A year ago today- I took a picture of me in my pajamas with a cup of coffee and a sign that said the First Day of Distance Learning.
My office set up has changed so much since this picture
It has been a HARD year for SO many reasons. I know that we have lost so much in so many ways. But, as I look back on this year- I have to think about the good that has come from it as well and the resilience that we have to make things happen.
So-enjoy a picture overload and a year full of memories and great things that happened!
There were lots of parades! We learned to celebrate in a different way. I went and cheered for every one of them that passed by.
I walked a LOT of miles (and lost weight in the process)
We learned how to make everyone in Bitmoji
We all enjoyed Tiger King!
We moved our Girl Scout meetings to online
Because we moved to virtual- it opened up so many more opportunities- Such as meeting someone that works for NASA
I was able to be more involved with Girl Scouts- and even had a chance to give presentations and work with other leaders throughout the US.
I got to see ALL the panels for NTTBF
Collaborating on presentations and trying new things
Changing programming and how I meet our students and community.
We planted trees
The Brownies made donations to an animal shelter for a service project
We socially distanced decorated pumpkins
We won second place in the Irving Arts Center Christmas Tree Decorating competition
The Juniors completed their Bronze award by having a coat drive.
We got a new President on my birthday and I got to virtually make a flower arrangement during lunch
4 Destination ImagiNation teams headed to State!
We had a whole virtual campout and made lots of yummy food.
We picked up lots of trash and volunteered time with our city.
Celebrated these girls and all they accomplished remotely this year!
These Cadettes were awarded Youth Leadership Award through Keep Irving Beautiful and Super Star Award through Irving Parks and Recreation
I know that I spent a ton of time looking at computer screens- but what happened during those moments were pretty amazing and have inspired me to continue to offer opportunities in different ways. I am SO proud of all the work that has happened this year even during a pandemic.
I have been a Girl Scout since I was 5 (gahh I am old!) and I have had the privilege of being a leader for the past 6 years. I have talked often about Troop 1810 (and I have now added Troop 6458) and I am reminded again this weekend how much they fill my heart.. and how absolutely resilient they are!
Since March 2020 we have been virtual- meeting even through the summer every Monday.
I first have to brag on how much these girls accomplished by being virtual (we did SO much more, but these were a couple of the highlights) before I get into our Bridging/Awards and Virtual Campout
Brownies- finished their Journey and created a service project to help our local animal shelter. They created a virtual flyer through Google and had zoom meetings to make it happen. They then got together and shopped and delivered items to the animal shelter.
Juniors- finished their Journey, created a Take Action Project of a book about bullying (over Google Slides), and then began working on their Bronze Award (did I mention this was completely virtual?) They chose to get coat donations to help All Things Made New in our area. They created flyers, decorated boxes to collect donations, had planning meetings, and had a coat drive-thru one Saturday (social distanced, masks, and all protocol followed. In order to get the Bronze, each girl has to have 20 hours of service towards the project. They were able to donate over 125 coats to the local organization.
Cadettes- Not only are these girls almost done with a Journey so they can complete a Take Action Project and begin on their Silver Award soon- they have also received rewards from our community for all the work they do to help our city. These girls have done so much community service with Keep Irving Beautiful and Irving Parks and Recreation that they were recognized with the Keep Irving Beautiful Youth Leadership Award and also the Super Star Award from Irving Parks and Recreation.
I realize that every location/council is doing different things. We are following all of our council rules and regulations. Our bridging/awards took place outside in a parking lot (which was pretty perfect for social distancing) mask were required, and parents got an email before the meeting for a Covid check-in.
The video shares how we planned and prepared for our virtual campout. For any activity we do- it is all up to the girls. The girls brainstormed about what they usually have on campouts- and then voted (and all I did was get everything together) This was also super successful because families were all in. These girls have also been together for over 5 years. We also had things that the girls could do on their own with only supervision (isn't that what campouts are as well?)
There are affiliate links throughout this blog, but I am not gaining anything from this- just sharing where I found materials.
From 10am-12pm we held our Bridging, Awards, night light craft, and Camp Kit Pick Up
We had our awards on toilet paper. The patches are fastened with straight pins
When arriving each girl got a lap tray that I found at Michael's (also-I love that there is a teacher discount!) This bridge has been used by years and by different troops. Each time a troop bridges they sign in. I LOVED seeing my girls names on it when they bridged to Brownies, then to Juniors and now to Cadettes.
Each girl got a campout kit that also had a photo challenge- the pictures inside our FB group are AMAZING!
Not seen is the craft they chose and also the buddy burner. Thanks to Marci for taking me to COSTCO for the first time! Great way to buy in bulk and get ready to pre-package
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The festivities started at 4pm where girls were invited to set up their sleeping space. This could be anything! I had some girls set up a tent in their house, a mini tent in their bedroom, a sleeping bag on the floor, a fort, or even glamped in their own bed. They also loved using these lap desk for this as well.
For all the activities- I set up 1 zoom call that we would hop on and off of for the whole evening and the next morning.
5pm- was our first activity where the girls made super cute No-Sew Pillows that looked like avocados (they chose this craft)- This took us about 30 minutes to make. I left the zoom open, but let the girls know that I am here just turning my video and sound off as I set up for the next part.
6pm- We made our hamburgers. Some girls picked up Buddy Burners (thanks to my Co-Leader Susan for teaching us how to use it over zoom too!) some girls cooked over a stove, and some girls made theirs on a grill or fire outside.
Pulled my computer outside to make our hamburgers
8pm- Time for sweet treats! We had all the fixings to make Smores- I had to make mine in the microwave-and was jealous of those girls making theirs over a fire. We also tried our hands at Banana Boats.
We signed off for the night. I actually did sleep in a tent in my backyard until almost 1am.
8am-I made my camp mocha (which is hot chocolate and coffee) and hopped onto our zoom to make breakfast. The girls LOVED making Omelette in a Bag so yummy- so good- so easy! I also loved how many of our girls got up to participate on this- it was Sunday of spring break and 8am in the morning!
I ended my virtual campout weekend by stopping by our local Dairy Queen- which is our troop tradition on the way home from camping.
I miss camping in person- but what this taught me- is that our girls will be ready to camp again. With the photo challenge, I created a folder on our Girl Scout Facebook page for parents to upload pictures- the pictures are PRICELESS! This also would not have been successful if I didn't have parents that were all in as well. This has been a hard year, but I love that our girls are still invested and ready to try new things. I can't wait to see what this next year brings!
So thankful for these girls! Missing a few but what a great morning
Are you virtually meeting? Have you had a virtual campout?
What a STRANGE first semester it was in public school! One of my favorite things to do though.. is celebrating teachers. This year our district created a Campus Leadership Ambassador team to help spread even more cheer. I was SO excited that I got chosen for it (along with my partner in crime Mary Anne) Now as a CLA we are tasked with doing a little something every month.. but you know I love to plan! So we helped plan out the days before winter break
Background of our school- we are a middle school in Texas. We have a little over 100 staff and we are currently a hybrid model. We have students on campus and students virtual with an enrollment of about 850.
Because it has been such a crazy year... we wanted to bring smiles. If you haven't seen Elf you must do it! It has SO many great quotes... and it is just silly fun. Each day starting December 7th was a different Elf quote with fun to go along with it. I did purchase a life size Buddy the Elf from Amazon... and it was AMAZING (and scared a few people too) At the beginning of the month I also asked staff to fill out a form of their favorite holiday songs- and we created a Lamar Spotify Playlist
At the bottom of this blog is the Piktochart (there is an educator discount.. and this is a program that I use all of the time) that I created for teachers and promoting.
One of the main things when thinking through different ideas this year is making things were socially distanced and safety protocols were followed. I am going to share just a few highlights from the last couple of weeks. We also created a photo opportunity with Buddy
The first day was Desk Pets- which was an idea that I saw on TikTok (Quote: "So- good news...I saw a dog today")
We had a waffle bar that used Eggo waffles (which was the BEST idea ever) Quote-"We elves try to stick to four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." Admin served: milk and toppings using gloves and it was spaced out.
All the sweets to go along with an Eggo Waffle Bar
One day we hit on all the staff bathrooms and put nicer toilet paper in them (it was hard to find toilet paper by the way) Quote- "Have you seen these toilets? They're ginormous!"
We did virtual gingerbread houses during the three different lunches. I was worried how this one was going to turn out, but was thankful it kind of worked! Staff picked up prepackaged ziploc bags of 6 graham crackers and prepackaged bags of scoops of regular icing. Staff stopped by the library and were able to pick out extra items to add to their gingerbread houses (these were also served.. so only one person touching the items with gloves)-Quote- "I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands."
Covid Style Cookie Exchange- usually we have a potluck during the season, but due to safety concerns, we had to postpone this year. We made sure to have plenty of prepackaged cookies ready for the taking and then if people wanted to participate and bring their own to share.. it too had to be individually wrapped so staff could come through and grab a bag. Quote-"I'm sorry I ruined your lives and crammed 11 cookies in the VCR."
We of course had a coffee bar where admin created the coffee and added all of the toppings. Quote-"Congratulations! World's best cup of best of coffee! Great job, everybody! It's great to be here."
I worked on a holiday card done with staff Bitmojis. I began asking for a Bitmojis at the beginning of December (I also made a few of them) Each staff had a Google slide where they uploaded a few festive photos. I then turned those into a holiday card that we printed off and also sent out through email. "You have such a pretty face. You should be on a Christmas card."
One game we played was with the quote- "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." We played music from our Lamar Staff Christmas Spotify play list and the 5th caller would get a prize.
In the work room we also create a new What do you Meme board with various photos from some of our favorite holiday movies and left sticky notes. The memes that teachers created were hilarious!
It was a crazy and ROUGH year. There was nothing easy about it! But just because it wasn't easy and it was hard doesn't mean that it isn't okay to smile underneath your mask.
The city where I live has done and OUTSTANDING job of creating activities that allow for residents to get out, social distance, and have fun (I haven't even gotten started with how amazing the Irving Public Library and all that they are doing.. but that is a blog for over at Bee In the Bookends) One of the things that the Irving Parks and Recreation Department did was a game of Clue along one of the trails outside of the city. The Clues were spaced out a little over a mile through the trail. Each one had a different Suspect/Item/Place that was NOT the Suspect/Item/Place. To figure out who did it you used process of elimination I of course loved walking the trail with 2 of my Awesome Girl Scout Friends (socially distance of course!)
After walking this trail.. and playing the game, I realized I wanted to do something along the same lines. Our district is currently virtual so teachers are on campus, but teaching virtually. I know that as a librarian.. I like the chance to get up and move. I recreated this awesome idea from the Irving Parks and Recreation to be for school!
We just started using Canvas, so I thought it would be a perfect Clue Game!
Here is what I did:
-Took pictures of 6 different places
-Used Bitmojis for 6 different people
-Used 6 different tech tool pictures
-Uploaded these items into this Google Presentation
-Created a Google Form for staff to fill out when they used process of elimination to figure out who solved Canvas!
-Posted all the clues around the school on both floors with directions for staff to stay socially distant, wear the masks, don't touch anything but enjoy finding the Clues! I also reminded staff this one was not a race- everyone that filled out the form by a certain date would be entered into the drawing.
-With the email I also sent out the checklist so they could use that as they walked around (very important.. to print off ALL the clues! I apparently missed one and had people emailing me right away!)
-Encouraged staff to post on Twitter using #lmsgame
Love this Tweet from our Dean of Students @CoachBRich
A huge shout out to Irving, Texas for doing so many awesome things! I even got a special delivery for winning at their game!
Do you play games with your staff? I have this one running for 2 weeks, and can't wait to start the next game! Teaching is tough right now, so anything that I can do to Bring the Sunshine.. I want to do! Speaking of Bringing the Sunshine- be watching.. I am going to start a Podcast soon!!
