Life.Learning.Doodles… are Heck Awesome!
He shared with me the power-ups he uses with his classroom. Power-ups that were not tangible items or special activities.
“Gosh” I thought, “I just don’t think that would work for my students. For my students, their needs and my goals for our gamification system earning tangible items and special activities was what they needed to motivate and encourage them to take big risks and Continue reading “Bright Ideas #7: Mini-Game: Keep. Trade. Auction”
Earlier this week I shared with you about the Teacher Talk Live session I was part of about preventing the Summer Slide. An idea that came out of this wonderful time was my daughters and I hosting a Kids Summer Slam …a time this summer when kids could come together and share all the super great things they have done and/or learned this summer. After this ah ha moment during the session I ran the idea past my daughters (probably should have asked them first if they were in), but when I did ask them they yelled, “Do what mommy? With kids? From anywhere? YES! Mommy! We want to!.” Once I knew they were in we sat down, picked a date and time and I started to bring it all together. With final approval and total excitement from my 8 and 9 year old girls we decided Friday August 7th at 2pm CST we would be when we would be hosting a Kids Summer Slam.
If your child(ren) (and you) are interested in being part of this Summer awesomeness share out or even if you are just interested in getting more information on the Kids Summer Slam click here and fill out this super short form. After you complete the form and we get closer to the date, my daughters and I will be sending you more information about the event.
Don’t miss this super fun chance for your kid(s) to connect and share their awesome with other kids! We hope we will see you there…and HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!!!!
Driving to one of our Spring Break activities my girls sat in the back seat reading their books. My youngest closed her books and from the rear view mirror I see her start to gaze out the window.
“Hey Tricia do you want to see the shapes in the clouds?” she says looking over to her big sister.
“Naahhhh. I don’t want to play that,” her big sister answers.
“Awwwwww,” she says disappointed.
“I’ll listen,” I say from the front seat, “Tell me what you see!”
“I see a dragon, with butterfly wings!” Annabeth sings, “Ohhhhh and there your horse (imaginary) Checkers, Tricia!”
Not one to miss out on the imaginary fun…I hear Tricia say, “I see a dog! OOOOO I see a pancake!”
20 minutes later and too many “seen” cloud formations to name later we arrived at our destination and I was inspired.
I knew Philipa had to do some cloud watching of her own because there is just nothing like that memory of laying in the grass on a warm Summer’s day, (yeah I know its freezing out but the hope of warm weather is what keeps me going) staring up in the sky and letting your imagination take over!
Well that was fun!! I don’t know about you but I have a serious love hate relationship with Christmas. This year my procrastinating tendencies caught up with me and honestly I didn’t handle it oh so well. There may have been some anxiety and stress. In the end, as always we I got through it and I was able to look back at it all, laugh, smile and see all the fun we had!!
This is just a glimpse at some of the crazy fun I had!!
Last week was one full of those on the edge moments! You know those moments you want to run out of your house screaming someone save me from this insanity. Those moments you count down the time until your husband will be home from work so you can tag him…”you’re it”! Those moments you filter so much, your families mouths would drop if they knew the things you really wanted to say. Well…wrapped up in all that insanity there is awesomeness. The you wouldn’t have it any other way moments of motherhood.
Last week was a smidge more on the am I going to survive side…
Early this week I shared my new found love for what I have now learned is called #sketchnoting (I personally think it is so much more then a boring name like that. Don’t worry, I’m working on a new name, prettier and way more creative name for it). Even with a boring name my love for what I like to think of as writing with intertwined words and drawings continues….
Last weekend my 9 year old asked if we could decorate the outside of the house on Saturday. How could I possibly say no. So we brought the lights up from the basement and got to work. It was so much more then I could have expected.
I started this post the day of my 40th birthday…over two weeks ago. I wasn’t short of words. I didn’t need any ideas. I knew what I was going to say. The post was simply waiting for a finishing touch, a picture, some word art, some splash of heck awesome.
So it sat… unpublished.
A Google+ post came into my stream. It was a post about Lynda Berry’s illustrated syllabus and homework assignments. The article shared how she uses humor, creativity and drawings to write her syllabus and homework assignments. It is just too cool and seriously, who wouldn’t want to do that homework.
Mt daughter’s drawings stared at me from the magnets they hung from on the fridge as I ate my breakfast. Their collages of words, imagination, fearless free thought, full of color, ideas, flowing, oozing with the details of their life, shouted their creativity.
I had been missing something lately. Something that kept me from doing more, from writing more, from creating more and it finally hit me…I’ve been missing drawing.
Suddenly it hit me. I knew what was missing. I knew what I wanted to do. So, I asked Olivia’s if I could use her sketch pad. I got out my favorite black pen and I began to draw (big step for me as I usually draw on the iPad, drawing on the iPad means I can fix my mistakes, I can make it perfect and hate what my drawings look like on paper). The drawings and words began to swirl and became entangled on the paper. My heart warmed and happiness flooded me as I felt my personality, my words and my story illustrated on the paper.
My daughters joined me on the floor, each with their papers and pens. We sat and drew together. We smiled and giggled and passed crayons to each other and admired each other’s drawings.
I knew in that moment…this type of writing, this type of drawing, this type of creativity filled my like none before. (Mommy BONUS…it also gave me a half way point with my daughters and our time together. It allowed us all to write and draw and create the way we love to do. It allowed us to spend time together, doing something we all loved.) I had finally found a creative outlet that was fun, artsy, free flowing, portable and most of all it made me feel like I have wanted to for so long… like an artist.
I give you the first of many, many _______(I am certain there is some fancy smancy name for this type of writing/journaling. I have no idea what it is called. I just call it my art…my happy)….
Creativity has been oooozing for me and so have my opportunities for design. This time I got to work with teacher and it has been (has been because I am not quite done with one, but I’ll let you have a peek). Anytime I get a cance to work with woman and help them set up and create their spaces it is moving. Blogging and finding my voice has been life changing for me. So have the friend I have made. Each time I help another design their space I warmly smile because I know the same possibilities await them on their adventure.
This first blog I designed for a friend and fellow teacher who is a … Of all the designs I have created this one came the fastest to me. Channeling my inner Jen I was easily able to create a space that fit her personality,who she is as an educator and what she wants her blog to stand for. And to top it all off her tag line (I’m a tag line creating freak. Get out the thesaurus and weave words together in creative and fun ways! My kind on fun)… We hit it out of the ball park!!!
The second design I worked on…errr…am working on…errr I finally finished! It was also for another fellow educator. This one has been a labor of love. Tweeks and updates and changes and more changes and thinking it worked and then realizing it wasn’t just right. Unlike Jen’s, this design, has not come so simply (and after Jen’s I was kind of disappointed). Randee’s vision was very different then Jen’s. She wanted to start a community for fellow teachers to share and talk. S he had a vision, but is also very ambitious about what she wants to offer fellow teachers. She is eager to inspire, connect and bring out the best in fellow teachers. I wanted to create the perfect space for that.
It has been a fantastic journey and wonderful chance to work and connect with teachers.
So while I may not be here…
I am always busy creating!!
Friday night twitter introduced me to a whole new wonderful social media medium.
6 seconds of magically looping infinite addicting fun!
…and I am IN LOVE!!!
It is called Vine.
Vine is an iOS mobile service app that lets you create and share beautiful, short looping videos. It’s life in 6 seconds of looping motion. To me it is a fun and whole new way to share life with video and I can not wait to see where it goes! Here are a few of the ones I have made so far…
Saturday Night beverage