My First Five for Friday!

So this is my attempt to reorient the blog back towards teaching. Not to say it won't include some of my kookier offerings but I'd like to get back to my roots. This is called Five for Friday and hosted by Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Well, I've been out of school for a while now... in fact I'd probably be ready to go back soon! Haha, but still more to accomplish. I went on a real vacation once again - this time my mom and I went camping in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It got a little chilly at nights but we had lots of blankets! We took a few amazing hikes (and one hike to the edge of exhaustion - seriously think about Uncle Tom's Trail before you start!). The road trip was also pretty good - even though from where we start the Bighorns stand directly in between, there were a few turns where the road simply looked like it ended and all that was beyond was the sky!

Back in Rapid City I've been cleaning my South Dakota bedroom. Which somehow gets messy even though I only live here three months of the year! (I'm uber disorganized, that's how.) I spent one whole day just organizing the bookshelves (still not complete), here are the better three. At least I still get to remove one cooler worth of books to mail to Alaska, that'll help with the space issue.

I've been getting quite a few books for the classroom. I've got a new sequence for next year (again!) but should be almost ready - I need to preview some of the read-alouds like these candidates for our study on presidents and Native American peoples. I'm pretty excited about The Silent Stranger because it had an advisory board of eight people, most of whom were actually affliated with the Nez Perce tribe and two of which are actually tribal elders! I hope the author used this situation to the fullest, I'm being very careful in trying to get interesting and authentic Native American literature for children. It doesn't seem as bad as it used to with literally every tribe having characteristics of Plains Nations (especially Sioux). I once found a text where the illustrations showed the Iroquois in tipis. *Sigh*

I've been having lots of fun with my record player! Bought it in December, but since it lives in SD with my parents I didn't get to use it until just recently. I've also discovered that with the re-advent of vinyl you can't find as many in thrift stores as you used to... ah well, I've been listening to my mom's old stuff plus picking up choice selections on Ebay.

Last but not least - some shameless promoting! Okay, a teeny bit ashamed since I'm new to this Linky party and am not sure if this is kosher. But I'm going for it (since I also don't know how many people actually read these). I've got my second project up on Donors Choose! And this one is going to be tough because a) it costs more, b) its not from around here, and c) it isn't for fun things. I really need some better furniture in my class (a shelf should not be able to sway at 45 degree angles) and since I'm new to Donors Choose I only had two points, so instead of breaking my furniture needs into chunks I had to put them all together. I do know that more donors equals more exposure though! So if any of you with projects make a small donation (I hear you can give a dollar), I'll give a donation to your project (or future projects!) in return. Thanks everyone!!!

http://www.donorschoose.org/K.Strand