Wednesday afternoon

This afternoon, students were able to hike a trail of their choice (the trails had different levels of difficulty). While on the hikes, students made hieroglyphics on rocks (boulder painting), trail art, and necklaces. We also painted each others faces (I made a great ladybug on Olivia D's face, and she put whiskers on me). The students also made friendship bracelets.

Everyone is doing well.

Tuesday at Outdoor Ed

This morning, the students were divided into three different hiking groups. One group hiked the ecology trail, one group hiked the wildlife trail (taught by Mr. K), and one group hiked the geology trail (taught by Miss Leon). It's great when the classroom is outdoors. There are so many opportunities for hands on learning on these trails.

The (hugely popular) afternoon activities were: studying flight (by testing paper airplanes and homemade rockets), art projects, and survival tips. Your child participated in one of these three activities this afternoon.

Tonight will be round 2 of astronomy, and we will have the opportunity to do a night hike.

Everyone is doing really well!

Check back tomorrow..

p.s. Cell service is very inconsistent. We update the cell phone message when we can. The last update was today (Tues) around 4:45 p.m.

Outdoor Ed Update

We arrived safely, got the students assigned to their cabins, had our first meal and our first fire drill (standard safety procedure). The students have already been out on the trail and everyone is doing great! We are well on our way to an awesome adventure of a week.

Stay tuned...

Back to School Night

Well my ninth Back to School Night has come and gone. It was great to see the excitement of the parents. Similar to the excitement that I see in some of my same students. I know that we are only 11 days into the new year, but I am very excited about the potential the students seem to posses. As usual the parents who came were the ones who could have skipped, with a few exceptions. A couple approached me afterward to see how their son was doing, you could sense the excitement in their voice and mannerisms, the relief to hear that all was well and that he was doing great.

As I packed up I was overwhelmed about how much I love my job and the students that I have the chance to work with. So far about a dozen students have had the courage to call for clarity of homework or maybe it was just curiosity to see if I would really give my numbers out to my students. Makes my think what next weeks post will be like.

Don't Underestimate the Power of a New Start

The first day of school has come and gone, so the journey begins. Great group of students, we shall see how they do when the pressure of the day to day stuff comes into play. One of things I love about the first day of school is that you really have the chance to start anew and fresh. Not just the teacher but the student as well. Teachers have the chance to see how they did the previous year and make the improvements and fight the temptation to fall into the same traps that kept them from achieving all that they wanted. For students they really have the chance start anew. No carry over, no judgment, truly a fresh start. A chance for them to influence how they want to be remembered. To become known as the student who worked hard, encouraged and surprised those around them. There is something powerful about a new beginning, today I saw a handful of students who were glad to have the chance to start over.

The lights are on and folks are home.

CST Scores and Count downs

CST Scores

Well I finally got my student's scores from last April Standardized Testing. Over all we went up 194 points in Language Arts and 145 in Math. There were several students who amazed me with the jumps that they made. There were a few that stayed close to where they were. There were also students who prove the rule that you must be careful how much emphasis that you put on these tests. I know of a few students who have a great work ethic, but have a difficult time when it comes to standardized tests. I feel for those students because in some cases they may not get into the honors classes in Jr. High.

Countdown

School starts on Thursday, I am looking forward to meeting my new students. As usual I really miss my students from last year, and I will probably will feel the same way next year. (At least I hope so)

Monday will be my big room push, any former students are welcome to come by and help out. Looking forward to getting the theme for August and September up and running. There is an excitement in the air this time of year that sort of kicks automatically as the first day of school draws near.

There were several times this summer when I was able get thoughts down on paper and I can't wait to see them come full cycle to lessons in practice. I also brought in a professional, aka mom at 73 she can out work just about anyone I know.

We shall see what tomorrow brings.