Mindset shifting

Today, I received recognition of my 15 years with the district.  WOW - I wish that I would have gotten a picture of the moment...but it seems surreal.  15 years ago, I started my job as a recent mom of 2, newly married, and finishing up my master's degree.  It was a crazy leap of fair to move from part time to full time while 9 months pregnant.  I interview at 9 months, delivered the baby a week later, then started the new job 5 weeks later during Halloween week.  It was a wild ride.

After all of the awards was time for the kick off motivational speaker Niki Spears.  Niki Spears link
Her main book is 

I love this title!  It was all about being grateful, being aware, and more!  One theme is changing our frame of mind.  I really need to be more positive.  It got me thinking about my end of summer camping trip.  

I had 48 hours to be present and grateful with 5 of my 6 children.  My 12 year old requested a real campout this summer so I made it happen.  On Sunday afternoon in a pouring down rainstorm, we loaded up the mini van with a tent, cooler of food, clothes, and anything else.  We forgot pillows, fire starter (lighter), and a hot pad/oven mitt.  Luckily I thought of two of them on the way up and stopped at Dollar General.

We traveled 2.5 hours north to Letchworth State Park.  We checked into the campground and got to our campsite with sunny clear skies but scary looking radar.

Quickly, our team assembled a tent, unloaded sleeping bags and clothes, and put up the canopy and shelter.  Plus a few of the littles were looking for sticks and pine cones and small fire wood pieces.  

1 hour later (just as we finished) a crack of thunder told us the nice weather was ending.  

Dinner got started over the fire but dry wood was limited as well as kindling. We pre-packed foil pouches with ham steak, potatoes, corn, carrots, onions, and peppers!  YUM!!!

After dinner it was getting late so we walked to the camp store and got some firewood pieces and checked out the goodies.  We met our neighbor!  A cool lady from Florida...my children adored talking to her, touring her skoolie, and more!

It rained off and on all night...the tent worked pretty well with an extra tarp on top (thanks to our friend Bud for this tip!)  

Monday brought a relaxing morning...Ben taught us how to make eggs in a plastic bag.  Some chose to add ham and cheese.  Overall, the worked except our grate over the fire shifted and nearly spilt all of the HOT water and we did not have a hot pad/pot holder.  I also brought oatmeal.  Lucas declared that he preferred mushy oatmeal not crunchy oatmeal as we were packing up food.  He did not understand that we would be adding water or milk to them at camp. 

Then we did figure out that we had to reserve tickets for the tour of the Mount Morris Dam in person (or ahead of time online).   So I dashed off to reserve tickets as they cleaned up breakfast and the tent.  It worked better than at home!!!
I got to see some cool sites on my adventure for tickets like a turkey vultures up close. 

Upon my return, we learned that the pool was closed - BIG BUMMER.  The park is LONG and skinny so everything is NORTH like the dam and pool or SOUTH like the falls, overlook, museums, nature center and more.  So we did not want to head south for a few hours to only head north but we decided to explore the ANT (Autism Nature Trail) trail and visitor center.   These were close together and part of Ben's research for a possible Eagle Scout project idea.  

Afterwards we did stop in the nature center as the rain returned and caught them feeding the black rat snake a mouse.  Yuck and interesting simultaneously.  Ben took a 4 minute video if you care to watch.

Then we dashed off to the Mount Morris Dam in hopes of a tour.  This was so cool...we walked out onto the dam then went inside of the dam.  It is a restricted area only open for 1-2 tours a day.  Plus there is a video and small museum there.  

We got to walk out to the dam, enter the tower, and take an elevator DOWN into the dam and explore the tunnels.

  

We returned for dinner - walking tacos - which turned out so good!  After dinner was clean up and then lights on the middle falls.  The neighbor, @conchtownbus on Instagram joined us on this adventure.  It was breath-taking and again a random down pour.  

BREATH TAKING MIDDLE FALLS

The begging for an extended stay was in high gear, but I had to return to reality on Tuesday for a back to school event, a scout activity, and my 15 year award mentioned above. 

Tuesday was camp pack up and seeing the Letchworth Museum, the Council grounds, a playground, and a trip to one more waterfall!  Again the pool was closed :(

Fun at the upper falls!  

Family selfie

Breakfast of champions

It was an amazing trip proving that I could do a crazy trip like this.  I got to re-connect with my kids, talk, laugh, dance in the rain (Ben played lots of fun music on his phone!), and see their strengths shine!

This experience came full circle during our motivational speaker today.  I still want to be camping but know that I have this core memory and can create more of these moments.  

Now to make memories with my students this school year.  I am excited to beef up my cyber security curriculum, incorporate new lessons, continue to re-use pre-covid activities and robots.  

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts and adventures!  

Summer Recap

As summer wanes and back to school emails and meetings pop up, I am faced with the same reality every year.  Time to regroup mentally, celebrate the good days, and realize that I had an amazing summer.

But summer isn't over...so let us celebrate some of the good days.

Library trips - so many awesome programs.  We did 5 official programs including graphic novel bingo, Tamarack animals, making sand art, glow forge ocean tiles, and even a beach in a jar.  There might have been more trips but these were the big ones.

Pool visiting - two trips our local pool, one to another across town, and one visit to our cousin's pool

Lake visiting - two trips to Lake Erie so far...one with school friends and one with family!

Science Museums - One day to see the Carnegie Science Center and one night to the Buffalo Science Center.  Both included visits with family!!

Family reunions - That was one busy weekend of seeing family from Minnesota, Florida, Ohio, and more places.  I love re-connecting and making memories with family :)

Cape Cod - We kicked off summer with a huge trip to Cape Cod for 5.5 days in June - so much fun seeing Boston, Salem, Plymouth, Providence Town and so much more.  Plus this was with FAMILY!!!

Fruit Picking - our property has the cutest strawberries in late June...then raspberries...then blackberries and cloud berries...and now ELDERBERRIES!  Okay some of the elderberries grow more on our neighbors side of the "woods" but they let us pick them and make jelly with them!  YUM
Plus we got to visit a co-workers peach orchard and another visit to pick blueberries.  

Celebrate the 814 - Art Museum, zoo trips, children's museum (with good friends), Bicentennial Tower (with family), Land Lighthouse (with family), LOTS of playground trips, National Night Out, hikes at Headwaters, mini-golf, local theater, pirate cruise with grandma, and more!!!

I wonder why summer flew by then I think of all the fun that we packed into the summer.  Here are a few pictures...I wish that I could have created a collage but I like the option of captions. 

Thank you for everyone that I saw and still have a list of people that I wish that I could have seen or spent time with.  

PLUS we are squeezing in a 48 hour camping trip before my first day back!!!  

Local area pool

Blueberry picking

Library art classes

Love the IDEA lab

Peach picking - it was SO HOT!

Peach picking

Mini golf big chair

Chuck E Cheese bucket list request by Lucas and Cadia

Erie Land Lighthouse

Land light house

More lighthouse

Under the stars in Buffalo

Buffalo Museum night

Erie Zoo fun

Carnegie Science Center with my cousin!

New obsession - Bubble TEA

Feeding the fish at Pymatuming

Zoo trip

Creek walking

4th of July fireworks

Children's Museum with friends

Report card freebies - Krispy Kreme

More Krispy Kreme fun

Training in Harrisburg

Cape Cod fun

Time with my sister

Looking for fun

Ocean fun

More Cape Cod adventures

So I am going back to celebrating and ignoring reality for a few more days ;)  

ROOT VEGGIE CAKES !?!?

 One of the items that I added to our STEAM program was the farm to table aspect of our school garden!  I work with our amazing physical education teacher.  We each have our important roles in this process.

My favorite activity is doing farm to table lessons with my students...including squash pasta, zucchini bread, cauliflower pizza, and more!  It is a LABOR of love!!!  But often these lessons are big memories for the students.

Gardens grow during the summer and school is not in session.  So I have to freeze and preserve as much as possible in the summer or share with our food pantry!  Or I get crazy creative and make root vegetable cakes - yes this is a new adventure!

This week was ROOT veggie fun.  On Friday, I picked the root vegetables.  I started by checking the carrots.  The seed starter pods constricted the way that they grew making tangled skinny carrots but so many bright colors!

Fun crazy carrots

Then I moved to the beets.  They were also ready!  Plus the radishes.  Honestly, I left with two piles - carrots and mystery items.  I tried to process root vegetables last year and it was one of my first fails. I am not sure what it was but boiling it made my house stink and they were not appetizing to look at or taste.  I am a bit nervous to adventure into other root veggies to be 100% honest.  But they are in the garden and now on my table...so here we go!

1 turnip
long skinny radishes
bulb shaped beets

On Sunday, I started by peeling processing the crazy carrots.  This was a labor of love.  Usually, I have a tribe of helpers but this was not feasible with these carrots.  What a metaphor for life - no matter the color on the outside - most were still orange on the inside!  

Next, I tackled my mystery red root veggies.  I cut the end off a little one and it was a beet.  I thought that the rest might be beets despite not being beet shaped.  The leaves were all similar.

I researched beet and carrot recipe since when I was done peeling and trimming my carrot pile was no long so impressive or enough for a carrot cake.  I learned how to process the beets and decided to start peeling those. 

Quickly, I realized that they were a mix of radishes and beets.  So next I divided the beets and radishes.  I peeled the beets and added those to the bowl of carrots.  It was so pretty and vibrant!  I took a picture when we were almost done shredding the carrots and beets.

Peeled carrots

So step 1 - peel the carrots and peel the beets!  Next shred - I use a food processor.  Finally, make the cake.  I only had 2 eggs and was apprehensive.  So I split the recipe for round 1.

The mixture was a pinky color with veggie flecks.  It was like nature's confetti!  I took a picture.  

Batter ready for the oven

It cooked and it was delicious!! It will freeze until Back to School night for families to sample!!!

ALL DONE!!

I have bought more eggs and ready to try the chocolate radish cake tomorrow!  This one is a bit more of a challenge...I usually compare and contrast multiple recipes and this is only one that I can find.  There is a Chinese turnip dish with a similar name.  But we shall see!

Here is the recipe link - Carrot and Beet Cake

The radish recipe to try tomorrow - Radish cake ?!?!?

Look for updates on the root veggie cakes and reviews from families! Plus I have 1 pesky turnip to address as well.  Not sure what to do with that YET!

Projects!

I see teachers who are reading stacks of books, going on epic adventures, hanging out with girl friends, and finding lots of family fun.  I have read one graphic novel, seen a few friends, and gone on a few adventures...but projects are the focus of this summer so far.

My summer  feels like a series of home projects and a BIG work project.  Not a bad place to be but not the same ;)

What are some of my some home projects?
First I want to re-do the area for my picnic table.  First I dug up ALL of the rocks, then the old grass/weeds!  Then a neighbor rototilled it to make it easier to level and rake.  This was in May.  

My next steps are raking it flat, laying down landscape fabric, then replacing the large stone pavers.  Ben is going to help me re-do the picnic table for his family life merit badge.  Taking it apart, replace the rotten boards, spray painting the metal, and then re-assembling.  I hope that Sunday is a productive work day for this project.

Here are some before/mid project...YES it is way over grown and a mess.  The table is not much better!

Another series of projects is cleaning up the house.  I started on the basement last week. I need to make a trip to a consignment store then maybe switch some of my summer/winter clothes out and maybe thin them down.  I really can't do too much any day...but inch by inch it will be a cinch ;)  CLEANING UP my kitchen counters, my kids rooms, etc... are all on the goal/wish list.  We shall see.  
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IF YOU TEACH AT WAMS DISCLAIMER! 
Cleaning up a library collection is a lot like cleaning out a closet.  It has to be done.  There has not been official librarian at WAMS in 8 years!!!!

The big daunting work project is a complete overhaul of the middle school library in a summer.  Last year was the high school media center.

Without a librarian, there were over stuffed shelves, a library missing critical books in series, and not 100% safe.  The first goal was to remove non-fiction that is out of date.  

Our goal was to eliminate most non-fiction before 2000.  This leaves books that are 22 years old.  Sports, technology, space, and many other topics are out of date after 22 years, but it is a starting point.

Next, we wanted to pull EVERYTHING off the top and bottom shelves to make them in line with ADA recommendations.  

Another goal was to remove large numbers of duplicates.  Pulling off the books is step 1.  7 copies of one older Newbery book like "Crispin" is a bit excessive.  1-2 books of each title is PLENTY!!!

The next step is to then re-arrange the remaining books to make sense, be user friendly, and follow the ADA guidelines above.  The goal was to leave the fiction and non-fiction about the same.  The biographies were completely re-located to be easier to find and be closer to the non-fiction.  Classics and Newbery award winning books were put in their own section to honor these older books.  Finally, all of the series were put together is an accessible area. 

The books are no longer on LOW shelves around the 'teaching pit'.  Yes...there is a pit area.  The books are no longer on the very top and bottom shelves, and ready for signage.  Plus the shelves are no longer over stuffed.  After summer cleaning, we hope to make some dynamic shelving displays (where you put a book at the end to draw attention to that shelf!)

Are we done yet?  NOPE....

Then these books have to be discarded from the computer system, sent to the school board for approval, then each book's barcode needs to be "blacked" out and the book stamped discard.  

Finally, books are distributed to staff and students.  Any left will be re-located to the elementary for storage or another book buying company.  None will go to the trash.  

Another step is to add labels, complete a full inventory, and eventually order new books to fill in gaps in series, non-fiction, etc...

It is a daunting process.  About 5,500 books are being removed.  A large box is going to the high school with old back stock which are more appropriate at the high school.  Finally a few will replace copies at the elementary center.  

Here is some of the progress photos!  I do not have many BEFORE pictures...but the after counts ;)

Some of the series of books especially if they have multiple authors.

Non-fiction (first half)

Fiction shelves with less on them!

New space for biographies and Who Was series.

Here is a before and after of non-fiction:

BEFORE!!! See the super tall and low shelves stuffed FULL!  Not ideal for a modern library. 
Quality over quantity :)

AFTER!!!  Same wall - just more of an over view but see the open spaces on the shelves, less books shoved in, and none at the top or  bottom.

I would love a week of no projects, no planned activities, etc... We shall see!  Plus we are upgrading wiring at our house to be safer and might keep working on the barn project like the concrete floor.  I am whooped from the middle school projects.  So working 7:30-1:30 leaves me ready for a nap not a home project ;)