Saturday, April 2, 2016

Where I've Been

Hello friends!

This school year has been a wonderful year but I have definitely slacked with blogging.  I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.  Since I'm thinking of new ideas to share with you I decided to tell and show you what's been going since I've been gone.


1.  Master's Program
I am now in my second semester of grad school.  My degree is MS in Reading with an emphasis in Reading Specialist.  I'm taking classes online through a nearby college in Kansas.  Since August I'm finally starting to get into the groove of being a student again.  Methods of Research though I have decided it solely there to taunt me and get under my skin.  My action research project is being typed up into parts the next few weeks then I can wash my hands of it all.

2. Fourth year
My fourth year of teaching is winding down.  Granted it feels more like spinning.  Our events calendar is incredibly full with tons of events during the day and after school.  I have had a very small class this year...only 15!  I have come to realize that 15 a wonderful number for kindergarten.  I've had 27, 24, 22, and now 15.

We celebrated 100 days of school with 100 day stations.

We've been enjoying learning about nonfiction books and their text features during the winter.  We did a penguin and a polar bear unit and learned about blubber.


3. Flexible/Alternative Seating
In late February I slowly started to introduce flexible seating to my students.  I'll do a post about this soon but in the meantime, here is a teaser...



4.  Spring Break
I had a very refreshing Spring Break this year.  I spent some time redecorating my mom's house with her.  Last Wednesday-Saturday my boyfriend and I took a little road trip down to Texas.  We went to Waco for a day and Dallas for a few days.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE Fixer Upper.  I'm somewhat of an HGTV junkie and Fixer Upper is just amazing!


Drumroll...

I MET CHIP GAINES!!!

I REPEAT!  I SHOOK HANDS, TALKED TO, AND MET CHIPPER!

My boyfriend and I visited Magnolia Silos (of course) right when they opened last Thursday.  Afterwards we decided to go to Harp Design Co. (the custom furniture guy's store) and as we were leaving we saw Chip's truck pull up.  I immediately recognized the huge black 4 door truck as his when it pulled up next to the store/shop in Clint Harp's driveway.  Sure enough we circled the block a few times and it was Chip!  He got out and was talking to a family so we waited a few feet away and then he came over and introduced himself to us and we shook his hand.  He asked how Joplin has been doing post-tornado and thanked us for being fans and watching the show.  He then asked if we wanted a picture and afterwards went back behind the store to Clint's wood shop to film a snippet for season 4.

It's been a wonderful year and I'm excited to start devoting more time for blogging and creating some new things!