A Very Fond Farewell

Eight and a half years ago, my son and I moved to Gainesville, because my boyfriend wanted to work on his PHD at the University of Florida. I didn't know what to expect here and Florida took some getting used to. I really wasn't sure I wanted to stay. I'm a Midwestern girl and we didn't have fire ants, banana spiders, and giant flying cockroaches where I grew up. Having a good job can make all the difference when trying to fit into a new place and my first job in Gainesville was not a good fit for me.

Then I answered an ad for a teacher's aid position at Trilogy, a small private school in a little house with a white picket fence out front. I went for an interview with the younger elementary teacher, Kristin, and one of the principles,Terry, but I didn't have any childcare for my two year old son, so he had to come with me. The two women were completely unflustered, as we conducted our entire discussion while following my son from computer to computer all over the building. Afterwards, I was told that the flexibility I showed during that very active interview contributed greatly to me getting the job.

Starting work at Trilogy really changed my opinion of Gainesville. Once I was doing something I enjoyed, I was able to come to love this community.

During the eight years that I have worked at Trilogy, I have had many different jobs, teacher's aid for younger elementary, older elementary, and middle school, tutor, substitute, language arts teacher, history teacher, and keeper of the elementary blog. The consistent thing throughout all those positions, was that I enjoyed working with the Trilogy staff and children. It's a small school, even though it has grown out of that little house with the white picket fence. We really are all family.

I just found out a few days ago, that my husband has been offered a job in Tallahassee. Although he's not quite done with his PHD dissertation, he's very close, and that is something he can do while working. His new job will begin July 23, so I will not be returning to Trilogy in the fall.

I went through my photographs and put together a little good-bye slide show. I'm sorry it's a little light on older pictures. I didn't have a digital camera back then.

Please enjoy this and thank you all for being part of our lives.

Preparing for Celebration

The children have been decorating the three-fold boards that will display the work they are most proud of and be a backdrop for all of the work they have done this school year.

















These boards, along with boards displaying the children's art work, will be set up for everyone to view on the night of the "Celebration", Tuesday, June 5th.

Other activities that night will be younger elementary to older elementary graduation, eighth grade graduation, and songs sung by the elementary students. Refreshments will be served after the program and then parents may take home their child's/children's work (please leave the math books, so we know can continue using them next year).

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

The Whole School to Ourselves

The middle school and high school students were gone yesterday, so the elementary students were able to take over the "centrium" in the high school building. Ms. Pat and some of the middle school students had used tarps to build a dark tunnel, lit by a black light, and filled with glowing stars and planets, for the children to play in.



My camera didn't work well in the black light, but you can sort of get the idea.


They also reviewed some of the science topics that had been covered during their space unit, using Ms. Pat's very large collection of posters.






They also watched the movie, Alien Planet, which can be seen in full here:



On Friday's, we usually order pizza, but with so few people on campus, we decided to have a potluck lunch instead.



It was a very impressive selection of food and I would like to thank all the parents who contributed.

Wrapping Up the Year

It is getting close to the end of the school year and we are starting to wrap things up. In science class, this past Friday, Ms. Pat handed out certificates showing that the children had finished their "astronaut-in-training" program.



















Then they went outside to explore their new space colony.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Trilogy moms, grandmothers, and teachers! The children all really appreciate you and spent quite a bit of time Friday making things to show how much you are loved.







Gift bag decorating in art class:











They also had time to draw pictures with pastels, inspire by Van Gogh's painting, "The Starry Night":

The Wild Wild West

Today was "Cowboy Day" in the Trilogy elementary school. Many of the children dressed in cowboy hats, plaid shirts, and boots,



and they all had cowboy bandanas that they had colored yesterday afternoon.

















Our lunch-time reading was the first chapter of The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy



and we watched about half of the movie, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

This was the part of the movie that the children seemed to enjoy the most:




There was a special guest this afternoon, the amazingly talented Brinson Harris, who is a professional rodeo clown. He told us about his ancestors, who were real cowboys, and demonstrated rope and whip tricks.



The very impressive Texas Skip:



Here are some scenes from our cowboy day:



If you would like to order a DVD of Brinson and his father, find out where they are preforming next, or book them for a rodeo, they can be found at http://www.hollywoodandboogerhead.net/