Two at Once??

I was helping some students with Math this afternoon when I noticed something odd about HS.

 What was he doing?? 

A book on the desk, and a book under his feet?  What on earth??

When he used one foot to turn a page of the book on the floor, I grabbed my iPhone and began snapping pictures, trying to contain my laughter.

Was HS really trying to read two books at once? 

When he realized I had noticed, he brought his head back up and sheepishly admitted that he wasn't really reading two books at once. I'm not clear just what he was trying to do, but it still makes me smile.

The Hi-Liter Ladies

Every year, each team of teachers at Hershey has their picture taken for the yearbook. Sometimes silly, and other times serious, it's always fun to figure out what we will do each year.

It's a tradition for the 4th grade teachers to take their yearbook photo at Camp Tecumseh. This year we decided that, since we were wearing our classroom tee shirts, we'd use those for the picture.

And then we did a scan of the grounds for the perfect place.

I liked the four-spigot water fountain idea.

 But it was hard to see our faces. (We got pretty water-logged in the attempt!)

 This is actually my favorite - I love the play of the sun.

(Cindy Yeater, Allyson Anthrop, Kris Sharp, and me.)

But "The Thinker" was the other teachers' choice.

I had to laugh when a friend saw it and exclaimed, "No offense, but you look like a pack of hi-liters!"

And she's right. We do!

The 2014 Annual Women's Conference

My favorite meeting of the year - I love this one even more than General Conference, and I LOVE General Conference. There is something about knowing that all the women, young adults, and girls of the Church are gathering together in sisterhood across the world and listening to the words of our leaders that warms my heart and buoys me up.

The meeting is held in the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake.

 It is a huge auditorium.

 But as the throngs of women and girls arrive, it quickly fills up.

 Until every seat is full and the overflow goes to the Assembly Hall or possibly even the old Tabernacle building.

This year's focus was the temple, and my favorite talk last night was from Sr. Neill Marriott (on the far right), a counselor in the General Young Women's Presidency. She asked us if we had ever seen a temple at night, especially from afar, and how the light around it shone, a glow, a beacon in the dark, if you will.

"Temples help push back the dark," she said (I am paraphrasing here) and that message has stuck with me. I have been thinking about it ever since.

With our own Indianapolis temple soon to be ready, we have another beacon to "push back the dark." One close to home and which I will be able to attend regularly. (No Chicago traffic!!)

And family members are also staying close to that beacon that is pushing back the dark.

Trinity and her mama attend the conference in their ward in Colorado.

What a blessing it is to come together as sisters, to affirm our faith, uplift our hearts, and to receive guidance and direction. (And with more good things to come - General Conference is next weekend.)

Camp Tecumseh 2014

Thursday and Friday my class and I went with the other 4th grade classes from Hershey to Camp Tecumseh to immerse ourselves in 1811 Indiana. It is a long-time Hershey tradition dating back 20-25 years, and highly anticipated by the children even before they are 4th graders!

Ready to load the bus Thursday morning.

I like camp, but there is one thing I dread. Sleeping in a cabin with my students! It is not because of them - it's because I know that I snore. Loudly. And I hate to do that to them. (Showering, using the toilet, and changing clothes is also complicated with your students in the vicinity!)

But there is no way around it when you are camping, and the girls were genuinely happy to have me in their cabin. They even asked to have a picture taken.

AM, GC, me, TM, MM, AY, PH, and EW.

Camp Tecumseh is a real treasure. Nearing 100 years old, it has established trails and buildings that have been well maintained for decades. And its programs are second to none.

The children rotated through ten stations over the course of two days. 

They learned about the ingenuity of early Hoosiers, and how they used the materials around them to carve lives out of the wilderness.

Lunch time! And in such gorgeous weather, too! What a treat.

Each class had a color theme. Mine was orange, and so we all wore orange tee shirts.

That made it much easier to pick my students out in the crowd of 100 or so kiddos!

One of the most popular stations was candle dipping.

GC cools off her candle in water. Next she will dip it back into the hot wax for another layer, and then back into the water. This process is repeated again and again to form the final product.

It can be hard to shed the culture of the 21st century.

TM thought the gourd that was used as a ladle and dipper looked like a 20th century telephone!

The suspension bridge.

Students had to cross the Tippecanoe River using this bridge to get into the 1811 camp. (I was thankful that I had the first aid supplies and needed to drive them to where our activities were to be! Suspension bridges give me the willies!)

The barnyard site was another popular rotation.

It had pigs, chickens, a goat, a pony, and other animals that we could pet and handle.

That's the pioneer cooking cabin in the background, the bleacher area to the right, and the barnyard in the front.

I loved the schoolhouse.

Although I would not have wanted to teach like that!

Such a lovely old fashioned school bell. My parents had one on their property on North River Road when I was a child.

The kids were surprised by the strictness of the schoolmarms. They carried sticks (and used them back in 1811) but they were just for show at camp. They did have a dunce cap and had misbehaving students sit and wear it!

Teaching was from the Bible, and included a verse from Ephesians as well as an ABC lesson using Biblical characters.

My students were riveted! In fact, they liked the schoolhouse rotation so much that they have requested that we do an 1811 day at Hershey, with me as the schoolmarm and being strict (when I protested that, they said I could just be me.) Plans are now in the works to put their idea in place - I can't wait!

Pioneer games were also popular with the students. The children got to try stilts (which are harder than they look!)

Mrs. Sharp and Mrs. Anthrop are both accomplished stilt-walkers and even had a race. Me? Not so much...

A tipi was in the camp and Native American sign language was taught.

These boys were VERY excited to learn how to ask for bacon in sign! That really tickled them!

A group shot of us before dinner on Thursday.

Now some random pictures from throughout our two days:

EK and GH at candle dipping.

Lunchtime with Mrs. York, AY, EW, and AM.

Mrs. Fields surprised us with a visit Friday morning!

Hershey Campers, 2014.

Load the Confetti Cannon!!

Want to make your teacher feel good? Act like LW did today during Language Arts.

The assignment had been to read a text and then think about it. After having done that, we brainstormed ideas as to how to think more deeply than we had initially, and the children then spent a couple of days trying to write and reflect at more than just a simple, surface level.

This morning, I gave the kiddos the choice to share their pieces with their peers, and was pleased when child after child stood up and read. (And I was blown away - they had truly succeeded in thinking more deeply and had produced some excellent work!)

I had allotted an hour for the sharing; we went all morning with a half hour off for Art. All in all, twenty of twenty-five children read (including my selective mute - another success! I could hardly hear her, but she read her essay and received applause and positive feedback from her classmates. Yes!!)

As the sharing continued, I noticed that LW was becoming restless in his seat. That's unusual for him - he's a very focused boy. What was going on?

And then his name was drawn to read.

LW leaped out of his chair, crying, "Finally it's my turn!! I feel like we should shoot off a confetti cannon!"

And he made his way up to the room.

"A confetti cannon??" I asked, puzzled.

"Yeah! I have been waiting so long to read. Balloons, crepe paper streamers, all that should be coming down- it's finally my turn!"

Well.

A warm glow spread through me as I realized just how anxious he had been to present his writing, a school assignment that had involved a significant amount of work. I had been delighted at how many had read and the quality of their work, but LW put the cherry on top of the whipped cream with his enthusiasm to share.

Ten Things About Champaign-Urbana

1. If You Want To Know A Champaign-Urbana Local's Mood, Just Check Out The Latest Fighting Illini Score

Source: Facebook user Fighting Illini Basketball

College sports reign supreme in this town. The Champaign-Urbana populace turns out and shuts down for basketball home games, flooding State Farm Arena with Illini orange shirts that give the arena a bright, intimidating homecourt glow.

On the flip side, the area goes into a slight panic any time the men’s squad is ranked outside of the top 25.

2. Natives Are Total Deep Dish Pizza Snobs

Source: Facebook user Papa Del’s Pizza

The locally beloved Papa Del’s is proof that the deep dish pizza can thrive outside of Chicagoland. When Chicago friends visit, Champaign-Urbana folks know that even the most discerning eaters of inches-thick-dough can’t hate on the Champaign favorite.

Cheese so thick you need to twirl it with a fork? Fresh, homemade tomato sauce? A delish crust as thick you as want it? Check, check, and check.

3. People Here Are Hardcore Music Snobs, Too

Source: Facebook user Polyvinyl Record Company

Who needs to stand shoulder-to-shoulder at Lollapalooza when you have awesome music in smaller venues year round?

Consider this. Champaign-Urbana is home to

• the annual Pygmalion Music Festival
• the headquarters of Polyvinyl, Undertow, and Parasol records
• awesome live venues the Highdive and the Canopy Club.

Now, can you seriously blame locals for letting their overflowing, high-quality music scene get to their heads?

4. Locals Know That Custard > Ice Cream

Source: Flickr user Joe Futrelle

Locals have become well-acquainted with the deliciousness of custard through many a visit to Jarling's Custard Cup.

The flavors are simple-but-delicious, and taken to the next level with additional savories and sweets mixed in. They call it a “snowstorm,” Dairy Queen calls it a “blizzard”—same basic idea. But when it comes to sheer homemade deliciousness, locals know there’s no comparison between the two.

5. No, Champaign-Urbana Locals Are Not Chicagoans, So Don’t Even Bring It Up

Source: Giphy

Inevitably, when anyone says they’re from Champaign or Urbana, the question that follows is about their proximity to Chicago. This is pretty much the quickest way to get on a local’s bad side. What, nothing about the world class university? The crazy great art and film scene? A written word legacy that includes Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace and Roger Ebert?

Chicago’s just fine, but the Champaign-Urbana is area over two hours away, and folks here are cool with that.

6. Everyone And Their Cousin Works For Or Goes To U Of I

Source: Facebook user University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Well not everyone, but yeah, pretty much everyone.

Essentially, Urbana-Champaign is a big ol’ college town that’s getting bigger by the minute. This means the local populace is young, well-educated and used to having one mammoth learning institution at the center of their lives.

7. The People Of Champaign-Urbana Are Kind Of In Love With Roger Ebert

Source: Flickr user Colleen McMahon

Roger Ebert: longtime writer for the Chicago-Sun Times, but undisputedly a product of Champaign-Urbana.

Champaign-Urbana folks love to remind anyone and everyone that the Pulitzer Prize winning film critic was born in Urbana, wrote his first pieces for The News-Gazette while attending Urbana High School, and inked his first review for the Daily Illini while attending U of I.

These days, Champaign-Urbana people celebrate their favorite native son with the Ebertfest film festival, where a bronze statue of the local hero greets attendees.

8. Everybody Here Is A Complete Film Geek

Source: Facebook user New Art Film Festival

Champaign-Urbana’s love of the movie picture extends far beyond their hometown thumb-up thumb-down hero Roger Ebert.

In addition to Ebertfest, the region is home to the indie Art Theater Co-op, which hosts the New Art Film Festival, downtown’s historic Virginia Theatre, plus all the Oscar hopefuls in the University of Illinois’ Cinema Studies department.

9. People From Champaign-Urbana Are Fresh Fruit Spoiled

Source: Facebook user Curtis Orchard & Pumpkin Patch

Being surrounded by nothing but farmland has its advantages. Champaign-Urbana people are terribly spoiled when it comes to having farm fresh fruits and veggies constantly at their fingertips, so much so that they prefer to pick their own, thank you very much.

Locals love the bevy of farmers markets, but the 80-acre Curtis Orchard is nearly sacred ground in the area, where Champaign-Urbana folks come in the thousands to nab their own apples and pumpkins right from the ground.

10. Champaign-Urbana Folks Can Code You Under The Table

Source: Facebook user University of Illinois Computer Science

What do Youtube, Yelp, Paypal, and Netscape have in common? They all had founders that attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Adding to that serious techie creds is the fact that Volition games, makers of massive hits like Red Faction and Saints Row, is based in the area too.

It’s probably no coincidence that U of I has one of the best Computer Science programs in the country.

A Gifted Kid's View

Gifted kids see the world differently from the rest of us. They see patterns where others do not, have different perspectives and views, and catch small things others do not notice.

Such as this Daily Language Arts assignment my students just completed. The purpose was to catch the grammatical, spelling  or punctuation errors and then fix them. JR saw something else and left me a note.

Thanks for making me smile, JR!

Persistant Predator

Look closely at my hummingbird feeder. See anything?

 Peek a boo!

The hummingbirds did not like having a praying mantis on their food source. He showed up late one afternoon last week, and they buzzed him the rest of the day trying to dislodge him or make him leave.

It didn't work. He stayed until after I closed the blinds for the night and could no longer observe him from my living room window.

He showed up mid to late afternoon every day for six days! And while he was too small to harm the birds, he drove them to distraction. They know a possible threat when they see one!

Reminds me of the time a much larger one landed on the backyard hummingbird feeder a few years ago. That one was big enough to hurt the birds, and the hummers were much fiercer in their buzzing. Read more about it here.

Playing with My Students

Sometimes, if an adult is really, really lucky, children let you into their world for a little while. I was that fortunate adult today, and got to play with my students while they used their imaginations to turn the classroom into the three major zones of the ocean!

My class and me in the sunlight zone. (I'm standing on a step stool - they aren't really that short!)

This crew has overturned a side table and is creating a submarine trench.

Hanging "kelp" at the "entrance" to the ocean. I love the pink flamingo!

Cutting out some paper kelp for another part of the classroom. See the clown fish and the dolphin?

The kids suspended a bunch of stuffed fish and sea turtles - it looks as though they are swimming!

This mama duck has a nest along the "shore" of the sea.

Working on the twilight zone. The windows were covered with blue cellophane and it really looks watery.

Miss Angie, our day custodian, came in with a ladder and helped the kids hang some of their creations. They're pretending to swim in this picture.

JS and JB spearheaded an effort to draw and color in a giant octopus which they dubbed "Johnny the Galactopus." (I haven't a clue where that name came from!)

After lunch, our reading buddies came in for a visit and to see our creation. My students were SOOOO excited to show it off!

My desk was off limits for decorating, but the student desk by it was fair game and became a beach covered with shells. Three of my girls show one of their buddies several of them.

My short stint in their imaginary underwater world was a delight. I'm tired as it was a lot of work, but what a treat to be allowed to "play" with them this morning.