OK So here it goes:

1.       I was born in Wichita, Kansas but moved to Ohio and then Michigan. I have not been back to Kansas since 1969.

2.      I played the guitar and drums as I was growing up. I was the only female drummer in high school.

3.      I used to have a long hair calico cat named Brandi Alexander, which was named after an alcoholic drink. When I named the cat I was VERY underage and had just heard the name of the drink from an adult.

4.      My dog, Bailey, is a cow. (Actually, she is the very large pup -Chocolate Lab, and towers over her mom, Snickers.)

5.      I began teaching in an elementary school later in life. I was still in college while my kids were young.

6.      I raise butterflies, and I actually like creepy crawlies like Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and Giant Millipedes (which I have in my classroom).

7.      Although I have traveled quite a bit, my dream place of visiting the Monarch Sanctuaries in Mexico, has never occurred…yet.

8.      I am addicted to my coffee drink-6 shots espresso, chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut over ice! (It’s like a liquid Snickers bar!)

So many bloggers have already been tagged, so I will tag only a few.

Jim Dornberg, Jim Wenzloff, Kevin Hodgson, Steve Dembo, Ben Rimes, Kevin Jarrett,

I won’t be able to insert chapters and it probably won’t be viewable on an iPod but until I find out how to make those changes, this may have to do. If any of you can lend a hand to my problem, I’d appreciate it greatly.

Until then, enjoy a couple of pictures that I took from my deck. Yes, that is a giant frog in my backyard! (Don’t ask!)

First, my sixth graders are finishing up their digital stories. I have to say the majority of them are so excited that they’ve been practicing on Movie Maker 2 at home and then trying out and teaching their fellow classmates the new things they’ve learned. We will be premiering their stories by the end of the week. I’m thinking of doing it up and having a red carpet and popcorn.

Secondly, my students dance mat vending business has had two weeks of success ~ they’ve sold their alotted tickets for both weeks and they are learning that they must ‘talk up’ their business. They have become very protective over the Playstation 2 consoles, games, and dance mats. They will not tolerate any horse play. It’s nice to see a hard-working group taking this seriously. As one student said, “If we mess this up, we may never get another chance to play video games in school again!”  I wonder if any of them realize that this is more than just playing video games? It’s about the physical activity and exercise and the reading and math skills that are being develop from tracking the arrows and following the pattern of the arrows. Well, I’m sure that will come soon enough.

Lastly, I am going crazy preparing my group of broadcasters to present at out state capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. On November 14th, our broadcast group, (seven students) will be presenting at the AT&T/MACUL Student Technology Showcase. They begun broadcasting a weekly news show and streaming it into the classrooms. They write the scripts, film and edit the video, and then create the final project. What an amazing group. I am excited but nervous.

On a final note, I have made a connection with a fantastic group that has just begun podcasting. YouthRadio

The other project that another group of sixth graders is working on is running a vending business using dance mats and Dance Revolution games (Playstation 2). First, the group thinks it’s cool to play a video game at school but the conversation has gone much deeper than that. The group started discussing the fact that kids don’t exercise or play outside very much. What better exercise than 15 minutes on a dance mat. (It definitely wears me out but maybe that’s because I’m old!)  The kids are setting up this business during school hours and plan on using the proceeds towards two service-learning projects at our school.

This has been a fantastic start to the school year with these two projects. The kids are excited about school and about learning. They are learning how to critique themselves and are having true discussions on how to make projects better. It’s times like this I love being a teacher!