Hi everyone! Well, since our last blog, Justin's computer crashed, erasing all of his lesson plans and pictures!! So, that the main reasons we have been struggling posting pictures! We have some on our camera now, and all we need to do it upload them, which we will do soon. But, I wanted to update you all on what we have been doing this last month or so.
School's out for summer!! School ended well, and, as always, it was so hard to leave the kids! You spend all year with the same kids, that it's hard to leave for the summer. The hardest part is that I know I won't see some of them next year- lots move to another school or another city over the summer. But most of them will be back, so that is good.
A couple of days after school got out, Justin and I taught at a Technology camp for the teachers in our building. Justin taught iPhoto, and I taught Bluetooth tablets. We also attended sessions taught by other teachers, including iMovie, using Word to determine text readability, Comic Life, and instructional movie searches. I didn't really learn anything knew; since I did the Computers for Teacher program this past year, I learned most of those tricks already. But it felt good to help other teachers figure out the programs and how they might be able to use them in the classroom. The exciting part is that since my whole team was there, we are eligible to apply for an iBook cart, which is a cart of 16 laptops for kids to use. It would be just for our team, so we wouldn't have to check it out or wait for it to become available. I am excited, I hope we get it!
Also, in the last days of school, I interviewed for and was offered the math department co-coordinator's position at our school! I am now stepping into a leadership role in the school, and I will be organizing and leading the math department in all types of things, mainly focused on closing the achievement gap. This is an increase in work load for me, but also increased pay!! Woo Hoo!!
What else... Justin just bought a pottery wheel for his classroom, so now he can teach kids how to throw clay. It is very nice, used but it doesn't have that many hours on it. He is very excited to start that at the beginning of next year!
Summer things... we have been having a lot of fun times so far- I have started biking to the gym instead of driving there, which is a nice work out. It is about 9 miles away, so I can bike there, lift some weights, and bike home. I get my cardio AND I get to be outside!!! Yeah! If only I liked running...
As I have been typing a million things, Justin uploaded the pictures! So, here is a nice treat for you!
Justin's Art Show- early May of this year.
Justin with his newest art piece (he has to eat red hots while he does art).
Jam making- I made two batches of canned jam - one strawberry and one triple berry. Then, I had enough strawberries to make one more batch of freezer strawberry jam. Yummmm.
This is why Justin likes it when I make jam...
This is what our dogs do during the day... do we have dogs or cats??
We tried to go for a mountain biking ride, but Justin's bike had some issues...
Then it snowed on us! Here is what it looked like from the car about 5 minutes after the snow was over. Weird... weather changes so fast here!
Megan pretending to be tired.
James eating ice cream.
Katie eating an ice pop.
MacDonald family.
