what a week!

This was another busy, busy week. Went to Girls' Sectionals with Fred and the girls and got home just in time to do a walk-through with a teacher and 3 girls from school. It is so funny to watch the kids and hear their ideas about what we should do with the school. I think there were morning meetings and after school meetings the rest of the week. No rest this weekend, though - hadn't done laundry for 2 weeks and I can't remember the last time I dusted or ran the vacuum. :( So - guess what I will be doing tomorrow.

weekend

What a nice weekend! Spent a lot of time with Reid and Rylan - Kami's came over on Saturday and got to talk to Todd while I was there! I love my kids!

5 day week

The first 5 day week is under our belt - and boy! Could I tell it was 5 days! But it was a good week. The Media Centers have a class in them almost all the time, every teacher now has a webpage, Miss Sandy started emailing her weekly memo, the kids are excited about reading with the revamped AR, they are making their goals faster in AM, the music teacher has been bringing the 5/6 grades to the Media Center to use GarageBand and every free minute they have they ask if they can come to my room to work on their song, DCTV Class was so much fun, and the three boys working on the Alice Project loved it!
About the AR - there was a third grader that has really struggled with reading and the other day she got a 100% on her AR quiz because she realized she wasn't just reading words - she realized the words were actually saying something. It was awesome seeing the sparkle in her eyes and the huge smile on her face!
About the Alice Project - one of the boys working on the Alice Project has been a handful in the past - like running away from school or hiding in weird places, but this year he seems very focused. Not sure if it is because he is a "mature" 6th grader now or because we are giving him opportunities to be creative. The day after the first Alice Project class he came into my room first thing in the morning to tell me he downloaded Alice on his home computer and made a 3 minute video and today he was telling me about another video he made. Then, when I told all three of the boys they would be allowed to take the laptops home - WOW! You would have thought I gave them a car or something! So great seeing so much excitement!
The other day one of the sixth graders said, "You know what? We get to school and the next thing I know it is time to go home - the time goes so fast." And that is a good thing - that is what school should be like for everyone!

Tigger or Eyeore

I can't believe I haven't written about this before today....have you heard of Randy Pausch? He is the professor from Carnegie Mellon University that passed away from pancreatic cancer the end of July. He was known for his "Last Lecture" he gave last fall at CMU. When I heard of his death I watched his lecture on You Tube - I was hooked. Soon after that I was going to Kami's, so I downloaded his book, "The Last Lecture" to listen to in the car. What an inspiration he was! At first I couldn't put my finger on why I was so fascinated with this man, but as I was listening to his book and heard about his Alice Project it hit me over the head - he was a computer nerd! :) His Alice project - geared toward High School/College age students is a free download, as well as StoryBook Alice - geared toward Middle School students and written by a former student of his. As soon as I could I downloaded the programs and, of course, I was hooked! You can create 3D animation - kind of like the Incredibles. Next week, three 6th grade boys and myself are going to start working on our own Alice Project. I showed each of them an example this week and they are so excited and ready to get started. I don't know how it will go - for all I know it will take us all school year to make a 5 minute animation film! In his last lecture Randy Pausch asked this question, "Are you a Tigger or an Eyeore?" Randy Pausch was definitely a Tigger and it is my hope that when these three boys finish their project they are all Tiggers just like Randy Pausch and look forward to climbing any brick wall they may encounter.

another weekend

Another weekend is here. I realize it was a 4 day week - but it went very fast! I love my job! This week the last two teachers started working on their webpage, so all the teachers have webpage links now - Sandy started using email as a way of communicating with the teachers (this was a huge step for her) - the staff at the church office asked if they could be a part of our Everybody Reads campaign that I started - and the music teacher brought her classes in to use GarageBand today (after 4 years of coaxing) and wonders why she waited so long - 17 kids applied to be in DCTV Class (I have to let 7 of them down easy) - and Tony brought me a fresh homemade cinnamon roll from Bud's this morning! :)

whew!

Whew! It was a hot, hot, hot day! I'm not sure it has been this hot all summer, but that always happens when school starts. I'm taking two extra fans to school tomorrow to try to keep the computers cooled down while the 1st/2nd grades do STAR Reading tests. Tomorrow is to be hot again, then hopefully the forecast for a cool down will really happen.