Resources Around Town

Our community is fortunate to have Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the heart of town.   Iup provides our community with a wealth of resources for families.  I have shared a few you may not be familiar with below.  

IUP Literacy Center

The IUP Literacy Center provides assessment and instruction with reading and writing for children and adolescents.

IUP Community Music School

The IUP Community Music School provides private lessons, ensembles, and classes in music.

Child Study Center

The Child Study Center provides educational and psychological assessments, and consultation and education for parents related to academic and behavioral issues.  

Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic

The IUP Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic provides diagnostic and treatment services.

Back to School

I'm not sure about you but I look forward to getting back to school!  I am starting to prepare the Library by planning, organizing, and cataloging the new books I ordered over the summer. 

I am also preparing my family for the transition.  A few things I do to make our transition from the lazy, carefree days of summer into the full, structured schedule of the school year may help your family ease back. 

• Establish a calendar of scheduled activities-we use a paper calendar posted on our refrigerator.  Along with activities we add dinner plans.  The few minutes a week it takes to plan out our dinners helps with shopping and wasted time when we come home hungry!
• Establish a nightly reading routine if you don't have one.  Reading is the perfect way to end the day.  
• Start moving bedtime 15 to 30 minutes earlier each week.  
• Set up homework station with supplies-we add pencils, erasers, colored pencils, paper, a calculator, ruler, and other like items.
• Prepare a lunch preparation bin-snack items, baggies, thermo, etc.  Keep lunch box items all together to save time when packing lunches the night before.  
• Spend time with your child choosing outfits for the first week-we usually wait until the week before so we can check the upcoming weather. 

Do you have any ideas or suggestions for helping your family ease back to school?

Make it a great day!

Our school has a YouTube Channel for our daily EPTV news broadcasts.  As a Pre-K to 3rd grade building we broadcast the news most important to our school community.  Our segments consist of the date and day of our rotation, the Pledge of Allegiance,  the lunch menu, daily announcements, weather and sports.  Our 3rd graders hold the job of delivering the news until the very end of the school year when the 2nd graders are given the opportunity to see what happens and participate in a broadcast or two.  Every 3rd grade student is given the opportunity to participate in each of the roles-announcer 1, announcer 2, Pledge leader, weather person, sports reporter, and camera person.  

Every once in a while we have a special broadcast where teachers take the role of the student announcers.  The students LOVE seeing their teacher on EPTV!  The broadcast I shared is one of those special times.   And from the EPTV news team...make this a great day!   

What do you prefer?

I am working on my second biography for the summer.  I found I really enjoy reading about people and their lives.  I enjoy reading nonfiction books.  I think my attraction to nonfiction books is my love of learning.  When I find something I'm interested in I want to learn more. 

The other day as I was bird watching out the windows of our three seasons room, I spotted a hawk.  After researching the hawk in a nonfiction book, I learned it was a Cooper's Hawk.  I read Cooper's Hawks like to prey on small mammals.  This is why the chipmunks are disappearing from our yard.  I also learned if we removed our bird feeders for a few days the hawks will leave. 

I am curious as to what type of book you prefer to read. 

Rainy Day

Another Rainy Day.  Another rainy week is expected.  I thought I would share activities and a song for another rainy day.

My rainy day suggestions...

Make a blanket tent! When my daughter was young one of her favorite things to do was to create a blanket tent.  We would use a sheet, and pillows to create the perfect spot for reading.

Have any old magazines or newspapers around the house?  Create an "I spy" page with your child.  Encourage your child to find and cut out at least 8 pictures or words from old magazines or newspapers.  Paste the 8 pictures or words on a piece of paper.  Write a sentence at the bottom of the page with the items or words you want to spy.  Complete the page using additional pictures from the magazine to cover the empty spaces.

Get in the kitchen with your child!  Another favorite pastime in our house is to bake together.  We've been known to make gingerbread cookies in July!  Baking is a fun, educational (think measurement), lifelong skill with a tasty outcome.  Who knows...maybe you'll inspire a budding chef!

Move the coffee table to create a dance floor!  Put on your favorite music and have a dance party with your child.  Dancing is a great form of exercise-especially on days when we are stuck inside. Here's that song I found that is perfect for rainy day dancing!




Put on your rain boots and go outside to jump in the puddles!  On the hot humid days, jumping and splashing in the rain is a fun way to spend the afternoon.               

Try one or two of these rainy day activities this week and share your favorite rainy day fun with me!

Headed to the Opera!

 You may have noticed my profile photo and wondered why I was so dressed up.  At the end of the school year, I received an invitation to the 1st grade Opera.  Yes...Opera!  Of course, I had to pull out the opera glasses, my long gloves, my best dress and well...the tiara and boa!   

Heading to the 1st grade Opera!

Mr. Stubbe's 1st grade students we eager to share their performance, an opera based on the folktale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  I enjoyed hearing those 1st graders belt out songs about the troll and the goats looking for grass to eat!  The charming costumes were created by the characters-paper, glue, and the right color of shirt does wonders!  I was delighted to be invited to such a fabulous production.  Kudos to Mr. Stubbe and his former class.  It's not everyday I get to go to the opera!         

Who I Am

According to Prensky,  I am categorized as a  “Digital Immigrant.”  That stings just a little.  I’m one of those teachers who other teachers come to for assistance with technology.  I’m one of those teachers who embrasses and dives into the new apps, and new technologies without waiting for the “training.”   This categorization stings because reading Prensky’s article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” I find I don’t align with all of the generalities of the immigrant.  I don’t print emails, drag people to my computer to see a website, or call to ask, “Did you get my email.”  Yes, I do have an accent, a foot in the past, as Prensky states but I also think my feet are in the present.

Just like Steven Wheeler suggests in his “A Convenient untruth” post,  I don’t want to be “branded” by this immigrant category.  I am a teacher who uses a variety of methodologies.  I am a teacher who provides learning experiences for her students that encourage opportunities for growth. 

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants – Part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6). Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

A convenient untruth. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2018, from http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk/2011/11/convenient-untruth.html