American Gothic 142.365

The school Spring Festival is on Thursday. The theme is (partly) Farming. Our art teacher painted this for the 5th grade to use as a fund raiser - for $1 you can have your picture taken with a friend! My friend and I were "testing" the picture for the art teacher...

Lilies 127.365

Today in class, we made Mother's Day boquets for our moms. Each lily is made by tracing a hand, cutting it out , rolling it into a cone, and attaching it to a straw. They turned out sooo cute! They are brightening up our classroom, until the students take them home on Friday.

Soul Sisters

At the NCEA conference that I attended this week, I was able to see many nuns wearing their habits. This is interesting to me because nowadays, many nuns do not wear habits, but "regular" clothing. Anyway, I made it my mission that during the conference I would photograph as many sisters as I could. Here are a couple of wonderful sisters that I met during these past three days. I have never seen a purple nun!! Sr. Elizabethrose is from North Dakota. With her religious order, the sisters can wear regular cloths and the veil is optional. She choses to wear her veil. Sr. Anne is an Urseline nun from Nebraska. Her traditional habit is floor length.

NCEA Conference 107.365

This week, the homeroom teachers and specialty teachers from my school attended the National Catholic Educators Association (NCEA) conference in Anaheim, CA. My colleague and friend, Kathy, not only attended the conference, but she was also a presenter. Here she is, pointing out when her session is! She talked about the importance of having a Student Success Team at each school in order to meet the needs of all students, from special needs to gifted students. Kathy has so much knowledge and enthusiasm for this topic, and I'm sure she did a fantastic job at her session. She wouldn't let any of us watch her!!

Of course, there are pleny of vendors at this convention. I had to stop at this booth for the photo op! The reason is that Danny's nickname at Academic Decathlon is Danford from Stanford. I would be so proud of Danny if he was accepted to Stanford! (However, I wouldn't be any less proud of any college that he attended.)

Heart 101.365

At the morning assembly, one of my students excitedly asked me if I had my camera with me (they know me well!) because there was a heart on the ground. Sure enough there was! The microphone wire ended up on the ground in this heart shape. Purely accidental... Perhaps Someone was telling us they love us. :)

We're in the Clear! 90.365

We did it! Maria, Robert, Kathy, and I needed to take 4 classes to clear our teaching credentials, as our school/diocese does not have an induction program. We took the weekend classess (12 weekends!) in Oct., Jan, Feb, and Mar. Today was our last class!! Yipee!! We now have to submit the required paperwork to the unversity and they will send it to the proper state agency. We can't believe it!! P.S. Happy Birthday, Robert!!

Creative Chaos 88.365

A view of my desk on a typical Thursday afternoon. I'm trying to finish my lesson plans for next week. My aide's desk is right next to mine - her desk is as cluttered as mine. :) Our desks are not cluttered, it is our creative juices flowing!!!

Driving Miss Judi 78.365

Here I am driving back to school for a meeting. Compared to the rest of the nation, my commute is pretty easy - only 13 minutes!!