Back from Las Vegas

Hi all,

I just made it back from the SDE I Teach K! conference about 6:30 this morning.  I know that before I left I said I was going to blog each night to tell you what I learned about during the day.  Well when night came there was still so much to do or I was so tired from a full day of learning it just didn't happen.  So what I decided on the long plane trip this morning/last night (still not sure about my times right now) is that I am going to share each day what I learned and  how I am going to use it in my classroom this coming year.  So tonight I am getting some sleep because tomorrow I have to come back to the real world and get busy with everything.  Make sure you check back this week to find some new ideas.

Thanks,
Leslie

PS.  Not everything was work related.  We did throw in some fun as well.  

.

FOREVER

Hi. Everyone,

I know you are all probably wondering who I am and what I do.

First, I am super sorry that it has been so long since I blogged.  Let me take a minute and catch you up on life.

1. I teach kindergarten and had the most wonderful group of students this past year.  This being said there were also academically low.  I ended up spending the last part of my school year focused on them during the day.  As I said they were wonderful and deserved every thing that I could provide them to help them learn.  We made it to the end and only one out of 24 really was not ready for first grade.  Even that one though had come a long way.
2. I am not sure if I have shared this before (I think I have) but I am currently back in graduate school working on my Specialist Degree in Instructional Technology.  Well I love it.  I have learned so much and I am truly excited to get back and use all this technology knowledge to help the next group of students learn.  Now that I have told you about grad school I can tell you that during spring semester I took one class and much of my free time not at school was spent on grad school.  My Spring class was over at the beginning of May and for some unknown crazy reason I chose to take 2 classes this summer.  Well the two classes that I am working on now started 3 weeks before my school got out for summer vacation.  Talk about 3 very packed weeks.  All day at school trying to finish out the year and at night working on my two grad classes.  I made it but still not sure how.  The classes will be over at the end of July and oh wait my new set of kindergartners show up the first week of August.  NO BREAK!  ;) I just keep telling myself I can do this.
3. I have shared with some of you that I also have a business with my brother where we renovate old homes.  Well lucky for me he is doing most of the work, but I do try to help out when I can or have a few free seconds.  Since I am not teaching kindergarten during the summer my time is now split between grad school work and home renovations.  Yes I told you that we do all the work ourselves (painting, drywall, plumbing, electrical, you name it).
4. Last on my life list is that I leave for Vegas and the I Teach K conference Sunday morning.  Yes this Sunday morning and I will be gone a week.  I am SUPER excited to go and can't wait to see what I can learn but I do hope there is a little rest and pool time while I am out there.

Okay now that I have given you the highlights of my life since February (yes I checked that is the last time I blogged) I want to share why I am on tonight.
One of my grad classes had us create a class blog and share about a topic each week on our blog and then our classmates would respond.  Well while doing this grad school blog I realized how much I have missed blogging and sharing on my personal/professional blog.  So I am here to tell you that over the next month before I start back teaching wonderful 5 year old students my goal is to get back to blogging on a regular basis.  I will begin with blogging about my experience at the I Teach K conference next week.  I will pick one thing each day that I learn and share it on my blog that night.  So check back on Monday to see what I have learned (or bought) while in Vegas.

Talk soon,
Leslie

PS. Thanks for listening to my rambling tonight.  It makes me smile to be typing and sharing this on my blog again.