UCA Stem Institute

Once upon a time...when Kati used to blog.  Oh my...

This summer I spent two weeks at UCA with the Stem Institute.  I am apart of a grant that is called Common Core Instruction.  Hopefully, they things they teach us as teachers, gets turned around and taught in our classrooms to our students, during the golden age of "common core".  It's really NOT that bad, if you will stop listening to what everyone is saying about it...and form your OWN opinions.  Granted, I've only taught the math of it, but had I been taught using "common core" back in the day, my understanding of math would have allowed me to understand more of "why" instead of just knowing, "this is how we do it."  

I have gained more understanding of WHY since being exposed to Common Core math than ever before...and I'm so thankful for that, and I'm thankful I get to share the WHY with my students!

Ryder is already learning the WHY in Kindergarten and I LOVE IT!--I think when kids start out using CC math, they have a much great potential to excel in math, especially because it is the only "math" they've ever known, or been exposed to.

Rant over.  Again, do your research!  =)

Thankful for these learning opportunities right here in my home town!

monday funday!

While you already read and took a look into our Monday last week...here is a look at our Monday this week!  Lots of new adventures at new places for us all and it couldn't make me any happier!

R started baseball camp at UCA!  I was so glad that he was able to go!  Things started out slow for him, but as soon as things got started and they headed out to field he was not looking back at Mama any more...and that was a good thing!  He did great, and already came home teaching me lots of new things (including one of his "warm up drills"--burpees!  He is pretty darn good at them...the jumping jacks though...we're gonna have to work on those!)

The staff was all so welcoming and nice to everyone--kids AND parents!  It was such a welcoming environment!!  Can't wait to see what the next four days hold!

During camp...I snuck away for a little coffee date with Allie!  We have to squeeze time in together where we can!  We tried a new coffee shop downtown and we both give it a thumbs up and already can't wait to go back!  Great environment and even greater coffee!  I just hope it sticks around...

Back to pick R up...

We took Allie home and played in the front yard for a bit with Josh's old Legos and Mr. Fitz!

Then we were off to lunch with Poppy!  This was something on our Bucket List...and are just now getting to chance to do it!  So thankful!  R got four baseball cards at camp today for "doing what he was supposed to be doing" so he got to share those with Poppy, which was fun!

We came home for what I thought was going to be a nap, but R asked for "another lunch" and then we ended up going to Happy Hour with Allie! :P  No nap for us....

Then...we were off to get a haircut!  It was time!  We love Ms. Denay!

...and you can't go to that side of town and not go to Target right?! :P

Another first for the day...we went and visited the Nature Trail at Hendrix.  I had NO idea it was back there!  It even has "habitat" markers like the ones from our Nature Walk at UCA a few weeks ago!  It was a unique "habitat"for sure...especially for being right in the middle of the city!  We saw fish, turtles and a few other nasty creatures that shall not be named....but I'm still glad we went!  We'll definitely be going back and exploring other areas with shoes other than flip flops! :P

"Hey Ryder...let's take a picture together!"  "Like...a selfie?" "Yes Ryder...a selfie."  I love him too much.

Such a fun little park at the end!

A wonderful day for us both!  I wish all Mondays could be this fabulous! 

UCA weekend!

There was an art exhibit at UCA a while back that just looked too cool for us not to visit.  It's called "The Pool" and it's circles that are all wirelessly connected and react in different ways with each other when you step on them.  We loved them and R was literally sweating when we left!

The following morning we had tickets to see the Lightwire Theatre at UCA which is a show in the dark and the characters are created by using light ropes etc.  They were featured on America's Got Talent!  If you ever have the chance to go...I highly recommend it!  R loved it!

After the play...even in the pouring down rain--we headed over to the football area to visit Poppy and the bank at their tailgate.  There weren't a lot of people there, but we got some good cajun food and made the most out of the day!

I just let wild man do what he wanted and knew I was gonna bath him and put him down for a nap when we got home!

Thankful to live in a town with so many different opportunities for me and my lil guy!

Weekend Wrap Up

Last week, when it started to sleet and snow outside...I decided to take my son out for ice cream.  Sounds about right!  :P

Poppy took Ryder out for an adventurous day on Friday while I was out doing some shopping with Allie!  They went to a restaurant where a train delivers your food to you at your table!  This is R saying, "This is cooooool Poppy!"

Then they went to a fun little play place that has a grocery store, theatre, vet clinic, water table, sand table, inside play gym, etc. etc. and R just had a blast.  I've taken him before but it was seriously a LONG time ago!  He was just shy of two years old actually...you can see that post here.

& no Poppy trip would be complete without a trip to MooMoo's for some FroYo!  =)

I came home to my little man, and we enjoyed a nice, chill, relaxing Friday night at home together.  I worked on addressing some invitations for an upcoming shower and R played and watched a movie!  

Saturday morning we got up and around because I thought I had a work day at school on our big heart that we're building....well.  No one else was there, but one other girl.  :/  I don't know what happened...it was the Saturday after SB, and maybe people just forgot?!  I'll find out tomorrow in class though!  It felt good to be up and dressed and ready at 9:30 on a Saturday morning though...so we went and ran some errands!

Shoe store of course to get R some new Sperry's for Easter!  He loves this horse!  Funny thing...me and my brother used to get on the same horse every time we went to the shoe store when we were little!

Then we came home and R helped me stuff all of his old Easter eggs for his school party on Friday!  I loved that he was able to be involved!

Overall we had a great weekend--even though it was FRIGID out yesterday!  GEEZ LOUIS!  Back into the swing of things today though...always hard after a nice, long week off!

Mama's Randoms...

Just a few things you do as a student going into Middle Level Education Math and Science!  ;)

Build & shoot rockets with different amounts of water in them to see how high they will go...

Examine sheeps' brains and hearts...I love the one of the heart cut in half!  SOOO interesting!  If that doesn't make someone believe in God, I don't know what would!  Only HE could have come up with such an interesting, and in-depth organ that gives us LIFE!

Take life-size blue whales to elementary schools to let kids walk in and explore!  This whale even has a tickle spot by her fin, and when you tickle her she flaps her fin & spouts out of her blow hole!  :P

This is the view from inside of the whale...it really is cool!  It was built by one of my professors and a class of his a few years ago!

Instead of taking a final...the same professor let us help him build a heart big enough for students to walk-through, just like the whale.  It will have the left and right chambers on the inside, as well as all the veins and arteries.  Eventually, it will connect to a set of walk-through lungs that we are going to build as well!

We laid out the tarp, cut it in the shape we wanted and then taped the two pieces together on the outside...

...then we made a tunnel to connect to a box fan, and then blew it up!  Then we went on the inside and taped it in there just to make sure it would hold.

Pretty cool if you ask me!  We aren't done yet, but it will be really neat when we are!

I love being an Education major & seriously cannot WAIT to have my own classroom and kiddos one day!  =)