The Dog Days Are Over...

Wow, I cannot believe that fall is here, and it's almost time for conferences!  We had time to go to the area apple orchards on the weekend and got lots of apple goodies!  Autumn has always been one of my favorite times of the year, and I always looked forward to taking my daughter to the orchard and the pumpkin patch.  Everything was always more fun when we did it together!  I really missed having my little girl there with me (although Sam and I had a good time too!).

What I Did on My Summer Vacation...

I went to Florida to visit my sister and her family at the end of July.  Hmmm... I wonder if they need teachers in Florida!

Coming into Jacksonville.

My favorite part!

I need a job walking on the beach, picking up shells... they'd pay me for that, right?

We didn't eat here, but it was awful cute!

The lakehouse!  Thank you, Gill Family!

Can you tell she's an interior decorator?

The lake

  I rode on a jet ski for the first time!

St. Augustine





The Aqua Grill

We had a great time!   Thank you so much for sharing with us, Pam... we had the time of our lives!  Can't wait to see you all again soon! 

Time Flies!

I was at an ELL facilitator meeting today when I saw Kinderspot's Miss Evans, which of course reminded me that I haven't posted since school started.  Things have been so busy, which isn't surprising to anyone reading this!

We've been busy studying animals (our first science unit every year), and we always make something for each category...

Mammals:  monkeys, of course!

And lions, elephants, and giraffes... oh my!

We made butterflies while studying insects.  Just color coffee filters with water-based markers and spray with water.  Add a wooden clothespin and a black pipe cleaner and... voila! 

We have an ant farm...

and five caterpillars! The stuff at the bottom is their food.

Look how much they've grown!

Getting ready to form chrysalides!

One last slow poke!

I'll be adding more soon!  Thanks, Jodi, for the motivation!

Teachertipster.com

I spent a lot of time last night catching up on teacher blogs and rediscovered a cool site most of you probably already know, but I love it so I'm sharing it for those of you who aren't familiar with it or perhaps haven't visited it recently.

Mr. Smith shares some great ideas through free printables and humorous videos. Some of my favorites are Power Towers and The Hallway Song.   He has ideas for centers, classroom management, and even classroom organization.   I am excited about using his tips when we start back to school next week.  Check him out!

More...

Some more video Sam took!

Wild Child

Confession...I am a huge Joan Jett fan (I went as her for Halloween last year, even though my first graders thought I was a "Guitar Hero" girl!).  I stood in the sweltering heat to see her at Stir Cove last year and stood in the pouring rain to see her in Manchester, Iowa last Friday.  We took these pictures and a little video:

She hasn't changed a bit!

A Super Couple!

Keith McGuffey and Megan Horton were married on June 11th.  This is a personalized tile I had made for them.

Megan and Keith McGuffey as Wonder Woman and Superman!  This was drawn by Phil Hester, a comic book artist whose work includes Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Ant Man, and Godzilla.   It really does look like them!

 Cookies we ordered from Eileen's for the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception.  It was a beautiful (and fun!) wedding.

Blogging Instructionally: What did I learn?

As I've previously stated, I started a teacher blog after finding so many ideas posted by other teachers on their blogs.  For a while, I just stalked other blogs, gathering information and activities that other teachers so generously shared.  What I found was inspiring and got me out of my routine (or rut!), which often occurs when teachers become overwhelmed with curriculum and assessments.  After several months, I finally realized that I have ideas that others may be able to use as well.  My friend Rachael helped me set this up, and I started posting pictures and ideas from my own classroom.   Although I put information about it in my weekly newsletters, none of my parents chose to follow, perhaps because it was so late in the year.  I'm hoping this will change in the coming school year and plan to introduce our class blog from the very beginning.  It is my hope that it will become a good resource for parents as they are able to see what we are doing in B3 in real-time, as well as a resource for other teachers as I make and post more materials to supplement our curriculum.  Take a look at Justin Tarte's 10 reasons to get educators blogging... if you are looking for a reason to blog! 

A Look at Leonard Lawrence: The School Tour

Leonard Lawrence Elementary School

Welcome!

The Office

Our Expectations

Our Library

A comfy spot to read in our library!

Our Classroom

Where the magic happens!

Our Computer Lab

Time for recess!  Hope you had fun on your tour of LL!