Last Chance! After Friday, it’s going, going, gone!

This Friday, February 2nd, is the date for a scheduled teleconference with Kindermusik International about the Google campaign.  This is one of the last opportunities to participate and give your input into KI’s decision. 

Time:  1 PM

Location:  Dalton, GA

Who’s Invited:  All Georgia educators – especially those of you in north Metro Atlanta and NW Georgia as well as any interested TN educators

****IMPORTANT****

We *NEED* to know if you’re planning on attending in order to have everything shipped and received from KI for this meeting.  So far, we have only 1 RSVP.  This may be your last chance to have input into the Google decision.  Speak now or forever hold your peace!   

To RSVP, contact me at Kindermerri@yahoo.com or Sherry Carter at scarter@alltel.net. 

Google Teleconference Set for February 2nd – NW Georgia

Put Friday, February 2nd, on your  calendar for a Google teleconference in the Northwest Georgia area. 

Time: 1 PM                     Hosted by: Sherry Carter   (scarter@alltel.net)

Location: First Christian Church

                 1506 Dug Gap Road

                 Dalton, Georgia 30720

Directions:

From Exit 333 (Walnut Avenue) on Interstate 75, one would turn right coming from the south, or turn left if traveling from the north, and go about 0.6-0.7  of a mile (according to Yahoo! Maps) to Dug Gap Road.  There is an Exxon Station and a Walgreen’s at the corner where Dug Gap Road intersects with Walnut Avenue.  Turn right onto Dug Gap Road and go one-half mile.  The church is on the right and sets back off the road a bit.  There’s a Kindermusik sign in the yard.  We will be meeting in the activity building behind the main part of the church.  There is parking in the back close to the entrance.

You might want to bring some note paper and something to write with to take notes during the 18-minute video.  After viewing the video, everyone will call in to KI on their cellphones for the teleconference with Lisa Rowell for a Q & A session that will last for 30 minutes.  The entire program shouldn’t take longer than an hour if all goes according to the agenda developed by KI.  

(But, of course, if you stop and talk awhile or stop back by a Starbucks or whatever on the way home and chat, then that’s on *your* time, right?)    

If you’re concerned about being able to get some lunch, I know that Exit 333 has a number of fast-food places as well as sit-down restaurants right off the Interstate.  Daneille and I stopped there on our way back home from Nashville in 2005.   Tennessee educators from just over the state line in Chattanooga are more than welcome as well to join in.  We’d love to have you in our meeting.

Please!  It’s *very* important that we get a head-count of how many educators will be there.  This is so that the teleconference chatroom can be set up to handle the right amount of calls and also so there can be adequate seating at the church.  If you plan on attending, please let me know (Kindermerri@yahoo.com) or Sherry Carter (scarter@alltel.net).  We need to know this by January 29th – one week from today.

I’m still hoping that we can find a location somewhere in the metro Atlanta area to have a teleconference as well, and I’m ready and willing to set it up if we have a location.  So, please, Atlanta educators, if you think you might have a place that we could also use to have a teleconference possibly on the same afternoon, February 2nd, that would really make things simpler for KI to coordinate the GA meetings in one day.  Please contact me if you think you can help!

And I’m still hoping that the Mid-Georgia and South Georgia contingency can work it in as well.  Kindermusik International has to make a decision sometime within the next month and they have *asked* for our input. Please let me know if I can help any of you in any way to make these teleconferences happen so your voices can be heard.

Clarification – what is required and where to have the meetings

After hearing from some of you, I realized that I didn’t do a very good job of explaining what is involved in these meetings.  These are local PKE meetings – where Kindermusik educators can get together, meet and welcome new educators, introduce themselves, and then watch an 18-minute video provided by Kindermusik International about the Google campaign. 

      Do I know what’s on the video?  No.  Is it the same as the videos on the KI website?  I have no idea.  I have an outline for the local meeting that is timed out to be only one hour in length, with the conference call lasting 30 minutes for questions and answers immediately *after* the video is viewed.  This is your opportunity to make your voice and concerns heard and to ask your questions about how the Google campaign would directly apply to your unique situation. 

 It might also be a very good opportunity for educators to get together as the new semester is just now getting underway and share helpful ideas, activities, books, extensions, etc. that would benefit everyone with the spring curriculum.   I know that last summer I got *so* many wonderful ideas of suggested storytimes, books, activities, marketing ideas,  sample brochures, etc. from the NW GA get-together in Adairsville.  It was *wonderful*!

     I have one volunteer from the NW Georgia area that is considering hosting a meeting in Dalton.  It would be really good if we could have one somewhere in the metropolitan Atlanta area; another down around Peachtree City/Fayetteville, one somewhere up the I-85 corridor as well as one in middle Georgia.   Anybody down near or around the Savannah area?  South Carolina educators could possibly join  you there.  Locations could be in a home, in a church, a school, maybe a meeting room in a local eatery - any place where a bunch of educators could sit around a table or tables together and talk.

Considering the week I’ve had this past week, I’d volunteer to host one, but (a) I don’t have a central location to offer, and (b) my brain is just about turned to mush right now. 

 

Unfortunately, we had to have our 14yo beagle put to sleep tonight and it’s been heartwrenching to see my sweet dh so upset.  Buck was *his* dog, you see.  So, if someone from some of these areas could volunteer to check into: 1) a location, 2) a day/time that would work for several educators, and 3) please let me know when it’s going to happen so we can contact KI to coordinate the teleconference.  Please thoughtfully consider hosting one of these PKE meetings – you will definitely get *much* more out of it than you ever dreamed.

Contact me at Kindermerri@yahoo.com. 

Google Teleconference Calls

 

Dear Georgia Kindermusik educators:

     Kindermusik International has asked the PKE to contact as many educators as possible in each state and set up teleconference calls *within* each state where we can come together in various locations and sit down and talk with them via teleconferences. 

     This doesn’t require any special equipment – only a physical location where educators can get together and dial in on their cellphones at a specified time to talk with Kindermusik International about the Google campaign.  This is an opportunity to sit down and brainstorm together with Kindermusik. 

      If you’ve felt like: a) you didn’t understand the campaign or details, or b) your opinion doesn’t matter, or c) you had another suggestion you’d like to make, or d) you’d just like to be heard, then this is your chance! 

     We need volunteers from around the state to offer a location where others can join you and participate in a teleconference.  These are *different* from the calls listed in the previous posting.   Please contact me at Kindermerri@yahoo.com if you’d be willing to host one of these teleconferences in the next week or so.  I will forward your information on to KI and they will set a time for your location.