Sum-Sum Summertime

Praise the sun, slip-n-slide and long evenings! Well, try to at least...

With two little ones, we have been enjoying the sun (with loads of SPF 50 of course) and our backyard every evening that we can. We have made trips to the Erie Zoo, of which Jason says that the animals are going to know me and the girls by name! (*I really like our zoo - it is small, safe and the girls love it!) We are even letting the girls stay up longer so they can enjoy the weather and run around, which sometimes is not worth the next morning. We also just finished our basement and the carpeting will be installed on June 30. Jason and I can reclaim our upstairs!

On the work front, it is finally quieting down after a hectic May and a busy start to June. I finally have time to think about future projects and my fall class. I have also been thinking of some Act 48 courses that I would like to offer at a local reading center (Reading Now!). And, in the midst of all of this, Michael Cortes and I have had a conversation about some programs that we would like to develop together.

Can I handle more? Do I want to? Should I? Yes - Yes - and Probably not.

However crazy my life gets, I seem to always want to do more!

What is Red?

I recently had the honor of spending a morning with my 3-year-old's class and teaching them American Sign Language (ASL). Now, mind you, I am no expert, but I do have a passion for the language and enjoy teaching it to both of my girls - ages, 3 & 1. So, I drafted an Instructional Plan (IP) and shared it with the teachers for their review and for them to note anything that they would like updated or felt would work better with the students. (video of the PPT.)

The students were just finishing up a two week unit on the ocean/beach and Jalen (my 3YO) wanted to learn about rainbow colors (that she already knows, so why learn them again?!?) So, I designed the IP to teach the students their colors in sign as well as one ocean/beach image (crab, fish, sky...)

It was a success. The students enjoyed signing and another mom made a ocean cake!

In the mere 90 minutes or so I spent with the class, I feel so blessed that I am able participate in my children's lives at school. Their teachers are very welcoming and appreciate help from the parents.

In reflection of this session, I would love to be able to use the SmartBoard (SB) to teach a similar lesson in the future or have another teacher be able to do so. The SB has the ability to add video, audio, capture the lesson, as well as have images ready to be "slid" into the viewable area. I think that the SB would help make the presentation seamless and documenting it for review later on or to share with other teachers.