My Characters

I have a few stories that I post on my other blog.  Each story has a focus character and a reason why I wrote them.

Katherine - I've love Katherine Excalibur for years.  I revived her for a Mutants and Masterminds campaign with a bit of a different twist.  I enjoyed the campaign so much, that I wanted to write it out.  Still working on it.

Melusine  - Haha!  Okay, so later in the campaign Katherine came across a journal.  Not the only journal that I'd ever come across as Katherine but the first one that the ST didn't have some elaborate hand-held copy that I could actually read.  So I made one.

Holly - Another connection to Katherine.  I haven't posted this far yet so SPOILER ALERT Holly is Katherine's daughter.  Her's is really like a "ten years later" epilogue to Katherine.

Tavi - Tavi was born from a conversation between myself and the person who played Thalia in Katherine's story.  Again, going back to Katherine.  Tavi was the random curiousity of what-if.  What if Thalia and Chaud had a child.  

Nathalia - Nathalia is the character backstory of a Vampire the Masquerade character.  It's a bummer the campaign didn't last long.

Helen - Helen started as a wild hair to write a smutty masquerade sex scene.  Flat out.  Then I changed my mind part-way through.  

Zoee - Zoee was a question.  I really don't want to say too much about Zoee because I haven't posted up much of her story yet and really want to keep the twist there still.

Okay, there are some more stories than them but I don't know if I'll be posting them here or not..

GELDS: CLL2.4a

CLL2 – The child will acquire vocabulary introduced in conversations, activities, stories and/or books.

CLL2.4a Demonstrates understanding of more complex vocabulary through everyday conversations.

WSO: Uses expanded vocabulary and language for a variety of purposes. 

This indicator's activities focuses on conversation.  Playing telephone, puppet talk, and many of our earlier suggestions work for this indicator as well.  Talk, talk, talk with your students.

Read, read, read as well.  Not just use books on CD or YouTube readings.  Actually read a book to your students.

GELDS: MA1.4d

CD-MA1 – The child will organize, represent and build knowledge of number and quantity.

CD-MA1.4d Describes sets as having more, less, same as/equal.

WSO:  Uses words and representations to describe mathematical ideas. 

Activities: Graphs.  Graphs are a great way for children to express their opinions as well as to discuss more, less, same as/equal.  Some educators use the daily lunch choice to demonstrate this.  That's fine, but there isn't anything anywhere saying that you must review lunch count with them everyday.  Don't drain the fun out it.

Number bags (original idea).  Okay, while the original idea is also a great tool for teaching addition, take a step back and we can work with more, less, same as/equal.  Children can work to identifying which side has more, less, or same as/equal.  

Feed the mascot.  Have a stack of index cards with various quantities of objects on each one (one pizza, three goldfish, whatever you wish).  Students take turns; one flips a card and the next student flips one card.  The student with the card that has more, can feed your mascot (alligator, little old lady, monster, whatever you want to feed).  Maybe your mascot is getting full and wants to eat the one that's less.  If the cards are equal... BURP!  All the cards come back into play again!

Books: More or Less by Stuart Murphy
ClassMade (don't be afraid to make your own book with your students to demonstrate this indicator)

GELDS: SC1.4d

CD-SC1 – The child will demonstrate scientific inquiry skills.

CD-SC1.4d Experiments, compares and formulates hypotheses related to scientific properties. 

WSO: Asks questions and begins to solve problems that arise during explorations.

 Activities: Grow A Critter.  These are simple toys that can be picked up at the dollar store that grow in water.  Students can generate hypotheses of what will happen to the object in the water.
Planting Seeds.  Again to generate hypothesis based on previous exploration.  An important thing to note about this indicator is that student learn to generate hypothesis based on their observations from previous experiments.
Colored Ice on Oil.  This would be fun after students observe and explore the process of melting ice.  Color water with food coloring and freeze.  Place the ice cubes on oil in a clear container and allow students to hypothesize what will happen before watching what happens when the water begins to melt.  
Books: 

GELDS: SS2.4b

CD-SS2 – The child will demonstrate an understanding of his/her community and an emerging awareness of others’ cultures and ethnicity.

CD-SS2.4b Explains diverse customs and cultural celebrations within the home, classroom and community.

WSO: Identifies similarities and differences in personal and family characteristics.

 Okay, I really want to just take the time to say a few things about this indicator instead of providing activities and books.  We're at the time of year where we all want to start discussing Christmas and other December holidays.  Talking about these traditions and customs, reading books bout them help to fill this indicator.
Some parents get touchy on this subject.  Please keep in mind that you are teaching cultural acceptance and understanding, not a holiday.  The desire is that students accept and understand the differences among one another, even if they don't have the same traditions.

Ornaments

Decorative the Christmas tree is fun for me.  I like to change the "theme" of the tree each year.  From "it's a girl" to candy canes.  This year, it's lights and brass ornaments.

Even with the theme, there are other special ornaments that have home on the tree.

This was the first ornament I bought with my husband, back when we were dating and living in our one bedroom miniature apartment.

This is the first ornament after we were married.  There's a fortune cookie in the back with a pull-out message.

These are made by my brother.  One every year to add another memory to our tree starting with the year I got married.  It's a sweet timeline to review over with the holidays.

I have lots of sweet ornaments crafted by students over the years.  None the same, each different and unique.  Like this cute apple ornament made from a crushed soda can.

Speaking of child-made ornaments, can't forget the beauties that my daughter crafts at school.  

It's also nice to have ornaments that remind you of places you've been and rare things you've seen.

And, of course, we have our Christmas spider on the tree.  If you don't know the legend of the Christmas spider, it's a German custom to place a spider on the tree.  I need to remember to get one for my daughter's bedroom tree.

Speaking of her bedroom tree, she has important ornaments just for her on that tree.  Ornaments that she made with me or given to her by family member.

Dr Pepper Tuition Dream

For more than ten years now, I have been teaching as a paraprofessional for the Georgia State Lottery-funded pre-kindergarten program. My first two years were spent as a head teacher in the classroom setting before the program guidelines changed requiring that I earn a higher level degree to be able to be a head teacher. Each year, I continued working towards increasing my education while attending trainings and keeping informed on the latest classroom guidelines. My passion for teaching doesn't stop with the bell at the end of the day. I want to build a safe, nurturing environment for students to grow mentally, physically, and emotionally while building a strong and positive foundation for learning. Unfortunately, there are very few programs locally that will allow for me to teach and go back to school at the same time. As a parent in addition being an educator, I cannot afford to quit working to return to school so I attend Liberty University through their online program to be able to continue building positive classroom experiences for my students while I continue my educational growth. Thank you all for doing what you can to not only assist my educational future, but the future education of every child I teach.

Vote for me please!