Thanksgiving Dinner Project

At school, our Thanksgiving Dinner Project (LES Feed25K) is going well! This project aims to feed 25,000 people (in theory) with fundraising event planning, advertisement design, a donation letter, a memoir from an attendee, and ALL the computations to duplicate recipes to feed that many! Social Studies, ELA, and Math integration! We’ve been using PDF, XLSX, DOC, PPT, and websites, and I STILL have my hair on my head 😉

The next time I do this with my students, I will start earlier, but it has been a joy to see the collaboration and hard work! (We need like 2 weeks for this project)

kahoot-remix-110 kahoot-remix-114 kahoot-remix-116 kahoot-remix-117 kahoot-remix-119 kahoot-remix-120

Field Trip to Mount Vernon

Today, my class and I went on  a field trip to Mount Vernon.  Interestingly enough, last year when we studied the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, I had wanted to take a trip to Mount Vernon, but that was not a reality for us.  This year, we were able to go there for free, and I have many of my same students from last year.  Anyway, here are are some of the images that I captured today, mostly with my fisheye lens.

THe view from hereThe HouseAnother view from hereThe landscapingAnother viewThe workGrinding WheatThe actor

Introducing Dr. Brown

Back when I was pursuing my Masters in Education, I met a beautiful pregnant woman working on her Doctorate degree at Howard University.  Well, I captured images of her pregnancy back in 2010, and then her family portraits a couple of times afterwards.  I was delighted and honored when she contacted me about a graduation session, which we did yesterday afternoon at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC.  See select images from this session below.

Congratulations Dr. Brown!

 

Dr. BrownDoctoral Candidate...More of Dr. BrownCongratulations Dr. Brown!

Pretty in PURPLE!!!

A few weeks ago, I had my last official day at the elementary school.  It was marked with surprises, the struggle of 3rd graders trying to keep surprises, tying up a lot of loose ends, a massive rain forest display, ice cream and cake, and plenty of PURPLE!!! I planned earlier that week to wear my Bohemian purple skirt set that Thursday as we prepared for Spring Break.  Well, that Thursday morning when I swung around to pick up my classmate, I noticed that she too was decked in a purple dress (interesting coincidence or just great minds thinking alike).  Anyway, we enjoyed our last day with our students, and then went home… but not without taking a few photos (since I had my camera on me that afternoon and we looked so springy).  Anyway, one of the photos of me was taken by one of my students (not bad… I was actually thinking about hiring him on, if it wasn’t for those child labor laws), and the other was taken by my fellow (student) teacher.  See all of the true beauty of the color of royalty in the images below!

 

Ms. Thorpe

 

Ms. Payne

Maybe the Last Paper for a Few Years?!

I managed to let an entire week go by without posting anything… Well, I have a really valid reason!  I had to write a paper!!! And thankfully, this was the LAST paper that I needed to write for my graduate studies.  I am so elated to say that in a few weeks, I will be graduating with my Masters in Education!  To commemorate the pre-celebration, I have included a few images from my paper.  By the way, you may notice that I branded or stylized my paper.  It is hard for me to NOT try and make something look good!  Especially when I am asking someone to read more than one page, I want to want to read the paper myself!  But beyond that, presentation does go a long ways!

 

Segregation in American Schools

Executive Summary


Excerpt from Executive Summary:

In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal is unconstitutional, and therefore, a mandate was established that segregated schools needed to be integrated.  However, almost 60 years later, we are experiencing some of the same levels of segregation, if not more, in our public, charter, and private schools.   This problem has largely stemmed from the phenomenon called “white flight” in which white families move to the suburbs or placing their children in private schools.  Meanwhile, low-income parents, who are predominantly minority, cannot afford to move and are left behind in the cities.  The result of this migration has been a widened achievement gap among students.