Superheroes

 I left yesterday exhausted and was greeted by this sign as I left the parking lot!

This made me smile and feel appreciated.

Then today, I got a bag with an awesome "pick me up" note and a new mask!

I don't see myself as a superhero, but maybe I should add a cape to my attire ;)

Thank you to my fellow teachers, aides, administrators, school employees, parents, and students...together it will be a SUPER 2020 school year.

Back to School

I waited until this week to dive into deep back to school preparations.  My lesson plans written in my mind for weeks...but setting up desks (6 feet apart), displays, materials, etc. waited for final decisions and last minute changes.

I am in awe of the time, dedication, and creativity of my colleagues and peers. Color coding, numbering, spacing, and more... I want to tour every room for a myriad of ideas. 

As the week went on, I realized small "errors" or "oversights".  I wrote an awesome outdoor lesson plan for Kindergarten, but nothing for a rainy day!  Now this is all ready too!

Yesterday was a long final push to be ready to teach in a pandemic.  Schedules printed, desks numbered, extra desks found, etc...

Plus I had a few garden tasks to attend to. Set up a cart for kindergarten.  Send emails.  The list could go on.

One task, that I have been chipping away at for two weeks was taking a high school lab and converting it to a functional elementary STEAM room.  It works...I think student art work will make it feel like home! More displays are coming after week 1 since students aren't in yet! Still feels sterile.

Outside the room...fall theme for grade 3 and 4

They will sit at every other chair in 3rd and 4th grade!

Plus my regular STEAM room needed set up too!

I got new updated windows yesterday!

My 1st and 2nd graders will be here. Kindergarten will be in their homeroom or outside for STEAM. 

The new floor will be awesome.  More sanitary and easier to use in STEAM.

After 7 hours, I returned home tired but with more to do. Now came the material preparation.  I love pattern blocks, but no more centers meant a total change in set up.  My own children and I bagged up 15 bags with the necessary pieces (10 green triangles, 2 orange squares, 10 blue parallelograms, 8 red trapezoids, etc...)

I used some new pattern block templates from Jessica's Corner of Cyberspace. Those had to be printed and copied then placed into plastic sheet protectors for sanitary purposes.

Then came bags of LEGOS.  We created 51 snack baggies of LEGOS.  So that they can be washed and sanitized each night!  I am hoping that students will embrace the mini LEGO challenges.

Here are 25 baggies

Playing/practicing/modeling how to tackle this challenge.

I created a ship with my baggie!

I am comparing this weekend to the last few days before having a new baby.  There are the doubts, fears, concerns, excitement, anticipation, etc.... You re-read and re-think...you try to disconnect but can't totally separate from the new reality waiting in the near future.  This may be a crazy analogy or comparison but my honest feelings.

Look for updates and some pictures in about 10 days (I see students for 5 days...so I won't see my 5th group until Monday, September 14).  

I am ready to face a new year...new challenges...hopefully with creativity, grace, and patience.

Off to start fall 2020! I can't wait to see my students for the 1st time in nearly 6 months.

We can do this!

Scouting

Scouting has allowed my children to learn and grow as well as have some "normalcy" in these crazy times.  

When my son was in 3rd grade, he came home saying that he wanted to try cub scouts.  I was clueless, but went to the information session and ended up signing him up on the spot.  A bit of arm twisting, tear filled eyes (from him), and papers in my lap contributed to this decision.  It was not my choice, but he was adamant to try!  We stumbled through the first year.  New terminology, new activities, new experiences...but Ben and I did it together with the help of many new friends.  I was only expecting to keep him happy not make life changes.  I signed up for a meeting a week to teach him a few things that I couldn't living in a more urban setting.  

The next school year, his brother was in Kindergarten and started the relatively new Lion program.  He has grown to love scouting.  This past weekend, he joined me on a family camp out.  He was the only cub scout, but LOVED being with the bigger "boys".  

Simultaneously, our daughter who is between these two siblings found and joined a Girl Scout group at our local elementary school.  This group of girls are super bright, creative, and fun-loving.  Meetings and events are the highlights that she looks forward too!

Over the past 4 years, scouting has becoming an integral part of our lives.  So when the pandemic hit in March and they declared - NO SCHOOL - NO SCOUTING...I was devastated for them.  March, April, and May were super quiet...no meetings, no running, nothing...

June came and we found that scouting was back in our lives in a variety of ways, but still awesome!

Girl Scouts had an outdoor challenge and then video taped activities for the girls to complete "fun" patches at home.  Bella has worked through about 5 of these.  They are designed for an hour, but she really works on them and adds her own unique details.  This is a positive use of YouTube.  She has done Duct Tape art, Fairy Houses, Pie Making, Upcycled Jewelry, and just started Ice Cream.  This has allowed her to challenge herself to watch a video and complete the steps!

Cub Scouts has returned virtually throughout the summer for TJ.  The regional group has had ZOOM sessions to watch and discuss and learn.  He has done fish, butterflies, bike safety, first aid, and even Zumba!  He looks forward to seeing a few familiar faces and learning something new.  These are like field trips from our kitchen table,

BSA (Boy Scouts) has been huge for our oldest son during this summer.  His small group of 12 has re-united and are having a blast.  They re-created a small summer camp, went canoeing, built cardboard boats, and even did a family campout.  Everything occurs outdoors and 6 feet apart whenever possible but full of FUN!  He needs to see other little humans like himself.  

I know that sports are on and off.  I know that some families are looking for human interaction for their children.  

This is just my personal journey and story...not a paid endorsement.  Everyone needs to find a place in the community to belong.  My family has found scouting!  

We each have to find our ways to survive the pandemic...here is one of the ways that we have stayed "normal".

Ben modeling his new scout shirt

Prizes last night at Peddle Paddle
He peddled 3 miles around Eaton Reservoir on his bike and did a canoe race across part as well! 

Picture from our family campout at Buckaloons

TJ modeling his new helmet earlier this summer

Paper airplanes were a super fun zoom meeting for him

This is how Bella figured out how to roll her pie crust dough out

A complete fairy garden from Bella!  

HERE ARE SOME LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

BSA and cub scouts - start with this website BSA

Here is the link for  Girl Scouts

Elderberry Jelly

Time for me to conquer ELDERBERRY JELLY!  I do not want to lose all this information - so I am putting it here for future reference.

So for 3 years, I have collected elderberries and froze the berries in my freezer.  When we first found them...my husband and oldest daughter dissolved into quoting "Monty Python"!

Here is a meme of the quote:

2 weeks ago - I found canning jars at a local thrift store (new in box). Bonus!  Then I bought pectin sure jell and cheese cloth.  It was time to try some thing new!  

STEP 1: Prepping the berries:

Okay - so I start processing the frozen berries...this means removing stems, sticks, and other bits.  It takes about 3 lbs or 4 quarts of elderberries.  An elderberry is small than an eraser on the end of pencil for comparison!  This was a bit painful since I had just shoved them in a bag over the past few falls since back to school and elderberries overlap.  My husband had tackled a large amount last year which was a great find.

STEP 2: Finding a recipe...

First, I do not have a fancy canner and have NEVER done this...so I reached out to my facebook family and friends.  Thank goodness for lots of great ideas and recommendations :)  I used mixed of many ideas out there!  Pinterest was overwhelming me!

Plus I found these two recipes online plus the ones my friend's posted:

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/elderberry_jelly/

https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/060866/surejell-elderberry-jelly

STEP 3: JELLY MAKING

First I brought about 3 lbs of berries to a boil from frozen.  I mashed with a potato masher (found that at the Dollar Tree yesterday) and then simmered as directed in the links above.   I used the bag of berries that my husband processed last fall!  I still have more in the freezer plus they are almost ready to pick this year.  So I am hoping for a second batch soon.

Here are the berries after I boiled, smashed, and simmered.  Hanging out in the strainer/cheese cloth!

The elderberry juice

Next was the "scary" part.  I had to follow the recipe and work with jars and actually "can" the jelly.  

To make the jelly, I began by combining the pectin, juice, and lemon juice in a stock pot.  They warned me that this can get frothy.  These were brought to a BIG boil then we added the 4.5 cups of sugar from the recipes and a bit of butter.  Again get it to a BIG rolling boil for 1 minute.  We then moved it to our table to make it easier.  

My friend, Jamie, gave me directions on canning without a canner.  Here is what she said "We did not do the Water bath any longer when we make jelly. Follow the recipe on the Sure-Jell package for sugar lemon juice pectin and berries bring to a boil skim off the foam. Keep jars hot in oven set at 200°. Pour hot jelly, into hot jars. Sanitize lids, dry, put on jars, put on rings, tighten, flip upside down on towel. Leave set for 15-20 minutes. Flip over and check for the seal by pressing on center of the lid. NO NEED FOR COLD PACKING"

So here is what we did!  Hot jelly on the table on a towel still in the pot...jars in the oven on a cookie sheet...lids in a deep skillet in boiling water.  I grabbed a hot jar out of the oven carefully.  Handed that to my husband at the table. He added the jelly.  While he did this, I got the seal part out and DRIED (it is the flat part of the lid).  Handed it off then I went back for the ring and dried it off.  He put on the seal and lid then flipped them over. 
Repeat....

Here are the cute little jars!

YUM!

Tips that we learned.  Fill the jars fuller than you think.  Okay - I am corrected - you have to lead some "head" space.  There is a "neck" on the jars to fill up to.  I think that we guessed about right! 
Two adults working together worked well.  Any that don't seal, you put those in the refrigerator first and use them up!  Mine all seemed to have sealed!!!

So hopefully, I inspired you to try a new recipe or process.  It seems to have worked! Even my non-jelly liking husband tried a bit.  

Updates:

My grandmother made jelly with me when I was 5....I wish that I had a memory or a picture of this experience!

Plus I noticed that it was time to start the process over again - back to picking!  I decided to not just freeze a mess but actually process after picking.  I am up two out of the need three pounds already and the trees are super full of more berries.  You want berries to be closer to a deep purple than a light green!

Some of them off the branch!

Clipped off tree

The Digital Librarian's Survival Guide

I have never written a book and really do not consider myself a writer.  So somewhere in the chaos of Covid and online teaching, I decided to join a group of librarian's to write a crowdsourced book.

This was a moment of growth and learning.  The original deadline was June 10.  My section was originally entitled "Building your Tribe", but for cultural sensitivity it is now called "Connecting Through Social Media".  My next fun was taking screen shot videos using LOOM and Screencastify.  The day that I planned out was right after the riots in May.  So find not culturally sensitive posts on social media on that Sunday?  Good luck!

The deadline was extended for sharing it out to allow for additions and editing and ON SATURDAY AUGUST 15 it is now officially LIVE for you to read!

Here is the link to the book.  This allows the creator and mastermind to keep data!

The Digital Librarian's Survival Guide

It was a collection for any teacher, educator, librarian, and even parents.  This book showcases the possibilities in digital learning, but no educator can do it ALL!

Leave a few comments here on what you think!

Here is the cover of the book:

Cleaning

Here is a brutally honest post and self reflection, but maybe I will inspire someone to complete a task that you were avoiding or just clean off  the desk or your kitchen counter or eliminate something from your classroom that you might use some day in the future maybe 😉! 

Plus I should be cleaning somewhere in my house or garage and instead I am typing a blog post about cleaning while avoiding cleaning.

I have seen this meme or post several times on social media...which one do think my world looks more like?

I am definitely teacher A...I have added containers and curtains and labels, etc... It doesn't help.  Well, a new floor, no major library projects, and a Teacher B in the other half of my room (the library and STEAM lab are two rooms divided by a wall).  It was a stark contrast between our two spaces.  Most of mine was contained or "hidden".  So once the library was in order, my co-teacher (type B above) helped me dive in to complete a transformation!  

This summer was time to eliminate card board boxes from many STEM kits and robotics that were falling apart.  Now these items are in nice neat totes.  The totes were thanks to our mobile science grant.  Matching containers to store all of materials and know where they are in a moments notice - AWESOME.  Plus we unboxed and re-homed all of the new items bought with the grant including farm to table materials, new robotics, and more!  It was a big task.  To do this, we eliminated many library items stored in the STEAM area like OLD magazines, 3 old encyclopedia sets, yellowed magazine covers, and more!  I needed the shelves for STEAM items not holding onto items.

In addition, I save every scrap of paper, pipe cleaners, straws, q-tips, and more that the students want to throw away.   Time to start new next year.  I love recycled and upcycled projects but some pieces are just past their useful life.  I did save my cardboard tubes (can't pitch everything).  Paper - oy vey - why do I even take papers and handouts at conventions or off site meetings?  Why do I not throw away junk mail?  

My other offense is taking EVERYTHING that another teacher cannot use.  When I started STEAM three years ago, I collected old math manipulatives, old learning centers, and more!  Most of these are not what I needed.  I have expanded my options.  I used many of the items, but some are just taking up space.

Well - here are some pictures of the process.  More to follow!  After pictures, this week when I am in the building.

DISCARDS from the library and STEAM

One weird closet - cleaned up
They have a door but stretch to the sides from the opening and are about two feet deep.

The other closet was gutted and we are just starting to re-load it.

One mid-project picture of the STEAM step area

My clean up didn't start at school but at home.  During the first two weeks of COVID shut down, I started to clean my basement.  It is far from perfect...but I have taken multiple trips to the consignment store that never stopped taking donations!  I organized all of my children's school papers into a box/container for each child.  The crazy thing was that most of the area that I tackled was in paper boxes (not good for long term storage).  I moved things to edges of the basements not the direct middle!  This was good for two reasons...first we got flooded in that exact spot a few weeks later.  In three years in the house, we had NO floods.  I am so thankful that I did this or I would have lost LOTS of special items from baptismal certificates to school memories to probably more.  Second reason,  is that I could put up a table for home learning as the time grew longer.  My 2nd grader really used this space during the month of May. It was not as well used and collected junk, but he could work away from toddlers playing or you tube videos.  I am not DONE but thankful for baby steps.  Hence the reason for no pictures.  I am not 100% happy with the result yet!

Technology is also in need of some housekeeping and updating...

Mine wasn't desktop icons, but EMAIL to start!  My personal email account is one that I just do not use much anymore.  It is tough to access this webmail and I really began to rely on work email address more over the past year.  Well - I missed an email buried in 33,000 emails in this account that meant my son missed his preschool graduation.  😢
They did deliver his goodies, but I still felt bad.  (Note to self and others- check which email account you have mindlessly filled in a form and know which one to check regularly!)

A big mistake means time to take action.  I have deleted over 33,000 emails.  I have saved less than 200.  A few might have been deleted that I wanted but how would I have ever found them.  UNSUBSCRIBE and DELETE have been my favorite choices.  Over the past month...I have tackled about 1000 a day!  Yes...there are not extra zeros.  I am starting on my work email next. Then maybe my third cluttered junk account.

Lucas' pre-k graduation picture from home

So I am not Marie Kondo level or an expert.  But I know that it feels good to complete a task!  

SUMMER READING UPDATE:

Ben and Bella are trying to keep up with their library book club, but it means lots of focus and reading 2-3 chapters a day.  They are not self disciplined and we fell behind.  The book is getting much better, but I had to step in to help out with some reading.  

Plus I am working on Bold School for my book club at work.  So it is just book club fun!  I am getting so many ideas for my first few lessons in  school.  I love pre-thinking, talking with peers, and moving forward during this crazy time in education and our world!

Enjoy SUMMER

Every person has a different opinion on FALL 2020 and schools.  

I am choosing to focus on summer and summer fun. I have less than 40 precious days before the school year starts whether online, at home, blended, in person, etc...

The children do not need to know that you are researching the best masks for them, the possible school options, etc... 

They need to remember trips to parks, scavenger hunts in the backyard, popsicles and sprinklers, trips to a pool (if allowed).  Find something that your family loves to do and just do it a few hours a day.  Let the children live in a "bubble".

Then calmly prepare them for the unknown fall 2020 as best that you can.  I plan to find new/better masks this week that will really fit my children.  The ones that we made in haste in spring were designed to be wore less than 5 times and gone.  This is not happening.  I see masks being here for a while.  Whether at school or in the community.  

I know that the adults are going crazy...but everything is changing weekly...daily...hourly.  So let the kids be kids.  Many times, they read our emotions and feelings and echo them back.  

This post is just my opinions!!!!!!!  How are you preparing for fall?  

SUMMER READING UPDATE:

We have read three of the "Who Was" Series so far - Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Ben Franklin.  Today we are starting Blackbeard!

Ben and Bella are doing a summer book club in a box from the library together.  It has been good for them to solve who will read to whom, how long to read, etc... They set up their own accounts in BookClubz.  The book is getting better as most do!  It has quite a bit of Spanish in it so they are learning as they go!  The book is:

Tj finished books 1 and 2 of the Sophie Mouse series.  Not sure what is on his next read list...maybe book 3?

My book club on Bold School is great for discussion and thoughtfully prepare for fall lessons.

Plus I completed two days in STEAM/Library working on discarded books, cataloging new books, and STEAM clean out!

Summer 2020 ponderings

I have a few quick topics that are on my mind!  I will put them together in this one crazy post.

TOPICS:
1. Little Free Library UPDATE
2. Professional learning 
3. Summer reading opportunities
4. Summer learning continues

LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES

I originally posted about Little Free Libraries in summer of 2016.  Here is a link to that post: Little Free Library BLOG post.  But I have not updated much since then formally.  I recently took a few pictures of regionally Little Free Libraries in my area.  Our United Way has several documents and links to help you find a Little Free Library to support (share books with) or find a new read.  List of Little Free Library  OR visit the United Way website for an interactive map United Way + Little Free Libraries.  Plus there is a national map using the Little Free Library official website (Official Little Free Library Locator) or the unofficial app (Little Locator).  For the official locator, I find that the zip code search works best!  

Where are your favorites?  Here are few pictures of regional Little Free Libraries!

New pictures of the Little Free Library at Wattsburg Area Elementary 

Feature books in the front

Unofficial one on West 6th Street near Erie County Health Department
It was in SAD shape inside and needs some love!

On Burton Avenue near the park (plus there is another at the park!)

This is a BIG Little Free Library on Dobbins landing.  It reminds me of a lighthouse.  There is another in the EMTA building inside near by that looks like an EMTA bus!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I was supposed to go to Penn State for an Ag Institute by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau learning opportunity.  This was cancelled because of COVID.  Here is the link if you are curious about this - Ag Institute Link

Instead, I am reading a book called "Bold School" with some co-workers.  Look for updates later in the month.  

SUMMER READING IDEAS

Normally, businesses and libraries offer many different opportunities to promote reading.  Here is what I have found this summer!

1. Pizza Hut - It is the Book It.  Here is the link for parents - Camp Book It

2. Scholastic - There is a program and app option.  Here is the link to Read - A - Palooza and a link to the Home Base activity site - Scholastic Home Base.  

3. In Erie, PA, our local PBS channel called WQLN has a summer reading program for the month of JULY.  Here is the link for more information.  WQLN or Summer Reading Race Flyer

4. Public library is using a virtual way to track reading minutes and books.  The whole family can participate!  It starts on July 13.  Bean Stack

SUMMER LEARNING FUN

Again there are many opportunities and ideas in our region to learn and grow in a non-traditional way.

1. Penn State Behrend's "GOOSE CHASE".  It is a fun scavenger hunt app - Goose Chase

2. Headwaters Park has monthly scavenger hunts - Scavenger hunt

3. Outdoor BINGO throughout Erie County - Summer Bingo

WRAP UP :)

Have a great summer - here is what the children are reading in my house!

1. TJ - age 7 is reading book 2 in the Sophie Mouse series 

Add caption

2. Bella-Ann - age 10 is finishing up "Who Was Thomas Jefferson" and going to start one on Alexandar Hamilton

Plus we are onto book 3 in the Chronicles of Narnia called "A Horse and His Boy".

Finally - here is my new mantra for fall!  

COLORS, PHASES, PLANS

I feel like that my life is summed up in these three words - COLORS, PHASES, and PLANS!

I live in Erie County in Pennsylvania.  Our state went to a 3 colored re-opening system.  Our county quickly went to YELLOW then we got stuck for 2 months.  GREEN is coming.  It will not be "normal" operations, but GREEN is as close as we get for now!

Now the schools are preparing for fall:

Phases and Plans are the big buzz words here.  We have the CDC guidelines and schools creating plans.  

There are many memes and videos about the reality of what might happen this fall!  Here is my favorite - Plan video

Right now - I am just trying to enjoy summer :)

What do you think?

OFF TO CELEBRATE GREEN

Week 1 of Summer Vacation

Friday June 5th was the official last day for teachers in my district.  I wrapped up my data and blog plus worked on some grant related classes.  

The weekend was a hint of summer vacation with some work mixed in!  Our PTO president and I worked hard to move dirt to the raised beds and plant half the school garden on Saturday morning.  This was slowly finished on Sunday and Monday nights with the help of my husband and children.

   

                             

                                                             

On Saturday afternoon, Cadia was just not happy unless she was being held.  She is nearly 30 pounds and I had already had my "workout" for the day after working in the garden in the morning.  So into the stroller she went.  I decided to pull a few weeds by my back door since the flower beds (untouched since 2017) were starting to look a bit overgrown.  By the end of the day, I had found railroad ties on the edges of the beds, had my husband help thin down the HUGE hosta plants, and just puttered around.

Fast forward to Sunday...I decided to move to another "easy" section of the mammoth flower beds around the entire back of the house and sunporch.  There are HUGE rocks all through this bed which probably were pretty or useful in the original vision that we never saw!  I moved a few rocks, pulled some more weeds, and then found SLATE tiles/chunks. No major plan or ideas.  Just improvement was the goal.

Once upon time, there was slate in several beautiful flower beds.  Not sure when because it is all under several INCHES of mud and dirt.  Last year, I found them in my pachysandra and poison ivy patch.  This turned into a meandering path to my back barn (and a horrible case of poison ivy!). This year, a few pieces from a different "flower bed" turned into a PATIO.  It is not done "right" or complete.  But I have a patio under my picnic table.  

Here is the updated patio picture 

Here the patio...I have added to it all week so look for a better picture later today! I keep finding more pieces of slate deeper and deeper in the dirt.

Plus I kept thinking...where am I going to put my mini home garden.  The spot from last year was not sunny enough and NOT close to water.  I did not "love" this spot.  I picked a second spot, but two gas lines and electrical wires left us uncertain about rota tilling that spot.

So where I found the slate is flat, all dug up from a sewer project, close to a spigot, and not too easy to mow so this became the ACTUAL home to my garden for 2020.  Thanks to an awesome friend, it is rotatilled.   My daughter and her fiance helped to plant my seedling starters.  Plus I keep working with that area of the flower bed.  Sounds like relaxing fun...right? Here is the before garden picture:

  

                                  

Here is the after:

Not done but improving 

So the weekend was spent in my garden/yard/jungle as well as at the school garden! THANK YOU TO MY FAMILIES WHO ARE WATERING OUR SCHOOL GARDEN this week!  The pictures and stories that they shared made me so happy throughout this long week.  I am excited for our school garden this year...

Fast forward to Monday.   This week was my contractual library work days week.  So "Summer Vacation" could not really start yet.

What do we do?  LOTS of different tasks.  Luckily, I get to work with another awesome librarian.  She and I are opposites, but we both compliment each other.  We started shelving several hundred books on Monday and weeding almost 700 chapter books.  It is so hard to let them go, but just like a closet...out with "old" and in with the new.  We save classics, award winners, student favorites, and other books for a variety of reasons.  Some books are just done with their useful life on our library shelves.  Then we had to take them out of the system.  

Next was removing old magazines, encyclopedias, and other library items.  STEAM needed more shelf space for storage.  

Then we moved onto my LEAST favorite job - INVENTORYING.  This means touching each book (over 10000 books) and scanning the barcode and then listen for the beep sound.  A pleasant beep means all good.  If you get the most annoying "ERRRH" sound then you have to walk to the computer and check what happened.  Sometimes it is in the wrong place or that it might have not gotten checked in correctly or the barcode is no longer working.  Then you go back to where you left off and repeat.  

Erin and I did this in record time this year - about 2 days!  Then we rewarded ourselves with ordering new books using Scholastic dollars from Book Fair profits and our library budget.  Plus we added in additional new books from Scholastic.  The Scholastic order got split in the chaos of COVID in March.  Adding new books means barcoding with stickers, adding them to our database system, creating spine labels, and stamping the book.  It is a multi-step process! 

Then we worked on the STEAM area as well.  Sorting new items from our Mobile Science Grant and then CLEAN OUT.  I am a "saver" and my partner is NOT.  So we teamed up for a morning of cleaning out STEAM on Friday.   It was our most productive week together in our joint roles and now I am looking forward to my days in July/August!

Trash pile

STEAM is ready for a new floor and more clean up

So that is summer vacation week 1!  We missed a couple trips to the beach with cousins.  But overall, I am farther ahead minus some grant work and now summer vacation can really START.  It feels weird to not have library activities and tons of running to do...but maybe I will finally get more items off the "TO DO" list!

Here is what my children and I are reading:

Together as a family: We have ready book 1 which is the "The Magician's Nephew" and mostly through "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe"  Then 5 more books!
       

My 12 year old is working on "I Survived"

                                                            

   

My 10 year old is working on "Choose Your Own Adventure"

My 7 year old is working on "Sophie Mouse"

Have a great week 2 of summer vacation!  Find ways to celebrate and enjoy your time at home.  Look for new pictures from the garden.  Plus I will find myself a book to read :)