Olympic View Elementary Mrs. Hancock's Music Classes 2/22

What a fun day I had with Mrs. Hancock at Olympic View Elementary. I was able to share with each of the classes the importance of music education and the opportunities that are available to them throughout school and as a future career. Each class had great questions and input in our music discussion.

Mrs. Hancock's room is full of instruments that each class has the opportunity to play during their time in music class. She also puts together fun programs that the students perform during assembly's and for parents. These types of programs are done as something above and beyond what is required of a music teacher. Show your appreciation for your music teacher by supporting the arts programs when you vote and let them know how much you care about what they do!

Here is what the classes did on Tuesday:
Mrs. Saecho's 3rd grade sang and danced The Cotton Eyed Joe and practiced other country songs.

Mrs. Vaurnice's 1st grade class were singing song's from all over the world including Africa, China & Japan

Miss Brown's 6th grade class played the Xylaphones

Mr. Jone's 4th grade class played the recorders and sang Native American Songs

Ms. Kendig's Kindergarten class learned about smooth and sharp music sounds

Mrs. Dahlen's 5th grade class played the Xylaphones

Mrs. Knapp's 3rd grade class sang Country songs and practiced their Shu Fly Song for the assembly

Mrs. Washington Pageant Pratice 2/18-19

We are down to our 3 week count down till the new Mrs. Washington will be crowned! This past weekend we had 2 practices for our opening number and our bathing suit walk. So for anyone who has never done a pageant before, you may not know how much work really goes into it all but not only does it require hard work, sacrifice and confidence you've got to be able to dance and walk around on stage in high heels!
It really is a lot of fun. The ladies this year are fabulous. What a nice group. It's small with only 8 of us competing but it sure makes it easy to get things done. Our director Pam Curnel made up a sassy routine to perform and it only took us a few run throughs to get it all down. I am getting so excited for the big event!

2011 MENC-NW Conference

Thursday I attended the advocacy workshop at the MENC NW Conference. Mrs. Washington Carla Richards and Mrs. Thurston County Dionne Tartar also attended. The workshop was hosted by an impressive panel of experts. Each spoke about the importance of how we need to advocate for Music Education to be supported in our schools. With budget cuts continually affecting our children's education this is a serious threat. Music education provides an important part of education that must not be ignored. I have seen first hand what it does for children and what an impact these teachers have on their lives.

I learned so much about how to help our teachers, talk to school boards and rally support. There is so much we can all do it just takes educating yourself and stepping up to get involved. It was an honor to meet MENC president Scott C. Shuler who took the time to talk with us pageant ladies for quite awhile. He has a wealth of knowledge is very approachable and easy to talk to. He will be visiting schools with our current Mrs. America in West Virginia during the Mrs. America festivities.

South Bay School Mrs. Gerard's Music Classes 2/10

South Bay Elementary is my old school, it was so much fun to get to hang out there all day yesterday! Mrs. Gerard is such a fun teacher, I wish she could have been my teacher oh so many years ago! The school layout is the same but it has been totally remodeled! This is another one of those schools that has great teachers with great commraderie and enthusiasm to educate our kids. I was so impressed with these teachers. Teaching is a challenging job and truly they are partners in parenting to our children. I have the utmost admiration and respect for what they do, especially when they go above and beyond.

I spent the day in music class with seven different classes that rotated in. Some of the kids I had met last year and wow how they have grown! We talked about the importance of music education in their lives and how it makes their brains function better. We also dicussed all the opportunities with band, orchestra & chorus as they continue on through school. We brainstormed on jobs that had to do with music and how music is used in advertising and entertainment. These kids are smart and had very thoughtful questions and insightful answers.

A fun part of the day was letting the kids try on my tiara! Even the boys had fun trying it on. I challenged one class to ask a question to the next person to try it on, had them answer and expand on their answers as if they were doing an onstage question at the pageant. Another class worked on the special wave used in parades. We had fun discussing what to do if you don't win and how to challenge yourself to achieve more and "Unlock Your Potential". These kids are full of life and energy, they are all thinking ahead to the possibilities that lie before them!

The classes I visited with today were:
Mr. Mcintosh's 6th Grade
Mrs. Laverty's 4th Grade
Mrs. Seldomridge's 5th Grade
Mrs. Jenson's 3rd Grade
Miss Weldon's 2nd Grade
Mrs. Blair's 1st Grade
Mrs. Miller's 2nd Grade

Seven Oaks Elementary 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th grade classes

I spent Tuesday at Seven Oaks Elementary with music teacher Mrs. Hathaway. She is an amazing teacher that brings so much fun and energy to her music classes. The kids just love her and she loves them, it's evident in the time and effort she puts into teaching them. I was able to get to talk with the classes about the importance of music education and the opportunities that are available to them throughout their school years. We also discussed what kind of jobs they could have some day that were involved with music.
Mrs. Thompsons 6th grade class was working with the Marimbas. I got to join in and played the big bass Marimba.

Mr. Boginskis 3rd grade class was full of questions and we had great discussions about music education.

Mrs. Andersons Kindergarten Class was in the gym working on motor skills while listening to music. Coins were tossed out on the gym floor and they had to use their hands and feet to slide them over to their spot. The goal was to get 20 coins. I got to help them with their counting skills once thy collected all their coins. They were so cute!

I got to watch a play performed by a speical reading group that Mrs. Hathaway leads during an empty class spot. What fun they get to have while learning. Mrs. Hathaway had an oscar winning performance as wags the dog!

Mr. Koch's 4th grade class was very talkative too with lots of questions and interesting ideas.

In Mrs. Giebelhaus's 2nd grade class we did a music education talk to start out class but they also got to practice their songs for an upcoming performance in which they represent the dogs!

In Mrs. Edwards class we also talked about music education, then they got right to work on their songs for the same performance as the 2nd graders, but this group will be the monkeys!!

Lastly Mr. Kerry's 5th grade class finished off the day. We spent the whole time discussing music education and then they got a few questions answered about what I do in the Mrs. Washington Pageant.

I of course was exhausted at the end of the day! Teachers are amazing and super heroes in my book! I will be visiting Southbay School later this week my alma matter!!

Kelly Unlocking her Potential...

While in California for my tradeshow I had to manage getting my workouts in. The hotel we stayed at had access to the Bally's Gym. Which was great except on the weekends it didn't open up early enough. I asked at the front counter where the stairs were thinking I could go up and down the stairwell to get some cardio in. They pointed to the stairs between the escalators & I thought seriously that's not very big and it's inside the building where everyone is passing by. They said there was another lady going up and down the stairs for the last hour!! I walked over to take a look and there was Kelly running up and down those stairs. I asked her if this was all there was and she said Yes, we had a laugh about it. I went to look around for more stairs and thankfully found this indoor mall that I could walk around and go up and down a larger stair case. I thought about going back to tell Kelly but it looked like she was almost done.
The next morning the gym was still closed. I started my walk around the indoor mall and out comes Kelly! We spent the next hour sweating and talking together. She was working at the trade show too! We talked about our families, jobs, excercise, & nutrition. I learned that Kelly had lost an amazing 110 pounds! She did it all on her own no surgery or medications. Her journey is amazing. She works out so hard doing weights and cardio everyday. She's even run a few marathons!! She totally changed her eating habits and now eats healthy clean, whole grain, unprocessed, no preservative organic type of foods. She feels and looks fabulous. She is living proof of how unlocking your potential can change your whole life. It was an honor to get to know her.

Ms. America 2011 Pageant

While in California for my trade show I was able to attend the Ms. America Pageant. My friend and pageant sister Laura Hunter was competing for the title this year. It was a great show with many amazing women. Laura made it in the top 12 and answered her onstage question perfectly!!
The winner has an amazing story, she was in a car accident and was in a wheelchair for 11 years! Now she walks with a cane. Laura said she was a wonderful person as well!

Simply Swank CHA Winter 2011

This slideshow personalized with Smilebox

As part of the craft industry we belong to the Craft Hobby Association. The annual Winter trade show is the biggest event of the year. Store owners and buyers come from all over the world to shop for products to fill their stores. This was our 5th year as an exhibitor. We had a fabulous time meeting with our current customers and meeting many new ones. I taught soldering classes all day long in the booth while my business partner Melissa wrote up sales and answered questions.

There are so many businesses like ours that were started by creative women who had a vision to do more. Taking their passion to another level and sharing it with everyone. We are excited for the new opprotunities that were presented to us at the trade show. Right now all these future ventures are top secret but will be revealed as soon as we secure the plans!