Duet in Blue

Today in church, I was privileged to play a violin duet with my (almost) 3rd grade friend, Hannah.  When we saw each other this morning, the first thing Hannah said was, "We match!"  We both had worn blue without any pre-planning. 

Several months ago, I discovered that she takes lessons so I suggested that she and I play a duet this summer.  So this week I went to Hannah's house twice to practice with her.  It was quite fun! 

As it turns out, Hannah's violin teacher was also one of my first private violin teachers I had when I was in the 4th or 5th grade and my current violin teacher went to college with Hannah's teacher.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am taking lessons from Vance Music Studio.  Or you can find Vance Music Studio on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/vancemusicstudio/info?tab=overview. 

Hannah and I actually played two songs, but there was some trouble with my video recorder, so I only have one song recorded well.  This song is titled, "O Come Little Children."

I really enjoyed playing with Hannah and I hope we can play a duet again!

Quapaw Pow Wow

For about 4 years, Patrick, his mom, Pat Ann, and I have traveled to Quapaw, OK for the annual pow wow.  We were there this year from July 2-6 and had a fun time!  This year, Pat Ann and I made our own shawls.  We took a class at the Wichita Mid-American Indian Center and got some help hemming the fabric from my mom.  I decided to make my shawl green fabric with purple fringe and added decorative sunflowers (for the Kansas girl).  These colors will match the traditional Quapaw dress that my mom made for me a couple of years ago.  Pat Ann's favorite color is red and red and navy are associated with the Quapaw tribe, so her shawl is red fabric with navy fringe.  She does beautiful counted-cross-stitch work and decided that is how she would decorate her shawl.  She looked and looked for a buffalo (another symbol of the Quapaw tribe), but wasn't able to find a buffalo pattern.  Pat Ann settled on sewing an eagle on her shawl.  I'd say the shawls turned out beautiful!

In most Native American traditions, if you want to enter the circle of the pow wow grounds to dance, either you should be dressed in regalia or women should be wearing a shawl.  At the Quapaw pow wow, they usually have several inter-tribal dances where anyone can join in, not just the contest dancers.  This is why we wanted to make our own shawls.  Pat Ann has a beautiful black shawl that was given to her many years ago that is at least 100 years old and she was told by an expert that she probably shouldn't be using it anymore as it is beginning to deteriorate.

I have really enjoyed our trips to the pow wows.  I think my favorite part of the pow wow is the opening, where special people are asked to carry in the American Flag, Quapaw Tribal Flag, and the POW Flag.  Following the flag, is the Grand Entry where all of the contest dancers parade in showing off some of their best steps.  This year was the biggest one I've seen, yet!  Below you will see several pictures from Grand Entry.

 Patrick's great-great grandparents were original allotees, which means they were each given a piece of land from our government.  Frank and Alice Valliere also started a Catholic Mission School for the Quapaw.  Patrick's grandmother and her sister attended the school.

The last day we were in Quapaw, Patrick and I had our picture taken with the road sign entering the Quapaw land. The t-shirt I am wearing in this photo was the pow wow shirt for this year. 

Lucky Number 13

This year, June 22, Patrick and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary (13 is my favorite number, too)!  On one hand, it seems like yesterday when we married and impossible that we have been together a total of 21 years!  It sounds corny, but true, I love him more each day and each year!  We spent 3 days away from "the real world" in Kansas City.

Patrick always groans when I ask him to take a selfie of us, but he will do it.  Here we are at Kauffman Stadium at the first game of the weekend we attended.  We watched two games against the Boston Red Sox; our other favorite team.  Talking about selfies---the lady who sat next to me had a selfie stick and kept trying to use it while sitting in the seats.  Now, if you've ever been to any kind of sold out major sporting event, you know that people are pretty much packed in and she kept sticking that silly stick in the ear of the people sitting in front of us and hitting my arm with it and you can imagine what all went on.  UGH.

We got to the stadium about 4:30pm for the 6:10pm game so that we could get our Mike Moustakas bobble-heads.  He is one of my favorite players this year......OK, who am I kidding, nearly all of the starters are my favorite players this year.  (grin)    Following is a picture of "Moose" as he is being interviewed after the Royals win. 

On Sunday, June 21, Father's Day, we watched the two teams play again and Chris Young was the pitcher.  I call him "the pitcher who is Mason-sized."  (Mason is my nephew who is about 6'9" tall.)  Unfortunately, Chris Young didn't do so well in this game and the Royals ultimately lost the game.  It was kind of sad.  I guess I should have been happy since my two favorite teams each won one game, right?   The following picture is Chris Young on the mound.  We had pretty nice seats for both games; right along the left field foul pole line.

Every time we go to Kansas City, we like to go to Legends Mall, mainly to go to the Lee Outlet store and to eat at Jimmy Buffet's Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant.  Well, when we got to Legends, the Lee store was closed and Cheeseburger in Paradise was no longer a restaurant.  I was a bit disappointed.  That's where we were going to eat for our anniversary dinner.  As it turned out, we finished our shopping ended up eating a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  Yum-O!  Patrick had never eaten there before.  I ordered a lunch special of chicken-almond salad, corn chowder soup, and a salad.  Patrick had spaghetti and meatballs.  I had never had corn chowder before and I really enjoyed it.  We shared a piece of red velvet cake cheesecake for dessert.

On our way out of town on the 23rd, we stopped at Bass Pro Shop to spend Patrick's gift card that we got on our Spring Break Trip.  Not being a big shopper, or a hunter/fisher, I think Patrick kind of dreads taking me there.  I LOVE their displays; the big fish aquarium of local fish and the waterfall area with real and stuffed animals.  Patrick teased me while we were sitting on a bench enjoying the waterfall and ducks that this is "Kimberly's kind of wilderness---sitting in the air conditioned Bass Pro Shop with no bugs and no possibility of sunburn!"  Well, I think he just may be right! (wink)

About a week before our trip, my "other mother" told me that she knew what I was getting for my gift from Patrick because he had it shipped to her house.  That was a very ornery thing to do!  Then she told my mom what it was and SHE said, "I know what you're getting, too, Pat Ann told me!"  Those girls!  Well, I had to wait to open it until we got home because Patrick didn't want to pack it on the trip.  (sigh)  It was worth the wait, though!! 

The box was wrapped in my two favorite colors......

....and included a Precious Moments figurine of two Royals fans.  There's a boy and girl and puppy dog, just like my family! 

Trying to post using my smart phone

I am practicing using a the blogger mobile app. If you see this, please comment so I can see how it works on my phone. I am trying to figure out how to moderate comments on the phone.

Well, hello, summer!

Whew--it is definitely summer in the Plains!  June 5th and the temperatures are rising!  We were spoiled by a cool and rainy April and May.  I am choosing to blog instead of mow the grass. 

I have been neglecting my blog and thought it might be fun to get back into it!  If you follow me on Facebook, you probably have already seen all of these photos, but I figured it would be good practice for me to get back into blogging.

Patrick and I really enjoyed seeing The Steve Miller Band at Hartman Area on May 28.  I am still getting used to taking pictures using my phone, so this is the best one I got that night.

Then, the very next night, at the Wichita RiverFestival, we got to see one of our newest favorite bands, Split Lip Rayfield.  They are a rockin' bluegrass band.  It is not your "traditional" bluegrass, this is mosh-pit, stand up next to the stage kind-of music.  If you don't know anything about Split Lip Rayfield, you need to know that the bass player made his own instrument out of a car gas tank.

Patrick and I then enjoyed some good, ole' fashioned cowboy music on Wednesday, June 3 at RiverFestival by the Cherokee Maidens and Riders in the Sky.

As you can see, my husband & I have an eclectic taste in music!

I couldn't pass up a snow cone at the Riverfestival.  I used to sell snow cones as a small business when I was in college.  This snow cone cost me $3!  Twenty or so years ago I sold the same thing for 75 cents! 

*I'd love to have you comment on what you are doing this summer!*

Violin Lessons

This school year has been a challenge, to say the least, as you may have guessed by my lack of posts.  My school had a big population growth due to our district's changed boundaries.  We are a "priority watch" school which means our test scores are very low.  The second grade (which is what I teach) in my building has the highest number of office referrals in my building from all the grades K-8.  So, you may imagine how busy I have been.

In late August, Patrick found a Groupon for a place called  Vance Music.  In an effort to do something for myself that would be relaxing, I began violin lessons on August 20.  This is not the first time I have taken violin lessons. 

I began learning to play in the 4th grade at my public elementary school.  (Our district has made cut backs and now instrumental music doesn't begin until 6th grade.)  I played seriously until I was in the 7th grade.  I had many opportunities and experiences; I participated in several honor orchestras even traveling to Manhattan, KS to participate in a weekend honor orchestra performance.  Once in high school, I pursued other interested and only picked up my violin occasionally.  So, it has been over 20 years since I practiced and played on a regular basis.

At Vance Music, they hold a monthly recital.  Today was my third recital, but the first time I had memorized my song.  The song is a fiddle tune called, "Larry O'Gaff."  I played it better at home with no mistakes, but it's not too bad considering it's the first time I've performed from memory.

Special guests at Open House in my classroom

My Mom has not ever been inside Gordon Parks Academy and since this is my third year teaching there, she was determined to attend Open House.  I am SO glad my parents came--it was fun to show off!  I knew that my parents were planning to attend, so I wasn't TOO surprised when they arrived.  However, Patrick SURPRISED when he popped in, too!  (He didn't want to have his picture taken.)

My dad is letting me borrow my grandmother's dala horse to display in my classroom this year for my Swedish theme. The front of the dala horse says "Valkommen" which is Swedish for "welcome."  The back of the horse says "Good bye, come again" in Swedish.

I was TICKLED to have such a great turn out this year at my Open House/Meet Your Teacher/Drop off your school supplies night.  I had 18 students enrolled the day of Open House and 10 of the families came and met me!  I now have a total of 20 students enrolled.  I think it will be a GREAT year!  We have been very busy practicing procedures this week (Wed.-Friday) so that the rest of our school year will run more smoothly.

As promised, I will try to get pictures taken and posted of the whole classroom this coming week.  It has been very crazy around my school---we added new classrooms and I'm also a mentor and bus supervisor (we have 28 buses) this year.  :)

My 5th grader is now a teacher?!

This afternoon at the end of a district training, this beautiful young lady approached me.  She said, "You are Ms. ?" and I said, "Mrs. Konecny."  She replied with, "I'm T.V. (to protect her privacy, not naming her)."  Wow.  She was one of my 5th grade students at Stanley Elementary about 10 years ago...which is why she didn't know my married name.   She will be student-teaching in 2nd grade during the Spring Semester this year.  It was very fun to see her "all grown up" and know that she wanted to come over and say "hi" to me.  I gave her a little bit of advice, NETWORK and share things with others and then handed her my business card saying if she needed any thing, just ask I might have some resources.

Still not sure if I think that whole thing is "cool," or if it makes me feel OLD.  LOL

Can you believe it?

Today is my last day of "freedom" for the summer!  Where has all the time gone?  My last blog post was "School's Out for Summer."  I can see that I was not very faithful about posting. 

Well, hang on for a couple of days and I will be posting pictures of my classroom.  This year I am decorating with Sweden and bright colors/polka dots.  I teach in an I.B. school  and my teammate and I decided we would use a country for decoration and spring board to learning.  He is using the United Kingdom and I chose Sweden since that is the country that my father's family came from.  Today, I am ironing Swedish flags to use as curtains and hope to borrow my dad's dala horse to hang outside my classroom door. (I'll have to sweet-talk my dad into helping me install it, too.)

Speaking of "sweet-talking".....I am SO blessed that my family helps me with all of my classroom stuff!  Last night, Patrick was pounding grommets into my Swedish flags so that I can use them as curtains.  For 16 years my parents, husband, "other mother," bestie--Lisa, and others have been so kind and generous to help me make/build things, help with decor, and supplies for my classroom.  I couldn't have done it without you!  Oh, and don't worry, I'll keep asking for help, too!  :)

School's Out for Summer!

School's out for summer!  What are your plans?? 

I will be taking a couple of technology trainings this summer; Geo caching with Students & my Technology Master Teacher trainings.  I.B. training in Atlanta, GA will be a first for me.  I am excited to be planning my parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration.   I will be attending my nephew's wedding in July.   I will be attending the QuaPaw Pow Wow in July, too.

I MUST clean and organize my home office/stamp/craft room and would also like to clean out our storage room. It would be nice to have it use-able as a guest room/music room for our instruments.  Maybe I would even practice my violin, then.  ;)

I hope to be able to add more to this blog during summer time....so keep checking back.

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

We have been working on ORGANIZATION in writing as far as putting things in order.  I am using the Daily Six Trait Writing book.  It had a lesson on how to make pine cone bird feeders.  This following video shows my class making the bird feeders.  We first tied a string to the top of the pine cone and then coated the pine cone with peanut butter.  Third, the students rolled the pine cone in mixed bird seed, and VIOLA, a pine cone bird feeder!

Amazingly, enough, it was not as messy as I had feared!  After we finished, I had a zip lock bag for each student to put their pine cones in to take home.  We then we outside to the front of our school to dump the extra bird seed off of our plates near some small trees for the birds.

The next day at school, one of my students announced loudly, "Mrs. Konecny, those bird feeders don't work!"  I asked him, "why not?" and he replied that he had not seen any birds eating it.  I told him that it may take a few days for the birds to find it and know it is there.  I should check back with him and see if he has seen any birds.

What's been happening in my classroom

Well, it has been awhile since I posted anything about my classroom.  I recently finished putting together two short videos and added them to my school website.  I figured that I might as well add them to my blog!

Gordon Parks Academy is a K-8 school.  My 2nd graders have worked with a middle school social studies class twice as our "buddy class."  This video shows us working with our buddies on a project about RESPECT.  I had the 2nd grader trace their hand and write ways to show respect on each finger.

Reflections on the beginning of Lent

Today is Fat Tuesday; the day we can have all of our indulgences before the beginning of Lent tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. As I am sitting at my computer, thinking of all the school projects that need to be finished and the housework that needs to be done, I'm pondering what to do for Lent.  Traditionally, folks "give up something" to show sacrifice for all that Jesus gave.  I once had a pastor who suggested we "take on something".  I had already decided that I will begin a devotional reading plan during Lent on my tablet computer.  I am also trying to be more principled at exercising, so I am going to add those two things to my daily routines during Lent.

What are your thoughts on Lent?  What is your "take" on the idea of giving up something vs. taking on something?

Toshiba Tablet

I got a new toy!  I have an Android tablet.  My hubby built himself a new computer recently and asked me if I wanted to upgrade my desktop computer.  My desktop is running Windows 95, so it's pretty old.  I told hubby that my computer works for what I use it for and I am perfectly happy with it.  He just chuckled.  We started to look at notebook computers and tablets for me.  I got the bug.  Then Woot had a good sale on the Toshiba Tablet, so we couldn't pass it up.  Check out a review here: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/16/toshiba-thrive-at105-t1032-10-1-android-tablet-review/. 

There has been quite a learning curve for me in setting it up and getting used to using it.  One of these days I will be able to use it to blog, too....but still like using my full size keyboard.

For now, I've been having fun trying out several new free aps.  I have a new air hockey game and this crazy thing were you can throw wadded up paper into a trash can.  I also entertained myself playing tic-tac-toe this afternoon and even won a couple of games.  I haven't tried the ever-popular Angry Birds as I'm afraid I just might get addicted to it.

I'd enjoy reading any comments about Android aps. or any tips you might want to share!

Reading Marathon

Check out this AWESOME idea I just read on another blog!  I'm putting it in my lesson plans for the first week back from Christmas Break!

http://jessicaywinston.blogspot.com/2011/12/reading-marathon.html#comment-form

What'd ya get for Christmas?

I remember when I was younger and all of my cousins would get together at my Grandma's house for Christmas Day in the afternoon.  The first thing we did was compare what gifts we got at Christmas.  Shouts of, "What'd ya get for Christmas?" filled the living room and were followed by, "What was your favorite gift?"

I still enjoy getting gifts, but find joy in GIVING.  It's a challenge for me to find "just the perfect gift" for the ones I love and an even bigger challenge to keep it a secret until they open the gift.  I get SO excited!  *Do any of my blogger friends have suggestions as to how you can find "the perfect gift?"  Do you ask the person for a list?  Do you spy on them?  What do you do? * 

One of my favorite gifts this year was from Patrick.  A Fancy Nancy doll.  She is a character from children's books written by Jane O'Connor.  He worked to find a Fancy Nancy doll who has a purple skirt and is adorable.  He would ask me, "Is there a CERTAIN Fancy Nancy doll you want?"  Apparently, there are many to chose from along with many outfits.  Here's a picture of her with her Christmas book I purchased the day after Christmas at 50% off with a gift card from Barnes and Noble and a book that Patrick gave me.

So, the kid in me still wants to ask, "What'd ya get for Christmas?"  If you would like to share, please post a comment on here!  

I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Reindeer Cam

Check this out!!  Pretty neat!  I would like to watch sometime during feeding time.  May have to just do this at school with my students so we can see feeding time. :)



ReindeerCam

Motivation? Is that something you can buy online?

I can hardly believe that today is December 8!  I should be grading papers right now, but can't seem to make myself do it.  I have been feeling somewhat....what's the word I am looking for....upset at all the time my job is taking.  I work nearly every night until 5 or 6pm and then still have papers to grade.  (Now, that's 2-3 hours per day "over time" without pay.)  One would think that after doing this job for 15+ years, I'd have a better system, right?  That's what my Dad thinks. I don't want to sound like I am just complaining, especially at this time of year.  I just can't seem to find the motivation to get it all done.  It's like I'm thinking, "Well, I've already worked 2 hours extra planning and preparing and getting things ready. I'm tired.  Why should I have to work more?"  Well, because there is more to get done!   Last night, I just enjoyed sitting in front of the TV for two hours, not thinking or worrying about everything that isn't getting done.  (sigh)

Well, maybe now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can get something done.  LOL

Fall Freak Attends Awesome Concert

This Fall Freak (me) was delighted when my dad told me that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was going to play a concert at the Bartlett Arboretum!  My parents, husband, and I purchased our tickets and awaited the special day.

The day was a simply beautiful day---crisp, Fall weather, but not TOO cold.  The Arb was at it's fall best---I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful trees!  I don't know what I was thinking when I did not take my "good" camera along with me, but was able to shoot a few shots with my little camera I carry in my purse.

Can you imagine living in this house?  With this scene as your "back yard?"  I'm SO jealous!

In this next shot, you can see just how low the pond is---Kansas has had a bad year for precipitation---we are in desperate need of rain.  Even so, it is still beautiful!

All four of us had a good time at the concert; I even caught my dad tapping his foot in time to the music once or twice.   Check out this link to see some better pictures and notes: http://bartlettarboretum.tumblr.com/ .

Bat Exchange, you know, like flying mammals!

Have you  heard of a poly com?  Well, I had not until very recently.  Essentially, it is similar to video chatting.  My school has a poly com system and one of our technology specialists in my district asked me if I would like to participate in a "Bat Exchange."  I said, "why not?"   So here's what we did:

1. My students constructed a bat using black construction paper, googly eyes, and their imaginations.
2. Each student then wrote a descriptive paragraph about his/her own bat.
3. Another 2nd grade classroom across town did the same thing.
4. Each teacher snail-mailed the bats to the other teacher.
5. We set up a date & time to poly com; we chose Halloween Day.
6. Each classroom took turns reading a description of a bat while the other room tried to find the bat based on the description.

It was such fun!  I let my district media department know about the exchange and I was visited by Susan Arnsemen who witnessed the event, took pictures, and put an article on the Wichita USD 259 website.  My class is "famous!"  Wichita Public Schools Newsroom Events

I hope that we can do similar events in the future as well as different poly com events.

Following is a picture of Ms. West's class's bats all laid out on the floor of my classroom.  As one of her students would read their description, we would find it.

Below is a picture of my SmartBoard where we could see the other classroom on the poly com.  It is super fun using technology in my classroom!