Photo #219: Lisa and Her Backpack

Lisa and Colin were in town this weekend. They recently returned from their vacation, which was a backpacking camping trip near Lake Superior. Lisa is modeling her unloaded backpack for me, here.

Lisa grew up camping, but our family's style of camping is of the modern restroom and travel with the relatives, who have a motorhome variety. In college she was a camp counselor at Camp Hantesa, so she has always enjoyed the out of doors. She said this was the most rustic camping she has done. Colin is an experienced backpacker. They saw some beautiful scenery and had a great time. Colin is also a great photographer, and I enjoyed seeing their pictures.

Photo #218: Pencil Bags

I'm not a big shopper, but today I went shopping for school supplies. I was delighted to find composition notebooks for only 25 cents each at Target, and the two pocket folders with the prongs for 15 cents each at Staples. These colorful pencil bags at Target caught my eye.

The big ouch was buying new ink cartridges for my printer. I always go through a lot of ink this time of year. I make name tags, locker tags, and all kinds of labels with student names, on my computer.

Photo #217: Watermelon

I saw these watermelons at Costco. I love watermelon, but this giant fruit is way to big for me. I always think that buying watermelon is a form of gambling. If it's good, you're in heaven, but if you get a bad one, that's a lot of mediocre fruit.

Photo 216: Arranging My Classroom

Today was a busy day. I spent about four hours at school, and the big thing I accomplished was figuring out how to fit all those desks in. I currently have 28 students on my class list, which is 4 more than I had last year. I decided to move my desk up against the wall to open up the space, and make more room for student desks. I don't sit at my desk much anyway. Most of the time I am either moving around the room, or sitting at one of the tables working with students. It took me a while, and I did a lot of furniture moving, and book moving, but I was happy with the results. It gives my classroom a whole new look. When I start this process of setting up my classroom, I begin to feel excited about starting a new school year.

After I worked at school for a while, I went to work at Huntington. Now my feet hurt, and I'm a tired girl.

Photo #215: How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Daily Shoot: How does your garden grow? Make a photo of something growing in your or someone else's garden today.

These aren't actually growing in anybody's garden. They were in a pot outside a local real estate office. I noticed them when I was on my way into Jimmy John's. I liked the little blue flowers.

Photo #214: My First Technology Conference

As many of you know, I have become a techie teacher this past year. It started with an on-line class last summer. Since that time I have tried lots of new things in the way of technology in my classroom. Some of you may not know that I have also become somewhat addicted to Twitter during that time. Part of my daily routine is to boot up my Tweetdeck to check to see what the educators I follow on Twitter are talking about.

Many of them have gone to Technology Conferences in Denver and Philadelphia, to learn more about using technology in the classroom. I have never been able to do that until this past weekend, when I attended my very first technology conference. It was a worldwide conference with people from 59 countries participating, and I never left Des Moines. Click here to visit my other blog, Prospecting for Treasure, to learn more about my experience.

Photo #213: Thomas Mitchell Park

This weekend I visited Thomas Mitchell Park. At 175 acres, this park is much smaller than Yellow Banks. It is located at 10509 NE 46 Avenue, outside Mitchellville, Iowa. This park is also managed by Polk County Conservation and it is much more familiar to me. Our Fourth Graders used to come here for a fall field trip each year, so I have looked for wildlife in the pond and hiked the trails, as well as supervised kids on the playground.



The tree sculpture is new. I don't remember that. I'm thinking this is a Morell Mushroom, but I could be wrong.



This park has nice picnic shelters, and some hiking trails. It has a campground with electric hookups and modern restrooms. There is a tenting area near the creek that runs through the park. It is green and shaded, but it is also close to the road. If you're looking for quiet and a more woodsy feel, Yellow Banks Park is probably a better choice. I do like the ambiance of the red foot bridge.



Thomas Mitchell Park is more of a groomed park than Yellow Banks. It is great for picnics and camping. There are some hiking trails, and a pond, but no fishing. It is a wonderful place to go, and it's just a short drive away.