2-1-16

Thankful for....

Harrison & Hannah's report cards

Amazon Prime delivering mattresses

Hudson's expanding vocab : impressive this week was "Dad, school bus"(while pointing to a school bus) & "Push Baby". And sadly he did push a baby at the gym & got in time out there. Baby stealers who take his trains, beware! He is a brute ; /

another PGM Bible Graduation program ( 12 graduates, 3 shared their testimonies and one female was a heroine addict for over 20 years, showed up at PGM and detoxed herself there {Impressive!!} & found the Lord!!) and an on time delivery of Bibles from CBD (Thanks Auntie Jack!)

wowing my class by my hair's ability to do static with a balloon. I might have felt pretty cool that my hair was the only "kind" that balloons could do static with! I may have a new super power.;)

(Photo Credit Shamya') 

Thankful for my new  Special Ed class going well! My professor is a lenient grader and I really need a break like that for the next 6 weeks :) 

for exercised friends that encourage the teens & young adults ( thankful we still fall under the young adult category ;)) Excited to read this book & discuss it over the next few months. 

excited that I have been able to push past Snooze & wake up for early morning workouts.

 {On a real note:I have struggled with the work life balance as of late, and have been overly motivated to restructure my day due to not wanting the nasty behavior challenges ANY MORE... so early mornings normally meant me at school working, organizing & creating at 630am- not working out...and I have felt a lack of endorphin's and according to Elle Woods in Legally blonde....

On a positive note..the lack of workout time has paid off for my class however...I do feel that now, since I have my Morning centers re-tweaked, from 9-10:25 is a breeze because they're actively engaged in small groups... then they go to a Special like PE and then Lunch... so my afternoon feels LONG but praise the Lord for outdoor recess again since we have hit a heat wave! 

After lunch is brutal for some of these kids who literally can not stay awake or lose all sorts of self control. Enter MATH STATIONS. Took a bit to create and organize, but now they know how to play each activity.... and if they can power through that we have "community building time" aka play time from 2-2:40.
 
Insert all the Hallelujah hands possible!
 These kids need social time. They need structured play time. They need exposure on how to communicate in a positive way- so instead of my sticking to the "schedule"- I differentiated & not only does my class ADORE this time, I do too! Last month I created a store... this month I was thinking of switching it out- but I kept the store and added a BAKERY... ohh my heart loves this little nook... now guys please be easy on me- no funds & not even close to pintrest perfect - but my kids walked in and were in literal AWE. They had never seen pom pom cupcakes before or cupcake cook books! Oh the joy my cupcake loving self felt :) Can not even wait for 2pm today :)}

 

{Prices were kid directed & holy smokes! These kids are loaded ;)}

Thankful for  my brother, his heart & his generosity & for our daily devotion to hit the nail on the head... on the exact day we were encouraged! 

 Thankful for penguin pjs on this little snuggle bug! 

 Thankful for whoever taught me the trick of storing away birthday gifts.... Hannah was so blessed at her birthday last summer that we still haven't opened all the toys! This adorable jewelry box craft was just what an early riser on a Saturday needed to do... 6 months later :)

A mini Classroom tour: 

Those 4 handy sterilite plastic 3 drawers are my life saving Centers. Each morning they get rolled to the new table....I do centers Monday-Thursday & my kids sit in 4 tables, so I don't change out anything all week! (Drawers include hands on activties like ABC beads to build words or Clip boards and fun markers so they can Write the Room)
 They either begin their Center time with Read to Self around the room with a snuggle buggle stuffed animal, or end the Center time with that. Lots of literacy in Room 108! Woot Woot! :)

 

Those handy dandy dollar tree tubs are full of fun math activities! 

Our class fave: making 3 D shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks 

(in order to maintain my marshmallow stash for weeks I told them they were coated in chemicals ;)... it worked and my stash has not been eaten at all!)

 

I love Shannon! Her website supplies me with the BEST scripture writing plan AND printables! Aren't those posters so fun! Yay for my principal investing in a poster maker and Shannon's fabulously motivating posters!!

 Go to www.technologyrocksseriously.com 

 My word wall is not too current and looks kinda saggy in this pic, but who can read those words back there anyways?!

 Not the best use of space- to be retweaked some day ;) 

 My corner store :)

  My work zone. 

Bye friends, thanks for stopping by. 

Until next Multitude Monday .... XOXO

1-25-16

Thankful this week...

for Hudson saying  "cracker" when eating a cheezit. {Convo goes something like this: "Mom cookie Haha please" meaning: Please give Hudson a cookie. Me:"Cracker: Does Hudson want a ccccracker". Apparently you're supposed to point to your mouth and over emphasize the initial consonant sound...  Hudson: "Cracker please". (If only all the conversations were that easy and quickly repeated!! We will take the progress and rejoice :)) The expressions on Harrison & Hannah's faces when he did it was priceless. Complete awe for him that he said something "right!"


that Harrison got a compliment from his band teacher & that he and I got a Barnes and Noble date. Letting he and I loose in a book store, with gift cards was very time consuming. We both have the great "I want it all disease", especially all things Penguins and Valentines! but.... we narrowed it down and yay for my Teacher discount there :)

that Hannah discovered her BFF Hannah will be playing softball with her this Spring. {Thankful that Hannah will be playing softball at the same park Harrison does baseball. We love every bit of baseball season & we are excited to cheer on Hannah at  "bitty ball". }


for Matt's love of creativity. His new kitchen gadget, the Vitamix, has taken his love of cooking to a new level. Although I am not a fan of the price tag, and laugh that it wasn't me this time who fell victim to the great salesmen at Costco... I am quite impressed that it 1} cleans itself and 2} makes HOT soup?! His miso soup is divine. 3} grinds avocado pit. Yes.. PIT.. apparently that has tons of health benefits?! Who knew. 4} for the crazy healthy fruit and veggie drinks he gets our kids to slurp down.

Avocados are well known health promoters that are packed with vitamins and antioxidants that do wonders for our skin, blood, tissue and organs. But the seed is actually where most of the fruit’s nutritional potential resides. The seed holds 70 percent of the avocado’s antioxidants, including the well-respected polyphenols associated with green tea.

But … that’s not it! Avocado seeds have more soluble fiber than even top tier fiber providers. It has antioxidants that help regulate intestinal function and have even been shown to prevent tumor growth. Additionally, the oil within ups the amount of collagen in our skin, keeping it young and wrinkle-free, as well as shining up the hair so that we remain good-looking, too.

thankful for new procedures in my classroom {I loved how 8 years of teaching literally means nada in my current gig. each day I learn what true differentiation looks like, what assessments look like for these kids and what battles to forge ahead with. Some days it's a shaving cream writing kinda day... all day... and some days all lessons get taught... this week my bipolar chica decided to calm her sweet self down, and even though I get her angry eyes & constant back talk, she has not thrown anything THIS WHOLE WEEK! And all the students said... Amen :)  and that same sweet girl was the one to spark a prayer in my room. We were eating our munchkin snowmen that we made, and she said "thank you Jesus". One boy was like "did you just say thank you Jesus?" I was like ohh I love it! Lets pray! And right there and then I broke all one million school laws and prayed with my kids. Eyes closed. Hands folded. "Thank you Jesus for our munchkins". And we all sang Amen. It was beautiful & I still have a job ( for now ;))

for a fun Dutch Blitz game with friends ... the night was full of yummy food, good laughs and highly competitive spirits

for all things lovey, pink and glittered being in the stores now! Oh I L.O.V.E Valentines day.

thankful for quotes, with fun fonts and images to make walls and screens look pretty, at the same time sharing wisdom & daily encouragement. James 1:5

for being able to watch Super Bowl 50 in 2 weeks completely stress free...no nail bitin' here...not like last year! Wowzers!! Love you Pats, but you totally bombed yesterday's game... offense where were the blocks so Brady could actually make plays?! Man Denver brought  their defense!! and that kick Gostkowski...that  kick...

Off we go... 5 day work week... last week of January...PGM Bible graduation to look forward to midweek...  all things Artic & Penguins get busted out & yay for the adorable Pebble & Penguin movie on Friday :)

XOXO

1-18-16

Thankful for a great dreamer.



Thankful for the Pats moving on! 


Thankful for Harrison rocking his "Book Talk". I think these projects test the parents abilities more than the kids ;) Planning, reading, speech prep, bag decorating & prop finding was homework for all of us & I was proud of what a planner Big H was. He has learned to not procrastinate & his grade reflected that. His energy for his speech and his "hook" for the audience cracked us up.

Thankful that Hannah is learning how to decode sight words. Hearing her read those sweet take home readers is wonderful.

Thankful for Starfall! This website is any teacher's dream, but also so helpful for my own kids! {Somehow I find fun strategies to use in my classroom but I totally don't bring those ideas home?! But this week Hannah was on starfall each night & the reading is more like a game than a chore & she was LOVING it :)}

Thankful for staying warm despite these frozen temps.

Thankful for my mom dropping by with fresh outta the oven pumpkin bread! Pumpkin anything is my love language!

Thankful for a fun recipe of snow dough. Yes it's very messy, but the 2 ingredients of corn starch and shaving cream are washable :) I used this for a science experiment on day 1, then had it in my free choice area for the rest of the week. We have cars in the box too & yay for imaginations of snow buried cars and car washes :)

Thankful for Susanna who was brave enough to take care of our trio, so Matt's great brainstorm of a city date could actually happen!


Thankful for a fun adventure of trying new eateries (and staying somewhat Whole30 Compliant!)
Indian buffet for lunch, their curried veggies were ahhmazing, but holy heart burn!
Yuzu sushi for supper. Best.Sushi.Yet. Very impressed by the urban, romantic vibe, the crazy music & the amazing quality of the fish. We most definitely did a cheat treat with "lands end" sundae by Ghiradelli. Eating this monster on the window seat of our fave hotel ever "Hotel Monaco", overlooking the frosted city, was the best ending to a great day :)

Thankful for a 4 day work week!! 

Have a great Tuesday friends :) XO

1-11-16

Thankful this week for...

an exciting & encouraging outreach idea meeting for our church.

healthy eating week 1 done. {recipe love of the week: turkey meatballs with jalapenos over zucchini pesto zoodles}

an easier than expected transition back to work & school.

news that Hudson's speech is covered under insurance

S*n*o*w

news that I was picked as one of a few teachers to tutor after school & I get to do 1st grade ( My true love grade! & the tutoring days are on days that actually are good with our schedule!)

my 3 month teaching time with Sunday School beginning again

memorization of scripture challenge

Matt's new cologne

Hill Christmas
{I love that our family loves food. I love that Dustin was able to get a good deal on an entire Prime Rib. I love that we were able to extend Christmas this late. I love that we hadn't seen each other for a few weeks so it was so good to chat through all our happenings. I love the look on Hudson's face when Ray brought out his trike. I love that even though he has not mastered his words yet- the way he was dancing and pointing and laughing truly was so so so cute! I love that I have a sister..and one with great taste.}

 okay honesty time ;) I might have had fun using the spray tan photo editor on our family picture :) For everyone... even Hudsie ;)

 The rest of the photos we are all back to normal ghosts. 

This is Hannah. Our dreamer and creator. Not a huge fan of the present and attention overload. 

Quietly sitting at home, post celebration...in Crayola bliss with this great gift :)

XO