Spring into Action

This quarter, our volunteer Spring into Action event was scheduled for April 9th. Due to weather concerns, the event was pushed back to the end of the month and held April 30th. We hosted an out door clean up of a local park, and little league baseball field, as well as indoor activities and crafts that would be donated to a local non-profit, the SunShine Group. Despite losing momentum, we had a good turn out thanks to a local Girl Scout troop helping out at the rain date out door event.

As a Senior level Girl Scout myself [because a Girl Scout is always a Girl Scout], I was able to encourage the girls in the fact that they can always volunteer no matter what age, no matter what the activity. Their scout leader arranged to take some of the indoor craft activities for their final meeting so that the projects could be finished and sent to the SunShine group. The Sunshine Group is an organization that can pair volunteers with activities to make things - knit and crochet hats, scarves, sewn soft toys and bags - that they then help distribute to other local agencies who put these gifts in the hands of shut-ins, nursing home patients, veterans at the VA, and others in need of some sunshine. The items that we made were note pads with decorated covers, books marks, braided friendship bracelets, a fleece tie blanket, but as mentioned, they can be somewhat more complex. The girls, ranging in ages from 6 to 12, were encouraged to know that volunteering could look like so many different things.

 

The Lion King

The fourth graders at school put on a production of The Lion King, Jr. Mostly by themselves. It was incredible. They received instruction from their teachers and the music teacher, but they did most of the work on the sets, props and lights by them selves.

One kid announced he wanted to be a giraffe, and could I help him make a costume? please? Please...?

Yeah, sure.  Awesome.

So we made a giraffe.

That internship at Kent State really paid off. Best looking giraffe on the stage.

Writing about clouds, the day the crayons quit, and appreciating being a voluntold

 Go have lunch, kids.

little free library

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

We have a clean up day coming up and one of the project's we'd like to work on if there isn't enough to do [haha] is a little free library, since our community is a bit of a book desert.

To buy one of these out right would cost anywhere between $150-$250, and I am uncertain that it would fit the unique needs of this community [Read: extremely windy and contentious winters]. One of the teacher's husbands is in construction and has agreed to speak to the needs of winterizing this project, but before it can even get off the ground, we need the materials.

In order to happen and make the school district grounds and maintenance people happy, it has to be on a moveable base.

With this, and the weather constraints in mind, we have come up with a possible drawing and supply list for our Little Free Library. This library is intended to be about the size of a residential microwave.

materials we have in hand:

• a dead tire to pour concrete into to secure the library

materials we can potentially secure:

• corrugated metal for a roof

materials we still need:

1. mail box post to hold library at convenient height for browsing
2. smallish [13x20ish?] piece of Plexiglas for door window, or a premade cabinet door with a fitting for a glass insert that could be fitted for outdoor use
3. dry concrete to mix and fill the tire to stabilize the base
4. screen door spring
5. weather proofing materials, such as left over ice guard
6. cabinet door hinges
7. knob

If you know how to contact me, then we are in great shape.

*UPDATE* 3/25/16

Confirmed materials we have had donated:

• cabinet for the actual library structure
• tar paper
• asphalt shingles
• cabinet knob 

We even have some books coming to us! More books are welcome as the purpose of the Little Free Library is free access to books for children, tweens, teens AND adults. 

happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

 Read Across America lasted an entire week[!!!] at our school, because literacy is VERY important and not something to be brushed aside. The students had fun with wacky hair day, cool sunglasses day, dress like a teacher day and PJ day, while some on the faculty had fun dressing up through the week as different Dr. Seuss characters. While not anything terribly demanding, it was certainly fun to show up to school in a costume off the rack. The tutus were an adventure; I've never made one before. They need a little assistance.

I tried dying my hair blue... It didn't work so well...

We rather lost steam on Friday, Fox in Sock day...
Most teachers opted to join the students in their pjs, or go casual.  

I spent a year as costume master of the closet at my undergraduate university, and then interned for a summer at Kent State in Ohio, so any time there is a costume anything, I get pretty excited.

 

Me at the end of the week.

science fair

The science fair was on the 22nd. I had a fearless assistant come in to show students and parents fluorescent minerals. There were many different specimens that responded to short and long wave black light; we had them all labeled as to what they were and where they came from, as well as a world map showing where the locality came from as relating to our location.

The students were very enthusiastic in response to the minerals! Of course, seeing something light up like molten lava isn't something you see every day!

And I got a shout out on the district page!!
http://www.nwsd.org/news-events/northwesternspringfieldelementariesholdsciencefairs

Miss O - Pony Princess

The Ponies made an appearance at Springfield for February - Heartthrob, the mail-away twins and a 3rd Gen whose name I don't know hang out in my room on my desk next to Grandma [who bought them for me - except for the newest one, obviously], and Pinky Pie, Banana Surprise, Sherbet, Cocoberry, Sweet Stuff and Strawberry Scoops are hanging out in the Estimation Station with cupcake marshmallows.

100 day was not far off, so even more ponies joined the pony parade for a 100 day math mystery: How Many Ponies does Miss O have? [the world may never know...]

And yes. I realize not all of them are My Little Pony, but there are some Magic Meadow Pony on there, for you true sticklers. In case you can't read the fine print, the math problem is as follows:

Miss O has 16 Magic Meadow ponies, 53 first generation My Little Ponies [MLP] 30 third generation MLP and one custom Percy 'Pony' Jackson MLP [on her desk, check him out] at school. 

At home, she has four times as many ponies as she does at school*, plus about 65 extra [repeats of the ones she already has, in better or worse shape]. 

How many ponies does Miss O have all together? Use words, an array, and an number sentence to show your work. 

Answer: 565
*This is by no means an accurate representation of the number of actual ponies I have.
And yes. There were actually 100 My Little Ponies [okay, some were Magic Meadow, but they were also produced by Hasbro] at school.