I had a chance to go with Harriet and her grand girls and attend a pasta making class in Nebraska City at Whispering Pines B&B. I got to stay at my favorite resort, the Lied Lodge!
Mother Nature had to show us how futile our plans can be…I had to reschedule our Chorus trip to the movies and our Music Club trip to see Aladdin.
March 1st was a big day at Chandler View. We had “For the Love of Reading” where community members and parents came and shared a book with the classes. I’m sure there were close to 100 people there to read! It was great to hear previous students talk about the importance of reading in their lives! Classroom teachers decorated their doors with book themes and we had popcorn for every student to munch on during their stories.
Then the 4th graders stayed after school to hear Jeff Barnes talk about Nebraska Landmark Buildings. He was sponsored by Humanities Nebraska. We also sang the state song and the UNL fight song. Then the 4 classes went in a rotation to experience what Lewis & Clark saw with a park ranger; they played an Omaha Firsts game with the representative from the Douglas County Historical Society; Nebraska Bingo was called by one of our very own teachers; and children enjoyed square dancing as it is the Nebraska state dance! Then it was time for vitals: (all Nebraska products) Runzas; green salad with Dorothy Lynch or Ranch dressing; chips; kool aid; and Elaine’s cookies. The students were very excited about the evening and knew they had experienced something very special!
Now it’s time to get ready for Emily & Drew’s wedding shower 🙂
On Saturday, March 16 we gathered at my house for a couple’s wedding shower. We introduced ourselves and then told our favorite tree story. Then it was time for Name That Tree Tune – there are lots of songs with tree references! We ate, thanks to Harriet and Leanne for helping in the kitchen, and then opened presents. One more game, to make a tree out of wires that took skill, balance, and patience…not bad qualities to have in a relationship:)
Ecology Club members took to the school grounds and garden to plant 2 blueberry bushes, and potatoes, onion from seed, radishes, and kale. Even though it was a brisk morning, the students were excited to be planting!
Saturday, March 30 ~ I took my mentee to the Joslyn Museum to experience “The Playground.” We got to meet the creator and she explained her work this way: With all the pollution we are putting into this world, the only things left for children to play on will be oil drums. I’m trying to make people see we need to leave the world in a far better state than it is in today.
She also said she’s a composer and is writing a piece for the NY Philharmonic for The Playground and the orchestra! This exhibit is part of the One Festival run by Opera Omaha.
Ecology Club members did a service project for Laurie Voss’ mom. They picked up sticks at the residence on Beaver Lake south of Plattsmouth.
It’s spring time around Chandler View. Planting, weeding, cleaning up involves many Cougars!
I had a visitor and then two Martins. But now the house is empty. Maybe next year I guess
April 27th, I spent the morning at the NE Science Olympiad on East Campus. I proctored tests and our team of 4 volunteers heard these students’ constructed instruments play a scale! It was fun being around smart kids!
I also went to see my dad get his quilt of valor. He’s 92 and was the only Veteran not using a wheel chair.
Harriet and I went to see “Something Rotten.” It’s a laugh a minute and very clever!
Our Music Club went to Walnut Creek Retirement home to sing with the residents. We always have so much fun talking with these folks and the kids always tell me, “That was so fun” or “I want to come back!” So we will:)
May means yard work and our Ecology Club has been busy! Can you find the before and after picture of our bird sanctuary?
Our school has a mentor program, where teachers just volunteer their time to see a student each week. We celebrated our year together with the whole crew going bowling.
And then it was time for Emily & Drew to get married…every detailed had been planned and the ceremony and dinner & dance went like clockwork! Beautiful event for 2 beautiful people.
Closing down the school year…
Packing boxes, getting sweet notes from students, sharing computers 5th and K together while risers are up for graduation. We put together a new big plant pot with screw pines and a palm. Those pines are 30+ years old!
As you see below our renter made the news with the first autonomous tractor planting in the state of Nebraska. That tractor planted our field just west of our farmstead! Good work Shane Bristol!
Savor the Bohemian Alps Farm to Fork meal was held at Pine Crest Bed & Breakfast on May 30th. My left elbow wasn’t up to tugging and pushing the bellows, so my teacher, Dolen Freeouf, came and played some nice Czech music while 50 people enjoyed appetizers and then we all moved to the meal tables. Very nice evening!
My spider wort, and pictures of a fir tree cones, a tulip tree in bloom and gardeners on a tour of East Campus Arboretum.
For the first time in 11 years, I decided to rest during the summer months and I am not teaching Camp Cougar. However, I go back and have kids help pull weeds and pick strawberries! The NE State Arboretum has what they call a Bloom Box for schools. We planted over 20 plants in our track dedication garden. It will take time before we see the benefits, but that’s just another thing gardening teaches!
On Sunday, June 9th our B&B Book Club met at Harriet’s for breakfast and then we went to Ohnoutka’s 5 hole golf course, and came back to the B&B for lunch. Our author, Garry Clark who wrote Unlikely Viking, joined us for the entire event. What a strong leader Garry is and how lucky Fremont is to have him leading the Greater Fremont Development Council.
Did LOTS of reading this summer! Also had time to refinish a desk chair.
Here are some Chandler View “views” 🙂 We got a new rototiller!!
Leanne and I had a play day. It started at the Rabbit Hole Bakery! What a cool place:)
Opera Outdoors was offered to any student who was in one of my clubs last year. 28 signed up and 25 actually made it. They were so kind – offering to carrying my stuff! We picked green beans and weeded the hosta bed first and then had a delightful time as you can see.
For Open House the garden produced Kale, Indian Corn, Tomatoes, Orka, and Tennessee Dancing Gourds! Then we had “Guess the Weight of the Squash.” One boy guessed 109 and the actual weight was 108 pounds. Some of the students helped me at our produce table.
The Joslyn Art Museum has Thursdays for Teachers. I went and did a mono print. It turned out like a 1st grader’s, but the process is quite simple and would be a fun thing to do for a music club party on composers!
Travel Club enjoyed looking at postcards. Soon they will be writing and sending cards all over the world.
Anyone need apples? Leanne’s 2 trees really out-did themselves this year with all the rain we had! I’ll be sharing with the teachers!
Members of the Music Club got to attend a recital at the Joslyn Castle. The Classical Kids program on the air on KVNO, supported the concert as the 12 students (one per month is featured on the air) performed. Our students were in awe that someone could have built that house to actually live in!! 🙂
It’s that time of year again! Time to work in the yard and get things ready for winter. We’ve planted Japanese Iris, moved tree guards and posts, and clipped off Zinnia heads for seed and pulled out the plants!
My mentee and I at our fall gathering. Some people cut their pumpkins up, we chose to paint and then played the battleship game. Our mentoring program really is special because teachers just volunteer their time to be with students who need a little extra love.
The Joslyn Art Museum has Thursdays for Teachers and we get to “do” art and listen to docents talk about something in the gallery. This time the St. John’s Bible was there and our “teacher” taught us how to mix egg yolks with watercolor! Can you guess which art work was mine? hahahahahaha!
The community garden clean up night had parents and students working together to get the garden beds cleared off. One parent was good enough to come run the rototiller, and he “liked” it so much, he came back a second time to get the beds tilled deeper and I spread organic fertilizer and raked it in. We are set for next year!
The B&B Book Club had an animated discussion of:
One of the joys of being a teacher, is getting to see your students grow up! This wonderful Coonfare family was fun to be around for the NSBA marching competition.
These 2 clips are some of the fun we have in the music room. The older students are sorting and matching Tempo and Dynamic terms and definitions and the younger students are playing a self-made board game for the same topics. Both seemed to like the activities! 🙂
November 2nd has never looked so green! Amazing!!
This is our Music Club with the program etiquette message for our Christmas program!
Ecology Club members are learning about Vitamins; where we get them and what they do for our bodies. They had to search and find first (always a favorite activity) and then sort and match. We’ll doing this several times so they learn how important eating the right things can be!
The B&B Book Club was honored by the presence of Bob & Jo Squires, of Ark City fame, as we talked about “Math Recess.” Bob went to lots of work to have game handouts for us and set up our “recess” so we could actually get through the games in the book. Thank you Bob!!
Before we left for Thanksgiving break, Children’s Classics watched this movie to solidify their reading of A Christmas Carol.
![The Man Who Invented Christmas [Blu-ray] [2017] - Front_Standard. 1 of 2 Images & Videos. Swipe left for next.](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/6171/6171996_sa.jpg;maxHeight=640;maxWidth=550)
I went to the Joslyn Castle for a preview of their curriculum on Eugene Kingman.
Ecology Club spent a few moments during club time to take the beads off of Job’s Tears plants we grew this year. We will create a string of these beads in the future.
I teach a behavioral skills class and this little boy has really grown this year! He was helping me with overhead films and then decided to pull the stool up and play the piano too! Warms my heart!
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