In honor of the promises I've made Maddie & Meredith, here is the latest installment of Kneeknock Rise, even though it is the last days of school. I will finish this book if it's the last thing I do! (This book REALLY is the perfect book for quarantine!)

Every time I re-read this book, I remember how much I love this author's writing style! It is filled with poetry, and I just love it! Today was our math class day and it is always so exciting for me to see some of your faces. Also, I sent an email out last night about hosting a little social hour for our class so sign up to 'hang out' if you haven't already! Still missing you guys like crazy and hope you are hanging in there!

Sooo....I started filming this little installment that I know you are on pins and needles to see! (haha!) I was in a state of pure disarray. I decided I would film the video without showing my face. That didn't work because I couldn't hold the iPad and turn the pages simultaneously.  Next, I went ahead and video-ed myself with my crazy ponytail and my haggard look. While the video was encoding, I decided to get it together and get groomed and face the world like a proper adult. I decided I was going to re-shoot this video all fresh & chipper so as not to be a bad example for young people. When I came back to my computer, I started rethinking that idea. (Apparently, there is too much thinking time right now!) I decided it would actually be a bad example to young people if I deleted the first video. It's ugly. It's disheveled. It's quarantine. But most importantly, it's OK! It's OK to be "off" "funky" "blah" "irked" "cuckoo" or any other of the 300 adjectives I've used to describe myself to Cameron today when he asked why I had this perma-scowl on my face. I miss you guys! I miss the routine! I miss the swimming pool! I miss hugging my mom! I could go on and on and on here but I will instead I will just tell you and myself that it is perfectly normal to feel a little angsty right now. This too shall pass....the scowl will soften...and in the meantime I hope you enjoy this little morsel, in all it's rag-a-muffin ways. 

Well, what's new guys?  I'm tardy! It's weird because usually I can "spy" on the back-end and see how many people are looking at this page and it inspires me to stay on top of it! However, the last few days my site statistics isn't show this page at all. (Not that this is really an excuse for my delay, but it is weird!) Anyhow...I wonder if anyone is looking at this page?! Just in case, I will post this latest installment. While re-reading this book, I remember how much I love it! It is the perfect story for this little project. p.s. Miss you!

Guys--how can I really compete with Cameron's acting job? Answer: I can't. BUT, I didn't want you to wait forever for the next installment so here goes. Right now (Friday) we are working away at getting ready for next week's math offerings. We have some fun stuff with the highlight being a zombie-themed scavenger hunt. I'm very proud of it! I hope it provides you some relief and fun. Thinking of you all! 

The quarantine must be making us all act a little funny because today when I asked Cameron if he would puhhh-lease be an actor for this here read aloud he said "yes!" WHAT?! I thought for sure he would say no! This just goes to show you that the power of social distancing might be making us all a little desperate for anything new or out of our daily routines. I hope you enjoy this hilariously silly installment. I can tell you that a lot of laughs were made today while making this thing happen. Enjoy! P.S. SO many of you have played online games and added to the Flipgrid videos. Coolio! Remember that I have to "approve" your Flipgrid video so it might take a little bit before you see your video go "live." Also--a few people asked this over email: you'll use your student ID# to get access to that Flipgrid! Maybe next week we should do video reenactments of our favorite movie scenes. Cameron better WATCH OUT! 

I'm basically just updating this site so YOU know that I am indeed thinking of you and will post an update on our book tomorrow. Today was our first "math class" and I was seriously SO excited to see your faces, I can't even tell you. The quarantine has been hard on my little extroverted personality and I miss your personalities more than anything. Getting to "see" you was a real high point for me! Cameron even said "Oh look! You have your life force back again!" after our class sessions ended. THAT is how happy I was to see you. Anyhow...I am working on the next installment of this read-aloud, but since I will be a day late, I thought I'd post just to say "hi" and let you know that I am thinking about you! Have a happy Tuesday night, whatever you may be doing!

Hello, clase*! (*espanol for class) I am so happy to see that some of you are continuing to poke on here. It does make me happy. This is the perfect book for a read-aloud during a lockdown. It's short & sweet & suspenseful. I just love this book! I am looking forward to getting started with some teaching this week, although most of this week will just be review. STILL, I look forward to seeing some of you on tomorrow's math Zoom meet-up (one session is at 9:00 and the other is at 12:00---no pressure to attend unless you CAN and WANT to! Seriously...don't stress out about anything math right now.) Miss you!!!!

Hello, guys! I am happy to see some people popping on here. It is one of my favorite "chores" of the day getting our little homeroom read aloud done. Today was. a day filled with more zoom conferences trying to get materials ready and organized. I am really happy with how the 5th grade stuff came out, considering the time pinch. I am excited about meeting with some of you (no pressure!) via Zoom next week on Tuesday. We'll offer one session for math in the morning and the same session will be repeated in the afternoon. For this week, it is mostly just for us to get a chance to "see" each other and feel connected as a group. We won't learn any new math stuff this week, which is good. We are all "swirling & twirling" right now and deserve to have NO math pressure. That said, this is also a golden time to get caught up on things that you feel like you normally don't have time for (ie, math fact practice!) Summer before last I spent a chunk of the summer in Oaxaca, Mexico to practice my Spanish. My sweet teacher reached out via email to say her school had closed so she wanted to know if I'd like to take an online class with her. We had our first "chat" tonight and it was so fun and also great to see her. It's in little moments like this that I try to be grateful for ANY small blessing that comes out of this weird time. I do miss you guys like crazy! Hopefully, I'll see some of you on the Tuesday Math Zoom. Your parents have all the details. (P.S. I decided just to film the crazy rain storm that was coming down while I was trying to make this video. I decided my reading is better when I'm not worried about being vain! haha!)

I have been on the computer like a maniac this week hosting little technology for teachers who are working to get their electronic classrooms ready for students. It is actually really fun to interact with different teachers but I do feel like I have been on the computer non-stop, which is not good my hyper body! I can't wait to hear about what you have been doing and just see how you are! Mrs. Wirht will send out the parent update tomorrow afternoon which will give you some good info about some class options for next week. Tuesday will be the day of the week reserved for Math zoom meetings (again, we'll send details out tomorrow) but pencil me in for Tuesday on Zoom! Hopefully we can connect there. I'll offer a morning and afternoon session so the schedule is a little more flexible. I know for many of us, this is a weird and major schedule change. Some of us (I'm pointing to myself here) don't handle change as SMOOOOTHLY as other people (I'm now pointing to Cameron! haha!) so please know that the priority is to take care of yourself first and then let me entertain you with math stuff a'plenty! "Talk" soon -Ms. Salome