Rooster Flush

Good morning everyone! I would like to say a special good morning to my new little nephew, Stephen, who was born this past Sunday in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Stephen is the third child to my oldest brother, Don, and his wife, Hope. Don and Hope's oldest child is Kenny and the {now} middle child is little Beth (who looks an awful lot like me when I was that little). I need to get a lesson on how to download images from my e-mails (perhaps Bill or John can show/tell me sometime?) onto this Blog. So...look for pictures of Stephen and the other rugrats in the near future!

This week has been a very busy one. Guiding Reading is the name of the class I've been taking this week and we have learned about strategies for improving student reading. Learning to identify exactly why students are having difficulty reading (fluency, comprehension, decoding, syntax) and learning how to help that student develop self-monitoring skills for their reading have been key components to this class. It has been great having time in class for reflection and for working collaboratively with colleagues. Blah blah blah....

On Sunday Mark donated his time and energy to help Pheasants Forever with a local youth shoot. Although there is no actual shooting of the birds, the kids (and adults) had the opportunity to shoot sporting clays or clay pigeons. It's kind of like golf in that you go to different stations and that every shot is different. The event was designed to raise money for all kids interested in hunting and, specifically, pheasant hunting. There will be an actual pheasant hunt for the kids at the end of September.

Mark spent all night on Saturday preparing the 150 lb. pig for the pig roast that accompanied the day's event...and I'm not joking...he didn't go to bed at all on Saturday! He loves this stuff though, and does it with a lot of energy (he joined the board of our local Pheasants Forever chapter this spring).

I joined Mark in the early afternoon to help with the buffet line but we were able to sneak away with some friends and do a round of shooting ourselves. Yes, that's right, I tried the shooting AND I did quite well. I shot 10 out of 40 pigeons! Not bad for someone who hasn't done that before. Mark was very proud.