Five for Friday and a Sunday Smorgasbord

I know, I know! Seriously, 2 linkies today. Well, it has been really busy. I was in a training Friday and when I got home it was completely mom mode. You may know what I'm talking about. Well today I decided that I would do both at the same time. Especially since both have the same message. 

So let the party begin. 

                 

                                                         

A year ago I had a gastric sleeve surgery. Since then I have lost 134 lbs. My new love is jazzercise. I have discovered the love of cardio, Pilate, yoga, and strength training all in one. If you have never taken a class, run don't walk and find a class. It is so much fun.

                            

                                        

This weekend I took by family to my hometown of Jamestown, KY. The Wolf Creek Dam was having the 28th annual Fishing Derby. So my kids got the chance to go fishing. It was so much fun. My son did not catch a fish and was very upset about it but my daughter "caught" a trout. Actually the nice man running her tank caught it and he handed it to her to pull out of the water. We did not take it home because I wasn't traveling an hour and a half with a fish. LOL!

She is so funny with her hand on her hips. LOL!

     

                               

                           

The next thing that I have loved was getting to spend time with my brother and his family. I love them so much and I dont get to see them very often. These people always make me smile.

My brother David and me

My nephew Zachariah and me

My nephew Elijah and me

                



I just love this because while my 3 1/2 year old son was talking my head off this is what was happening on the passenger side of the car. They slept.

      




The final thing that has been making me happy has been the awesome things coming from this blog. Her math interactive notebooks are amazing. AMAZING!!!!  I don't even teach math at my school because I am the writing teacher for my cluster but I just had to get the 2 bundles she has. If you haven't been over there well start running. 

Five For Friday

So I haven't done this in a while but it is time to get back on the linky party train. I am linking up with Doodlebugs for her 5 for Friday. Even though it is summer and I am officially out of school, I am going to try really hard to find something every week to join in.

So let me begin!

I am absolutely in love with summer. This is my favorite season. I know what your thinking! Your a teacher how can this be your favorite time. Well, I love to get brown and tan. I love to lay by a pool and read a book. I tell my husband all the time that I need to live by the beach. HMMMMMM, I may need to work on that. I better pray and see if that is God's plan. 

I am so excited to spend by summer with these cuties. I am trying to work on a schedule for them! (I know a schedule.) My son is in preschool and is going to have to go 2 months with no speech classes. So guess what, this teacher mommy has to be the speech teacher. Good thing I had some awesome SPLs that gave me some activities to do with him. I love these 2 so much. You would never know that they are 10 months apart. (That is a story for another day.)

I so love these people, although, I am missing another friend in this picture. They have been such an amazing support system for me this year. When I have felt wounded or defeated, they have been there. Reneta, Melissa, and Julie have really be amazing. I hope that I am half the team mate and friend that they are to me. 

I LOVE this calendar. I have made a calendar that is amazing for me. I have made it work for my needs. I already have some ideas to make it even better so when school starts back I will have my own planner. I am just debating about putting it in my TPT store. 

Lastly, I am thankful for the joy that this man brings to my life. Next to my husband, he is the only man that makes me flutter. That's right ladies! I LOVE DONNIE WAHLBERG!!!!! I love NKOTB!!! I am a blockhead through and through. :) I am officially the remix!

Hello Thursday!!!! You have been SO GOOD!

I know! I know! Melinda you are too perky this afternoon. Well, I have a reason to celebrate. In my last post I was telling you all about how my students are in a push for the research standards. Today was the day I taught them Power Point. THEY DID AMAZING!!!! Sorry to shout but I just feel like doing cartwheels and jumping up and down. Usually when we do our computer lab time (extra for Lexia, I will explain that in a minute) it is such a struggle to get them to just stay focused. Today in lab I showed them how to go through "the back door" of our next work so that the kids could use power point.

The shot above is what the kids see every time they try and log on. Today I should how to get around that and get to the power point program. They were so excited. Secretly, I was too! When we finished they got to work on Lexia. 

Lexia? What is that? We do Core 5 Reading Lexia at my school. The students are required to do 80 minutes a week. The research says that kids that master Lexia will be strong readers in the future. With my school being a Title 1 school, this program is important. The pictures below are some screen shots of some of the "games" they play in Lexia. I really like it. My 3 year old even does it and loves it. 

Okay I have rattled enough! This teacher is going to clean her desk and go home for the day!!!! 

Let the Researching Begin.....

This has been such a busy couple of weeks. The 2nd graders are starting a unit about researching. I spent my entire spring break "blog stalking" as I like to call it, to get some ideas of how I wanted to spend my time. I happen to come across The Inspired Apple and her informational writing. I used this as a jumping off point with my students. We are currently working on a group research project and will begin looking at how to ask those questions we want to answer. Next week they will be working on writing down those questions and organizing them into categories. I am pretty excited about this unit because I am so looking forward to our end product. So here is the plan!

1. We are working on a research assignment together.

2. We are going to research our own topic of choice.

3. We are going to learn and use power point.

4. We are going to take our power point and place it into Animoto. (If you don't know about it, then learn because I am SOOOOOOO excited about.)

5. We are going to turn our Animoto presentation into a QR code. Oh, yes you read that right! We are going to end the year Tech savvy. 

This is a lot to do with only 5 1/2 weeks left but I am determined to go out with a bang. 

I am uploading some pictures of some of my students as they are researching the class paper. I will keep informed on how did it. I will even try and upload to my TPT store some of the organizers we used in this process. It will be a product that will be FREE!  

Oh, one more thing before I go! Please take some time and like my facebook page and my TPT page. I would really appreciate it!