Music Movement Motivation

Third presentation. Third room. This time in the ballroom...... the luxeries of which included a fantastic wireless mic, a sound system tether that connected my little boom box to the house speakers AND a screen on which to project my PowerPoint! They saved the best for last. The really great news is that people were up and at 'em and raring to go at 8:00 a.m., on the third day of the conference!! Whooooohooooooo.

This is the morning that I was introduced to the concept of the "Magic Milkcrate." In all of that mayhem of yesterday, somehow I left the plug for my LCD projector in Salon A..... attempting to make room for the next presenter. As I realized this on Saturday morning, with my heart in my sox, I was busy thinking thru how I used to make presentations before powerpoint. Surely I'd remember in time? Just then the site manager came thru and asked if I needed anything. When I told him of my missing power-cord..... he smiled knowingly and said and I quote, "No worries, I have a Magic Milkcrate!" In under three minutes he'd returned with just the cord that I needed to connect projector to electricity! WOW! We pulled one over on Murphy, this time. Now I just need to remember to pack a "Magic Milkcrate" for the future. Ask and you shall receive.

Big Ending: Slant Dance

And now for the big ending!! The slant dance. At this point of the workshop we'd had so much fun together. Laughing discreetly, so as not to get ourselves into hot water: singing sweetly -- rather than with gusto...... when suddenly the lights in our room took on a mind-of-their-own and fluctuated brighter and dimmer, and brighter and dimmer. It was such a fitting conclusion to all of our pent up energy. So as the lights went on and off and on and off, we concluded with our Slant Dance extravaganza. It was like a Broadway show, only the lighting crew were away for the weekend. Maybe more like off-Broadway? Pretty hard to dampen our enthusiasm. Sardines anyone??

We Ran Out of Chairs

After the seminar I made a madcap dash to pack everything up and travel back to my new space over at the Marriott for my handwriting workshop presentation. In a true reflection of Murphy's Law, this room assignment was designed for 70 participants. We did indeed have 70 chairs that went from wall to wall, with the thinest of aisles down the middle. All 70 of those chairs were occupied before the high-noon, tip-off, start up, down beat. With a steady stream of new comers, we started filling the remaining floor space with participants willing to attempt comfort there...... we even had a whole crew that stood in the doorway and spilled back into the hall. That's when the fun really began. After our infectious rendition of "Sky Writing" a monitor came to announce that we were having too much fun and could we lasso in our enthusiasm a notch of two? Believe me, that's the kind of challenge I'd prefer! It's a good thing that the Fire Marshall was on vacation.

Sky-Writing in Richmond

Let's blast those sky-writing, robot-visualizing smiles right into writing!! I think it's safe to say that there was more enthusiasm packed into our room, per square inch than ever before. Just look at these teachers preparing to go back and get their children enthused about the task of handwriting. "Grab your crayon, Grab it please. Give your crayon, the three finger squeeze!"

Fri. Morning Seminar: VA

Welcome to the VA Early Childhood Education Conference in Richmond VA. These pictures are from the three hour seminar I gave: "Lyrics to Literacy." We were across the street in the convention center, and these are the brave participants willing to dash thru the unexpected early morning snowflakes, who were able to find the room thru the maze and car show. Their enthusiasm was contagious!

Wow. Look Who's Growing!

We took these shots at our house a few days back. I just finally had time to put them 'together.' I have to give my daughter complete 'credit' for taking the 'reflection' picture of little McKenna. That snap is my absolute favorite shot!! And as my dear friends pointed out, "What a clean table!" LOL. We're going to continue to have to search out bigger and bigger baskets to keep them corralled as they continue to grow.

One More FL Peek

Yesterday was IKEA assemble day. Look at my studio..... assembled just in time for my departure. I've documented it's existence as encouragement for me to be eager to return. (Like I'd need this encouragement: ha! The aerobic line-dancing is enticement enough.)