Sunday, August 26, 2012

650 feet under

We spent Saturday evening (and rather late into the night) helping our good friend Melissa celebrate her upcoming birthday. Now, this was not your ordinary birthday party venue. We traveled 650 feet below ground into the Salt Museum in Hutchinson, KS. We could see how salt is mined and transported out of the mine. The salt at this location is used for livestock and road treatment. The salt mine is also used as a storage facility for movie reels and memorabilia. At the mine, it was more cost effective to leave everything down there than transport it back up. So there is a pile of trash that has been completely preserved, thanks to the conditions in the mine, for over 60 years!

IMAG0995 IMAG0998 IMAG1001 IMAG1003 IMAG1004

This is the costume worn by George Clooney.

saltmine5 saltmine6

This was a shuttle system used to transport employees around the mine (back in the 50’s or 60’s, I believe).

saltmine3

We had to wear hard hats and rescue breathers in the mine. It’s a good look, don’t you think?

saltmine4

After we had toured the galleries and learned all about salt, we headed to the event center for a murder mystery dinner theater. Dinner was delicious and the show was hilarious (with audience participation). Melissa’s husband Ryan had a small impromptu part and ended up stealing the show. He was a great sport!!

saltmine1   saltmine7

Ryan played the part of Sir Groom and had to marry the lovely Princess Cactus Blossom.

saltmine

saltmine2

Happy Birthday, Melissa! Thanks for including us in such a fun evening!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

family photos

For Christmas I vainly decided to give my in-laws a ginormous canvas of our family. As soon as I placed the order, I started to feel weird about giving them such a large picture of just our family. Well, several months later, all is well. We had another photo with my hubby’s family, so now they can order matching canvases to include the rest of the family. And now it won’t look like we’re the favorites!

IMG_2395 IMG_2408 (2) IMG_2410 IMG_2419 IMG_2422 IMG_2425 IMG_2430

IMG_2440 (2)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

our second week of school

After an exhausting first week of school, I wanted to start off the second week with some fun and excitement.

IMAG0969

The kids came in Monday morning to a little treat. They were thrilled. I got this idea from a friend who teaches in California.

IMAG0972

For Science and “team building” we did an activity called “Save Fred”. The students were told that Fred (a gummy worm) is stranded on top of his boat (a plastic cup) and his life preserver (gummy life saver) is trapped under the boat. They had to work with a partner to get the life saver around the gummy worm using only 4 paper clips (no hands can touch the worm, cup or life saver).

IMAG0973  IMAG0976

They also can’t injure Fred in any way (like stab him with a paper clip to pick him up).

IMAG0978

They had so much fun with this activity. I was very impressed with their problem solving skills! My teaching partner found this idea on a teacher blog and it’s definitely a keeper!!

IMAG0970

I ended the day by sending home a bag of gummy worms along with their reading logs. As a school, we are participating in a Million Minute Challenge. The students keep track of the minutes they read at home and we hope to have a cumulative total of 1,000,000 minutes by the end of the year. We are also having monthly celebrations if we reach certain milestones. Just one more fun and exciting activity to promote reading!!

Now I need to think of some more little incentives for the coming weeks. All ideas are welcome!

Monday, August 20, 2012

soccer

Saturday was Delaney’s first soccer game. I don’t know if you know this, but Jeremy is a pretty great soccer player. So we have been hopeful that she would inherit some of his skills.

IMAG0964

She did an amazing job waving to her fans on the sidelines every time she got in the game. And she tried her very hardest to not touch the ball. The whole game. And I must say…she succeeded in that!

She did however, love drinking water from her special water bottle. And seeing her new friends. And waving to her fans.

IMAG0967

They don’t technically keep score at this age. They don’t. But I do. We tied 2-2. No thanks to our little non-soccer player.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

back to school

I’ve neglected the blog for the last couple of weeks as summer was winding down. I was busy trying to enjoy my last days at the pool. And busy getting my classroom set up. And I was extremely busy stalking all the creativity on Pinterest.

IMAG0952

We had our “Meet the Teacher” night on Monday. I gave these bags of microwave popcorn to my students. Thank you Pinterest! And my students thank you, too!

IMAG0954 

These are my math manipulatives. And I want you to notice the super cute drawers on the rolling cart. {Pinterest}

IMAG0956

Extra storage and seating. Another fabulous idea from you know where. They are made from crates, plywood, batting and fabric. The kids love them!!

IMAG0957

I actually came up with this idea all by myself. Amazing!! As you can see, the kids aren’t learning anything today.

IMAG0959

This board to keep track of “no name” papers was found on Pinterest as well.

IMAG0960

Hi. My name is Marcie. And I’m addicted to books.

This is my very favorite place in my classroom. I have my books sorted by themes, genre and/or levels. It is so fun to see how excited the kids are to find a book to read. I hope it will be their favorite spot in the classroom as well!

IMAG0961

I tried a different formation for my desks this year. I think I’ll like it. I love standing in the middle and quickly being able to help any student. So far I’m spending most of my time picking up their pencils and erasers off the floor. Apparently having a desk in front of you helps keep your supplies off the floor. Who knew?

IMAG0962 

Bloom’s Taxonomy…it’s a teacher thing.

IMAG0963

So there’s a quick tour of my classroom. Room 306. My home away from home.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

senior year

0815120733

How is it possible that I have a Senior in High School?? Today was Bri’s last first day of school.

And Allison started her Junior year this year.

IMG952225 

My girls are growing up!!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

first day

Today was the first day of school for Nate, Delaney and me. Delaney is now in the Early Childhood Preschool class at Lincoln (where I teach). I’m so excited to have 2 of my kiddos at school with me once again.

081412074643 081412074824

And Nate is now in Third Grade!!! I convinced his nurse, Melissa to get her picture taken with him.

imagejpeg952

I’m happy to report that both kids had a great first day! I’m looking forward to a great school year!

Monday, August 6, 2012

tulsa road trip

We took a mini vacation to see Scott and Erika last week. We were only there for about 24 hours. But it was a nice getaway. We went to the Oklahoma Aquarium and I took a TON of pictures. So I apologize if it takes forever for your page to load!

IMG_2297 IMG_2299 IMG_2301 IMG_2303

There was a tank of rays and baby sharks to touch.

IMG_2305 IMG_2306

Look! We found Nemo!!!

IMG_2309 IMG_2310 IMG_2312

There were tide pools where you could touch sea cucumbers and starfish.

IMG_2314 IMG_2323 IMG_2329 IMG_2332 IMG_2336 IMG_2340 IMG_2343 IMG_2344 IMG_2345 IMG_2347 IMG_2350 IMG_2351 IMG_2353

Isn’t this an interesting looking guy?

IMG_2354

I think he wants to give me a kiss! Mmmmmmuuwah!

IMG_2355 IMG_2359

There are some strange looking creatures deep in the ocean!

IMG_2364 IMG_2365

I had to force Delaney to sit and get her picture taken.

IMG_2367

And then she wanted to pose so I could take more pictures. Go figure!

IMG_2369 IMG_2372

A giant prawn…appetizers anyone?

IMG_2373 IMG_2374

It was HOT in Tulsa! So we couldn’t do a whole lot while we were there. But before we left, we went to a park near their house and let Delaney play.

IMG_2377 IMG_2378 IMG_2381 IMG_2383 IMG_2384 IMG_2385 IMG_2386

Thanks for the fun getaway, Scott and Erika! We had a great time!!