Monday, October 24, 2011

Challenge #8 - The Great Pumpkin

Autumn is my favorite time of year, probably because of all the food and candy involved in Autumn holidays, but also because the weather is the perfect combination of crispy and cozy and the plant life is especially beautiful. It doesn't hurt that my birthday is Autumn either, but I'd probably love it anyway.

This week, my challenge is Autumn-inspired. I challenge you to submit your most spectacular Autumn photos. Whether they depict pumpkin carving, hay riding, trick-or-treating, or general harvesting, send them my way! As always, you may choose to caption your photo or let it speak for itself. You have until Monday, October 31st to submit via e-mail. I've provided a "pumpkin seed" of inspiration below!





Sunday, October 23, 2011

Challenge #7 - The winner is...

While thinking of 180s, I realized that a dozen dozen (or a Gross) is only three dozen shy of 180... right Grandpa? I was happy to see all of the other 180s in our lives, literal and figurative. Thanks for playing along this week!

This week's winner will receive a prize of 180... somethings. I haven't collected it yet, but it will be numerous if nothing else! And speaking of the winner, I'm happy to announce that of the ten 180-themed entries, our winner is...


JULIA!!

Congratulations Julia! I'll be sending your prize back to Wisconsin with my parents (sorry Mom and Dad). They'll be in MD for Halloween, so look for 180 things coming your way in November. 

The next challenge will post tomorrow! I can't wait to see all of our creative ideas!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Challenge #7 - A Complete 180

As many of you may know, I recently changed jobs, and for a classroom teacher who trained to be a classroom teacher and just completed a second degree to extend her certification as a classroom teacher, this was pretty life-altering. To clarify, I did apply for this new position. I actually applied at the end of last school year with the hope that I would begin this school year as a "Consulting Teacher," working with first year teachers in my school district and formally observing them as part of the tenure track. However, I did not get the job, and so my life went on as planned.

Fast forward to the second week of school (as in last month). My classroom was all set, my students were on their way to accomplishing great things, my planning was, for once, ahead of schedule. I had vowed to make this the "best year ever." And truthfully, those first two weeks of school were really great.

Then I got an e-mail, which led to a phone call, which led to a job offer; Consulting Teacher. Evidently the school district underestimated the number of new elementary teachers it would hire for this school year, and suddenly they were asking me to leave my fledgling classroom to work with 22 of these new teachers. I had to make a decision; stay in the classroom and my comfort zone (which I had spent the entire summer psyching myself up about), or accept the job I had applied for and been denied (and for which I missed weeks of training).

Well, for those of you who actually read the first part of this post haven't given up despite my rambling... I took the job. My life has since been a complete whirlwind, though I'm finally seeing the blue skies ahead. But for a while there, I felt completely turned around.

And that brings us to the seed of this week's challenge, though admittedly it doesn't have much to do with my l-o-n-g story. I know many of us have had these type of experiences; a complete 180. And that got me thinking (in a Grandpa sort of way) about other 180s. For example, a straight line is 180 degrees, the International Date Line runs very close to 180 longitude... you get the point, right?

This week, I challenge you to post other "180s." I'm tempted to give extra credit to references outside the unit circle and Babylonian mathematics, but as always, the winner will be selected at random, so feel free to post anything you can think of! You may post as many solutions to this challenge as you'd like, and the winner will receive a prize of 180... somethings. You'll have to play to find out!

(Thank you, Teri, for reminding me to post an end date for this challenge! All entries are due by Sunday, October 23 at 5:00pm CST. Hopefully that gives everyone enough time to get math-y! Hooray for 180!)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Gross Family Cookbook

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly photo books offer a variety of layouts and cover options to choose from.