My New Adventure

Hello there! I wanted to take a minute to share my new adventure with you all! 

After some time away from blogging and social media I am excited to announce that I am now working with a former co-worker on a new blog called Peaches of Our Heart.

I would love for you to head over and follow us there as well as through social media. 

I can't wait for everything this new adventure will bring. 

Check it out:  Peaches of Our Heart - Our Story

Game Changer!

One month done!

That went by so fast! I have been busy attending different professional developments/conferences, and can’t wait to share all the great things with my teachers.

The most recent PD was with the Oregon Ed Tech Cadre. TONS of takeaways, but I think my favorite thing was time to actually play with different apps and programs I just haven’t had the time to learn and/or spend time in.

I will say I have really stayed away from taking notes and such on my iPad. The reason being is that I love to hand write my notes. I am a self proclaimed note nerd and I always say I was “sketch noting” before it was really a thing. I thought I found the answer to my hand note taking skills and love a technology...the Rocketbook! I LOVE it! If you haven’t hear of it before click to picture below and learn more.

It took me some time to get use to the different pens (having to be erasable and a particular brand). But once I did, I really loved the results. Here are a few of my notes.

That being said I pushed myself out of my comfort zone for this conference, and decided to embrace my iPad. I am so lucky that our district bought Logitech Crayons for the staff...GAME CHANGER!

I knew the reason I steered away from taking notes or drawing on my iPad had to do with the bulky stylus and I couldn’t afford to get an Apple Pencil.  NOW...I LOVE MY CRAYON! Here are a few of the sketch notes I took during my conference.

Like I said...GAME CHANGER! I even took sketch notes on two of my classroom visits today.

If you are looking for an alternative to an Apple Pencil you should try the Logitech Crayon....works just the same and half the cost.

...Rocketbook for Sale!

Painted Rocks

Living in southern Oregon during the summer is amazing. There are so many things to go out and do, and my family loves to camp and be outdoors.

However there is a huge downside. We live in a valley near northern California and we get the worst of both states. The wildfires this summer have been pretty horrible. I have read that we have the worst air quality in the US. There are days that we should not be outside at all. We have taken a few trips out of the area to try and get away, but of course that costs money. This is what we deal with almost every day.

One way my daughter and I pass the time indoors is by painting rocks. As educators you may have heard of the The Kindness Rocks Project or even Peace Rocks. (See links for more information)

We prefer to "hide" the rocks in places that people will come across them unexpectedly, and it's fun to find them! Some groups and cities have Take 1 Leave 1 stations that can be used as well. Either way we enjoy the time together painting as well as coming up with different ideas for the rocks. 

Another thing we did is join a FB group in order to track the journey of our rocks...there are tons of them! When we find one with a group written on them we try to post those as well. We came up with our own hashtag to follow their paths. Here are some of the rocks we have painted. Our group is Rogue Valley Painted Rocks #RVPR and our family hashtag is #FALKRKS. 

Has your school painted rocks, maybe made a kindness rock garden? Have you painted rocks?

Hello...I'm Back!

After two years of silence...other than Twitter...I'm back! For the past four years I have been focusing on my "new" role as Instructional Coach. I  decided to step away from the blogging and TpT world in order to give my role the attention needed. There are times that I still don't know how I managed and juggled everything when in the classroom, as do most of you. I'm still in awe!

During the past four years I have learned so much, worked hard, and built amazing relationships with my teachers. I am excited for the upcoming school year and can't wait to share it all with you.

Looking forward to next year I am working on making a few goals, goals that will help me become a better educator, instructional coach, mother, wife, and person.

Over the past few years I have had the privileged to study and attend professional development by Eric Jensen. During his PD he presents the idea of "gutsy goals" and "micro goals". The idea of a gusty goal is to set the bar high,SUPER high. Micro goals then become the path to obtain the gutsy goal.

Sometimes I feel we get so overwhelmed with the gutsy goal that we get lost and eventually give up. The key is in the micro goals. I ran across a Twitter feed #onesmallthing (follow the # on Twitter and click here to go to the website) at the end of the school year, and thought it was the perfect way to help keep myself focused and not overwhelmed. It's also something I think I will incorporate in my building during small group/individualized PD (something I'll talk about in another post...it's AMAZING!).

So to begin my journey here is my first #onesmallthing

What is your #onesmallthing? 

You can now follow me on Twitter @dandelionsteach and on Instagram @dandelions_and_dragonflies , one day I will get the buttons on my blog up to date!

Happy 2016

I hope you all had a happy and safe New Year. I did the normal stay at home in my PJs and hope to stay awake long enough to watch the ball drop...I did manage to do it this year!

As for my December challenge....well it didn't happen. I really didn't think through the whole break thing, Christmas shopping and wrapping, out of town trips, etc. I did post a few more on Facebook than I did here, but only a few. I found it hard to post on my blog from my phone...well at least post the pictures, it keeps telling me I need another app. Just too frustrating.

I must say I am ready to get back to work. I couldn't sleep one night (what happens when you stay up late reading and take a nap here or there) and of course had a great idea for my next PD. Once I have all the pieces together I'll  be happy to share.

Here's looking forward to a great 2016!

Day 17: Tree

I know today is a school day and I should be posting about something school related, but I had to show off my tree AND we don't have a Christmas tree here at school.

The one on the left is the small one in my daughter's room, and of course the one on the right is the one in our living room.

I love my tree this year, I know it's not your large full tree that most are use to but we went out and cut both of these trees down...and it's a great family tradition! Here are pictures from where we went to find our tree, just an hour up the road from our house.

Day 16: Makes You Feel Merry

My co-workers! We had our Secret Santa reveal party today after our staff meeting....I'm ready for the holidays!