Master's Paradise

My mom has the Youtube clip of the graduation "speech" over at her blog. It was done on a real video camera and is MUCH better, if you want to check it ou.

Graduation Day

As many of you probably know, my husband has spent the past two years working his tail off to earn his Master's of Social Work, or MSW. Well, it paid off - finally! Graduation day is here at last. My husband and one of his fellow MSWs were nominated to be the student speakers at the ceremony. Because we had family members and friends who were unable to make it out for the ceremony, I thought I would share his awesome speech here.

I know the picture quality is horrible, and I apologize. I couldn't find a better seat, and I couldn't figure out how to get my camera to zoom in on video mode, so this is the best I could do. You can't see him very well, but you can hear him, and that's what matters. So here he is - my husband.

I am so proud of him.

A Good Day

Most of you probably know that my mom, A Chelsea Morning, has had a few days off this week. Krissy and Andy took the kids on a trip to Denver to go to the zoo. What you may not know is that Aaron and I took the day off to go play with them. The trip to the zoo quickly turned in to an all-day Denver adventure. It was way fun, and I know my mom is dying to see the pictures, and I promised her I would do a post (in a timely manner, I might add), so here we go: The Great Denver Adventure!

We began our adventure at Ocean Journey, the aquarium in Denver. This was built a year after I left for college, so none of us had ever been here before. As you can see, we got to meet Sharky, and have our picture taken with him! As you can no doubt also see, it was a bright, sunny day!

Cameron was blown away by "them big ol' fish" and totally impressed by the fact that they were "way bigger than Nana's fishies."

Even little miss Avery was pretty impressed with these underwater critters. She even agreed to pose for a picture with her new friends on the ocean floor.


Cameron was completely mesmerized by this shark. Every time we would start to walk away, he would come running back for another look. Every time he came back, it was just as exciting as the first time he saw this shark. Don't worry, though: "He's a good guy."

Cameron and Uncle Aaron found a really cool bubble to play in. This was a little bubble that you could actually crawl into and stand up in, and you found yourself standing right in the middle of the fish tank. It took us a while to get him to go in there, but then he was running around like crazy after that, going into all the bubbles. He had a blast making faces at us through the glass.


No amount of coaxing could get him to stick his hand in that water and touch those stingrays, though. Not even after Uncle Aaron touched one. (And then proceeded straight to the men's room to wash his hands.)

Um, no thank you! We opted out of this experience. We did, however, decide to brave the Spongebob Squarepants 4-D virtual reality ride. Well, Krissy, Cameron and I braved it- Daddy and Uncle Aaron were too chicken. They said it was because somebody had to watch Avery, but that was clearly just an excuse. I am sure the guy running the ride found it quite comical that the four year old boy sat calmly through the whole experience while his mommy and aunt squealed and hollared and made a big ol' fuss over the whole thing. It was quite fun, though!



Our next stop was the Denver Zoo- the basis for the Strommenger family trip. Unfortunately, we showed up right at naptime, so many of the animals were less than exciting to see. But each of us got to see our favorites, and Cameron loved it, so it was a great experience.

Our first stop was the big animals: hippos, rhinos, elephants. Despite the lack of activity, Cameron was still very awestruck by these guys. He wanted to know why this rhino kept on "licking that same ol' spot." I don't blame him for wondering- we stood there watching this animal for about 6 minutes, and he really did stand there licking that "same ol' spot" the entire time. Who knows!

Cameron thought it was pretty cool when this hippo got into the water with his great big ball. He kept going under water and then reappearing somewhere else. Cam got such a kick out of that. When we tried to get him off the railing to move on, it was not an easy task. He kept saying he needed to see him do it just one more time!







Avery could have cared less about that hippo!

Anyone who has ever been to the Denver Zoo (and probably any zoo, really) knows that there are all sorts of birds just walking around. It made my day when I saw these tiny little fuzzballs following the mama goose around. I only got to see one penguin on this trip- and he kept his back to me the whole time as if he was mad at me! Krissy kept saying that we would go to the bird house before we left. Do you think we ever went to the bird house to see the penguins? NO! We passed it - twice- but we never went in. But I did get to see these baby geese, so that made it somewhat ok.

When this peacock spread out it's feathers like this, Cameron's reaction was to say "Oh. My. God. Aaron!" Aaron just about fell over laughing. It's a good thing he didn't, though, as Cameron was on his shoulders at the time. As a matter of fact, Cameron was on his shoulders the entire time. Early on in the zoo experience, Uncle Aaron stepped in goose poop and made a big deal out of getting the mess of his flip flop. Cameron somehow latched on to that image and became terrified of stepping in it himself. Every time Uncle Aaron tried to put him down, he would start walking on his toes with his legs all bowed out, stopping at every single stick, rock, and leaf and saying, "What's that? Is that poop?" After a good round of laughing hysterically, we quickly figured out that we would move much faster if someone just carried him. He still pointed out every spot from up high, though. That kid has a heck of an eye for goose poop!

These, of course, were Krissy's favorite. There were two baby giraffes licking their mama's neck!

Cameron liked the giraffes, too, but he didn't at all like being told he couldn't crawl under the bar and go in there with them, though.





Here's my penguin! Hey- I'll take what I can get! In case you can't tell from the blinding light, our little boy is three feet tall! There's no goose poop in the penguin house (or penguins for that matter) so he is actually standing on the ground. Nobody told him that penguins poop, too.

For some reason, these guys made me think of you, Mom. Hmm... weird.

Our last stop of the day was dinner. We decided that while we were out having so much fun, we might as well top it off with dinner at Dave and Buster's. If you are not familiar with it, think Chuck E. Cheese for big kids. They have a restaurant that serves your typical dinner variety, and then a huge arcade to entertain kids of all ages.





They had motorcycles...

...and bad guys...











...and ski ball...

Is anyone noticing the common theme in these pictures? Cameron was VERY helpful in defeating these games! What you can't see is Krissy playing a haunted house game. It's some sort of spinning arrow thingy game that she managed to get 1600 tickets out of. 1600! I think she practices a lot at Chuck E. Cheese, because no one is THAT good at a spinny arrow haunted house thingy game. Needless to say, Cameron made out like a bandit at the prize shop.

It was a fun day. A very long day, but a day filled with fun. The kind of day that you go home so exhausted that you just fall into bed, but you know that it is a good kind of exhaustion, because it's the kind that comes from having a fun, fun day.

Yup- it was a good day.

By the Way...

I forgot to mention one thing in this post. The beautiful flowers on the table behind me in the photo were delivered to me at school. Isn't my hubby sweet? You can all say it...awwww. (My kids did when they saw them)

Valentine's Day - The Old Fashioned Way!

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

I know, it's incredibly weird that I would disappear for 6 months, and then suddenly show back up in a poodle skirt. No- I didn't get lost in a time warp, and I didn't get my holidays mixed up. I promise, I will explain everything!

6 Months ago I started blogging again, for the purpose of connecting with other teachers out there, and keeping in touch with my family back home on the other side of the mountains. I had every intention of keeping up with it, and had no doubt that I could. Then I got my class list. I got to see all the names of my incoming students. All 32 of them. 32! At first, I didn't think a whole lot of it. I knew it was a high number - more than I had ever had before - but it didn't occur to me how many 32 really was. Now I am in the seventh month of this school year, and I can easily explain to you how many 32 is.

It means 32 papers to grade, every time they turn something in. Not so bad, until you consider that there are 5 subjects a day. So, if I collect one assignment in each subject, I have 160 papers to grade. And fifth graders like feedback on those papers! Needless to say, I am getting really good at finding other ways to assess student achievement. It means 32 report cards every quarter. One report card is a handful the way our district does them (filled in by hand). It means 32 parent teacher conferences. Actually, more if you count all the step-families and divorced parents who can't stand to be in the same room as the person they were once married to and demand separate conferences. Anyway, you get the picture. I have been buried in just trying to keep up. I have taken many pictures with the intention of turning them into a post. I have had many posts running through my head. I have even started posts and saved them. I have just struggled to bring them to completion.

So what changed? First, my mindset changed. I have spent the past few months trying different strategies to keep up better with not only school, but my family and home life as well. I am learning to let more things go, and prioritize better. My husband has been 100% understanding throughout this year, but I know he wishes he could see me more- without a plan book or a stack of fifth grade writing samples in between us. Then, the economy continued to go downhill. After reading several emails from the district offices about the state of our finances, it became blaringly clear that next year they are likely to make some major cut-backs. I would say it is safe to assume they won't be hiring many more teachers next year. Which also means the days of small class sizes are a thing of the past- at least for a while. So, what it boils down to is that I had better get used to having an overflowing classroom without it taking over my life outside of school. I am committed to working on this.

So, why the 1950s get-up? Well, I spent all of last weekend working on this skirt. (Yes, the gradebook and planbook got neglected for a few days). It was my first solo sewing project. What I mean by solo is without my mom, the infamous A Chelsea Morning, right there to help me. I think I must have called my mom 8 or 9 times throughout the course of the weekend. And when she told me that her and dad were going to be out all afternoon, and would be off the radar for a few hours, I almost had a total meltdown! Needless to say, I managed to finish the skirt (obviously), and I thought that my mom would probably really like to see what she helped me create. I started to email her the pictures, but then I thought it might be a good opportunity to do a post. Finally. So I did.

Again, why the 1950s skirt, you ask? Well, in the fifth grade, we don't do anything small. Especially not parties. We do a huge "Frightening Fiesta" with a full Mexican buffet for Halloween. We do a "European Christmas Adventure" with a full European food buffet for Christmas. And for Valentine's Day? A 1950s sock-hop, of course! We set up one classroom as a drive-in movie theatre. We turn the deks into cars, complete with headlights.

And we play The Honeymooners on the big screen.

And we have a 1950s diner in the cafeteria that served hot dogs, chips, and malts. And we finish it off with a sock-hop. We encourage the kids to dress up for the day, and of course the teachers dress up as well. So, this is why I needed a poodle skirt. It's not like you can just go to Kohl's and buy a poodle skirt, and the costume prices were ridiculous. So, I found myself spending the weekend in front of my sewing machine, with the phone permenantly attached to my ear. Likewise, my mom spent a great deal of her weekend on the phone, too. But, I wasn't the only own who went to great lengths to look to part. Check out my little cuties:




There were a lot more girls than this dressed up, but these were the ones I managed to get to stop running around the cafeteria like crazy. I got them to slow down long enought for a picture.







These two gals looked adorable. Apparently their dance class did a 50s number last year, so they had the costumes. They looked so cute dressed up like twins. (Even cuter with their heads attached. I cropped these because I feel it's better not to post identifiable pictures of other people's kids.)

I even had my own little twin! This little girl actually rented her costume, so it was very authentic. Aren't her little saddle shoes adorable?

Cute isn't a word that I use to describe my fifth graders. I am constantly reminding them that they are becoming young adults, and that they must be mature and set an example for the younger kids. "I'm sure you were adorable when you were little, but those behaviors are no longer cute," I tell them. (To which I am usually met with eye-rolling, a much more mature behavior). However, this was one day that I can honestly say these kiddos were cute. Very mature, adult-like, perfect example setters. But cute nontheless!

So, there you have it. This is my third attempt at doing the blogging thing. This time I am going to try to commit to a post a week, just to keep family and friends updated. Attempt and try are very much the operative part of these statements, however, as I am not making any promises.

Stay tuned for updates on the split list- my hubby and I have managed to have some fun these past few months. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out my split list post here.




See you in about a week!
(Unless I get a new student.)

I've Been Tagged...Five Ways Blogging Has Affected Me...

Grace Comes by Hearing tagged me.



Here are the rules:

1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.

2. Link back to the person who tagged you.

3. Link back to this parent post.

4. Tag a few friends, or five, or none at all.

5. Post these rules- or just have fun breaking them!



FIVE WAYS BLOGGING HAS AFFECTED ME:



1. One of the biggest- and best - ways that blogging has affected me is that I have been able to keep in touch with my family. Having moved over 5 hours away from the family I used to live down the street from, the adjustment was not easy! But my dad, mom, grandma, and sister all have blogs, so I feel like I am able to keep up with what is going on in their lives in a fun way. My aunt and two of my cousins also have blogs, so I am able to keep up with family I haven't seen in a while as well. And, it feels more personal than emailing.



2. I have also met some new people through blogging. There are people out there in the world that I have things in common with that I never would have known about without blogging. I see it as just on more way to make the world a smaller place!



3. I have always loved to journal, and I have always seen the benefit of keeping one. Unfortunately, I have not always been good at keeping up with one. Through blogging, I feel like I am keeping a journal, just in a different way. And an added bonus is that this way people get to comment and give me feedback on my thoughts- unlike the journal that sits on the shelf and is never read again once closed. Or, the one that would have sat there had I ever kept it.



4. Being able to connect with other teachers, and share ideas with one another, and bounce ideas around has been a huge benefit of being a blogger. Of course there are teachers within my building and district that I can share ideas and strategies with, but being able to share with others who aren't in my school, district, or even my state, is like a breath of fresh air! And it is pretty cool to use an idea from a blogging buddy, and then see teachers from my school adopt it, too. I hope some of my ideas will be used in classrooms somewhere out there, too!



5. One of the neatest ways that I have been affected by blogging is that I feel like I see the world through a new pair of eyes now. It's one thing to experience something really neat, or scary, or funny, or exciting... and take pictures to remember it. It's a whole different thing entirely to view that same neat/scary/funny/exciting experience as "blog fodder" (as my mom says). The pictures you take are different, the way you react to it is different, the way you remember it is different. If you are a blogger, you know exactly what I am talking about! You just see the world in a different way when you are looking for post material!



That's all from me...now it's your turn. I tag:



1. Mom

2. Krissy

3. August

4. Aunt Bev

5. Grandma

Don't Ever Say You Can't...

Last Friday a most unbelievable surprise took place at my school. A man named Tony Melendez was vistiting Greeley, and he said he had time to visit two schools. My school was one of them. Out of 30. I lost 30 minutes of instructional time on Friday. We skipped read-aloud. We cut Literacy block 15 minutes short. I had to get the kids ready to go home 30 minutes early. You know what, though? It was TOTALLY worth it!

This is Tony Melendez. And he visited our school!

Some of you may have heard of Tony Melendez before. For those of you who haven't, allow me to introduce him as best I can. Tony Melendez was born without arms, because his mother is one of the many who took Thalidimide when she was pregnant. But did that stop him? Absolutely not! Tony has lived a more-than-full life as a musician- he plays the guitar with his feet! And he plays very very well! I should know- he played many songs for my students! He has a music company called Toe Jam, and he goes around giving inspirational concerts and speeches.

When we first entered the gym on Friday, I wasn't sure about having an assembly so early in the year. When Tony insisted that all students jump up out of their seats, throw their fists in the air, and whoop "yeeha!!" after each verse of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mount'n" I thought for sure that the whole thing would be a chaotic nightmare! what I hadn't expected was 600+ students grades 1 to 8 to be complete captivated and mesmorized by our guest. And when Tony began to speak his story, you could have heard a pin drop in that gymnasium- even the middle schoolers were engaged! Some students even had tears in their eyes.

What Tony did was show our students that they could do anything they set their minds on- even play a guitar and throw and catch a frisbee with their feet. He reminded them that it was never okay to settle for "I can't." This was by far the best assembly I have ever interrupted my class instructional time for. They learned more than I could ever teach them in that 30 minutes.

After the assembly I, of course, ran back to the classroom, got the kids on the bus, and then returned to the gym to snag a copy of one of his cds. If you're a fan of inspirational Christian music, you'll love Tony's music. The cd I picked was:

I also grabbed a copy of his book for my husband, who loves an inspirational read:

This was by far one of the highlights of my career- being given the privelage to meet this man in person and watch him perform and inspire!