Celebrate 5/16

We traded in our old car for a fun, new Toyota Venza. It is so much fun to drive and I love the bluetooth audio that will pick up my phone’s audio player. I have loved being able to listen to my audiobook on the drive to and from school.

2. Professional Development opportunities: Last week, I attended EdCamp Milwaukee. I absolutely love the opportunity to hear about innovation in other people’s classrooms. I left with a head full of ideas for gamification, makerspaces, and tweaks to my genius hour time. I am also looking forward to SummerSpark, which is another conference in the Milwaukee area. I cannot wait to hear Dave Burgess speak! I was able to get on the website and register for my sessions this week and I know I will have a great two days there.  I also sent in my registration for All Write summer conference this week. I am so excited to drive down to attend that conference full of rock stars. I also can’t wait to meet people face to face!

3. Author Events:

I saw on Twitter that Jarrett Krosoczka was doing free virtual book talks on May 5th as part of the publicity for his new Platypus Police Squad book. We tuned in to see him talk and answer questions from classes all over the United States. This was such a cool and interesting thing to see. My students loved that they were able to see the author in real time.

We also had Jonathan Maberry visit our school on Thursday. The students were enthusiastic and listening with rapt attention as he spoke to them about his books and about being a writer. His new book The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army is a middle grade fantasy book. He also talked to the kids a little bit about his Rot and Ruin series. The graphic novel of Rot and Ruin just came out on Tuesday, by the way. The questions our students asked were amazing and I loved that we learned so much from this visit. I love being the person who is responsible for bringing this type of experience to our students. It is worth every extra second I spend on organizing.

4. Time with Family: In the last two weeks, we have spent more time with family. Two weeks ago, we participated in WalkMS with my parents, my uncle, my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. It is nice to walk in an event like that with the support of loved ones. Then, we went to my brother’s house for my nephew’s fourth birthday party. The day was spent surrounded by family and enjoying our time together. Then, last weekend, I had everyone over for Mother’s Day. I was happy to be able to cook a nice meal for my mother and to have another great time together. My nephew is such fun to be around!

An action shot of my nephew playing with my husband. Yes, that is me in the mirror. Not the best photography, but what can you do?

5. Winding down the school year: We have four weeks left to go. It is so close to the end of the year.  We will be sprinting for that finishing line as we cram in some more learning. My students are eagerly working on some inquiry projects that I hope will sustain momentum. We have finished all the testing and now we need to continue to learn, but also celebrate our time together. I have had a really topsy-turvy school year and I am looking forward to some time off this summer and a new group of students next year.