It is an honor and a blessing to be a part of the Albertville City School System.  I am so proud of what our system provides for our students academically, socially, and creatively to prepare them for their futures.  It is a great group of people to be associated with.  I am thankful.

Saturday night I was awarded the "Educator of the Year" for Albertville City Schools.  Dr. John Slivka was my first principal in Albertville and presented the award.  He told both funny and heartfelt stories of my years in the classroom.  He enlisted comments from former students about what they remembered from my classroom.  (Many of the comments had to do with GLITTER!)  I was given those comments at the end of the dinner...they are priceless!  I will keep them ... always!

It is an honor to be a Gifted Education Specialist, to be able to go to work each day and love what I do, surround myself with creative, bright students, and know that together we are making a difference through service learning.  I am both honored and humbled and will cherish this award.

AES Technology Team is ready for Competition!

The AES Technology Team is ready for competition!  This Friday, February 1st, is our Regional Technology Competition at Jacksonville State University.  Students have worked hard to research a variety of topics, organize their notes, and create high quality projects for judging. I am so proud of each project!  Each project is unique reflecting the personalities of the kids who created them!  We are taking individual and group projects in General Applications (printed materials), Multimedia (Keynote presentations), Video Production, and Webpage Design.  Stay tuned and check this blog after Friday to see the results!  Each project going to JSU is a winner to me regardless of the outcome on Friday!

GREAT WORK, GATE kids!  This is your time to shine!  Good luck!

Letter from Alabama's First Lady!

Look what we received in the mail!  Mrs. Dianne Bentley, First Lady of Alabama, sent our classes a letter of appreciation for the ornaments we sent the mansion for Christmas tours in Montgomery!

Governor's Mansion Christmas

GATE students have been busy elves making Christmas ornaments!  Students will be able to take these ornaments home to decorate at their homes this holiday season....but we made extra ornaments to share with Governor Robert Bentley and his wife, Dianne, at the Governor's Mansion this year.  Heather Hannah who works with Mrs. Bentley is a former Albertville GATE student.  She sent an email to school systems in Alabama asking for handmade ornaments from students to decorate the trees in the mansion and in the John Blue Hill House next door to the mansion.

GATE students have made "BLUE DOG" ornaments inspired by the artist George Rodrigue.  Rodrigue, a Louisiana artist, is famous for his paintings of his BLUE DOG.  GATE students drew their own BLUE DOGS as well as painted dog bones blue...with blue glitter, of course....and hand-stamped "dog tags" with GATE 2012 on a "blue dog" collar.  Each student will take home their Blue Dog ornaments in BLUE tissue paper for their families to enjoy.  Our ornaments for the Governor's mansion were mailed to Montgomery today.  The Governor's mansion will be open for Christmas tours on Dec. 3, 10, 17 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. and admission is free.

Our GATE students along with the GATE students at Evans will be decorating the Christmas tree at the Albertville Board of Education office wishing everyone a "Merry BLUE DOG Christmas!"  Our tree will have blue lights, blue tinsel, and our blue dog ornaments!

Mrs. Dianne Bentley, the First Lady of Alabama, visited the Albertville Museum last spring.  Pictured with her are Betsey Adams, Lynn Ayer, Mrs. Bentley, Gayle Cribbs, and Dianna Adams.

Gifted Teacher Share Fair 2012

On Friday, November 16th, Mrs. Mary Shurett (the GATE teacher at Evans) and I hosted gifted teachers from all over North and Central Alabama for this year's Gifted Share Fair. As teachers arrived, they were met and escorted to the media room at AES by AES Ambassadors.

Twenty eight teachers from different school systems came for a day of meaningful professional development.  Each teacher brought a concept-based unit, lesson plan, or idea to use in the gifted classroom.  As each unit was shared, a copy of that unit was passed out to everyone in attendance.  By the end of the day our large notebooks were packed full of great ideas, lessons, units, and resources to use with our gifted students.  Mrs. Shurett and I were happy to be able to share a little bit of the Albertville City School System with the teachers.  Dr. Ayer, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Sheets, Mrs. Robinson, Dr. Sims and Mrs. McCulley welcomed our guests at the beginning of our great day of sharing.  We are thankful that Albertville was able to host this year's event and look forward to a great day of sharing next year in Piedmont.

Zentangle

If you have seen your child "doodling" at home or talking about "tangles".....I have to say GATE is responsible for that conversation!  We are experimenting with a new type of art/doodling/stress reliever called Zentangle.  Students have learned different "tangles" to use in their art and some students have even designed their own tangles!  We have ordered the "official apprentice kit" and will begin using it in class as soon as it arrives.  The students and I are having a great time learning the art of systematic doodling!

Pumpkin Walk 2012

The AES Fall Festival would not be the same without our famous Pumpkin Walk!  Thanks to all GATE kids and parents who sent pumpkins to our class.  Students used their creativity to paint and decorate pumpkins.  We had Alabama/Auburn pumpkins, cats, ghosts, funny faces, polka dots and glitter, farm pumpkins, and more!  Students and guests of our AES Fall Festival enjoyed walking for pumpkins with winners selecting their favorite pumpkin to take home.

Please enjoy this slideshow of 3rd and 4th grade GATE students creating their pumpkins!