Short week reflection

I am trying to get back to consistently posting each week.  Finding my photos can sync with Google Photos means less cutting and pasting from my phone.  I still need to figure out cropping/editing.  But I can get phones directly on my computer which is AWESOME.

Here is an update from Elementary STEAM land:

Monday was a holiday/snow day...last day of family recovery from the illness monsters.

Tuesday was a 2 hour delay so that the community could unbury from 20+ inches of snow.

Wednesday and Thursday were normal days. 

Friday was a work day for teachers - a time to clean up (3 bags of trash out, book discards re-organized,  Cardboard tubes re-collected, return items to their proper location, give away other unwanted items, etc...) Plus worked on plans for our heart challenge and upcoming art and music activities.

Finally, time to sit and reflect and plan some lessons.  This was a a gift!  I love this moment.

So what did we work on in STEAM this week...lots to catch up on Code.org as well as AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) in 4th grade.  Always willing to try new lessons.  The IU lending library has been working with our district to try out new technologies.  So here we go!  I needed a way to use the technology.  They were truly playing with merge cubes not learning through the merge cubes.  So I needed a way to make it work.  

Here are few 3rd grade projects too from their snowflakes...We used a buffet of shapes to create these!

Finally, an updated picture of rotting Pumpkin Jack

SHAPE SNOWFLAKES:  

                                                 

MERGE CUBES and QUIVER - both versions of AR - Augmented reality applications

PUMPKIN JACK!

I will post more soon...this is just a short post to say that we are managing and ready for a more normal week next week!  

Stay warm and healthy - keep pushing yourself to try something new - treasure each moment.  

Crazy week update

 I honestly do not have much to post on this page.  Covid 19 finally shut my family down from two angles.  1st time that we are directly affected in 21 months!

I have been at home since Saturday night and it has been surreal. 
I left Saturday for 1 activity thinking that we were all healthy and no one told us to stay home.  

As an aside, I have been following the recommendations of our school district pandemic coordinator.  So if any of this posts is against your views...know that each decisions was directed/led by the professionals in my district NOT me making my choice.

But here is my story:

First, my son started with a headache and fever on Thursday.  He stayed at home Thursday and Friday.  The healthy family members could still attend school and activities since we did not have a test result...just wear a mask and be smart.

Friday night, I gave my oldest a ride home from work while her car was being repaired.  She was negative that morning when she took a test to return to school.  On Saturday night, she called to say that she was now POSITIVE.  That put me out on Monday-Wednesday as a "close contact".  But I felt fine!

Monday we took my son to the doctor for a return note for school which led to a Covid test.  On Wednesday, we found out he was a positive.  But Thursday through Tuesday (1/6 to 1/11) was his isolation with the updated guidelines from the CDC.  So back to school he went on Wednesday.  

But because of the positive test, the rest of the siblings and myself are now in "isolation/quarantine" so instead of returning to school Thursday and Friday.  I ended up being out ALL week.

Long story short, the positive kid is back in school and the mostly healthy kids and mom are at home.  We have joked about sending him out to Dollar General down the road for milk since he is the only who is supposed to leave the house.  We are masking and trying to sanitize and wash everything. 

The guidelines are hard to follow and keep changing.  

Overall, we have stayed relatively healthy.  I missed some fun lessons at school and really do not know how STEAM went.  I typically can check in or pop in after hours to check on life, but not right now.  

I left an easier paper snowflake project for 2nd - 4th grade.  2nd grade might have done pebble go research on snow?  3rd and 4th grade explored Interland which is a Google Internet Safety activity.

Be Internet Awesome Game Link

K and 1 worked on symmetry penguins.  I really wanted to see the cute results.  I left some possible penguin research on Pebble Go.  Thanks to Instagram - Penguin inspiration

Here is my example before eyes and a beak!

I will not know what happened or how it went until Tuesday.  I do know that Monday-Thursday that I had the same sub and a new one today.  Most of my classes were actually covered!  

It has been a lesson in letting go, loving my family, accepting this crazy disease, and lots of family time.  

Next week, I hope to do my shape snowflakes, melting snow experiments, arctic animal stations, penguin coloring, and augmented reality!  So much to plan and no way to copy worksheets, prep activities, etc...

Time to check on 6th and 8th grade math.  It is like running a one room school or virtual learning where no one wants to do anything but must do something.

Stay warm...stay healthy...create some memories even in the chaos!  

January is SNOW much fun

 We are back in school during the first week of  January.  It was nice to see students and get them back in the routine. 

One big goal was re-starting/updating technology, making sure CLEVER was bookmarked, wrapping up old lessons/units, etc...

Plus some fun learning!  One thing that almost every class did was talk about the DECOMPOSING of Pumpkin Jack.  He is an ugly shrinking brown pumpkin - sort of.   The life cycle of pumpkin is very captivating to all ages.

                     

                       

Next, Kindergarten and first grade talked about how snowflakes are made using a short Wild Krats clip.

Then we used pattern shapes to talk about symmetry and patterns.  I showed the students three examples of shape snowflakes.  Then they created their own shape snowflakes.  Here are a few K and 1 creations.

Grade 2 - also talked about snowflakes but focused on creating radial symmetry, practicing following directions, and making a paper snowflake.  There was one super challenging step but the results were AWESOME.  Unfortunately, I got zero paper snowflake pictures this week.  

Here was my inspiration - paper snowflake directions

Grade 3 and 4 worked a variety of activities.  One third grade class had to finish marble runs, one fourth grade class had to finish light holiday cards with paper circuits, some tried Interland, most of 3rd grade started code.org, and a review of EduTyping.

It was a busy week with few pictures of the older students work.  I am excited by more paper snow flakes, symmetrical penguins, and maybe moldable snow creations this week.  We shall see! 

So far, I am doing well keeping up with my One Word goal/project on creating MEMORIES at home and work.  My big project is off to a good start :)

Plus we got an Instapot at home - it has been so fun to try new recipes.  Super fast and tasty food so far. Here was our first meal - potatoes and chicken - they cooked together - but were served separate.  

Our final activity of holiday break was family skate time!  We went with my brother-in-law and his four kids from Florida.  My kids and I had a blast.  Here are a few pictures but lots of MEMORIES were made!  

Older cousins helping Lucas

             
          

Goodbye 2021 - Hello 2022

 I do a year in review each year.  It is fun to think back from year to year.

I recently found some cool statistics about my blog.  So I thought that I would share them here:

Here is my views - I am really curious why I saw a HUGE spike in October.  I was off Facebook from October 2 - December 30 because I was hacked.  Most people that I keep in touch with are on this social media platform.  I tried Instagram but didn't get the followers and clicking links in Instagram is a challenge.  I use Twitter but often forget to post there or really check it!

So here are my page views for the year:

Top 3 posts was also fun to look at...Bone Bridges is an old post that was my top views until it was trumped by Goblin in the Notch!  Plus my yearly New Years post!

So more about the past year. 

I picked ENOUGH as my word of the year from 2021.   I think that this fit the continued pandemic lifestyle.  I was doing enough...

Last year, I also started two podcasts which are progressing but fell way behind...but I focus on progress...I am doing ENOUGH!

In the Bible in a Year, we are on day 195 out of 365.  This is restarting tomorrow...but I am going to just keep trucking along on the 2021 version until we finish then decide where to go next!  You can learn about it here - Bible in a YEAR

Plus I was listening to the Diary of St. Faustina read by another blogger.  I made it to day 186 out of 365.  Same theory - if I was better at using earbuds - I might be farther along - but on a quiet Saturday morning listening is not always easy.  These are just excuses - but I am doing ENOUGH to learn about Divine Mercy and my faith through this journey.  Diary of St. Faustina

SO WHAT IS MY GOALS FOR 2022 and what am I working on.  

First, I am going to focus on creating a more permanent record of my social media posts.  I don't want to share too much yet!  This might be a bit too big of a project.

Second, I need to pick my ONE WORD!  You can learn about this from my 2020 post New Year 2020.

Here is some of my words from the past:
2021 - ENOUGH

2020 - ENGAGED
2019 - CREATIVITY

2018 - PATIENCE

2017 - TRUST

2016 - FOCUS

SO ARE YOU READY FOR THE 2022 WORD?  SO AM I!  

MEMORIES - I am going to be focusing on recording memories for myself, my family, and my students.  I think that we need to find ways to create a legacy in a technological world.  

Part of this is saving my MEMORIES from facebook since 2009!

One important thing is sharing how to keep your facebook account "safer" from hackers.  I learned this a little to late.  Basically, you can have some trusted friends/family who can go in and help you retrieve your account if it gets hacked or locked.  

I created this screen shot to show you were to find this hidden security GEM!

DO YOU HAVE A WORD PICKED FOR 2022 yet?

De'STEM'ber

 I love the idea...but wow is it a lot of prep, set-up, and clean up.  You will find many of the links on last year's post De'STEM'ber 2020

4th grade is doing paper circuits...these are so cool but work best done one on one! Here is a link to my resource - Makerspaces Holiday Cards

3rd grade did tessellation trees...pictures to follow and kept working on simple machines.  Now they are creating marble runs!  This is going so well and I have just the right amount of tubes...plus lots of boxes!

2nd grade made holiday bookmarks last week and gingerbread houses this week. 

1st grade is working on upcycled trees!  These allow for scissor practice (desperately needed), following directions, and more.

These are so colorful and fun! 

Kindergarten created my favorite little reindeer...plus we watched sci show kids on reindeer facts!  

love the eye lashes

I need to find 1 more cool K/1 plan to wrap up De'STEM'ber...

Traveling Mural is colored and ready to mail...plus we got our 1st 2 pieces back!

Jingles adventures 2021

 Every day or two...I will share Jingles latest adventure  :)

November 29th...Genesis 1:26-31...creation of the world...here is our Jingles update

Day 4...December 1

Jingles took a pretty hard fall on Tuesday...so here is our solution 

note might need revised  ;)

Bowl with cotton balls and ice packs...plus an apple  ;)

Today is Noah and the elf is building a boat puzzle!

Today the Jesse tree depicts a tent...so Jingles built a blanket fort!

blanket fort/tent

they are hiding underneath  ;)

Today did not have a great connection...so they are just hanging around ;)

Sunday's December 5 was a ladder for the Jesse Tree...so out came this doll ladder.  No elf picture on it...

Monday December 6th is St. Nicholas Day...so they are looking at the shoe treasures fondly!

Yesterday was Moses and a basket...so Jingles hung out in our onion/catch all bin in our kitchen.

Wednesday December 8th brings the 10 Commandments...now 11 ;)

Then we have Ruth gleaning wheat...so into the flour bucket for Jingles 

My husband created an awesome skiing accident yesterday morning  ;)

Jesse tree ornaments 

I need to catch up Jingles adventures!

This was to go with David battling Goliath

...his marshmallow ammunition was eaten and the battle scene attacked  ;)

The image was a dove...so we had all of them flying.

I missed the Tupperware boat this week.  Cadia declared that I was crazy for creating this scene...not the elf!

Today starts O Antiphons which was totally new to me.  Think of the song...O Come O Come Emmanuel.

So this was fun...minus 11 PM drop of the cheerio box while the believing 8th grader was still partial awake from a nap!

O Antiphons explained

Well not every day is epic in the life of the elf...here are a few more snippets and updated pictures.

Here is our updated Jesse Tree from Holy Heroes.

O Antiphons...it should make an O

Jesse Tree as on 12/21

Breakfast time...green pancakes for green day at school!