Day 14

Time for me to go back to Virginia.  I had fun with Auntie Jerelyne, but look forward to seeing Tony again.  I said goodbye to Ella and then Auntie packed me in a box to head back home.

Day 13

Quiet weekend day - took Tony's grandma to the airport, she was going to Arizona 

We then watched Gopher hockey and girls basketball.

Day 12

The last day in Spring Lake Park Schools found me up at Northpoint Elementary.  We worked on looking at student data.

We then drove down to Spring Lake Park High School.  When you walked into the school there is a huge rotunda - it is a big circle space.  The rotunda has big window that look out onto the football field.

We stopped in to visit the principal's admin assistant, Maria, she let me answer the phone.

We then got to go talk to Principal Stevenson.  She was really nice.

Auntie Jerelyne then said we were going to a coaches meeting, I told her I love sports.  But she said it was a different kind of coach.  These coaches work with teachers and student learning.  They were learning and working on innovation and design thinking.  They started making paper airplanes to get their brains going and worked in small groups.

I enjoyed my time in Spring Lake Park Schools!  When I left I got this great bag with lots of fun things,

Day 11

Today our day started with a meeting with the guys from Apple.  We talked about iPads - all the kids in Spring Lake Park have one to use.

We then got to go to an elementary school.  We went to Northpoint Elementary.  It has kids in Kindergarten through grade 3.  We had to meet with the principal before we could go to visit kids.  Mrs. Kahoun is the principal - she is in the middle.  She is with Mrs. Stalsberg, Continuous Improvement and Innovation Coach and Ms. Wicks the administrative assistant.

We then got to Mrs. Hendrickson's second grade class.  They were doing math when we got there.  They were working on subtraction and were using their iPads with this great app.

When they were done working with the teacher, they spread out all over the room to finish the page in their workbook - I tried to help...

I then took a look around their room.  I found these cool QR codes they used to study about Dr. Suess.

They have a classroom library with lots of good book.

One of the students showed me their birthday balloons - this is how they know when someone has a birthday.

They have lockers in their room to put their coats and backpacks.

Outside their room they had these cool snow globes they made.  Can you see the students inside the snow globe? 

We then walked around the school peeking in different rooms - this room was having a brain break.

We walked by the library - I love books.

I even found Clifford.

There was great artwork all over the school!  I really liked visiting this school - Thanks Mrs. Hendrickson's class for letting me come to visit.

Day 10

It was a day of work for me today.

First was a meeting with the Learning And Teaching Leadership Team. They were learning about a new computer program.

The we met with the Director of Human Resources to design some learning for teachers.

We met with Patti to talk about some tech stuff

And finally my favorite part of the day, she brought me to the tech office.

I met some of the tech team.

They let me go in the server room that controls all the district computers.

All the kids in Spring Lake Park have iPads. 

They use this magnifying glass to fix tiny things.

Finally got to see the fax machine, wonder if that is a good way to travel...

Day 9

We went to the vet today!  Ella needed a checkup.

They first checked how much she weighed.

The vet's office looks like kind of like a doctors office.

Then the vet came in, she checked Ella's eyes and ears and heart.

Ella had to get some shots and blood checked. She got a funny bandaid.

It was fun to visit the vet.

Day 8

Today I went to work with Auntie.

She had lots of fun things to play with on her desk while she worked.

She works with teachers and students and computers - I read this great book about being safe on the Internet.