We're back in the US and back to a world filled with unbridled panic for no real reason. You can't buy TP, paper towels, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, water, milk, eggs, rice, or beans in almost any store.

I'm not sure what leads people to the panic purchasing. It took several stores to accumulate this much. We will try again tomorrow. 

Update 3/16/20:
Our schools have decided to shut down through April 3rd. We will be 'distance teaching' beginning Monday, March 23rd. Right now we are all self quarantining and using Google Hangout (video conference calls) to connect with each other as we set up the system for the students to receive their lessons moving forward. 

Our school had a mini Mardi Gras celebration with slices of King's cake at lunch and $5 gift cards for whoever found the babies. 

Jeremy is team leader of the 4th grade team. He has been working very hard to get all the details together (with the other members of the team) for the 4th graders big field trip to Austin, TX. They visited the capital building, Inter Space Caverns, and Gatti Land for dinner. They also had charter buses, matching t-shirts, and drawstring bags. It was a huge undertaking with 153 kids, but they are glad it is done!!

We have successfully completed another TMEA Music Conference in San Antonio. (My favorite thing was finally getting my hands on this giant lollipop drum.) 

We attended the Ukulele ORFF Workshop in Richardson. Jeremy even brought his ukulele and played along. I learned a lot about how to teach ukulele to small children. I can't wait to get started!

I got a sizable grant through the generous donations of the SEF (Sunnyvale Education Foundation). It has been split into two parts. I received the first part this semester and will receive the 2nd part next year. 

This semester I got 10 tone bars sets. These include 4 xylophones, 4 metallophones, and 2 glockenspiels.  

One of our biggest adventures during our trip to Disney World was pin trading. It was awesome and easy to become obsessive. The ones we were most looking for were the Orange Bird and Mickey Mouses's predecessor, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  Through three days of trading, we were able complete the sets of both!! I now have them displayed in my classroom on cork trivets from IKEA. 

I have been working with all of the PreK classes for the last 6 weeks to prepare for our Veteran’s Day presentation at the High School. It went great!

I submitted a grant for new barred instruments for the music room and am happy to say I have been approved!! It is going to take 2 years to fully implement, but we are on our way. 

I dressed up as the Tooth Fairy!  Complete with homemade shirt, toothbrush crown, tooth necklace and earrings, and tooth fairy wand.