My Interests.......for today anyway!

These days I don't seem to have enough time for all I want to do! Besides work at Touchstone School, I currently have several projects and hobbies I'm spending time on.

Landscaping

I've been rennovating a huge area in our yard. Out went multiple junipers (hate them!), a massive laurel, equally massive viburnam, and several other shrubs. In went new block retaining walls and steps. Thanks to my strong-backed husband for all the digging and hauling! Now I'm working on replanting - using mostly Oregon natives and other hardy plants that will grow well in clay soil with rainy winters and dry summers. October is an ideal month to plant shrubs, perennials and ground covers and I'm trying to beat the rains by getting all my new plants in the ground!

Jewelry Making

My boss introduced me to a fun and creative way to create jewelry charms using collage and soldering techniques. In a workshop with artist Maggie Raguse we sandwiched vintage manuscript letters between glass and a mirror then wrapped the edges with copper tape. Maggie and her trusty assistant Chris will silver solder the charms and add the chain and crystal embellishments we selected. I can't wait to get my pearl chain with its intricately drawn C. I'll be making some spooky Halloween charms next week with vintage images and text.

Quilting

I'm still in the process of getting my quilting room set up the way I want it. Now that I've got the Ikea tables -- with light box! and it tilts! -- in place, I'm working on painting, framing, and hanging a pegboard for all my tools. It will be such a convenient way to hold all my cutting tools, rulers, gadgets, and bins.

Making Friends and Memories

Summer camp at Touchstone is a time for making friends and memories. Children six to twelve years old get together with old friends - some from their school year, others from previous summers. Some campers have been joining us every summer since preschool. Seeing each other again is a joyful reunion for us all. At the same time, there are opportuinities to branch out and make new friends in an encouraging, safe environment.

Memories are made every day here! Field trips are one of the highlights of Summer Camp but we also have loads of fun right here at our home base. The camp room is equipped with a tent where kids can laugh and share secrets, read books, or just be in their own world. Exploring and building, performing and creating, happen spontaneously when kids, materials, imagination, and uunstructured time come together.

This summer was particulary special as several of our older campers -- soon to be moving on to higher grades away from our school -- took the younger kids under their wings and taught them a favorite game or creative craft. One sixth grader spent several days teaching younger campers how to make his unique pipe cleaner pequins. Another camper created and directed her friends in funny skits.

My blogging Experience

Well, I'm a good month into this blogging experience and so far I'm often confused and frequently let down by my lack of technical aptitude. So many things, like adding gadgets, seem easily done. I add a header photo, "About Me" section, and movie lists - with links! The gadgets even work! I get enthused to try more. Just when I get excited about the idea of sharing my photos in a slide show on my blog, I run into roadblocks and can't get the photos to load from Flicker. I try several different suggestions from the Internet, but nothing seems to work. I was also unsuccessful in adding more blogs to follow on my blog list. So far, blogging has been a roller coaster ride for me. - some thrills, but also some letdowns.
Do I want to stop blogging? Of course not!

Wheels Day!

One activity done at our school is Wheels Day. This is a special time during our summer camp for the campers to ride their bicycles, scooters, or in-line skates. It wasn't part of our initial camp schedule this year, but the returning campers love it so much that both older and younger kids requested it be reinstated. Being responsive to the kids' interests is one of the great things about our camp!

For safety's sake, we have several rules to follow. Of course, campers must wear a helmet and we encourage knee and elbow pads for skates and padded gloves for bikers. The parking lot is closed off with cones clearly marking the direction the course. For younger kids, it's helpful to use sidewalk chalk to mark directional arrows on the pavement. The traffic goes in one direction with stopping and dismounting areas clearly established with the riders. Our course works best with about eight to ten riders, so kids are usually divided into groups based on age. The groupings allow newer riders to practice without distractions and more experienced riders to go a bit faster. As I supervise this activity, I act as "traffic cop" slowing down speeders and breaking up traffic jams. I also help with spills and equipment repairs. Band-aids and paper towels are handy.

Campers bring out their water bottles and can rest in the shade any time they want. I provide another activity in the shade, like drawing or a puzzle, for those who get tired or didn't bring wheels. We usually blast the Disney radio station on the boom box. Even though our course is short and time limited, kids seem to get a kick out of riding with freinds, trying out jumps on the speed bumps, and maybe even showing off with no hands!

Cassie's first blog

June 26, 2010
Assignment #1: How I will use a blog in the classroom
Class: Using Blogs as Effective Classroom Tools
Teacher: John La Ferlita

I have several reasons for wanting to learn how to create and use a Blog. I'm an assistant principal at a small private school. We have a website for our school provided by our corporate marketing department. It has a strict format with limits on what can be added or changed and at times appears canned. One reason I want to learn how to blog is to possibly create a sort of informal site that can be easily modified to share all the fantastic events and activities that are happening at our school. For example, we have a monthly All School Sing where individual musical talents are showcased. It would be great to write a quick blog with some uploaded photos or video on the day it happened. I think the blog would be more personalized and reflective of who we are and a great tool to reach out to parents and potential families.
Our teachers have websites that they can use to get information out to their students and parents. I hope to be able to share another tool that they can use for informal communication. Perhaps teachers and students will be able to set up a blog about a particular integrated study they are working on. For example, it would be great to have classrooms from other schools interact with the fourth graders when they are learning about Westward Migration. Perhaps students in the advanced math class can blog about their assignments or the art teacher can share more of her students' work with parents.
My last reason for learning how to blog is purely personal. I would like to blog about my creative hobbies including quilting, paper crafting, and gardening. I think it would be motivating to share what I'm doing and get feedback from others out there. I hope blogging will enable me to be more reflective about my work as well as expand my techniques and feed my creativity.