Work in Progress

Well, I don't have a clue how many hours I've been at school trying to put my new classroom together. My son, Kyle stopped by to visit one day, and his friend texted and asked him where he

was.  Here's how it went:
Dan: Where are You?
Kyle: West

Dan:West where

Kyle: West Elementary

Dan: But there's no school

Kyle: I know, but my mom's working 

Dan: But there's no kids

Kyle: I know, but she works a lot.  That's what teachers do

Thank you, son, for trying to educate the general population.  We are not OFF in the summer, sitting in the sun, sipping iced tea.  I took 12 semester credits, moved a classroom, created a 21st Century Classroom, and broke a sweat.  I'm a teacher.  What's your superpower?!

Here's a glimpse into my classroom. Notice anything missing????  Perhaps desks?  Yep.  We start September 7th.  They should (BETTER) arrive between the 28th of August and September 1st, then assembly can begin. :)  They threw my old desks out, so BETTER is the operable word.  I do have some awesome seating, though, don't I? Sorry about all the clutter - still trying to fit things from a bigger room into this room, and going from a giant desk to no desk for now, but a mobile work station is coming. I'm just not sure how much storage there will be in it, so I'm trying to plan on no storage.  So, throw, throw, throw.

IF you are able to donate to a project, or can forward the link to someone who loves to help teachers and classrooms out, I have a DonorsChoose project for my classroom which just went live a couple of days ago.  It's for a Apple Macbook Pro.  I want the kids to be able to work with me to blog on Kidblog, do some skyping and tweeting with other classrooms around the world.  I also want to be able to work wirelessly with a computer within the room, including without a battery needing to be plugged in within an hour or two.  I will have a green screen set up for my students to record stories after writing and editing using manipulatives (including Legos).  I plan to add a keyboard for students to utilize Garage band as well. Again, thanks for any help you can offer! 

 Here's the link to my project: ENTER THE CODE: JUMPSTART TO HAVE THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION MATCH YOUR DONATION!!! :)

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/21st-century-learners-ready-for-ilearnin/1614890/?rf=link-siteshare-2015-08-account_projects_teacher-teacher_1022936&challengeid=271257

Growing Pains

My, how time flies!  This little peanut is starting college in a week.

 Our baby.  We are now empty-nesters. Her brother graduated from college this spring. Luckily, she is only an hour away.  She is a strong, successful girl who will take care of herself and not let anyone stand in her way of success, yet kind-hearted enough to volunteer where needed.  I am proud of who she is already, and can't wait to see who this feisty red-head will become!  She has not followed in my footsteps.  She has seen how many hours I spend at school after hours, on the weekends, and in the summers.  She is on the business route.  She will volunteer in classrooms when she can, as she is very good with kids.

Growing pains for her dad and I as parents.  We have to stretch ourselves to let go a bit more than letting her keep the car out until midnight. I thought I'd be fine, until the song, "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Atkins came on the radio as I was following her up to her new apartment with her last load of clothes, shoes, and more shoes (we marked the box 'softlines' to try to hide the fact that she had so many shoes from her dad, ha-ha!).  If you haven't heard that song before, Google the words.  Heart-breaker!!!  I posted on Face Book, "That was You, God.  I got it!" Perfect message delivered.

My message to you? Make sure you take time with your kids.  No matter the age.  It doesn't matter if they are little and at home, or on their own, already married and with kids.  Take time, make time.  I lost a dear friend to cancer this summer, and looking at her calendars over the years, she always took the time to make it to as many things she could with her boys.  And then with her boys and stepdaughters.  It matters.  Always. :)

Creative Seating

Creative seating in a 21st Century Classroom is pretty fun to shop for! I had some cozy furniture already from a DonorsChoose project and some milk crate seating I made one summer. On Face Book, the Scoop Rockers were the most sought out item on one of the first grade chat groups. I know my students will love to sit in one of these cozy rockers for read-to-self! And when Target put the sand chairs on clearance, our group texts went crazy! My daughter thought we were hoarders, but we were just buying them for other teachers.  We're good like that, aren't we?  The "I've got your back" attitude in teaching is so important! I love my team!!
I just found out my desks will be in between August 28th and Sept.1st - just in time for school to start after Labor Day! Here are some of my new chairs.

You'll notice some stacked light bulbs in the background.  Part of our request was to change the lighting.  I wanted 2500K-2700K (Kalvin) lighting, but they put in 5000K lighting. The difference is I wanted yellow-orange spectrum and they put in blue spectrum.  I get migraines, and I cannot work with all the lights on.  When I have a migraine, the 5000K lights look like you could land a jet in my room when they are all on.
I'll post more pictures as I get my new room ready.  I've been moving my son into a new apartment post-graduation from college, and moving my daughter into an apartment tomorrow for college. Busy time of year! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by! Please come back, as I'm getting better at this!