All fired up!

Oh.my.goodness! Those are the only words to describe how completely JAZZED I am after attending a three day teacher institute at the always amazing Florida Museum of Natural History. I was lucky enough to be chosen to hear so many incredible speakers give talk on several different issues facing Latin America. One was a doctoral student who is doing research on Jaguars. How cool is that? I've already asked him to come give a little talk to my sweet students about careers in science.

We also were given a tour of the Lubee Bat Conservancy. It's an accredited zoo that raises endangered bats, right here in little ol' Gainesville. And, the gifts just keep coming, they're going to pay for me to take my little ones there so they can learn about bats, conservation, and the effects of deforestation. Isn't that just amazing?!

I have so many cool ideas I want to share with my colleagues (and, of course, you). We spent the three days exploring the museum and other potential field trip sites and creating lesson plans that integrate these sites with studies about Latin America. All the participants were just incredibly nice. I never tire of meeting fellow teachers. We're all unique but so much alike.

Hello Out There!

I'm not sure who might be reading this, but if you are - thanks a million!  Let's start with the basics.  I'm a sixth year teacher here in humid, sticky north Florida.  I teach a combination first/second grade class.  But, next year, I might be where my heart is - with my little second graders.  This blog is for parents in my class, fellow teacher folk, and blog stalkers like myself. 

I know I've gotten a kick out of so many blogs over the past few months.  This is my little homage to those blogs that kept me laughing.  Later this week I'll post pictures of my semi-decorated classroom.  As you can probably guess, I'm going for a pirate theme this year.  Hopefully it will go well.  I've loved pirates my entire life so this is kind of like my little oasis at school. 

Melissa