What Summer Vacation?

This is the first summer in a long time I had no vacation plans or any big events planned, which is unfortunate because I love to travel.  The summer started with a bang, or I should say splash.  Memorial Day weekend was spent with old friends at the lake.  During a late night fishing excursion, I somehow fell in the lake, clothes and all.  My friends and I had a long laugh with this.  I did enjoy myself throughout June, catching up on netflix and watching endless documentaries.  But in July, that is where my vacation seemed to end.  As you know, we have a new principal, Howard Diacon.  On July 1st, we were both at the school often, preparing for the new year.  Throughout the summer, I attended district training on  Common Core State Standards, a change we will be seeing in our district very soon. I hope to devote some time on this blog explaining this change and what it means for our schools.  I am grateful I had the summer to plan for a less stressful second year at Sunflower--hopefully I can achieve that this year!  Overall, my summer had some highlights, including a ticket to the Home Run Derby. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the festivities, including the All-Star 5K, which I did with my newly retired Sunflower teaching friend, Gerry Bukaty.  It was a blast!  Unfortunately, there were some tough times as well. My grandmother passed away in June. She was my last living grandparent and I miss her very much!  Our family friend, Cindy Murray, also passed away unexpectedly in August.  I will truly miss Cindy--she was an amazingly caring and nurturing soul.  As the longtime high school nurse at LHS, she was a gift to all who knew her in the district.  My summer ended with a leadership conference in Topeka to learn about implementation of the Common Core. I enjoyed working with my co-workers, Pam Powers, Erin Girard, Eve Cummins, Robyn Vilcek, and of course Howard.  We are excited to start implementing the CCSS into our school!  Cheers to the summer of 2012 and the beginning of a new year in first grade!