Dr. Jean, Vegas and What Summer? :)

Wow! Where did summer go? It really does get faster every year!!! I had a wonderful summer with my family and attending many teacher meetings and conferences. I saw Dr. Jean Feldman at Nashville for a 2 day PreK-1st grade Summer Camp conference. Marty was having his two week camp for guard in Nashville so it worked out great because he had a hotel room paid for so I had a mini vacation when I went to the conference.:) I love Dr. Jean because her philosophy is mine-children need to time to learn through singing, playing, dancing and exploring!!! There is a time for worksheets but NOT all the time. :) She truly is a jewel and I feel very blessed to call her friend and know that I could email her anytime or even call her and she would immediately give me feedback to any questions I had for classroom ideas. Love Her!!! We need more Dr. Jeans in the world. :)
 I also attended a Common Core Math training for 2 days in June and learned a lot about how to help the students with exploration and problem solving in Math.
 Of course, going to Vegas for the national I Teach K! conference seems to be on my list of annual summer list of things to do. This is my third summer attending. I keep going back because it's the best of the best teachers/presenters that SDE has to offer all in one location!!! I have met so many wonderful teachers there and so many of them I am blessed to call friends. :) One in particular, Alessia Albanese, www.mrsalbanesesclass.blogspot.com, is one of the dearest and sweetest teachers I know. She is my special Canadian friend!!! The only bad part of Vegas is that I never have enough time to visit with all my teacher friends. :( If I go next year, I'm hoping to go a couple of days earlier so we can hang out by the pool and do some shopping together before the classes start. :) There are many other friends that I would encourage you to follow their blogs. Here are just a few:
Deedee of www.mrswillskindergarten.blogspot.com, Kim and Megan of www.kindergals.blogspot.com, Fran of www.kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com, Kathleen of www.growingkinders.blogspot.com, Deanna of www.mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com, Kimberly of www.kinderbykim.blogspot.com, Shari of www.kidscount1234.com , Rachelle of www.whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com and Katie of www.littlewarriors.blogspot.com  I will list more of my new friends and their blogs on another post. These are enough to get you started. :)
We had open house last night for Kindergarten! The students come Monday. I am looking forward to another wonderful year with a wonderful group of Kindergarten sweeties!!! At the moment, I have 19 sweeties on my class list.
Kirk, Kara and Kali had a great summer! Kirk and Kara attended California for FBLA Nationals and  Jamaica for mission trip. They have also stayed busy with work. Kali enjoyed hanging out with friends and going to the pool. She also spent a week at Lakeshore Camp.
I always look forward to meeting a new set of sweeties but get a little sad when summer is over because it just means that time is passing so fast with my own three kiddos. Our family has been blessed with good health and lots of good times this summer. I am thankful for the memories we have made. :)
We also enjoyed spending a lot of time with Elijah and Annalesa, our most favorite babies in the world and had several sleep overs. :)We are looking forward to many more of them!!! It has been fun to watch them grow and change over the summer and we are thankful their parents let us spend so much time with them.
Hoping you and yours have a blessed school year!