Bumps in the Road

Well, this week proved that sometimes "the plan" doesn't always go as smoothly as you'd like... It was just one of those weeks that the wheels fell off and the cart was still trying to roll.  It began with two days out of school at a conference - which we all know means twice the amount of work preparing to be out of the classroom.  I came back with plans of collaborating with the first grade teachers to continue on with our TREE project lesson planning - and two of them where home with sick children of their own.  I continued to plug forward, only to get that dreaded phone call from the school nurse at my son's school... 2 days home and finally a visit to the doctor to determine that my 12 year old has mono.  BAM! - there went my week and I'm already into the next week trying to catch up!

So onward I go - and perhaps a little behind the plan, the enthusiasm to connect our first graders with learners from different communities holds strong! The good news at this point is there is no turning back... with 25 six-year olds asking about the project there is no option to disappoint!  I have chosen to create a wiki - which for me can be frustrating when I can't get something to look how I envision it to be.  It's very much a work in progress, but my goal is to get it polished by the end of this week.  Here's to healthy children, lots of late nights to catch up and smiles of delight when we finally connect to some new friends!

My plan has been slightly modified and I have learned that patience and persistence are important when trying to complete a bigger project when "the rest of your life" goes on.

A new question that I have is more of a specific technical question - when creating a wiki page I can add a table.  I'm envisioning a page with several picture links - set up in rows and columns.  I was thinking that creating a table and inserting a small picture with the name of the school in each "box" would be a good way to have all the schools listed on one page - and then each would link to a separate page with that school's information, student work, pictures, etc.  As I add a table to the wiki - it allows me to determine the number of rows and columns, but the table appears teeny tiny.  Is there a way to set the cell size, or does it just modify as I insert my information to each cell?  I've seen this set up on other wiki pages, so I know it's possible somehow... just guessing that they used a table to align all the information.  Any tips are welcome - otherwise I'll do what I teach the students - play around until I figure it out!

Mrs. Bergman's First Graders with their class tree - September 2011