May 22, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
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What’s on your business card? Does it say “Teacher” or does it say more? Inspires curiosity. Cultivates dreams. Supports kids. Dreams big. Loves to learn. Lives to learn. Engagement specialist. Dreamer. Doer. Thinker. Creativity cultivator. Learner… Forever.
May 20, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
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May 19, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
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Is their work going home at the bottom of a backpack, under yesterday’s yogurt? Or are they telling people about their work? Interacting with the world because people around the world are commenting on it? We are lucky to live in a time where our classrooms can be connected. Blogs. Twitter. Wikis. Email. Edmodo. Skype. Google Plus. The list goes on. You know that writing process… brainstorm, pre-write, rough draft, revise, publish? Publish used to mean hang it in the hallways. Put a sticker on it. Now? Publish can mean ‘share it with the world.’ Getting a comment on your work from another state, city, or even a whole different country? That’s when a kid realizes just how much their work matters to the world. And that? It’s way better than a sticker.
Want to show kids just how much they really matter? Check out Angela Maier’s Choose2Matter. Get your kids involved. Because it’s our world. All of us. They can be a part of something big.
May 18, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
1 Comment
This isn’t really one of those posts I thought I’d have to write. I mean, gifted education has always been relevant to me. Not just as a teacher, but as a kid who sat in a classroom in elementary school, and wanted to break out of my little desk, run past the pile of worksheets, and learn something. So, my journey in education landed me in a teaching spot… teaching a gifted education program. There I was, end of the hall, with people just thinking my classroom was “easy” because my kids were “smart.” When it’s really not even about that. Throughout my professional development, certification, and experience, I was studying differentiation. I was learning about learning. I was understanding just how teaching gifted kids really isn’t about giving kids more work. It’s about adjusting the work so it is right. Flow. Depth. It was about making learning work for kids that were truly starving to learn something new. It’s about the way STEM incorporates ALL of that. It’s about kids who out-think me in a beautiful way on a continual basis, and embracing that. An area of education that few will address, try to understand, and are so quick to argue about, they are missing the point… the kids.
Yesterday, I got to share something I love… Project Based Learning & STEM. I talked about projects my kids have loved over the past few years. It wasn’t a talk specifically about gifted. But, it’s roots? It was all about deeper learning, differentiation, turning control of the learning over to the kids. These are all things that the education world is just waking up to as Common Core comes our way. But, these are things that gifted education has been all about all along. The theories are all there, some older than I am. At the end of the hall, there might be a teacher who can help you challenge, inspire, and enhance the differentiation in your classroom. A teacher that knows how to remove the ceiling that many of our schools place on learning. Or, maybe you ARE that teacher who knows all about planning the right kind of learning that will allow every kid in the classroom to grow. This will only happen when we get past labels, pre-conceived notions, and just collaborate. Collaborate to make things better for our kids, for learning, for our world. Every area of education… gifted, special education, STEM specialists, ELL specialists… the list goes on. A team to focus on real learning and making it right. What’s more relevant than that?
May 17, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
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Do you ever stop and think about the possibilities? Today we had a special guest read us a book LIVE all the way from Massachusetts while we were here, listening and watching, in our little classroom in Missouri.
Julie Petrini, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Microsoft, read Pepito’s Story to us, sharing the pictures, and telling the story as if we shared the room together today.
But, the cool thing is, we DID share the room together. Technology breaks down the walls. Subtracts the miles. Multiplies the learning. Adds to our potential to reach out and understand each other.
As Ms. Petrini shared a photo of her horse with our class, one student was quite excited to share that she too has horses. Those little moments? Those are what Skype in the Classroom is really about. Connections. Learning that other people, near and far, have things in common with us. A lesson that can be so hard to teach without traveling the world.
But, now? We can all teach that lesson. It’s always just a Skype call away.
Interested in signing up for a Skype Read Aloud? Read more about it here or check out this read aloud opportunity with Elissa Steel.
May 16, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
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I don’t remember what my classroom was like before I went off the deep end for Project Based Learning, infusing inquiry, and STEM. I’ll bet my students don’t remember much about it either. I used to teach what was in chapters. But, over time, I came to realize that the best stuff we can teach is in the world around us. I became a learner with my kids. I mean, I already WAS a learner, but there was a time when I didn’t think I could let my kids know that. Not anymore. That little fact is what changed everything.
I’ve heard some say “The Common Core will change everything.” People are realizing that with the emphasis on non-fiction text, science and social studies will be the ultimate fuel for the classroom learning fire. Science will no longer have to be squeezed in. It will become a focus. The world of separate folders for separate subjects in elementary school will slowly start to blend in the way it maybe should have been blended all along. Writing, Math, and Reading will fall naturally into investigations about our world. It’s really not about standards, about Common Core, or about more things to do. It’s about using our time in the classroom for meaningful learning. Authentic experiences. STEM infused learning that gets kids thinking, collaborating, and being creative.
Today I was lucky enough to get to share about Project Based Learning and STEM at NSTA STEM Expo in St. Louis. It was great to meet so many other educators passionate about STEM. Here are the presentation links and handouts. 
May 14, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
2 Comments
The train’s pulling in to the station. The coaster is reaching the bottom of the hill. The golf ball is rolling across the green about to sink into the hole. Yep. The year is coming to a close. This year I wanted to leave my students with a special gift and I just couldn’t find the right thing for them. Then I was in Target one night, browsing, and saw a bag of silly straws. That’s just what they need. Who DOESN’T need a silly straw? It’s a reminder to not take yourself so seriously all the time, right? So, from there I built a tool kit, “Tools for An Awesome Life.” What was in it? A little bit of everything…
Lego: Become a part of something bigger than yourself. You’ve been a team in our classroom for four years and I hope that wherever life takes you, you’ll be a part of a team.
Silly Straw: Never take life, or yourself, too seriously.
Bouncy Ball: Bounce back from mistakes and failures. We all experience those moments. It is our reactions that show our true character.
Penny: Notice it’s not a shiny and new penny. It’s the kind of penny that reminds you that life is not about luck, but also about hard work.
Thank You Card (Blank): Look for someone in every single day to thank. The people that support you will be the most important people in your life. Kindness counts for something, always.
Tiny Umbrella: Some day, when it rains, use this umbrella to protect yourself from the rain. It won’t actually protect you at all. Sometimes dancing in the rain is just the kind of fun you need.
Sharpie: Make your mark on the world. Boldly. Unless it’s your walls at home. Don’t leave bold marks on those. It makes your parents mad. (Trust me on that one.)
CD: If you ever forget that you were a part of something awesome, put this CD in your computer and watch our video. All of this? It’s a true story that I was incredibly blessed to be a part of each week with you all.
For more ideas about making the end of the year special, read what I did last year. So what do you do to make the end of the year memorable? I’d love to hear your ideas!
May 13, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
6 Comments
This past week I said goodbye to another group of kids who will move on to the Junior High. Leaving behind elementary school, our classroom , and lots of memories. This year’s performance was great. This year was wonderful, and memorable, just as the past years had been. Except this year was different. As my students move on to Junior High, I am moving on, too. I’ve accepted a new position in Houston, Texas and my family and I are packing up and moving south this summer.
Inside my mind, there has always been this place where learning is awesome. A place I feel like I have strived to create in my own classroom. Where creativity oozes out of the pores of the walls. Where kids are encouraged to think big, and dig deep to solve problems. Where we all learn and grow together. Over the years, the vision for this place has become clearer and clearer and I’ve even written about this place before. Then, I found out…. this place is real. It exists. This place is the school I am heading to work at. It’s in a new city, in a new state. Lots of new ahead.
So this year became a year of lasts. Lasts I didn’t see coming. Lasts I have enjoyed every second of. My last group of students in our gifted pull-out program. Our last days together. My last career day at my school. My last time having to empty my insanely full desk drawers which contain extensive amounts of junk mail, marbles, and Sharpies. (Okay, not ALL the lasts are bad.)
It’s hard to say goodbye , but I look forward to all that lies ahead. I feel all of that excitement you feel when you are six and your birthday gifts are on the table. Waiting.
I look forward to continuing to grow and collaborate in education so that we can all continue on this journey to make our schools everything that kids deserve and need. This is really all about learning.
Because life? It’s about learning.
Sometimes learning takes us to new places we never expected. Places we’d only dreamed existed.
May 6, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
0 comments
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. Somedays, it’s the very small things that get us through. Diet Coke. Chocolate. Coffee. The laughter of our kids. Share these with a teacher you love… and let them know they matter! Happy Downloading!
Click the poster to download full size. Free for classroom, personal use, and to make another teacher’s day. Enjoy!
May 5, 2013
by Krissy Venosdale
2 Comments
If you could give your students one last message, what would you say? What is it that you want to make sure they have learned in your classroom? I came across this quote by Henry David Thoreau, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
Powerful, huh?
Our classrooms? We are providing the foundations, little by little, brick by brick, to support our kids’ biggest dreams and greatest passions. It struck me because building a castle in the air isn’t easy. Things will fall apart, crumble, and collapse. But, if the foundation is strong? The dream will survive the struggle. The struggle will become part of what makes it so great. Inside each and every one of our kids is a dream. Sometimes those dreams are buried within and we have to help them find a way to bring them out.
Because if we do, the future will be exactly what it is meant to be. And their dream, built on the foundation we helped provide, will be an amazing part of it.