Fun Summer Plans

Today I am linking up with Michelle at Big Time Literacy to talk about fun summer plans. When I read the prompt, I thought.... I don't have any plans! My hope and goal is that we can do "little" somethings that are not too far from home and don't cost too much money. This Spring we went to visit family in St. Louis over Spring Break and it was a wonderful time. Now there is a party planned in St. Louis, a 50th wedding anniversary celebration, so we will be returning at the end of July. I can't wait to go back. We will hopefully get to go to Busch Gardens and see the Clydesdales this time. Last time we were there we could see the colts, but they were not open yet, so we hope to see them up close and personal this time!

I didn't make a "summer bucket list" this year, but some places we want to visit includes Mushroom Rock State Park. It is less than an hour from me and I have never been there. Can you believe it? And Rock City out by Minneapolis, Kansas is another one that I want to go see, but I've never been to at this point in time.

Fun summer plans include: making bubbles with my family.... the really big ones; tie-dying (summer is half over and we haven't done this at all yet, yikes); a day-trip or two to the above mentioned places; a trip to OK for school supplies on tax free weekend! I don't know if I will be able to swing that last one financially. But I'd love to plan some family time around tax-free weekend.

So far this summer we went on a family adventure to KC with my parents, aka the grandparents, and went to a Royals game. We had GREAT seats and my Dad had the patience of Job and stood by the dugout with the Punkin for an hour waiting on an opportunity to get "her" glove signed (which ACTUALLY happens to be my sister's glove from when we were growing up). But they DID get a signature! Whoot! And we ate bad food and had great seats. It was a lot of fun. Even wearing our crazy cheap rain ponchos back to the car was fun. The next day we discovered Granite City for lunch (yum.... and they have fabulous gluten free options), and Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs was a hoot, perfectly touristy for us!

 Today is "Made it Monday" and one of my fun summer plans includes having something to post about by the end of the day! Not sure what or how. Maybe if I could find the installation cd for my printer, I could get some center activities printed today. If I make the number sense gems, like the alphabet ones, I don't they will be photograph ready by the end of the day.

My redhead is far from home today and tomorrow is her birthday. I plan to put a package in the mail today. :)

My plans are not grandiose or even that exciting, but I am still pretty pumped about them!

Daring Greatly, book study, week 1

Every Thursday in July we are going to discuss the book Daring Greatly on Michelle's BTL blog. I am a few days late, but still in the right week! (yay). For July 2nd, we were supposed to be ready to discuss chapters 1 and 2. But really it starts with the author's words about What It Means to Dare Greatly, and then before the first chapter is also the introduction from the author called "My Adventures in the Arena." I found "deep thoughts" in every single part of what I read so far. To tell the truth, I had to put the book down and breathe for a couple days before I started the chapters. The book is built off of this quote:

To be honest, I read a lot in the introduction that felt like the author was holding up a mirror to me and I saw myself and didn't like what I saw. Here are some of the more painful text that I underlined. "...the core issues were the same: fear, disengagement, and yearning for more courage." "When shame becomes a management style, engagement dies." I think what scared me to the core was that I see myself disengaging at times. I invest heavily at work and sometimes I feel like there is nothing left. I have a child who is "high needs" and sometimes I just retreat into my world of social media, blogging, reading, and emailing and just check out. I felt convicted when I read and I know I need to face my fears and parenting failures head on. It is not enough to give it all at school, my greatest calling/challenge/blessing is parenthood. I pray for the guts to do whatever it takes to be the best Mom I can be today.

As I moved into chapter one, Ms. Brown speaks a lot to the narcissism or proclaimed narcissistic behavior in our society today. I agree that we overuse this terminology and that we have more influence than we believe we do. I can only change myself, but to change my culture includes using language of we, not I and putting the we back in team. In chapter one, the author talks a lot about a culture of scarcity with the meaning being: restricted in quantity.  Or the phenomenon of "never enough." She goes on to talk about how we live in scarcity.... we feel like we are "never good enough," "never perfect enough," "never thin enough," etc. I am well acquainted to the culture of "never enough." At the end of chapter one, this statement stuck with me: "I'd say the one thing we have in common is we're sick of feeling afraid. We all want to be brave."

Probably most freeing and inspiring statement of what I have read thus far is this: "Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weaknesses."

I liked the marble jar analogy. She talks about friends who fill your marble jar and those to take out, and how you can tell which ones you can be vulnerable with by whether they add to your marble jar or not.

Lastly, I was convicted by the author talking about over-sharing. I am an over-sharer. I am getting better, but it is still there. That is not what the author is referring when she encourages us to be vulnerable. There's a time and place and we have to learn how, when and who to be vulnerable with. We need to learn this balance. (We means ME).

I am exhausted after reading this much of the book and I look forward to the next chapter. I hope that all makes sense.

Remember When.....

Today's prompt for Michelle's blogging challenge is "Remember When...." I could really reveal my age here if I wanted to. I could throw in some of these~ "Remember when.... a candy bar cost $.25?" "Remember when our weekly allowance was $1 and we bought a candy bar and a soda and had money left over?" Heh heh. But I have a lot of other memories running through my head too.

Here are a couple for some of my teaching friends....

Alyce: Remember when you interviewed me for daycare and asked me a lot of "what if" questions? That youngster is driving now, hard to believe that the time is gone already. I like to give you a hard time for your thorough interview, but the truth is that I admire you for being a passionate parent.

Ginger: Remember when you were Jessica's 2nd grade teacher and I was a scared little thing trying my best to parent with no prior knowledge? That girl is in her 30's now. Hard to believe.....  Thanks for being such an inspiring force of stability in her life that year.

Now for the rest of the world, as I remember it....

 Kids: Remember when I talked to you about moving to OK for my job? I am glad we went, but I'm glad to be back home too. Did you know.... It is cheaper to live in other states in the midwest, Kansas is expensive?!

FHSU profs: remember when I would wait til the last minute and then ask you a ton of questions? I am still like that.

Stephanie: Remember how scared I was when I started student teaching? Thanks for making my confidence soar and for being such a fabulous role model. I know I am a good teacher and I know it is because of the great role models I have had!

Good Ole Days: Remember me? And a little AC/DC and some drinks and getting wrecked? Yeah, me neither. I don't remember much from those days. That is why they are in the past. Some things are better left alone.

Children: Remember the first summer we lived in our new house and how *cRaZy* I was about keeping it clean and the counters wiped off with bleach and everything had to be perfect? I would take a little bit of that kind of ambition back, but not to the point of crazy.

BFF: Remember when we met? We were a mess and we thought we were so healthy! Thanks for loving me through thick and thin.  I wish we got to spend more time together, but I'm happy you've found the love of your life.

LLBFF (life-long best friend forever): Remember when? I remember all of it. I remember when we became friends and the year that we were not friends because you were bff's with Denise Winter, and I remember the first summer you met Gary and when we were not friends in high school and when we were friends again and I remember our lives changing and I know how far we've come because I can remember all of it. How about you?

Jaymie: I remember when you were born. I'll never forget.

Danielle: I remember your 8th birthday the best. We were getting ready to move back to H-town and we hung out together a lot that summer. I remember many more times, good and bad. I think about you every day.

Sometimes "remember when's" are good. But sometimes they take me back to someone I wasn't so proud of. Today I know that I can look back and reflect and move forward and change. I am grateful for that!

Saturday Skinny....

I am not sure what that means, the Saturday Skinny. So I am going to just tell you random stuff from my house and say it in hushed tones and make it sounds gossipy.Head over to BTL to read all the skinny from around the country!

Today is a day of celebration and we are going to the farm to fish and roast hot dogs over an open fire and set off fireworks. I may or may not be turning another year older today.

The weather is warm but not hot this morning and I am sitting on the front step typing this. My back does not like the porch steps and there's a good possibility that it will protest strongly to this treatment. I must be turning OLD this year. Because my fingers are angry too and I have set off the carpal tunnel with a vengeance. My fingers are swollen and my ring finger on my right hand just hurts constantly.

I am a procrastinator. I thought since I am confessing all sorts of short comings, this is a natural thing to spit out next. I put off things I could have accomplished already. Like that deep cleaning I was going to accomplish this summer and painting some walls and getting centers ready for next year. I blame the stacks of boxes that I brought home from school that I don't know what to do with!

My youngest is still all about making Mom happy, which I adore while I wince and wonder what kind of codependent I am growing here. But she has been giving me daily gifts this week and made cupcakes last night to decorate for today. I am going to try and make that cream cheese frosting stand up more so she can use the decorator bags to decorate. My elder daughter is visiting her Nana. I am happy she can do this, but there's a selfish little (not so little?) part of me that wants her home to celebrate with her MOMMA. And she will be gone for HER birthday and I missed the deadline to send a package that will arrive on or before her day. IF I would have gotten her care package in the mail yesterday there would be a chance that it would arrive on her day, but with no mail running today and tomorrow I am out of luck. :(

I guess that is the skinny from the corner of Elm and Skancke (yes, my side street is Skancke.... pronounced with a long e at the end). People ask how I like having an Elm Street address (Nightmare of Elm Street) and I say it is no worse than living on the corner of Elm and Skancke! Did I mention that there's a dog in heat in my neighborhood? My dachshund is trying to sneak off down the block. And the animals were all 3 wonky last night from the fireworks. Why, oh why, didn't I go get doggy downers? They will be home alone tonight but their kennels are their safe places anyway, and we will turn on some music for them. If the cat would just go to his usual favorite haunts, he probably would not hear the fireworks so much (laundry room in the basement, back of the closet sleeping in a pile of clothes).

I love fireworks. But I have turned into a fear-monger at some point. I am afraid every time my daughter lights one that she'll be injured or maimed. Being a 4th of July baby, it seems it would be anti-american to NOT excite my kids about fireworks, even though they are not made in the USA.

Someone put on their facebook status: "I can't believe how poor people like to set off fireworks. All that money going up in smoke, literally." I can understand this sentiment from the point of.... I told my kid we were going to spend less than $50 total and then I promptly bought $50 worth of heavy artillery and told her she could spend $20 on the stuff she likes (hey.... that is a lot of bees and ground flowers.... ). I am not going to go into all the other rants this sets off in me. I'll just wave good-bye to my money and watch it go up in smoke.

She's off riding horse with the neighbor before fireworks start at 10. But I just heard someone setting off Black Cats and it is only 9:30. Even as a firework lover, this makes me mad. Knowing my child could be injured if the horses spook is one reason and the dog-owner reason is the other one. My poor dachshund is high strung anyway and scared of his own shadow, but today the hours to set off fireworks legally are from 10 til midnight. The terrier will at least come out and do her business. The dachshund will not leave the house and it will be hard to coax him out at 12:25 or 12:30 tonight when the neighborhood finally quiets down. Poor puppy!

How I Use Social Media to Enhance my Teaching

Here I am, connecting with Big Time Literacy for Michelle's blogging challenge.

Today the question is.... how do I use social media to support my teaching? Hmmmm.... thought provoking. Btw.... I have only just begun the reading the book that is studied on Thursdays, and I'll probably blog about it late, but then, that is not really a surprise!

Media I engage in.... facebook (personal), blog (teaching), Pinterest (personal), and.... well, that is about it. I have been saying for a couple years that I need to get involved with twitter. But so far, I haven't. Maybe this will be the year. Facebook has always been largely a place to connect personally. But that is changing for me. This past year I joined a First Grade Gab Group. It is a closed group. Others can see that I am a member, but are not supposed to be able to see my posts. This group was a life saver this past year when I was struggling.  Since then, I have discovered Kindergarten Teachers Unite, also a closed group, and 2nd Grade Chat. Now that I am back in Kinder, I don't need all the other grade levels, but I am hesitant to leave because of what a great connection they have been for me. This year, we are considering a facebook page for Kindergarten. I have been weighing in on pros and cons on the Kindergarten Teachers Unite page and there are a lot of varied opinions. I am leaning toward a "secret group" with a no-tagging guideline for photos. My partner and I think this would be a quick way to connect and keep families informed and up to date! And let's face it.... I already know most of the ins and outs of facebook. I still "share to save" and I still comment to follow posts. Sometimes others put me down for this. But yesterday I wanted to follow a post and went to "turn on notifications" and I haven't gotten one notification. It was a hot topic too, so I don't really believe the discussion has ended. Facebook is also connecting me through book studies this year. In the past when I have participated in a book study I have always joined through blogging. This year, I have joined the Guided Reading study on facebook and my facebook friend Meenal (not a central Kansas name, huh?!) and I started a facebook group for Guided Math! Facebook has become more of a teaching connection than it ever was in the past. I've also gotten connected to other teachers in my district, which is outside of my town and a little larger than I've been a part of in the last couple years.

I am curious to know.... who uses Remind? It used to be Remind 101 and now it is just called Remind. It allows you to text parents without giving out your cell number. Last year I just gave out my number. But I'm in a bigger district this year. If you have used it, do you like it? What do you think?

My blog, Education in Ms. Horn's World, which once was Kindergarten in Ms. Horn's World, and my url still reflects this, connects me to a world of educators who inspire me, connect me, and give me pause to be grateful for the things that I have, and drive me to use my talents wisely. I have connected with other teachers, like my fabulous friend Mrs. Bartel, and met new friends, like Michelle at BTL.I thought blogging was going to be a connection to parents and kids, but it really hasn't been. What it has done is this: led to job interviews, given me a world of networking, inspires me through my own writing and through reading about teachers going through the very same things that I am.

Where do I want to go? I want to stay open and be willing to explore things that are new to me. What I see on the horizon is Twitter. I am still not sure about instagram. But I feel the pull of Twitter drawing me in and I see this stretching my horizons in ways that they haven't been stretched yet.

I am grateful for the way that social media shrinks the world around me and that I can connect with any educator, in any location. Most of my connections are in the USA but some connections are in Australia. Who knew?

Pinterest. I just want to say.... how did people teach before Pinterest. Pinterest connects me to ideas, resources, blogs, and people. Most often it connects to a project/activity through a blog post and then I am connected anew to a blog that inspires.  When I don't know what to do for a craft, connection, project, I search Pinterest. It shows me ideas, connects me with standards, gives me freebies, and so much more. I can almost always find what I need on Pinterest.

Teachers Pay Teachers. That is another resource that I don't know how we used to teach without. I purchase materials, I am not JUST a freebie hunter. But I am also fairly cautious. I recently made my biggest purchase, along with my teaching partner. We bought a growing bundle when it was $45 and a second license for an additional $22.50. So we each paid $33-34. That bundle is now up to $100 and the size is still growing. It now encompasses over 1200 pages.  I am careful/frugal/tight. Hey, I AM a teacher now, but I still live below the poverty line, so I have to really watch it. I usually buy $2-5 units. Teachers pay Teachers saves my life in the departments of: sight word games and practice, learning games, centers and reinforcement of skills. I am a consumer, not a creator. I just don't have the time or the inclination.

What does social media do for you? How are you connected?

BTL Blogging Challenge.... Introduction time

Well, as you all know... I'm Carrie and I'm addicted to.... more things than I can possibly say. But in regard to this, I am in love with writing and teaching and I'm super excited about teaching Kindergarten this year! To find out the low-down on my teaching journey, read HERE.

I am joining Michelle for her blogging challenge. What I hope to gain is.... writing practice/discipline. I love to write and I find it relaxing, fulfilling and enjoyable. I also hope to learn more about my blogging buddies, forge new friendships, and learn from other people's experiences. I love hearing about what else is going on in classrooms across the country.

I hope that one day I will have the good fortune to compile my musings and writing a book. I really don't know if anyone wants to know what I have to say, but I do know that I love pounding out my thoughts on the keyboard.

Two summers ago when I first moved back to Kansas after my first year of teaching I discovered Michelle's challenge and I loved it. I hope to be a faithful contributor even if I don't write every day.

July.... already?

July is here! Time to link up with Farley for Currently.

Listening.....I love that time in the morning when I can listen to the birds chirping and just take in nature and start my day off slow and easy. I love it when I am up before the Punkin and the house is quiet. Today is no exception.

Loving..... today I am in love with summer vacation. I basically worked 10 days in a row, first I worked 4 days at my summer job, then 3 days of training/PD, and then 3 days at the summer job again. And having to listen to a friend tell me that it is a good dose of reality because most people don't get the summer off.... I had a few choice words  that I won't express here.... I am already in a panic as to how I am going to balance the work obligation with all the other things I want/need to accomplish to be ready to roll for school next year! But after 10 days of something everyday and some days obligations during the day followed by obligations in the evening, I am grateful for four days of nothing. I did have to play catch up in a book study, but now I am reading for pleasure, and yes, I am running errands I need to fulfill for my job (I got fingerprinted again yesterday, seriously people, I don't think I can tell you just HOW many times I have been printed in the last 4 years.... sub license, student teaching license, Kansas license, OK license, school district in OK, background check in OK.... yeah, I got fingerprinted three times in a matter of weeks that year!.... and so on). Anyway.... all that complaining to say that I am LOVING the lazy days of summer this week and the summer job obligation is going to be hard for me this weekend!

Thinking.... I have been out of school for an amazingly long time already. The time is flying by. I can't believe it. Do I have my centers all planned? Nope. Do I think I have a pretty good idea what I want to do the first week? Maybe. Really I probably only have about half of my centers ready for the beginning of the year.

Wanting.... this one might actually be my "needing" category. I am very lonely and I have known this for awhile, but last night it overwhelmed me. I have been longing for a "love of my life" for awhile, but this is different, this is deeper, because in my experiences loves come and go but best friends are.... well, in theory, they are forever. But I am needing some girl time and some time to be real, even if it isn't pretty.

Needing.... to get ready! I meet with my partner tomorrow and I have some notes of where I want to go, but really I want to goal set and discuss what we want to do. One of my hopes is that we can combine our Tier2 time and our small group times and do guided reading and guided math together. It doubles the teacher interaction and divides the number of groups that one person has to master. I'll be bringing this up tomorrow.

 AllStar.... well, I am really good at living behind a wall of denial in my own life while being brutally honest with you about your life, but a lot of my friends had already mentioned the honesty piece.  Sometimes I wonder if I survived the Great Depression or what. Can't get rid of that 1" X 5" scrap of material, might be able to use it in some unknown/unplanned project in the future. Cans? Save them, we can't put them into mother Earth. Tissue boxes? Well, I bet we can use them for something.... Really?! One of my friends put that she's an AllStar at decluttering. My house needs her to come and live here awhile.

What are you doing Currently? Are you enjoying the sounds of nature? Are you drinking one more cup of coffee? Are you gardening? Walking? Taking care of your own health? I am going to read about it over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade and then I'm going to go out and conquer my day, one relaxing task at a time.....