What a Strong Dad I Have

As we celebrate Father's Day 2018 , my mind is flooded with memories, past and present, with my dad. I've been trying to think of the very first memory I have of him. It's not the first summer vacation we headed to Texas listening to country music as he sang along to the radio or an afternoon spent picking gooseberries in the field across from church. It's not going to our first Major League baseball game to watch the Kansas City Royals or him bending down to kiss me goodbye on the couch on a school day as he left for work.  Although those are great memories, the earliest one I can remember would have to be when he carried me and my siblings, one at a time, to our car on a snowy morning. I remember waiting anxiously for him to come pick me up. I just couldn't wait until it was my turn. Mother was worried about us falling on our snow covered porch or the steps leading to the carport and there was no way she would allow that. I'm sure she said something about it being a "solid, sheet of ice". For those of you who know my mom, I know you're laughing right now.  What I remember about that particular memory is how protected I felt.  I loved when my dad carried me anywhere.  What little girl didn't feel like she was safe while in her daddy's arms.  I have no doubt my thoughts that day were WHAT A STRONG DADDY I HAVE.

As I grew older, I remember looking at pictures of our family at holidays, our yearly first day of school photos, the vacation pictures by the state signs (shoes were apparently optional) Mom and Dad's wedding photos and one particular picture of Dad in his Air Force uniform.  He was so young and handsome and strong. I remember wondering what he was like back then. Who were his friends? What did he do in the Air Force?  We weren't told much as kids about those years, but what I do remember is hearing how he hitchhiked from Oldfield, Missouri enroute to Little Rock Arkansas every weekend during his service.  Hitchhiking was a foreign concept to me.  I couldn't believe he would get into a car with a total stranger, but apparently that was life in the 60s. As his picture scrolled across the screen during our Veterans Day Assembly this year at school,  I pondered again what life was like for him so many years ago and I couldn't help but think WHAT A STRONG DADDY I HAVE.

The years passed quickly and the Applegate kids turned into young adults. I no longer referred to Dad as Daddy.  I decided years earlier  (I'm sure when I was a teenager) that Dad sounded more mature than Daddy so Dad it was.  I was 23 years old before I saw my dad cry. It was the day my grandma (his mother)  died. When Dad walked in the front door after she had passed away, I remember looking at him and realizing he had been crying.  We talked about Grandma for a few minutes and then the conversation turned to trivial topics.  I know he was trying to be strong for all of us.  I wasn't sure what to say, but I know I had to have thought, WHAT A STRONG DAD I HAVE.

Strength comes in many forms. Physical strength, like the protection a little girl feels when being carried to the car in her daddy's arms and mental strength when trusting total strangers to get you from Point A to Point B or emotional strength when fighting back the tears in front of your kids when your world has changed forever. Little did we know at the time, Dad's strength would be tested in every way possible many years later in ways we never dreamt.  Watching him now, no one could ever question WHAT A STRONG DAD I HAVE.

This Father's Day is different than the other 48 I've known. You see, this year, Dad is in a skilled nursing facility fighting a rare cancer after recently having his leg amputated.  Turns out, he's stronger than we ever thought. For me, I realized it months ago as the five of us were being told by the doctor at Barnes that the only option was amputation. As we listened to what he was saying and the shock settled in, Dad never lost his composure.  After telling Mother the decision was up to her and getting all three of his kid's opinions, he just said, "Let's do it". As I heard those three words, I fought back the tears, but Dad never shed a single one himself, and in my head I heard those familiar words. WHAT A STRONG DAD I HAVE. My sister called recently after going with him to his appointment with the "chemo" doctor.  During the visit, he was reminded of his circumstances and told he was too weak for regular chemo.  His only option was to take it in a pill form.  My sister told me how the rest of the appointment went, but the only words I remember her saying were, "He wants to fight. Most people would be giving up at this point, but he still wants to fight". And just like that the same words I had been thinking so often the past five months, as Dad has been dealing with the unimaginable, came back again. WHAT A STRONG DAD I HAVE.

So on this Father's Day, I'll reminisce a little more than usual and enjoy the memories more than ever. After all, he's the reason I enjoy country music today, why I still root for the Royals and why Veterans Day celebrations mean so much to me.  I never did learn to like Gooseberry pie though.  Every dad is special so treasure the memories you make with them.  I know I have. I believe Dad's strength has passed down to his children.  We take what is thrown at us and we deal with it the best we can. If I ever questioned where I got my strength from before, I will no longer, for it's clear to me now WHAT A STRONG DAD I HAVE.

A Bike, a Bell, and Books

It's a new school year; my 27th to be exact. Wow! Did I just say 27?  It doesn't seem possible. Time sure flies when you're having fun, and I'm definitely having fun at Carver Elementary. If you know myself and our amazing staff, you know we like to bring new ideas to the kids each year and this year has proved to be no exception. While we are definitely keeping our slide for upcoming Slide Certified days and the Gong is still being hit when word count milestones are achieved, we have brought some new, exciting additions to school this year and the kids are loving it.

A few months ago, while in Branson, I received a text message from one of our instructional coaches, Laura Watkins.  It was a picture of a principal riding a bike through the halls of her school, with a bell on the handlebars and a basket full of books on the back of the bike.  Her mission was to deliver books to her students.  Why had I not thought of that before?  It took me about 5 seconds to reply to Laura with the message, "I'm on it".  I looked up "bikes with baskets and a bell" at walmart.com and ordered what would turn out to be one of the best purchases I've ever made. I had our librarian, Heather Overton, go to Scholastic in Neosho (what a gift to have them in our town) and purchase $100.00 worth of books, and just like that Mrs. Burr's Book Bike was ready for its maiden voyage.

Everyone loves Fridays this year because jean days have made a comeback in our district, but for me Fridays are enjoyable for another reason. At 8:00 a.m. I head out on my bike, ringing the bell as I go down the hallways, stopping in front of every classroom. My favorite part? Listening to the kids say, "Here she comes! Here she comes!" and watching them run to the doorway waiting to hear who their teachers pick to receive a book that is to be their very own. Many of them have asked me if they get to keep the book and I love seeing their faces light up when I say, "Absolutely".  I haven't enjoyed riding a bike so much since I was a kid on my 10 speed. You can't crash on this bike though, since it's really just an adult tricycle. I wish I would have had this one back in 1980 when my bell bottoms got caught in my bike chain.  That's a memory I've never been able to shake. My goal is to replace it with new memories and a new bike.  One that brings joy to the kids as they dig through all the books in the basket looking for just the right one.

The bell ON the bike, though, isn't  the only bell that's new at school. This year Carver has our very own RING THE BELL bell, just like the one the Neosho High School Football team rings excitedly after a win at Bob Anderson Stadium under the Friday Night Lights. I thought about why those boys ring the bell at all. Goals, Unity, Team are all words that came to mind. They ring it after giving 100% as a team to get the W. Our task? How to convey that same idea to elementary students. It turned out to be quite simple really.  They would ring it for the same reasons the Boys of Fall do...Goals, Unity, Team. So with their teacher, they set class goals they would strive to reach together. So far, it's been rung by students who, as a class, have read 250, 000 words, 1 million words and even 2 million words. Maybe someone in class read more words than others did, but each child contributed to the accomplishment of the class goal. Others have set goals for behavior  and met those as well. Since every student participates in the accomplishment of their goals, when it's met, every student gets to RING THE BELL. It's done a little differently at an elementary school though. They line up in a single file line instead of storming the bell, but it's still pretty cool to watch.  I love hearing it ring while I'm in my office working. I can't help but be reminded of the scene in It's a Wonderful Life when George hears the bell ringing as Clarence gets his wings. When I hear that sound, I know a class has met their goal and it always brings a smile to my face.

Who knew a bike and a bell would become so symbolic at Carver Elementary this year. The bike means excitement, hope and joy, while the bell means teamwork and accomplishment. Sure there's fun thrown in there, too.  The kids love seeing me pedal quickly through the lunchroom with Clifford the Big Red Dog in my basket and I MAY have had trouble getting through a classroom door a time or two.  To think when I first saw the picture from Laura, I actually thought I would wheel into classrooms. I apparently forgot I would need to turn around. So I'll keep pedaling and delivering those books and the kids will keep ringing the bell. My questions for this blog are simple.  If you're in education, what are you doing to bring excitement, hope and joy to kids?  How are you building teamwork?  For all of us at Carver this year it's easy. We do those things with a bike, a bell and books.

   

THE GONG SHOW...Carver Style

"Survey says!!!..." Our staff recently played Family Feud at our faculty Christmas party and I laughed so hard I cried.  The tears came for two reasons: 1. Jeremy Phillips playing the host was priceless (he claims he hates speaking in front of people but I would highly disagree after watching his performance that day 2. Watching Annette Harbaugh hurdle over a chair to avoid being the HOUSE member who sat in the "hot seat". The Family Feud theme continued a few days later when Mother and I watched the popular game show after a day of Christmas shopping. It reaffirmed to me what a great "host" Jeremy was with his "Tell me a little about yourself" questions and his "Good answer" statements. Growing up, that was one of two game shows I enjoyed watching every week.  No, the other one was not The Newlywed Game or Jeopardy, but the Gong Show. I was glued to the T.V.  every week and I remember often feeling sad for the contestants as one of the judges would regularly head to the big, metal, gong and strike it with a mallet to let the contestant know their act was not worthy of continuing. Memories of that show had faded from my mind until I was recently skimming Twitter. Yes, Twitter again. I noticed a principal tweeted a picture of himself and a student, but something else stood out to me in the photo. Right behind them was the cutest, little, desktop gong with a sign taped to it that read, "Good News Gong". The principal apparently had the kids strike it after they received a "Good News" phone call home. I loved that idea because last year I would call parents of kids who had gone above and beyond at school and the kids would then become "slide certified". Since we are still slide certifying this year, I had to think up something else to do with a gong. The wheels began to turn. I knew I had to have one. I just didn't know what I would use it for.

Well...the gong was purchased and I will admit it was a little smaller than I was expecting.  I had dreams of it being the size of the one used in the original Gong Show, but what arrived was one about 20" tall. Oh well. It would have to work. What to do with it was the question. This year, I had begun recognizing kids for reading a specific number of words, but recognition meant getting into the treasure box. I realized I had been using a treasure box for 17 years so maybe it was time to change it up a little. The decision was made. I would leave the treasure box behind and move onto the GONG.
                                                               
Every Monday during our 5 lunch periods, the music comes on (Celebrate Good Times by Kool and the Gang), and one by one the students hear their names bellowed from the microphone as they excitedly run to the GONG where they strike it triumphantly with a mallet.  So far we have had 205 students who have struck it and several have hit it more than once.  Kindergarten students through fourth grade seem to all enjoy it and one of the best parts for me is watching classmates cheer each other on as their names are called. I wasn't sure if it would catch on and I worried the new would wear off quickly, but so far it's been a huge hit. Kids have begun coming up to me throughout the day to tell me how many words they have read and how close they are to hitting the GONG for the next word count milestone.

For me the GONG symbolizes thinking outside the box.  I could have kept the treasure box, but thought something new might bring a renewed enthusiasm, and if the conversations in the hallway with kids are any indicator I was right.  If we held our awards assembly right now, 93 students would receive awards for reading 100,000, 250,000, 750,000 or 1,000,000 words and the second half of the year is only beginning. So ask yourself if you're thinking outside the box or are you doing the same thing you've always done. Why? Is there enthusiasm in your workplace? Shouldn't there be? Are you still using your own version of a "treasure box" or is a "GONG"  on your mind? When I watch Family Feud from now on, I'll  no longer think of Richard Dawson or Steve Harvey.  Jeremy Phillips and Annette Harbaugh will now come to mind.  And when I hear the words Gong Show the disappointment I felt for those contestants back in the 70s will now be replaced with the enthusiasm I see on our Carver kids' faces as THEY  hit the GONG for reading. We like to think of it as The Gong Show...Carver style.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

"Mr. Harville, how does green make you feel?" Those words were spoken in 1992 by a little fourth grade boy named Justin who happened to be in the classroom where I was student teaching. Mr. Harville, the principal of the school, had walked into the classroom to give my cooperating teacher a message and had been greeted by Justin, who excitedly ran up to him. The class had been working on writing color poems that particular day. I had given each of them glasses made from a template of a 3D pair I had kept from a movie theater. I stapled green cellophane onto the frames so when they looked through them, everything they saw would be green. Well, as green as the world could be through cellophane, but they were 9-year-olds, so it worked.  I used the poetry book Hailstones and Halibut Bones to teach the lesson and after reading a couple of my favorite poems, I took them on a walk around the building with their glasses on so they could see, hear, smell, and touch all things green. After returning to the classroom, the students began writing their own GREEN poem. Justin had gotten to the part where he had to write how green made him feel.  Enter Mr. Harville.  Remember, I was student teaching so when Justin got out of his seat and ran up to the principal, I was mortified, but Mr. Harville played along and gave him an answer that escapes me 27 years later. The students produced amazing poems that day and it became a lesson I would use every year I taught (and apparently a year I was a principal as well).

Fast forward to 2018.  I decided it was time to dust off more than the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones.  Yes. I decided to dust off my teaching skills and get back into the classroom and teach that lesson again 2018 style. There were no homemade cellophane glasses to use and no trip around the building and instead of writing the final product in their neatest handwriting, they used their chrome books to type them, complete with colored text. It hit me during the lesson that while some things have changed, some have definitely stayed the same.

1. Students rise to our expectations.  I walked into every classroom with high expectations, just as I did when I was teaching.  The students were expected to think critically, stay on task and produce a poem to be proud of and they did not disappoint. During the mini-lesson, we talked about visualization, descriptive words, and elaborating on our thoughts. They listened to sample poems, talked to their partners about what they heard in the book and got to work on their own masterpiece. As we conferenced about their poems, they would revise and edit, all the while making them better and better.  I loved seeing their faces when they read their final poem and realized how impressive they really were. Educators MUST have high expectations.

2. Boys loved it as much as the girls. We are told as educators that boys hate to write.  I have never agreed with this statement.  I know there is research that says that as well, but again, that was never my experience as a teacher and it wasn't my experience as I headed back into the classroom recently either.  In fact, I found the boys to often be more excited than the girls in some of the classes. It was a boy who jumped up with curiosity and excitement all those years ago when writing his poem about GREEN. It was also a little boy a few weeks ago who shouted out "Cheetos", "Traffic Cones" and "Denver Broncos" when he was trying to think of everything that was orange. Don't tell me boys don't like to write.  I can show you some poems that would prove you wrong. Don't assume boys don't get excited about writing.

3. Enthusiasm for the subject matter is a must.  I was a young, scared, naive, enthusiastic student teacher when I taught that first lesson on poetry so many years ago.  While I'm no longer young, scared or naive, I am still enthusiastic about education. I hope the kids felt it when I walked into their classrooms recently.  I tried to throw out as many, "Excellent" "Love that" and High Fives as I could. If we are enthusiastic about our work, our kids will be enthusiastic about theirs.

So being back in the classroom to teach poetry got me so excited about teaching that I headed back into the classrooms the next week to have the students add their contributions to our school wide Hallway Stories. As I entered the little boy's classroom who wrote the ORANGE poem, he came rushing up to me, much like Justin ran up to Mr. Harville so many years ago. Hopefully his teacher wasn't as mortified as I was that day. I heard him excitedly say, "Mrs. Burr, Mrs. Burr, I finished my orange poem. Can I share it with you?" So much for that research about boys and writing.

Nothing compares to teaching. If you are an administrator and you aren't getting back into the classrooms to teach ask yourself why.  Teach a lesson. Show the kids the passion and enthusiasm that you expect from them and their teachers.  Connect with kids in a different way.  My student teaching experience sparked a love for teaching reading and writing and I found out it's still there.  I hope the little boy who recently wrote about Tigger, Garfield and fall leaves will always remember how excited he got when writing a poem in third grade, because I'll never forget it.                                                                     

Orange is the color of pumpkins.

The color of Halloween, fire, the Denver Broncos, and Tigger.

Orange tastes like pumpkin pie and gingerbread.

Orange looks like a shining light.

Orange feels like a fire inside.

Orange sounds like “Trick or Treat”.

Orange smells like ginger candles.

Orange is the color of a sunset.

The color of Garfield, fall leaves, and traffic cones.

By: Kaide

What's Your Why?

I was recently reminded of the "why" I got into education.  Well, actually I got into education, because back in 1988, nursing and teaching were the only fields anyone talked about for women and I knew I did NOT want to wear scrubs everyday. It might have also been because my sophomore English teacher, Nita Jackson, was always so classy looking. She had the most beautiful wardrobe. Whatever the reason that got me started, I have stayed in a field that has meant so much to me for so many years. So, maybe I should have started with, "I was recently reminded of the "why" I stay in education. Everyone's "why" changes as life experiences happen and after having Allison my "why" definitely evolved. As I visited with kids through the years, I always talked to them the way I would have wanted Allison talked to and when speaking to parents, I spoke to them the way I would have wanted to have been spoken to myself. I BELIEVED I did those things, but until recently I never had it confirmed.  A couple weeks ago, I received the sweetest text message from a mother. A mother who I say hi to when I see her, but have never really known that well.  She reminded me of something I did when her daughter, who's now a sophomore in high school, was a fourth grader at Carver. I had forgotten most of what she was texting about, but as I continued reading the text, it was apparent that her memory was crystal clear.  Her message mentioned that when she and her husband had divorced, her daughter was "so sad" and "needed to be with her friends". She shared with me details of the phone call she and I had those many years ago. It was a heartfelt message, but the words that brought me to tears were, "You didn't do that for ME. You did that for a sad 4th grader watching her parents divorce and she needed friends/support at school". She was right. I made my decision based on what was best for that little 9-year-old girl and her mother had never forgotten it. Parents remember how they were made to feel and how they were treated. 

As a parent of a high school senior,  meaningful acts still matter to me in that capacity also. Allison's assistant basketball coach, Coach Hixson, has coached her since eighth grade, so he knows her well. There have been two occasions through the past 5 years that he has sent messages to me as a parent. The messages were words I needed to hear at those moments and the gesture and the words he spoke meant more than I could even convey to him. Parents remember how they were made to feel and how they were treated. 

We, as educators, often get caught up in all the activities taking place on a daily basis and we take for granted how meaningful our actions are for those involved.  Another story recently shared with me was from a mother of a second grader. Two years ago, he was in kindergarten and he cried every single day when she dropped him off at school. I had to talk to him and coerce him away from her and I never minded once. Why? Because I would have wanted someone to have been kind to my daughter if she had been the little 5-year-old struggling to come into school. His mother let me know how much she appreciated that act. On a side note, her 18-year-old son stopped by a couple months ago.  He also went through Carver as a young boy.  I assumed he was there to pick up his little brother so I asked him if he had stayed to tutor. He said, "No." I asked him what he was doing at Carver and he replied, "I just came by to say hi to you." Kids remember how they were made to feel and how they were treated. 

I'm sure others would question me on why I don't rush the parent away who sits with her young child every morning, until the teacher makes her appearance, reassuring the little one that it's ok to come to class. I'm sure there are some who would never have allowed  a mother, who was raised in another culture, to stay all morning, just to make sure her only child who was attending his first day of school, was ok. Not only did I allow her to wait on him, she and I had some nice conversations where I found out she had taught young children in her native country. She just needed to make sure her little boy was ok. Who was I to challenge how she had been raised and what her culture believed about education. She was hurting no one sitting in a chair in the office. Parents remember how they were made to feel and how they were treated. 

Those who know me, know how much I have come to appreciate Twitter.  I love how it has made a large, educational world seem so small.  As I was checking it recently, I saw a post that said, Be kind to others. Share an act of kindness. Your act might be someone's memory of a lifetime. That goes nicely with what I am trying to say and it made me think about my own personal memories of a lifetime with the educator's I had. My own fourth grade teacher and I are friends on facebook.  I've mentioned her before. She's the one who brought back a piece of tar from Southfork Ranch in Texas. The show Dallas should ring a bell. I still have it and I still have such sweet memories of fourth grade. The Applegate kids always got their teacher's a small gift at Christmas. We didn't have much money so I doubt the gifts were of much value, but Mrs. Turner wrote a thank you note for each one of them that I still have today.  I'm pretty sure I could pick out her handwriting if I had to. It's been almost 40 years and I still have those letters (and that piece of tar).  Her actions, during that long ago school year, have lasted a lifetime.  Kids remember how they were made to feel and how they were treated. 

When Allison was at Sonshine Preschool she left a hairbow. Yes a hairbow.  Little did I know then  that she would "leave" several items in places through the years.  I'm sure it was from Gymboree so I, of course, had to return to get it. Teresa Jennings, or Miss Teresa back then, worked there at the time and she was the first person I saw when I went to get it.  She wasn't Allison's teacher, but she went and dug through a tub of lost and found for me anyway to find it. I'm sure she thought I was a crazy parent for caring that much about a hair bow, but she didn't make me feel that way.   Parents remember how they were made to feel and how they were treated. 

I'm sure every educator has similar stories and every parent does as well. It's the little day to day decisions and actions that we take for granted or don't even realize we are doing that make a difference.  I can't think of another profession where you can build those kind of relationships with kids and parents.  We DO make a difference.  Would the kids I mentioned have had different feelings about school if I had changed how I treated them? Would their parents have changed how they dealt with educators? Would  I have the kind things to say about Allison's coach if he hadn't shown me that he cared about her? Did the high school student go out of his way to stop by and say hi to any other former principal? I'm not friends with all of my former teachers, but I am with several and it's because they created memories of a lifetime for me. So ask yourself, if you are conciously thinking about how you answer kids and how you treat them and their parents as well.  They remember. I remember. While, Mrs. Jackson's classiness as a teacher (and her red high heels) might have been a part of the "why" I got into education, the kids and the families are why I stay. So take a minute to think about the "why" you got into education, or more importantly, the "why" you stay in education. 

From Carver to Carverville

City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style...That has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs.  As I was walking down the halls of Carver Elementary recently, I started humming that tune and singing those words to myself. My inspiration? Carver was transforming into a city right before my eyes. A city known to all 611 students and staff as Carverville.

The Beginning
Carverville was established in 2014. Something that year sparked a memory of mine from back in the 70's when I was a little girl going to elementary school in Sparta, Mo. I remember participating in something called Spartaville.  My only real memory was a visit from the local florist, Susie Johns, as she showed me and my classmates how to make paper flowers that had green, floral tape for a stem. For some reason, I never forgot that tape. My classmates and I would "sell" those paper flowers during Spartaville.  Unfortunately, for my husband Robert, that visit from Susie didn't transform into my desire to plant flowers in my adulthood, but it did leave a lasting impression on me. An impression so meaningful, it would help me in creating a special tradition at Carver Elementary years down the road. I kept a pink flower from that day in my jewelry box until just a few years ago when I realized it was missing.  I had held onto it for 30 years at least. Robert would tell you I would blame him for losing it, but I might have to take the blame for that one. Back to Carverville. The vision was to transform our third and fourth grade classrooms into businesses.  A city, if you will. All of our kids would go from shop to shop choosing what they wanted to buy.  We would have a bakery, flower shop, photography studio, bookstore, etc.  I had hopes it would grow into something big and it absolutely has. It's become one of the best things we do all year.

Community Involvement/PTO
There are many behind the scenes activities that take place in order to prepare for Carverville. Just like the local florist coming to speak to my class all those years ago, I knew I wanted to invite community members into the school to talk about what their businesses entailed.  Lauri Lyerla, Neosho Chamber Director, and Ashley Siler, events coordinator, come each year to have a ribbon cutting for our Carverville shops. Oh how the kids love those huge scissors. Garry Fausett, from Fausett Greenhouse comes to speak to Mrs. Williams' class about working in a greenhouse and Adrianna Henry, from Family Market, speaks to Mrs. Buckner's boys and girls about what it takes to work in a bakery. We now have 10 businesses: The Book Boutique, 29 Photography, Carverville Perk, Buckners's Bakery, Carverville Bank and Trust, Santa's Gift Wrapping Shop, Elf Market, Carverville Floral Shoppe, The ZEAL Emporium, and ZEAL Time Theater. Each business creates a commercial on Animoto to showcase the products they will be selling, their prices and store hours. I wonder how we advertised back in the 70's. I'm thinking a piece of poster board from Sparta Dry Goods. All students visit Carverville Bank and Trust the day before Carverville to get their money.  Did I say money? Well, it's a paper "debit card" with 20 dollars to spend.. They are all given a sucker as they leave, just like real life, right? The 550 students are allowed to use "paper" money because our amazing PTO funds all of Carverville.  That's right. They buy the flowers from Fausett Greenhouses, the homemade cookies from Family Market, the ornaments in the ornament shop, the items in the ZEAL Emporium, etc.  They make this experience happen for our kids and we are so grateful.

A new addition
I don't forget much.  In fact, Glynda Condict always teased me that my mind was like a steal trap.  I had another memory from 25 years ago pop up recently.  A post office.  Yes. A post office.  In the early years of my teaching career at  Logan-Rogersville, teachers at one of the elementaries had mailboxes outside their classrooms and the kids wrote letters that were delivered throughout the day.  With Carverville being a city, I decided we needed a post office.  After hearing my idea, one of our Carver artists, Connie Studdard, got to work on a mailbox that looks just like one at any post office around the country.  The teachers all put mailboxes outside their classrooms and each of our hallways now have street names which are, of course, named after our Houses. We have Zaplon Court, Empyreal Drive, Ajani Avenue, and Lumiere Lane.  Every room also has an address, so kids not only write letters but are expected to address envelopes correctly as well. Everyone is writing, writing, writing. It's exciting to see the kids as they drop their letters in the mailbox. I love passing them in the hallway and hearing, "Mrs. Burr, I wrote you a letter" or "Mrs. Burr, did you get my letter".  Brothers are writing letters to sisters, students are writing letters to former teachers, and the list goes on and on.

Reflection
Carverville is an experience we are creating for our kids they will never forget.  For some, it might be the only time they can buy a flower for their mom, or an ornament for their sibling, or take a brand new book home for themselves. As I walked around and watched the students shopping, I just enjoyed listening to the conversations between the kids. Many were discussing what they were planning on buying, while others were showing what they had in their bags.They had to spend their  money wisely and really think about what they wanted to buy. I challenge everyone to create those experiences for kids. My daughter, Allison, and her friends in high school that I see on a regualar basis, have begun asking me why we didn't do these "cool" things when they were at Carver and I have no good answer.  Why didn't we?  I challenge you to think outside the box, or in my case, think back to your own wonderful memories, and put a new twist on them. I have started putting #creatingexperiences on my twitter pictures when I post on Twitter because we are doing just that...creating experiences.  See...we had a little bit of Ron Clark and Hope King in us before we even knew their names. It's so important to create those experiences for kids and for us as educators as well. I know the kids will be talking about Carverville for years. One day, they'll smile thinking about the day they wore their house shirts and shopped with their Lumiere friends and bought cookies in Buckner's Bakery. Maybe some will remember the ZEAL Emporium where they bought Empyreal everything: blue balloons, blue bracelets, blue pom poms, and blue cups.  Perhaps their favorite memory will be going to the Carverville Perk for some hot chocolate and sitting at the pub tables discussing their purchases or where they wanted to shop next.  As Carverville came to an end, and I walked past Zaplon Court into Ajani Avenue admiring the awnings above the paper doors the teachers had decorated, and I watched the students smiling as they carried poinsettias in their arms that would be given to their mothers, as soon as they got in the car or off the bus, I smiled at the thought of where it all began; in a classroom in Sparta, Missouri, with a pink paper flower, green floral tape and a memory that never left a little nine-year-old girl. A Christmas song played over the sound system in our cafeteria as another Carverville ended, but the only song I could hear was the one I was humming to myself; City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style.
  

Pirates of the CARRverbbean

"Well, this is a morning I'll ALWAYS remember." Those words were spoken by a first grader at Carver Elementary after he walked into our building this week to see it transformed into all things pirates. As the students entered the building they were greeted by the teachers and staff who were decked out in costumes. Everyone looked amazing. We even had our very own Jack Sparrow (Mr. Phillips), complete with eyeliner.  No one could miss the 25 foot ship that was strategically placed right inside the front doors. Before our kids could get over the shock of why a ship would even be in the cafeteria, though, they walked into the gym, where they saw yet another huge ship on the stage.  This one was slightly different, however.  It had the slide we use to "slide certify" our kids smack dab in the middle of it with a pirate standing inside the ship.  Yes, this day was going to be unlike any other day at Carver.

After everyone was gathered in the gym, I greeted them with their instructions for the day.They were told they had been captured by a crew of swashbuckling pirates that wanted to take their treasures hostage. and that they had 6 hours to escape. They would be solving clues all day and they would hopefully be finding lots of treasures. They were dismissed to their classrooms, but the usual walk down the hallways was anything but usual. The kindergarten kids were in an ocean of blue.  The hall was decorated from ceiling to floor with blue paper.  Fish, waves and treasure chests were what they kids walked past.  The first and second grade hall was full of seaweed, a blow up pirate ship and treasure maps. The third and fourth graders were greeted with sea turtles on the ceiling, and if anyone needed to go into the FEMA shelter, they would first have to be "plank certified" by walking over a plank into their wing. Genius fourth grade.

It was a memorable 8 hours for everyone.  Throughout the day, every single student searched for clues to find treasures such as skull rings, eyepatches, gold coin necklaces and pirate tattoos.  The final clue lead the entire student body into the gym where they were given their HOUSE shirts after shouting, "Bring us our Treasure" to the teachers.  It was priceless.  The teachers had been given their shirts a couple weeks ago and several students had commented that they wished they had them as well. It was their lucky day. One of the best parts, though, was when we "slide certified" 43 kids right before school was out.  We have been doing this for weeks, but the kids on this particular day slid down the slide, which was in the middle of our ship, as smoke swirled around them from a fog machine and a "pirate" watched from inside the ship.  I'm thinking that will be an experience they will never forget.

If you're thinking it was all fun and games, though, you can think again.  Here are just a few highlights of what went on in our classrooms that day. First grade teachers incorporated an app called Flipgrid with Chatterpix (app smashing) where Mr. Phillps and I recorded ourselves giving them clues to math problems that they had to solve throughout the day.  Mrs. Smith conducted BreakOut EDU with her students. They had to solve clues and work together in groups, using higher order thinking skills to find the answers which opened the locks. I can confirm that they did indeed Break Out. The -ar sound was taught in phonics as students worked on identifying words that should be spelled with -ar.  Mrs. Baldwin taught estimation by completing a STEM project with boats. Miss Gilion used Plickers to assess comprehension of an article about making maps.  Pirate stories were written by many.  In fact here is one of the success stories from the day. We have a third grader who came to us last year who had a lot of anger issues.  He had to be restrained several times and he didn't like writing, so he spent a lot of time in Mr. Phillips' office. This year, with third grade being writing intensive, he has struggled with the writing assignments he has been given. He couldn't write about vacations, because he hadn't ever been on one.  But after our Pirates of the CARRverbbean Day, he was able to write a personal narrative about the experienceas he had that day. So much learning, yet so much fun.

I share the same philosophy Wade King, curriculum director and teacher for the Ron Clark Academy, has.  He believes it's our job as educators to provide kids with positive experiences that they can connect content to. We know kids will retain more information when they have experiences instead of just being given information.  That's exactly what our Carver crew did at Pirates of the CARRverbbean. Hadley Williams told her mom, our middle school principal, that we just had fun that day.  So when her teacher asked her about it, she had a strange look on her face.  Her teacher said, "Hadley, did we write a story.  She said, 'Yes. " Mrs. Barratt said, "Do you remember the math problems we worked on that day." She said, "Yes." Her teacher then said, "Then why did you tell your mom all we did was fun stuff?" Hadley said, "It didn't seem like work." Mrs. Barratt and I looked at each other and smiled, happy smiles.  I said, "That's exactly what we wanted." Mission accomplished.

Classroom tranformations are beginning to happen in our building, and this one was our first building transformation. The kids were still talking about it at the end of the week.  Many of them wore their rings and necklaces past Monday. I can't believe I've been doing this education gig for 25 years and haven't been doing transformations before now. If you aren't doing them, ask yourself why not.  If you think it's costly, you are wrong.  Cardboard, paint, table cloths, and butcher paper were what most of our props were made with. Ask yourself if you are finding yourself doing the same activities and worksheets year after year? Why? We all can do better. Are you stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new strategies with kids? Just try it. You'll see how fun it is. We've done a lot of new ideas at Carver this year and we have plans for many, many more. We are still meeting the standards, it's just a lot more fun this year.  As we plan what we will do next, I know without a doubt, I will happily continue to hear statements such as, "Well, this is a morning I'll ALWAYS remember."