Donor's Choose

This year, I've decided to begin my Master's degree. An amazing opportunity came up last spring that allowed me to attend professional development all summer and for the next school year on incorporating Engineering, Math and Science into my curriculum. Through this grant project, I am also able to receive college credits towards my Master's degree, so along with three of my co-workers, I'm on track to have that finished in the Spring of 2019.

This summer I spent over 80 hours working with my colleagues to develop Engineering Learning Cycles for my students. So far, I have an entire unit on Force and Motion that allows students to create and arrange their own playground to consider predicting future motion and avoiding student collisions. I also have an entire unit on Weather, Climate and Hazardous weather where students will build a house, following certain constraints, to withstand wind (simulating hazardous weather).

I've completed the Force and Motion learning cycle with both my class and my partners' class so far this year. Both classes loved it and grasped the science concepts, while doing a Tug of War, exploring playground equipment, and building their very own playground out of Legos.


Anyway, I've been having a really fun year with my students and I know that they're ready to do more projects like these. Unfortunately, with teaching, my Masters, raising a family and a newborn on the way, another 80 hours of my own time to create more of these units seems unattainable right now. Thankfully, I was able to attend the National Science Teacher Association Conference in November and learned of a book for teachers that already has several lessons like these created! I fell in love with this book after attending an hour session about it and immediately went to purchase it from the bookstore at the conference.

It's called Picture Perfect STEM Lessons for grades 3-5. It incorporates all subjects (math, science, reading, writing and social studies) into units that fit our grade level standards. It starts by introducing the topics through picture books for the students. It has lessons, activities and projects all mapped out
for teachers. The only problem is....I need the picture books. My school district does not pay for materials like these for teachers. This is something I'd have to buy out of pocket - over $300 in pictures books for my students.

This is where I'm asking for help, which is hard for me to do. I've filled out a project on Donor's Choose (a website that helps teachers get their projects funded by donations). This week only, Donor's Choose will match any donation up to $50 towards my project. I would LOVE for this project to get funded so I can better the learning environment for my students. They loved Science this last semester and have been begging to do more. I would love to incorporate this learning style throughout my day, not just in Science. If you click on the link above (or here), it'll take you to my project information on Donor's Choose. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! You're welcome to share my link with anyone who would like to help out a public school teacher looking to get more resources for her classroom.

Thank you so much for always being awesome readers!!! :-)

Back to School

Happy first day of school from Daddy, Mommy, Anna and little brother! :-)

We survived the first day of school!!! Anna had her first day of preschool and I began my sixth year of teaching. I'm so glad Tim was able to take the day off and bring Anna on her first day...even though I was sad it wasn't me. Tim said she walked right up to her teacher in the lobby when she called her name and walked down the hall with all of the other kids without looking back. What a big girl!!

As soon as I was out of school, I rushed home so I could go with Tim to pick her up. We pulled around and she was trying so hard not to smile huge when she saw us ready to get her - it was so cute! Her assistant got her into the car, buckled her, told us how sweaty she got today and that she had a good day. :) It took her a minute when she got in the car, but once I got Anna talking, she talked for a long time! She was SO excited! She told me about school, she told me about her imaginary friend, and absolutely anything she could think of, she was just so happy.
We decided to celebrate this big day with some ice cream from Krekel's after. :) Anna enjoyed a strawberry cone with sprinkles, and Tim & I split a chocolate. She played outside for a little while this evening, ate dinner, took a bath, read some stories and was in bed by 8:00pm. She's been so tired this week because she's been getting up early, that I'm curious to see how late she sleeps in this weekend!

Highlights from Anna's day:

• Wearing her new school shoes (even without socks, oops!)
• Cold water - she was "so, so sweaty"
• She found a Bubble Guppies book in her classroom and read it
• The teacher read a "school book" and "pirate book" 
• There were "ten kids in my classroom" 
• Our neighbor asked Anna how her day went and she replied, "Great!" 
• She told me all about how they got cold water in cups without lids. She drank it "carefully and slowly". Then she threw the cup in the garbage and washed her hands, but the soap wouldn't work at first. 
• She sat on the carpet that had a pattern on it

Overall, I think she had a wonderful first day. She's excited to go back tomorrow! I am so happy that she had such a positive experience today. 

On my end, I had a pretty good day, too. 23 of my 27 students showed up today, so that was kind of nice. The students were all very excited to see each other and were a bit chatty, but they seem to be a good group. I'm excited to see how this school year unfolds - my partner and I have some cool ideas for this year. :) 

Anna and I are both completely exhausted, but I'm sure we'll both have a great next two days. I am looking forward to sleeping in this weekend and relaxing. Every year I forget how stressful and exhausting the beginning of the year is, but it's also so exciting and fun to start over with a brand new class. 

CF Awareness Month Blog #7 - School

When I was in elementary school, I remember my mom would always give my new teacher a pamphlet about Cystic Fibrosis at the beginning of each school year. I remember being allowed to use the bathroom when needed and I had to see the school nurse every single day before lunch to get my enzymes. The only time I would miss school was for my 3-4 doctor appointments throughout the year, and we really tried to schedule them over Thanksgiving/Christmas/Spring/Summer breaks so I wouldn't have to miss school. Thankfully, having Cystic Fibrosis didn't affect my elementary years too much.

June 2006 - High School Graduation

In middle school and into high school, the Vest came out and that's when CF starting playing a much more prominent role in my life, that I was not happy about. This still didn't affect my schooling, (but it did affect the relationship between my parents and I) I was let out of my class right before lunch about a minute early each day so that I could make it to the nurse to get my enzymes before passing periods began...but that's about it.

I've always planned on going to college. I never even thought that CF would prevent me from that. I've also always wanted to be a teacher and never let CF get in the way of making that my career. When I was applying to colleges, I only looked in-state because I knew that I wanted to stay close to my CF clinic because I had such great ties there. For me, going to college was a huge step in my independence from my parents. I was living on my own, I had to prove to them (and myself & doctor) that I could take care of myself on my own. *My first semester of college, my lung function actually went UP!* I was in charge of refilling my prescriptions, scheduling my own doctor appointments around classes and doing my treatments.

May 2010 - College Graduation

I'm not going to lie, it was not easy. I struggled to do my Vest & nebs everyday. I definitely didn't do them everyday. I was one of those patients that would think, "I feel fine, why do I need to do my treatments?" Or "It's fine if I just skip this one tonight." Which of course would turn into skipping several. Thankfully, I never became super sick while in college, but my lung function was in the 70s at that time. It wasn't until the end of college, my senior year probably, when Tim and I got engaged that I needed to start kicking my own butt - no one was going to do it for me and no one should have to. During our engagement, my goal for the wedding was to not cough during our ceremony (I know, it sounds weird, but I didn't want to...don't know how to explain it). That's when I really starting pushing myself to be better about my treatments. After I graduated in June, then we got married in October, I was at my healthiest weight and lung function. :-)


Clearly, my 100% compliance, exercise and eating better didn't happen over night. It's something that I've been working on for years and I'm still working on. I think it's something I'm always going to be perfecting.

Anyway, I didn't let CF get in the way of my schooling and/or pursuing my goals. I made it through four years of college with a degree in Elementary Education. I worked as a teaching assistant for two years before finding this WONDERFUL job as a Kindergarten teacher this year (which is almost over :( ). Still "being in school", I can say that I still don't let CF get in my way. Yes, I have lost weight, but I'm learning to adjust. It's not the end of the world. I'm doing something that I absolutely love, so I will make it work!