Thursday, May 31, 2007

The best gifts were....

Today we had a fabulous "Shower" party for TeacherSPACE.
Many PTLC'ers came with donations for the space, such as teaching materials (maps, instructional videos, classroom organizers....), furniture, and decorations. The best gifts by far, however, were the energy and ideas that people shared. We started the afternoon discussing what we brought and why, and then launched into a conversation about ideas for the future. Many ideas about partnerships, resource sharing, and use of the space emerged -- and Christina and I were so happy to hear that many of the ideas were similar to some of the grants we've been thinking about applying to. We decided that we'll probably have a few planning sessions over the summer at TeacherSPACE about these projects and grants. We'll make the date announcements over the listserv and blog. Please share comments to this post of other ways you'd like to see the space being used over the summer (book clubs, joint material-making, other get-togethers, etc.).

After our discussion, we got right into working on the space - setting up, organizing and cleaning. It's really starting to feel like a home away from home. Below are some pictures:


A cozy spot

starting to fill the book cases with materials...

Some of the great book donations we've gotten - class sets, children's literature, professional books - all so wonderful!

An appetizing collection of hors d'ouerves
Some of us at the end of the meeting (many folks who came earlier are not pictured here)

Thanks again to everyone who came - this is a great start to the summer!!!

Kira

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Update & Reminder

All,

First, I would like to acknowledge the passing of a great teacher, colleague, and to many of us, friend, Marci Resnick. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

Tomorrow is the big "TeacherSPACE Shower" Party. We invite everyone to come, generate ideas, and spiff the place up for the Summer. We also hope that visitors will bring a "shower gift" (i.e. donation) for the space. Please take a look at the wishlist for ideas. The only change in the list is that we seem to be doing okay at this point with chairs/couches.

Look forward to seeing everyone!

-Kira

Saturday, May 19, 2007

A big thank you...

To all who helped by donating furniture, books and supplies and everyone who helped unload stuff today - you are the best! We've decided that since we're waiting on several grants about paints etc. that we'd set up the space as best we could to cover exposed walls etc. - and it looks GREAT! Sorry I didn't bring my camera - will have some pictures up soon though. It is cozy, useful, creative and warm - you can tell we've poured our hearts into it. I will have a more official "thank you" list up names up soon - but I wanted to get this message out asap!

-Kira

PS. mad props to Christina for renting the big uhaul and going to several pick up spots before 10:30 in the morning (it arrived FULL at TeacherSPACE).

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Just a box of rain...

Well, not really.

In reality, on Saturday, May 19th we have a packed 17' UHAUL truckload of TeacherSPACE "stuff" to unload. We hope to arrive at TeacherSPACE with this grand ol' thing sometime before noon and we need a major push to help unload and set things up for temporary use.

If you are available and would like to help out, here is what you can do:

Email lapuntel@hotmail.com (christina) and leave a cell phone number or someplace we can reach you to let you know we are nearing TeacherSPACE on Saturday morning.


THANKS!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

A temporary spiffing up

We had our first-ever PTLC meeting at TeacherSPACE today. Although we haven't painted yet, we wanted to make the place feel homey enough for a meeting, so we did some temporary spiffing up from the donated furnitures and supplies we had at hand. Here's a few shots from the meeting (excuse the picture quality - they are from a cell phone)

We've have some great donations of furniture come in so that helped a lot (thanks especially to Diane for the shelving and drawer set, and Mark for the recliner chairs!). Please keep em' coming!



Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Words Words Words

Another addition to the sidebar: articles and research by or about PTLC and its members. There are inspirational, incredible, and valuable stories of our teaching and learning in these papers, so if you have a chance, read one or two - or share them with a friend!

Oh and special thanks to Christina for compiling these!