I love the newness of back-to-school. Each new school year brings about opportunities to try things differently, to start an adventure of sorts. I’ve been prepping at home and at school in order to be ready…
I went to Mullen-Hall to get started on putting Room 204 back together. I’ll show you the “before” pics, now, and will hopefully have some decent “after” pics, soon!
I love our classroom, and can’t wait until it is filled with students!!
One thing I’ve never really blogged about is our classroom Beach Museum. For years, I have been collecting sand from beaches all over the world. What has made my collection more special is the fact that students often bring back sand from places I’ve never visited! After many years of keeping sand in jars around the room, I realized that the display needed to change. With the help of some fabulous volunteers, we transferred the sand into ornaments, and my mom (Miss Sally) took the time to hand write all the tags for me. Each tag is 2-sided, and tells where the sand is from, the name of the beach, the date and who collected it. Right now I have 36 ornaments, but am already realizing I will need to re-think space. I have some sand from Alaska that will need a home!!
A few of the 36 sand ornaments in our classroom.
It is amazing how sand differs in texture and color depending on where it came from!
I arrived home from school to find this on my front porch, waiting for me:
Yaay!!!! It is my new MacBook Pro!! I really wanted to order it this past spring, but forced myself to wait until the new school year. This will be my fourth Mac computer since I bought my first one in 1997.
With a few adapters and an App Store gift card, I’m ready to roll it into the classroom!
This is the first time that I’ve bought a new computer BEFORE the old one died. What a treat, being able to move over all of my data from one computer to the other and have everything ready to use in the new one. Carson is hoping he can use my old laptop to play Minecraft!
As for me, I have been thinking about how much technology has changed in the last 4 years since buying my old MacBook. Mobile devices are everywhere, and there are so many creative ways to use technology in the classroom. So, even though on the surface, my new MacBook Pro (whom I have named Mabel) seems very similar to my old one, I know there are many new opportunities for me to put it into service as a learning device.
Oh, one last random picture (make that 3) – I was able to catch a gorgeous sunset while I was in Provincetown over the weekend. As summer draws to a close, I am very much looking forward to what’s ahead…
Pilgrim Monument