#MiamiDevice 2015

Back from #MiamiDevice and what are my thoughts…Well I am finding it difficult to sleep through the night because the inspiration is brewing and needs to be released.  Watch out CCE because now I have seven other teachers along side me to bravely face our fears and move forward with technology because it is what is right for kids.  

We cannot teach 21^st century students with 20^th century material.  There is a passion locked inside each and everyone of us.  We need to find that passion, share it and build relationships through that passion.  We heard some of the most inspirational speakers talk about being brave because fear is the greatest barrier to our own success.  I want to encourage our teachers to find their passion and in turn find the passion of their students.  I want to help build those relationships along with some very connected educators so we can bring forth the message #ottersmatter.  

Throughout #MiamiDevice I saw our team cry, smile, and most importantly share a part of themselves they reserve for those closest to them.  Our team will need to rely on one another as we move forward and we are off to a solid start and will show our brave along the way.

Yes that is Tony Vincent! We made it to several sessions and learned how to integrate iPads into our daily instruction.  Thank you @tonyvincent

We might have been @techninjatodd stalkers but seriously we did have thoughts of moving to Texas just to teach for him!

Adam Bellow is such a fabulous storyteller and wow his Keynote presentations are amazing!  I loved the Hack the Keynote session and will start working on my story soon...

You never know who you will meet, here is Reshan Richards, co-creator of Explain Everything. One of my favorite apps and he has ideas spinning in my head of how I am going to empower teachers to use this app.

@GoNoodle is one of my all time favs and there were many, many smiles for GoNoodle.

Did somebody say Hot Dog? Yes, yes they did...

I got to be the @GoNoodle HOT DOG!! Highlight of the trip! Thanks so much Go Noodle!

Wes Fryer was so informative and even gave me a challenge.  Post coming soon.  Hope to get some time with Thanksgiving coming up.

The Volusia County group and some of our favorite speakers.  Felix, you are amazing.  This learning conference ignited a fire in all of our teachers and we are spreading the fire to our entire community.  Thank you for everything and we will be back in 2017.

Our crazy prop picture!

Stacy Simpson I love you girl and so glad to meet Dr. Tony and connecting on Twitter.  You both are amazing and goes to show I might not see you every day but you are only a tweet away.

Angela Maiers you have started a movement #ottersmatter is real and we are running with it. Thank you for helping us see your vision and making it ours. #youmatter 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2015

Can you even see THE moment I caught in this photo?  Yes watch this video

Yes you are right we found the Golden Ticket.  I just love reading this story and seeing the excitement day after day.  Chocolate Day is going to be EPIC! 

Big moment for my little girl...

 My little girl isn't so little anymore... I love teaching 1st grade because I get to see the same age kids each year and well it might keep me young and then I look at my beautiful daughter and see she is not longer that 6 year old.  She is a high school freshman and ventured off to her 1st Homecoming this year, and no I didn't cry...almost.  Her friends were able to get hair and makeup done at our house thanks to a friend-**Thanks Lexi :)  Here is a photo of Kaile and one of her BFFs, Hope and I are so proud of these beauties!

Here is our baby girl all dressed up with my mom and dad. Loved the dress she picked out.

After pictures and dinner I was the one to drop the girls off at the dance.  Lucky for me I caught a quick selfie with my one and only Homecoming Princess.  She sure is a cutie.  Tim and I are so blessed!

so many things over the month...

GoNoodle is such a great way to start the day.  Hug It Out is a wonderful way to give our body a stretch and make sure to we start the day off right.

Every morning we start the day writing in our journal before SIPPS.  A few mornings a week we try to stand up, hand up, pair up to share our journals.  It is such a wonderful way for us to get to know our friends a little better.  

I can't help but smile when I see friendships grow like this one.  

Do you Kahoot! Our friends love Kahoot! and we are experts now. We use it for sight words, science terms, social studies vocabulary, and even math.  One of our toughest concepts in math is picking true math statements. So why not a Kahoot! to get them looking closer at equations.

Find the one that is true...

Of course the highlight is seeing the Top 5 leaderboard.

I love that every time in every subject there seems to be a different leader and top 5.  It is so nice that the friends see different names up on that leaderboard and try their best to be on it.

No wonder the kids love science it seems like we have such hands on fun.  I cannot even tell you how much fun it wad to see them learn how to use a measuring tape and measure one another.

Buttons, buttons, everyone wants to earn one of these buttons.  Another Instagram/Twitter idea...  The button says "Ask me what I got on Mrs. Wright's test..."  The best was when the cafeteria lady asked one of the young ladies while she was going through the lunch line what she made on the test.  I was there to see her caught off guard and then smile really big when she said 12 out of 12.  Love those moments.

Apple Experiment

I just love connecting with other 1st grade classes through Instagram and Twitter.  So on Apple Day we did a little experiment...Who will save the apple? from turning brown...

We used water, Sprite, lemon juice, and vinegar to see which would be the last to turn the apple brown. We have some pretty observant scientists and we watched carefully over the next couple of days.

As you can see by the photos lemon juice was the best helper.  Funny because most of the kids thought water.