Summer vacation a major perk of being a teacher (or so most of society thinks) and to some extent, it is a great perk, but it's not all fun and games.
So here's a glance into the summer of this art teacher.....
June 21: SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!
June 22-24: This was a crazy few days of moving all my things into my new place in Virginia. I only had about two days to move because on June 25 I was headed to......
June 25-July 1: FLORIDA!
Alright, so this clearly looks like fun and games, which it was, but everyone deserves a vacation right? I went to Florida for about a week to visit my best friend who I have known since the SECOND GRADE! She lives there now, and we spent a week at St. Pete's Beach on the west coast celebrating her birthday and just relaxing on vacation. As you can see I also got a chance to brush up on my photography skills during our days exploring... St. Pete had so much beautiful nature and wildlife, I could hardly put my camera down!
July 4, 2013: A True Capitol Fourth Experience
The fourth of July brought me back to DC and what better way to celebrate than going to the National Mall? I began my fourth by celebrating with an old teacher from work who was in town to get married. It was great to see her! I then headed with my sister and brother-in-law to the Capitol where with some help from a great Capitol Police Officer, we got all the way up to the actual Capitol steps and balcony area to relax and watch the concert and fireworks. It was a great concert, and the fireworks were great as usual too!
Now, let me pause right here... I'm realizing this really does all look like fun and games, I should probably add that roughly 3-4 days per week I have been reporting to the central office to work on some after school program curriculum as well as do some coordinating for the art department. This is a great experience for me to have some leadership and curriculum writing skills not only at a school level, but at a district wide level. I can't lie though, when writing curriculum for after school, I usually do a fair amount of drawing and coloring the project examples! Okay, now back to the fun and games.....
July 6-July13: Minnesota
Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and for sure, there are TONS of lakes. I had the opportunity to travel to Minnesota with my boyfriend, Paul (many of you parents may recognize him as the Art Auction security/bartender) to see where he grew up, went to college, and meet family and friends. We hit the ground running by going to the Mall of America, the Mall of America Aquarium, Bunker Beach (waterpark), The Minnesota Zoo, Lake Calhoun, the Sculpture Garden, and tons of restaurants and attractions in downtown Minneapolis. It was a great trip where I got to see some amazing art, and meet some wonderful members of his family. Of course, being fair skinned, I managed not to get sunburned in Florida, but got rather sunburned in Minnesota!!
July 13-August 2: Now my summer winds down, I spent alot of time working on New Teacher Orientation Presentations, helping our new art department specialist settle in, and refining the after school art enrichment curriculum.
August 2-August 5:
You guessed it! PITTSBURGH!! I took Paul to experience Pittsburgh for a weekend since he had never been before. We went to a Pirate's game, Primanti Bros, Kennywood, Mt. Washington, Station Square, South Side, and Shady Side. You may or may not know I went to Carlow University for my undergrad degree and loved every minute so of course, I loved returning to see how campus has changed. It was a great jam packed weekend, my only regret is that the incline was not operating so we didn't get to go up to Mt. Washington on it, we had to drive, but overall it was a wonderful fast end of summer trip.
Don't worry, the fun doesn't stop there!!!
August 11th: I travel to celebrate my Grandmother's 90th Birthday!
August 15th: I meet the new art teachers to the district!
August 19: WEEK ZERO BEGINS! That means back to work to get ready for the year!
August 20: I GET KEYS to the new place I am moving in Virginia!
(moving during the beginning of school is no fun, but oh well)
August 21: Art Teacher Day! I get to go to the museums to learn how to be a great teacher!
August 26: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! I am so excited to see all my students and their families again!
