learned it was going to be a longer ordeal. Much longer. We are at 6 days and counting.

Monday was downright frightening. Mid morning he went into distress. The room was full of people trying to increase his oxygen levels. I called my husband and told him he needed to come right away. He asked me to leave the phone on speaker as he drove. I am sure it was as scary on the phone as it was in person.

After that we met the head of the PICU. He assessed my son and ordered a number of tests. I left Monday afternoon to pick up my daughter and heard the doctor’s assessment over the phone while watching my daughter at gymnastics class.

They decided that he did not need to be moved to the PICU, but they adjusted medications, ordered a few more tests, and had some outside specialists come in to see him. My husband and I are both feeling a bit under the weather. I’d been at the hospital for four days straight, so I took a break and went home to see my daughter, sleep in my own bed, and get an appointment with my doctor.

I got home and cried on Monday. He had more tests done after I left and I felt helpless that I couldn't bet there. I was afraid that I was going to get too sick to see him in the hospital. I was worried about my daughter. She heard me cough and was worried that I was going to have to go to the hospital, too.

Then Tuesday happened.



The staff here all admitted that they were really worried about him on Monday. Tuesday he was eating, sitting up, and playing. I came to visit, but I let my husband stay the night at the hospital again. I went home almost giddy. My daughter and I used up a Groupon for dinner.



We also stopped at the store on the way home to buy balloons for the little guy. She is only three so this is hard on her as well, but it was a good night!

This morning there was talk of going home soon. They tried to wean him off the oxygen, but he isn’t ready yet. It looks like it is going to be another couple of days. It is disappointing, but we told the nurse this morning that after Monday we have a different frame of reference. If he needs another couple of days, that is okay with us.

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On the school front, my student teacher has been a star! She got a lot dumped on her this week and she has really done well.

My Donor’s Choose project was funded recently and I’d arranged for two pounds of red worms to be delivered today. It was too late to change delivery, so I talked to one of my teacher friends with vermicomposting experience. Christine helped some of my students get the worms set up in their new home after school today.

Better yet she sent me pictures! There are enough to do a blog post on the worm delivery I was not there to see.



I can honestly say I did not intend for my student teacher to have to deal with worms this week on top of everything else! I cannot wait to be back in class to get the worm project underway!

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Thank you to everyone who entered my 100-follower giveaway!

The winner of the K-2 giveaway is Entry #293 Leeann F.

The winner of the 3-5 giveaway is Entry #348 Jen O.

(Side note: My husband looked over at the screen this afternoon and asked if the winner really was Jen O.  What are the chances Jen O. winning Jen O’s giveaway?)

I have e-mailed the winners and will be e-mailing my friends who donated prizes soon to make sure they get the goods. (Tonight I hope if my son and hospital wifi cooperate!)

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I have literally been working on this post all day. It is my night at the hospital again and my little guy is finally asleep. We are all looking forward to being back at home with healthy kids. Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers! Please keep them coming!

Five for Friday

For a short week, it sure felt like a long one! It always seems to work that way though!

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Boosterthon

 

Today was the big day! After a week of cheers and pledges, today was our Fun Run. I used some of my new clip art from Creative Clips to make our class sign.

My class held the sign as they walked together around the track towards the end, so it is a little beat up! 

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Fonts

 

The font on the sign is one I created myself. I have to tweak it a little, but I almost have it ready to post. St. Patrick’s Day is a BIG deal in my family, so I had to have a font to match!
I have come across a few things written in my Sully Lovely Class List Font. I even got an e-mail from someone who said they used it all month. That made my day! I’m still starting out and improving, but it makes me feel good knowing people are using what I created!
Check back soon for Sully Lucky!

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Wishpool

 

Last week I read a blog post about IPEVO Wishpool. The teacher in the post had just received an iPad keyboard/case and a telescoping stylus. My own stylus recently met an untimely death. I have never heard of a telescoping stylus, but I love the idea of being able to reach across the table to share an iPad in a small group.

I’ll let you know how it works. My wish was granted this week and my items shipped today. I'm super excited!

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Donors Choose – Worms

 

Another blog I read last week was about a Donors Choose project a teacher had funded. I got to thinking about it and decided to apply myself.

I was awarded a grant from the local chamber of commerce about five years ago to purchase this:



I had a successful vermicomposting project going on for a while. Then I went on maternity leave. My class survived my absence, but the worms did not.



The PTO replaced my worms and all was good. Then I had baby number two. Again the class was fine, but the worms did not make it. I have no intention of going on leave anytime soon, and I have an empty worm bin that is just taking up room.

Thanks to Donors Choose, there are about 4 pounds of red worms on their way to refill my Can-O-Worms. My class is SO excited about the project. They are already planning the healthy snacks they will bring so that they can feed the”trash” to the worms. Success!

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Sharing Germs

 

I got a call from the nurse at the kids’ day care last Friday that my oldest was sick. After four days with a fever and cough we got her to the doctor and on the mend. Of course if you have kids you know that means it is onto the next one! My husband was home sick on Thursday. After two days of migraines, I’m now fighting this cold, but not successfully. At this point I can only hope the little guy doesn’t catch our germs.

My sister-in-law in in town from across the pond. We have not been the best of hosts. I’m hoping she doesn’t get sick! She did bring over some Karvol Capsules. I love these things! They are like aromatherapy oils that you put on a cloth near the head of the bed. I can’t find them anywhere in the states – or anything like them. I usually use them sparingly when the kids are really sick, but now that our stash has been replenished I am using one just for me.

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Enjoy your weekend!