Two Hoots and A Holler: Goodbyes and Hellos

Hoot #1

We were given the honor to attend the retirement of one of our greatest mentors, Dr. Dennis Haslip.  He worked as a SPED teacher for one year with us, then he became the assistant principal at our school.  He was such a gift to our school.  He taught us so much on how to reach children with special needs.  He taught us to not only read data but how to allow that data to drive our instruction.  He allowed us to grow as educators and reach for our dreams. While doing this, he shared his mistakes and trials, as an educator, so that we could learn from his mistakes.  We love this man more than he will ever know! Thank you Judi Shellabarger for hosting such a wonderful event!

Hoot #2

We are getting a new kindergarten unit!! That makes a total of 7 kindergarten units! We are excited about this because this will mean smaller class sizes for us.  We average about 25-27 students in our class each year.  We do have full time assistants, but let's be honest, the task is still overwhelming at times!  We would like to welcome Hannah Hurtado to our group! Hannah is familiar with our school.  She has taught 2nd grade for several years, so she already knows the ins and outs of the school.  We all know that kindergarten is a different world, but we know that Hannah will fit right in!!

This Week's Holler. . .

This weeks holler goes out to Dana Lester from Common to the Core! This fiery red head has got it going on!! She is so full of life and constantly on the go! We love all of her ELA CCSS ideas that she has blogged about!  Not only is she an educator, a blogger, and presenter.  She also is a consultant for Younique! This company has tons of wonderful make-up, but personally their 3D mascara is AWESOME!!  She can also design super cute shirts for teachers to say ANYTHING you would like!  She made some of the cutest personalized shirts for several others at the Spring Blogger Meetup in French Lick. She has so many talents, be sure to check her out by stopping by her blog!