Today is January 28, 2014. Beginning around 5:30 a.m. this morning it began sleeting. It continued on through the morning. At 6:30 a.m., however our district had not yet called for a 2 hour late start when I needed to leave to get to school. My car was completely iced over so I had to wait for it to defrost before pulling out. My daughter and I are carpooling, so at 6:35 we pulled out. The roads were wet and the bridges and overpasses looked like they were icy. We were about 5 minutes from school when my husband called and said school was delayed 2 hours. Rather than turn around and go home, we continued on to school. There was plenty of work I could accomplish until kids arrived. Unfortuantely, a couple buses had already picked up students and were dropping them off at school. Our principal gathered them in the library and put on a movie. About 9:00, we were told the district had cancelled classes for the day. We scrambled around and called parents and got kids home safely. Many of the teachers who were already at school, left for home. Many decided to stay for awhile and see if things would improve. I got a lot of work accomplished and left around 1:30. The roads were wet but not icy. This is crazy weather for central Texas. Currently the temperature in Austin is 36 degrees. Anchorage is currently 43 degrees. What is going on? This craziness!!!
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My class (and school) participated in the Dropped Dog Service Project with the Iditarod. You can read more about this in a previous post. Yesterday there was an update on the project sent out to all participants. Check out this blog post to read more about it. http://iditaroddogblankets.wordpress.com The first three pictures are from my class. Several more pictures from our class and school are in the slideshow. Our first grade team likes to use iMovie, and especially the movie trailers, to introduce big events such as the arrival of our chick eggs, or Oreo Day or the I Love to Read Fashion Show. (All of these can be seen at some point on my class website-eejwolff.weebly.com) So of course I wanted to make a movie trailer introducing the idea of Alaska and the Iditarod to the first graders. Seeking the help of my amazing daughter, Lauren, to do the photography and recording, we set out to create a fun movie trailer for all to see. It will posted here on this blog once we have shown it to our first graders. Check back often. But in the mean time here are a few pictures we took in the process. Today our Alaskan crew presented our plans to the faculty. Our principal went over her expectations for the staff, followed by each crew member filling them in with a little bit of information. We touched on 21st century skills, global connections, addressing our state standards, engagement and technology. The best part: We were all treated to Klondike bars at the start of our meeting. Get on the sled with us and learn about the Iditarod, solving problems and the Alaskan way of life. The Iditarod is need of blankets for dogs who are dropped from the race. These blankets will be used to protect and keep warm any dogs that get sick or hurt while on the race. The project asks for 3x3 ft squares of fleece. No sewing required. They ask that you include some information like name, school, city and state on the blankets. My class had already done the math to figure out how much material we would need to purchase in order to make 22 blankets. That would allow each child to supply one blanket each. The next week, while in the team planning meeting, the team decided that each classroom would participate in the project by supplying 1 blanket. Our secretary went out and purchased the fleece. Unfortunately there was not enough for each class to have their own. Classes doubled up and shared a blanket. Since my class had already begun the process, we went forward with our own plans. Two of my students and their parents met me and my daughter at JoAnn Fabrics this past Saturday. These 2 students each picked out 2 patterns of fleece for our class. My daughter and I also picked out some fleece. We purchased the fleece and I cut it into 3x3 ft squares on Sunday. Today my kids chose their blanket and used fabric markers to write their name, teacher name, school names and city/state on their blanket. Tomorrow we will ship those blankets to Alaska. Stay warm little doggies! Below are pictures of my class working on this project. On Thursday, January 9, the six of us had a day for planning. Our instructional partner assisted us as well. We reviewed our itinerary while in Alaska, searched and shared curriculum ideas and planned for the upcoming faculty meeting. At the faculty meeting we will introduce the staff to the project. Six of us have received the green light to attend a conference in Anchorage, Alaska at the end of February. The conference is entitled "Making Sense of Problems and Persevering Through Them." I think this will be a great topic as this is what I am currently working on in class with my students. This conference coincides with the start of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race. We will have the amazing opportunity to watch the ceremonial start to the race while in Anchorage. |
Jennifer WolffI am a first grade teacher and I am so excited to participate in this project with my colleagues. Archives
March 2014
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