Thank You June

This June I decided not to think about school. It turns out that was an impossible goal, but I did manage to not do any much school-related work for a whole month. Instead I focused on things I wanted to do at home, and on spending time with my family. My husband is also in education, and we end up having six weeks with the whole family home together. So nice.

There were t-ball games, camping trips with hiking, and a dance recital. There were story times, swimming lessons, zoo visits, and play dates. I cleaned out some closets, sewed a Willy Wonka costume (long story), painted a bedroom, trained for and ran a 10k, and made photo books documenting our daughter's (almost) five years of life.

We homed a caterpillar, named her Buttercup, provided her with luxurious living conditions, and watched her do something very unexpected. She died. 

We started this book, loaned from a friend. I am fascinated by the process of helping a little one learn to read. And it works! She's sounding out words like a champ. 

My little learner set up this cute little system for our reading time. The red watermelon means that she is busy chewing a fruit snack or taking a drink and needs a little break. The green peas signify that she's ready to read. It reminded me of red/yellow/green cups from @druinok. And my mind was back to school again . . .

I feel refreshed. And I'm ready to tackle some new challenges in 2014-2015 with a fresh perspective. I'm looking at you, Calculus, cooperative groups, interactive notebooks, formative assessments, SBG, PLC, common core, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my.