February 22, 2014
Dear 4th Grade Friends:
Hi guys!!! I was so excited to receive and read your letters! I keep reading them over and over because they make me so happy! 😊 I had so much fun getting to spend time getting to know each of you better during our crafter-noon! 😊
In reading your notes it looks like everyone’s favorite parts of my visit were the shaving cream and the monkeys. (Sounds like a few pets and siblings liked the monkeys too! 😊) I’m so glad you all had such a good time! Shaving cream is soooo much fun to play with and your cards all turned out looking AMAZING and FANTASTIC! You are ALL so artistic; you must have a really good art teacher! I loved all of the drawings you sent. So much creativity! …AND WRITING!!! Oh my goodness!!! You are awesome writers! Complete sentences. Great spelling. Well thought out paragraphs. Did Miss D. teach you all of that? Writing and reading are some of my favorite things. I don’t think I appreciated it quite as much when I was your age, but now, give me a journal to write in or a really good book to read in a quiet corner and I can be gone for hours!
Many of you had questions so I’m going to try to answer them all in this e-mail…it might get long…there were a lot of questions! 😊
How are you? I am great! I’m really really busy as I am back in school full time and working 4-5 days a week, plus Abbie and Elle are starting softball back up which takes a whole lot of my time. I’m getting super tired of this cold weather and am soooo ready for spring, but other than that, everything is great here in K.C. Thanks for asking! 😊
2. What is my mom’s name and how is she? My Mom’s name is Karen. She is doing really well. She had to have a surgery in December but she is much better now and is really looking forward to warm weather so she can get out and plant her flowers and work in her yard.
3. How is the family and Dot? How are Abbie and Elle? The family is really good! Abbie, my oldest, just made pitcher for a new softball team and she is so excited! Elle spends most of her time with her nose in a book or texting her friends. Nick and I are just trying to keep up with the girls and their schedules. And Polka Dot, well, Dot just wants to attack the neighbor’s cat…through the living room window! Never gonna happen…but she keeps trying. 😊
4. Are Abbie and Elle “craftsy” like me? They are pretty “craftsy”. Especially Elle. Abbie loves to draw and is really good at it. She is enjoying her papier-mâché and art classes in middle school. Elle loves anything crafty. She would coat the world in colored duct tape if she could and everyone would have a rainbow loom bracelet! She also loves to paint, sew, draw, weave, etc… Oh! And the shaving cream marbling like we did…. she would do that every day if I’d let her! 😊
5. Where did Miss Dausmann and I meet? About six year ago, (KD correct me if I’m wrong) Miss Dausmann was an MU Fellows teacher (I will let her explain that one) at Chapel Lakes Elementary with a very good friend of mine, Mrs. Starr. Mrs. Starr has two girls that are Abbie and Elle’s ages. All four girls went to Cordill Mason Elementary and were/are best friends. When Mrs. Starr found out that Miss Dausmann was hired to teach 3rd grade at CME she told me that I had to get Abbie in her class because she was such an AMAZING teacher (as you all knowJ). So about five and a half years ago Abbie walked into Miss D’s 3rd grade classroom and Miss D walked into the heart of our family and we just kept her and have loved her ever since! 💗
6. How old are you? 29 plus 13 years. 😊
7. How old are your children? What grades are they in? Abbie is 13 and Elle is 11. Abbie will be 14 on March 23rdand Elle will be 12 on March 31st. Abbie is in 8th grade and Elle is in 6th.
8. Do you have any pets other than Dot? Until a couple of weeks ago we had a boxer named Roscoe. He has gone to live with my mom as our schedules just didn’t allow for enough time and attention to be given to him. He was having too much kennel time. My mom has a boxer that is getting older and she wanted to get another big dog so she decided she would like to have him. He is much happier there as she is home most of the time and gives him lots of attention and love.
9. Do you work at a school? I have been a substitute teacher for the Blue Springs School District for six years. I have worked at every elementary school in the district but in the past 2-3 years have settle down and fallen in love with the staff and students at Chapel Lakes Elementary and I really only sub there. Substituting gives me a flexible schedule and allows me to do things I want/need to do; Like getting to come see you guys! 😊
10. How do you get the craft ideas? Usually I have a project in mind. Like coming to see a group of 4th graders around Valentine’s Day. 😊 I think to myself, what is something different, something they can learn from, something fun, and something you wouldn’t normally get to do at school. Then I get on the web and I search for ideas. Finally I put together my ideas along with other ideas from the web and I come up with the project I want to do. I mean we didn’t have to do the marbling to make cards right? But it was fun, you learned how to do something you might not have known how to do before, and it was definitely something you wouldn’t have normally done at school. So it’s a lot of thought and planning and just finding the right project for the right time and place!
11. How did you know how to marbleize paper? I actually was looking for a Van Gogh project when I happened across it. Van Gogh did the paintings that were composed with blobs of paint that really look like a mess up close but when you stand back are beautiful. I found on the web where an art teacher had been teaching her students about his painting Starry Nights and she had the students try and make their own version of the painting with shaving cream and acrylic paints and their fingers.
12. Did I give the cards to the kids in the hospital and get to see the expressions of their faces? Do you think the kids liked the cards? I did not get to give the cards to the kids in person. The day after I got back from Saint Louis I drove out to Mission, KS to the radio station that was collecting the cards for the children. I bundled them up and left them for the station to deliver to the children along with the other cards they had collected. I’m absolutely sure that, whatever child received one of your cards, was completely over the moon with excitement! You all did such a great job. They looked so AWESOME!!
13. Did I like the cards you gave me when I came to visit? I loved them! They were perfect! You are such kind and thoughtful kiddos. Varsha…I had to hide my lollipop. Elle is a candy monster and she was eyeing it from the moment I got home. 😊14. Can I come visit again this year? I’m going to have to say I don’t know the answer to that question right now. Abbie and Elle have softball tournaments about every weekend and I have a new class starting up the middle of March that is a day class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In other words my schedule is just so so busy. I will say that if there is any way that Miss Dausmann and I can make the schedule work out again this year I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to come and see you all. I think Abbie and Elle may get out of school a little earlier than you guys do and if that is the case maybe we could come over on one of those end of the year days? However I can’t make any promises because I just don’t know. That is a ways off....so all I can say is if there is any way I can, I will. And Hey! If it doesn’t work out that I can, I am sure I will be back next fall and you can come by and see me then!😊
15. Case: Thanks for the cleaning tip! Who knew shaving cream was a good cleaning agent?!? Oh wait! You did! 😊
Okay sweet friends, I better go get busy on home work and probably laundry (blech 😜 ). I am so glad I got to see you guys and that you all had fun! You are a such a great group of kids! Keep working hard for Miss Dausmann she is the best teacher (and friend 😊) ever!
Love, Hugs, and High 5’s to everyone!
Angie
P.S. Here’s a couple of pics of the girls 😊
