Crazy for Christmastime!

We are crazy for Christmastime, Baby Time, & Birthday Time in the Schaab household!  I hope everyone enjoys their holiday break and that it includes a lot of resting and relaxation!   I will be on break from my blog until I return from maternity leave in February, however, I do have some fun posts that will post every so often... so enjoy!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Trick Shot Titus

Today, Meghan shared this video with me... and I'm truly amazed by how awesome this little kid is...

Santa Tracker

Did you know that Google has a Santa Tracker?  Now obviously, Santa isn't out and about yet, however, Google's awesome Santa Tracker comes complete with a cool holiday village that similar to an Advent Calendar you can explore something new about The North Pole on a daily basis.  This would be fun to share with your students now, then possibly post on your website for them to track Santa on the big day.   I hope you and your students enjoy it as much as I do!  Click here to visit the Santa Tracker now!

Coaching Check Ins

As you may or may not know, today (& really all week) I'm holding "Coaching Conference Check Ins" where I've been interviewing teachers who signed up to meet with me.   I know it's a crazy week it being pre holidays, holiday sing, etc. but I wanted to reach out to everyone to at least provide me with input, even if you don't have time to conference face to face with me.  You can fill out the little interview online (click here) or on paper (I guess research shows I'd get more back on paper than online - but who knows).   It's completely optional but would help me gauge if I'm being a supportive coach or not.    

I will be putting the questions in your mailbox after school today if you'd prefer the paper copy, or you can fill out form online (click here).  Or if you'd like, check my schedule (click here) to see if we have a common time we can chat!   If you could get it back to my by Friday, I'd greatly appreciate it.  

Thanks in advance for your participation!   I've THOROUGHLY enjoyed my day today of meeting with teachers and discussing professionals goals as well as teaching in general.  I look forward to following up with you and chatting with you about your responses if you are unable to meet with me face to face!

Santa Fun with Google

While you’re counting down for Santa’s departure around the world, look no further than the +Google Maps Pegman for a skydive headfirst into 6 cities. Santa Maps Dive is built for Chrome using WebGL and a location detection API, so you can say you went “Skydiving in Chrome” when your friends asked what you did for the holidays.   This would look beyond awesome on a SMART Board too!   When I tried it, I learned it was a lot easier to skydive and gather gifts with the keyboard arrows instead of the mouse.   Good luck!

Head to g.co/santamapsdive to sharpen your skydiving skills.

You know I love a good Sesame Street Parody...

As you may know, I love a good Sesame Street's Parody.   Here's a another  great one for you!

Legend speaks of a dessert unimaginably sweet and delicious, and when it was destroyed all that remained was the dessert's powerful recipe. It remained in the hands of a monster named Gobble for a long time, but when it disappeared, all cookies on Monster Earth disappeared along with it. It is up to Cookie Monster to use his memory and remember the recipe in order to bake the cookies in the fires of Mount Crumb.

Connected Classroom Hangout: Danny the Champion the World with Lucy Dahl

Today, Mrs. Filipiak's 3rd grade classroom had a very unique opportunity.   Before Thanksgiving, they were sent copies of the book, Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.  Over Thanksgiving Break the third grade students read the book and when they returned, submitted questions in preparation for today's Connected Classroom Hangout with Lucy Dahl, Roald Dahl's daughter, and with Elizabeth Findley who works with Matilda, the Musical, on Broadway.  It was a BEYOND amazing experience for the students who personally got to interact with both Lucy in Los Angeles and Elizabeth in New York.   Lucy had some amazing information to share about her father and the kids and adults involved learned a lot!    Some students even were able to make some very unique and interesting connections with Roald Dahl.  As a big surprise at the end, the students received the book, Matilda, as a thanks for participating gift.  They were beyond thrilled.   Check out the video of the entire experience in the YouTube Video below.  Thank you to +Matilda The Musical Broadway and +Connor Swenson for such an amazing opportunity!