Halloween Reads

Thursday, October 31, 2013 1 comment
Top 5 Halloween Reads!
I have the original book (1983) and I have read it probably 1,000 times. Love, love, love! 

Great book for retelling! Has clear beginning, middle, and end. Fun and teaches a little lesson, too.

Perfect for the day after Halloween! Read it to find out why!

Speaking of books I never get tired of reading! This one requires audience participation!

Another good one for post Halloween fun! It's all about teamwork! 

What Halloween treat would you add to this list?

WW~Halloween

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 No comments
....in first grade and with a 4 year old!

 AH!!!!!

Thanking Soldiers

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 No comments
Every year since 2007, the Bert Show does a huge THANK YOU to our troops for the holidays. They ask people to please take a little time and write handwritten letters to our soldiers. It is an amazing campaign and the results are always outstanding. 
@bertshow
One of our fab teachers, L, volunteers her time each year to encouraging our students and staff to participate. She gathers the letters, sends reminders, and submits them, too. She rocks. 

This year, my class wrote letters and drew pictures every day as their morning assignment. They LOVED it. We had meaningful conversations about our troops and even chatted about geography as we discussed where our letters might end up. 
T wrote letters, too. He wrote two fantastic letters to the soldiers and we had a wonderful family conversation. He, of course, wanted to add send candy and goodies along with the letter, but I explained that is not how this works. :) 

It's not too late to write your own letter! Here are the rules and regulations. You have until Friday, November 1st and you can drop them off at any Jersey Mike's location. 

I'm feeling thankful today! Thankful for the many people who will write letters, the Bert Show for their campaign, L for encouraging our staff, and most importantly-thankful for our troops who serve our country!

Celebration Saturday~Top 3!

Saturday, October 26, 2013 2 comments
It's Celebration Saturday!! Join me and celebrate what went well for you this week! 
Discover. Play. Build.

One. My niece. I celebrate her all the time, but this week was exceptionally amazing. She was on tv for her teacher's project being funded AND she was chosen as Tiger of the Week in her class. 

Two. Conference week is over AND it went well. I feel like we were having conversations-proving once again that it is really about relationships. It was wonderful.

Three. AND by far the best part of my week-I read to T's class. I was running late and wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I did. We read Owl Babies by Martin Waddell (my all time favorite owl book, second only to Owl Moon) and I had them say Bill's lines. They loved it. I taught them the 5 Little Pumpkins poem, too! 
 

In a nutshell, I have lots to celebrate! Link up with us and celebrate your week, too!

What went well for you??

Today is World Polio Day!

Thursday, October 24, 2013 No comments
Today is World Polio Day! I'm calling Saxby Chambliss to let him know I support Res 270. I'm talking to my son about how close we are to taking this disease completely off of our planet.  I'm telling him that his great grandfather had polio and that we are THIS CLOSE to no other child having to suffer they way he did. 
@endpolionow
I'm talking about it now in hopes that this time next year, we will just be celebrating! Join us tonight (8-9) on Twitter for an #endpolionow party! 

Check out these posts from my amazing friends (and/or their children):
Explore with Spunk
Documama

Do you know someone impacted by polio?

WW~Team Pride

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 No comments
@faniq.com
What's your favorite NFL team?

Polio? PoliNO!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 1 comment
I've written before about my Paw Paw. He survived polio back in the day but told stories of the pain and walked with the polio limp until the end of his days. 

October 24th is World Polio Day. My hope is that this is the year we finally eradicate this terrible disease. We can still have World Polio Day after that, but it will be more of a HUGE CELEBRATION!  We're close, too! Very close! 

@endpolionow
This is the year. The world is 99% polio free and we can't stop the fight now! No child should suffer at the hands of a vaccine preventable disease. We are on the home stretch! India is polio free thanks to hard work and the dedication of several organizations. Next up-Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. That's it. That is the "end in sight." The fat lady WILL sing! We can all run through the finish line together and when we do, I'll tip my hat to Paw Paw and I hope you'll do the same!

How to help? Reach out to your Senator. Tweet it. Twitter it. Instagram it. Let's #endpolio. 

Learn more at Shot@Life

See what the Rotary Club is doing to support this effort!

Read what kids are blogging about ending polio. 

Nonfiction FREEBIE!

Monday, October 21, 2013 No comments
I love Hameray books. They are the publishers of Joy Cowley's books (HELLO MRS. WISHY WASHY!!!) and several nonfiction series that I love, love, love. I was chosen for the teacher spotlight not too long ago and have since been asked to occasionally guest blog. Yay!!! 

Here is the latest post and it comes with an awesome FREEBIE! Click here to visit the post and download your copy of Stop and Jots~a quick, meaningful assessment that works with any book!

Have a great week!

Apple Pickin'

Sunday, October 20, 2013 1 comment
Fall is in the air in Atlanta and nothing says fall more than picking apples! We went our favorite families to Mercier Orchards in North Georgia for our annual adventure! 
GOLDEN DELICIOUS!!
apple lovin'
 my two favorite guys
 problem solving with Mr. C. and X. 
 double fisting the apples!
 "I love apples!"
T loves these "teenagers."
 and these cuties, too!
 A is going to be a Pink Lady for Halloween so this made us smile!
 Our kid crew!
future farmer? 

Ah! I just love it! We rode the hayride out to the fields, picked apples, took our annual picture, then hit the Mercier Orchards store. (Forrest Gump voice here...) They have apple cider, hard cider, apple pie, caramel apples, apple fritters, apple candy, and their most famous treat-FRIED APPLE PIES! Delish. Delish. Delish. 

We came home with 9 types of apples. I tried them all but my heart stays true to the golden delicious. T likes them all!

What is your favorite apple? 

Celebration Saturday

Saturday, October 19, 2013 5 comments
I'm joining Ruth Ayres  in Celebrating the week! After all, life is just too short to not celebrate! Join us in choosing something from the previous week to celebrate!! Share on FB, Twitter (#celebratelu,) your blog, etc! Here's to celebrating!
Discover. Play. Build.

One. My coteacher and I had our observations. This was my first as a coteacher and it went really well. No dog and pony show-it was real reader's and writer's workshop. The kids were amazing-engaged, talking, reading, editing, revising. Real. They are becoming readers and writers and we could.not.be.more.proud. I am celebrating this coteaching experience!

Two.  Costume arrived! We must celebrate the small things, too! (Mommy wipes sweat from brow!) T wants to be a spy. Target and Party City did not have the costume in store, so we had to order online. It was on sale and arrived in 3 days! T loves it and I can't wait to show you how absolutely adorable he looks! 

What are you celebrating? What went well for you this week?

Defining Creativity

Thursday, October 17, 2013 3 comments
What is creativity? I asked a few people I know and love and every single person gave me a different answer. 

T "something good and new is creative"

A "making stuff with your imagination"

Colleague "problem solving, thinking outside of the box"

Our friends at Urban Dictionary
Our friends at Ninja words

Good ol' Webster Dictionary
Creativity is important no matter how you define it and my definition would be a combination of these adding maybe "at any age." While at Type A, I was super lucky to hear Gary Buchanan, the Social Media Manager for Disney Parks blog talk about being creative. While listening as a mom and blogger, I was hearing him as a teacher, too. 
He spoke about Walt Disney's creativity and how he designed the park....with such intention. Did you know he designed Walt Disney World like a movie theater-with a grand entrance, Main Street as  the preshow, coming together for the feature event-the CASTLE! He wanted a place to tell stories. He wanted a place for people to use and share their creativity and imagination. I love that. I love telling stories and hearing stories.....especially from children.....especially my son.
Gary reinforced what we already know. Disney is committed to celebrating creativity. (Hello, imagineers!) But he also discussed how Disney pays attention to the little things. The wall paper from Andy's room in Toy Story I, is the final scene of Toy Story 3. Such a geek, but I just love this. It is a story in itself. We discuss all the time in our classroom the importance of detail in reading, writing, and math!
Gary also talked about IDEA KILLERS. You know the ones~they smoosh your ideas, make fun of your dreams, laugh when you fail. Yucksville! Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. Again, something I tell my students all the time (and sometimes remind myself!)

Gary encouraged us to ask questions. I actually have a sign in my classroom that says that! ASK QUESTIONS! WONDER! We play "wonder" in the car with our son. Hey T, I wonder what lives in those woods? I wonder how many things you can name that are blue? I wonder where we should go on our next trip? This quick talk time is good for him, good for me, good for our family. 

He shared a couple of powerful quotes from Walt Disney. (You know I'm a quote girl!) 

"If you're coasting, you are going downhill." This one came to life for me this year professionally and I am better for it!

"Curiosity keeps leadings us down new paths." YES! Children have this. We need to help them keep it and while we're at it, rediscover it in ourselves.

Ok, so I know this is a lot, but it was an amazing session. I left inspired as a mom, blogger, and teacher. 

Thank you TypeA for the opp and thank you Gary for sharing your enthusiasm! 

What creative aspect do you love about Disney?

WW~My First Headshot!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013 6 comments
 
Thank you WellsFargo for letting me cheese it up at Blogalicious5! 

Black and white OR color?

Flu Shot? CHECK!

Monday, October 14, 2013 3 comments
It has been on my calendar for WEEKS! 
@walgreens
Walgreens is donating a vaccine to a child in a developing country for every adult flu shot given before October 14th. OCTOBER 14th. I've tweeted it, instagrammed it, posted it on FB, and told people in passing. OCTOBER 14th.
@iftodayisyourbirthday
I am happy to report that I made the deadline, but just barely. As in, I did it yesterday~October 13th. My mom got her flu shot at Walgreens weeks ago. Former student M and her amazing family got theirs weeks ago. Friends, neighbors, Shot@Life champions, and strangers were way ahead of me! 
It took 5 minutes. 5 minutes of my time for a shot I already needed and a vaccine that will be donated to a child in a developing country. Thank you friends and strangers and thank you Walgreens and Shot@Life!

Type A Conference~Atlanta

Sunday, October 13, 2013 1 comment
Ah! Time to blog! YAY! Let's play catch up a bit!

September 27-29th was the Type A Conference here in the ATL. I was super nervous about going since it was my very first blogger conference. As a relatively new blogger, it was just what I needed! In fact, I can't wait to go next year and bring a few friends!
 Here are some of my memories....
Found A's Christmas present in the Hasbro booth! 
Bing for Schools! BIG FAN! 
When we went to Disney, T's favorite ride was Star Tours! So glad I met one of the stars!
Cause Blogging with Chrysula and Fadra. They rocked it! Shot@Life was mentioned more than once and I love that!!
Zone bars for kids? Delish! Turner loved the birthday cake one!
Sending my guy silly selfies because I missed him! 
 Share A Sale dog for my little guy. He loves him and I love the idea of Share A Sale!
 E Meals! Meal planning made easy! Can't wait to give this a try next week! I'll keep you posted!
Made new friends!
Played fun Hasbro games with Time to Play magazine!
Great for home or classroom! Draw Something!
Gary from Disney Parks Blog talked to us about creativity. This really hit home with me as a mom and teacher. More soon!
 Surprise guest! Minnie!
The Disney Parks Blog party was, well, in a word AMAZING! 

I know this is quick and I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm on it!! Happy Sunday! 


LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...