Jennifer Anne Kogler

Hello there!  Greetings from The Peach State.  At least, I think that’s the state name of Georgia.  I think in 5th Grade we had to learn all the nicknames of states.  

Well, my time in Georgia got off to a rip-roaring start.  No, I mean that literally.  I was on my way to Hopewell Middle School when all of the sudden I heard this siren. It was pouring buckets outside, so I figured there had been some horrendous car wreck somewhere.   But it was strange, because the siren wasn’t getting closer and it wasn’t getting further away.  

Once I was at Hopewell, I was whisked into a “safe room” with no windows and told that tornadoes were circling the area and the siren was a tornado warning.  Now, I’m from California . . . and we have earthquake drills that involve dropping and covering, but this was something else entirely.  Anyhow, the ten people trapped in the small safe room couldn’t have been funnier or nicer about the whole thing, including media specialist Janice Etscovitz, so I was a happy camper.  Or tornado warning participant.

Of course, being a huge Wizard of Oz fan, I found the whole thing to be quite exciting (and, of course, was thrilled that the tornado didn’t actually do any harm.  I’m not quite sure which is scarier, earthquakes or tornadoes, but I may have to say tornadoes . . . because there’s more warning, but there’s also more time to worry about them.   What do you think?

I spent the last two days at Hopwell and it was just as exciting as the tornado warning that kicked it off — but for all the right reasons.  B.V. was the second student I’ve tried to send to Candyland, but it turns out that practice does not make perfect.    Next time!

And look.  There’s my head.  Kind of.  And my legs.  Georgia is bee-uuu-tiful.   Trust me.

It was back up to Cave Creek on Friday.  I was at Desert Arroyo Middle School, hanging out with Renaissance man Ray Flamm.  Tristan and Brooke really did try to teleport.  I guess I still need to practice.    On to Georgia!

Thursday brought me to the southern part of the Phoenix area — specifically Payne Middle School in Queen Creek.  Also, I have some excellent desert pictures, but my blog is not cooperating, so as soon as I get on good terms with my blog again, I’ll be putting up some visuals.

I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with Stephanie Emery, book enthusiast, media specialist, logistical genius and all around fantastic person (as was Ann-Marie).  I also got to meet with the Payne Book Club — every member was totally awesome.  We also had some great wannabe teleporters.  RJ, Jared and Landon wanted to go to the olympics, New York and Maui.  Landon was even 99% sure that it would work.  Surprise, surprise . . . it didn’t.

I promise I’ll put pictures up . . . at some point.

Hiya,

On Wednesday of last week, I was still in the Phoenix area, this time around Cave Creek at Sonoran Trails Middle School.  I saw no caves or creeks, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t beautiful. I didn’t realize that cacti got that tall . . . but they were as big as trees.  No really, they were.

Anyhow, media specialist Julie Young was exactly that.  She made a revolving power point and pretty much researched everything about me.  I think she knew more than I did.  Shawn wanted to teleport to McDonalds.  We didn’t get him there, which is too bad — he was hungry.  But we kind of did have a successful teleporter, thanks to Julie’s handiwork.  David went to France.  Well, maybe he didn’t go to France.  You’ll have to ask him.

Anyway, it feels good to be back on the road again.



Hi there,

First off, if you’ve sent me an email, and I haven’t written you back, gently email nudge me again . . . I may have lost your email in transit.  My email was on the fritz for a few days, so your email have been eaten.  Speaking of emails — those of you that have sent me electronic notes, THANK YOU.  I’ve gotten such wonderful emails from students and teachers and ordinary citizens and lizards.  Okay, I haven’t been contacted by any lizards yet.  But here’s hoping.

Secondly, I’m officially back on the middle school circuit — and I’m thrilled.  I started off at Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle School near Phoenix, AZ.  Media specialist Rhonda Brewer greeted me with her stylish Weepul shirt (which I got a kick out of, because we had the same magazine drive at my middle school).  The whole thing was organized to a t!  It took me a couple minutes to get the rust off, but it was a great day.  Katy, Abdul and Christian didn’t teleport, exactly.  Though I really thought we might get Christian to Wal-mart,  He was looking for bargains.  Also, it marked the first time that an assembly has done the wave while waiting for me to begin.  There were some very energetic teachers behind the whole thing – it was pretty cool.

And I just know you’ve been missing more pictures of my face in front of schools.  Fine, maybe you haven’t.  But I really did fall in love with the Arizona landscape (and all the cacti), so I’ll begin posting those as soon as I download them. 

Talk soon,

jak