I Got A Job

Last summer I applied for 12 different teaching positions and didn't get a single interview.  This year not many jobs are opening up unless you have a degree in special education.  I have applied for 5 position this year since that is all that has been posted.  I really didn't expect much to come of it since I have a Masters degree and with budget cuts most districts just won't hire someone with a masters degree.  Well two weeks ago I actually got called for an interview for a first grade position at Anson in Marshalltown.  Last week I got a called and was offered the job.  I am so excited.  I will be teaching first grade in my own classroom.  I will not be subbing this year and that is great.  I am so excited to be able to go to the same place everyday and be with the same kids.  I was able to go yesterday and meet with the other two first grade teachers and get the curriculum we use so I can get familiar with it.  I was able to see my room and found out that I have a lot of work ahead of me to get my room ready for the year.  I will be spending the rest of the summer gathering things I need for my room and learning the curriculum.  I will also be doing lots of reading professional materials to help me implement things such as writers workshop and other programs in my room.

I took some pictures of my room yesterday while I was there.  I will have to post new ones after I have the room ready for the year.  But this is what I have to work with.

Cub Scout Family Campout

The end of the school year means time for the cub scout family campout.  This year we were lucky because we could not of asked for better weather.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We camped out at Union Grove lake.  Many of our scouts and their families were there and had a great time.  The cub scouts helped with the fire and with cooking the food.

On Saturday morning one of the parents came in with a snapping turtle that he found on the side of the road. He brought it for the boys to see and then took it to a safe place and let it free.  They all thought it was pretty cool.

Jonathan's Birthday

On Memorial Day we celebrated Jonathan's birthday.  He chose a green two layer chocolate cake and since we were celebrating my birthday as well I made is a gluten and dairy free cake so that I could eat it as well.  He found green frosting that is safe for me and it had confetti so he was happy. He also got to pick out his candles.  He chose ones that had colored flames.

He was really happy to see that one of his presents was really big.  To his surprise it was a Millennium Falcon.  Life could not be much better.  He also got Hawkeye decals to put on his wall and a Hawkeye ball cap.  It was really hard for this cyclone to by hawkeye things.

End of the School Year

Finally after making up the last 7 snow days we got out of school at the end of May.  They always have award assemblies for the kids.  Jonathan's was the day before school got out and Andrew and Madison's were on the last day.  Jonathan got awards for attendance, social studies, and having over 100 points in AR. Andrew got awards for reading over 100 books and attendance.  Madison received awards for attendance, Knights of Columbus spelling bee, Scripts Spelling Bee, 6th grade winner of the Geography bee, school finalist for the Geography bee, Battle of the Books, and academic excellence (had to be on A honor roll and in the 80th percentile or higher on Iowa Assessment test).

May Flood

When things finally thawed out we got rain and rain and more rain.  All this led to flooding.  The Iowa river closed the convenient ways into Marshalltown, causing Greg to go through Garwin to highway 30 to get to work.  Crews worked hard to keep 30 open by building up the shoulders to hold back the water and pumping water out of the median over the road and into fields.  We also had to deal with water in our basement.  We had water in places we had never had it before.  The ground was so saturated that it was coming up through the cracks in the floor.

Wolf creek is usually a small quiet creek that runs north of Gladbrook and is just a nice little creek.  I was coming back from Reinbeck one day and stopped and took pictures of a not so little quiet creek. Cattle were stranded out on little islands of ground in all the water.

I am always in amazement of what can happen when it rains and rains.

May Snow Storm

At the beginning of May we had a snow storm.  The kids could not believe that there was snow in May.  I worked the day of the storm and the drive was awful since there was measurable snow on the roads.  When we got home from school there was still snow to shovel so the boys were very happy.  They love to shovel snow.  It was a wet and very heavy snow.

Blue and Gold Banquet

In April the cub scouts had their Blue and Gold Banquet.  Since Greg is the Cub Master and I am the committee chair, I offered to plan the banquet for him.  I will think twice before I do that again.  I made all the decorations and did all the planning.  This is one of those times when Pintrest saved the day.  Everything I needed was on Pintrest.  Greg was a huge help in making the center pieces.  He got my spare glue gun and worked right along with me.  We also have some great den leaders who were willing to put things together for the skits.  I just emailed them with what I needed and they had it ready to go.

This is the cake I made for the banquet.

Andrew earned his Tiger Badge

Jonathan earned his Bear Badge

I ended up working that day so I had to have the meat ready to go and heating in crock pots so it would be ready in time.  I came home and quickly loaded things in the van and left to go decorate.  I am really glad we had a good turn out.  We had more people than we had the year before and hopefully next year will be even better.

Scripts Spelling Bee

The Scripts Spelling Bee is the one that is on ESPN every May.  To get the finalist for the May Bee each state holds a state spelling bee.   Each school that chooses to participate can send one person to the state bee.  To be chosen for your school you have to take a written test. The top five scores from the written test get to do a spelling bee to determine the winner.  Well Madison was the winner from our school and went to the state spelling bee in early March.  She took seventh place in the state. She got out on the word yield when she switched the e and i around.  She had some really tough words to spell and I kept thinking that she was going to be out with everyone she was given but to my surprise she lasted though 10 or 11 rounds.  One round took many of the contestants out and some rounds took no one out.  I was really pleased with how well she did.

Pinewood Derby

Back in March we had the Pinewood Derby.  I wasn't able to go this year because it was the same day as Madison's Scripts Spelling Bee.  The boys had a lot of fun making their cars with Greg. They also had fun the day of the derby and couldn't wait to tell me when I met up with them later.

Animoto video

I am currently taking a course on social media and online tools for k-12 teachers.  One of our assignments this week was to create an animoto video.  This was a new thing to me and Madison offered to help me, but I am happy to say I was able to figure it out by myself.  I chose her recent dance recital for my slideshow.  You can find it at http://animoto.com/play/79S21GSvo2ApmvH7QU47Tg .  I will post more about the recital later, just wanted to share my work.

Knights of Columbus Spelling Bee

Madison was one of the five sixth graders who were selected for the Knights of Columbus Spelling Bee at the beginning of February.  Madison made it to the fourth round and got out on the word boomerang.

Since then she has earned the right to represent the school in the Scripps spelling bee.  You are allowed to send one student from the school.  They had all interested students take a written test and the top five students then had a spelling bee to determine the winner.  Madison will compete in the Iowa finals against 14 other students on Saturday March 2nd.  The finals of the Scripps bee are in D.C. and are televised.  This is a pretty serious spelling bee and the word list is a big challenge.  I can't even pronounce some of the words.  There are 1150 words that are broken down by country of origin.  She has been working on them, but has only had a few weeks to learn them.  I will keep you posted on the outcome.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

Just before Christmas we got hit by a snow storm.  With the snow there was wind and that brought drifting.  I watched as Greg and the kids went out to clear snow.  I really wished that I had the camera ready when Greg sank up to his chest in a snow drift at the bottom of the back stairs.  Oh well maybe next time.

This picture doesn't do justice to the amount of snow piled on this table.

There was plenty of snow to clear and the snow blower decided to stop working while we were clearing it.  They kids thankfully are really good helpers.  However the windchill was well below zero and we had strep and pneumonia so we couldn't stay out long.

We have had several other big snow and ice storms since this one.  Just this week we got 14+ inches of snow.  We have not gotten the snow blower working since it quit during that first storm so we have had to work together to shovel all the snow.  At least it is a good workout.

Christmas 2012

Here are some pictures of the kids helping put the tree up and from Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

Andrew received some Geo Trax airplanes.  Jonathan received an AT-AT walker.  Last year he asked Santa for one and got a AT-ST instead, to make sure he got what he wanted he informed Santa he was including a picture so he wouldn't get the wrong thing again.  Madison received hexbug warrior bugs and Siftio cubes which is a new gaming system.  They all got a new book to enjoy as well.  There were many other gifts as well these were just the main ones.  They really enjoyed what Santa brought them as well as what they got each other.  It is always fun to take them shopping for each other and listen to them as they are very thoughtful as they choose what to get.  It is the one time a year where they don't talk about how much they dislike each other.