Check Out My New Room!

Hello there! I know it has been awhile. You might remember I am in the middle of getting my reading specialist degree, and between that, teaching, and coaching volleyball, I have very little free time right now. I'm lucky if I can keep my tradition of a Sunday afternoon nap! ;-)

Anyway, I had to make a video of the literacy spaces for a class I am in, and I knew you all would like to see it. I just moved into this space this year. I'm super excited about the windows!

The good news for me...volleyball season is winding down a bit. This Saturday will be the 6th tournament in a row, and then I actually have a Saturday at home next week! 

What will I ever do with myself? 

Probably laundry, clean the house, or homework... :-)

It's Okay to Take a Break!

Hey there, teacher friends! This post is probably long overdue. Kristi and I have both taken a planned break from blogging and we meant to post even this some time ago. We didn't...partly because we feel a little bad for taking a break. Even as I type that, I know it sounds crazy, but it is true. Let me see if I can explain...

We started this blog because we had been so inspired by other teacher-bloggers. It combined two of my passions--writing and teaching. Kristi was willing to join me on this crazy journey, and we have both enjoyed the connections we've made and sharing our classrooms with you the last several years.

A couple of years ago, some of my favorite bloggers were blogging less and less. They would explain life changes had made blogging less of a priority. Some were putting out surveys about how much their posts were being read or did their readers prefer Instagram or Twitter over reading a blog post, etc. I didn't understand it at the time. I was still reading blog posts and loving it! Two years later and now I understand...it's about seasons of life. 

We are all in different seasons of life. This last year I took on a new position at work, coached two sports, started working toward my Masters Degree as a Reading Specialist, added an online presence as an author, stayed committed to my church involvement, and let's not forget the most important role of wife and mother. 

In all honesty, this last year was TOUGH and I'm gearing up for another one just like it so that I can finish my degree program. I thought about taking a break from the program...just for a year while my daughter finishes her senior year...but I know it would make going back that much more difficult. 

For awhile, I felt a sense of guilt for not blogging here at Teaching Little Miracles more frequently. Kristi and I have had a "schedule" of how we divided up our posts, and I was not keeping up my end of the deal. I felt like I was letting YOU (our readers) and Kristi down. Kristi understood, and now that I'm sharing my heart, I'm sure you all will understand too.

All that to say...I now realize it's okay to take a break! Kristi and I both decided we needed a real break this summer. No pressure of blogging. No guilt for not doing it.

We'll see you back here in August (without all the pressure and guilt of a self-imposed "schedule" of blogging)! I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Kneeling

Welcome to this week's:

I love this quote and I actually have it hanging up in my office as a reminder to me.  I know that there are many times for all of us that our days get so busy and things can really get overwhelming.  Then on top of these busy days comes the trials that we may have to face and all of it can just become too overwhelming.  I find myself in that situation at times and see this quote hanging up and realize that I need to take more time to pray.  I know how important prayer is and try to make it a routine in my life, but I will admit that there are times when I feel busy and overwhelmed that my prayer life starts to lack.  Those times of busyness and trials are times that I need to make sure that I take even more time for my prayer life because God is the one that will help me through it all!

Have a great day!

Catching Up with Pictures

Good morning! Yep, you guessed it. I am officially on summer break. :-)

I know I have been MIA on the blog lately so I wanted to catch up and pictures are the best, so...

My kiddos have kept me extra busy for the last month or so. I'm very proud of them and their accomplishments, but I can honestly say I'm most proud of their humble attitude in the midst of it all.

Harley's drawing was featured in the Kansas Congressional Art Competition and on display at Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas. This was titled "Cosmo" which was her horse's name. We still miss him! 

Chaz (in the middle) graduated along with two of his cousins. He was valedictorian of his class and kept us busy with a Governor's Award ceremony, filming for Top of the Class award, graduation parties, and finally, the graduation. If you're curious about where he is headed and how this mom is feeling about that, check out this blog post on my author site. 

I had the privilege of speaking at a "Mothers and Others Luncheon" on May 5th for a church in Dexter, Kansas. Many of the ladies had gone through my Bible study, There's a Fly in My Tea! It was fun to meet the ladies and the picture above was my table of supporters who went with me. Pictured L to R: my niece, Harley, my mom, my mother-in-law, my sister, and me.

The Dexter ladies had such a sweet spirit. These flies were a fun gift they gave me! :-)

 Harley turned 17! She will be a senior next year!

These signs were made by a kiddo in what I would say was my most challenging reading group this year. They kept me on my toes, but we had a good time. And as you can see, we became best friends forever. ;-) I had these kiddos as 2nd graders so it was fun to have them again.

I've been doing a Proverbs challenge on my author Facebook page. Feel free to join us!

After 22 years of marriage and remodeling two different homes, my husband is finally getting the garage of his dreams. Yes, I took the picture through the window. I didn't want the workers to think I was a weirdo snapping pictures of them!

Exciting school news! We are getting a preschool next year! Hip Hip Hooray! I cannot even begin to explain how needed this is in our rural community. However, to make room for the Pre-K, we are doing a lot of rearranging. This will be my new space. I'm excited for the window, but not the necessarily the work to set it up. I literally moved my stuff in, shut the door, and left it. Ugh! Once it is painted and I get some storage shelves, I'll start trying to settle in.

When people ask me what I'm doing this summer...homework? At least for the next four weeks. My summer Masters classes already started and they are fast paced. Maybe ask me again at the first of July??? ;-)

Here's wishing you a wonderful summer filled with rest and relaxation!

2 Days and End of Year Book

Wow, when I look back this year has really gone fast.  We are down to 2 days left.  It doesn't seem possible that school is almost out.  We did our awards with our kids last week and it was exciting to announce names and have them come get their certificates for various things.  They were so proud and they were smiling ear to ear!

This week we are going to do our end of the year book:

What all do you do on the last couple of days of school?  I have always wondered what others do the last couple of days.

Hope you have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all of you had a great day!

Classroom Dojo and Monster Theme

Right before Spring Break,  I decided to incorporate Classroom Dojo.

If you aren't familiar with it, it is a great classroom management tool that is free and it encourages good behaviors.  I have been using it along with my behavior clip chart.  The kids earn points for following the rules (that simple).  Then they can lose points for not following the rules.  The cool part about it is that when you give a point to a student the computer makes a ding that they know is for something good.  When a point is taken away it makes a different ding and they know that someone needs to make a better choice (that little ding was amazing.....it was so quick and every kid made sure they were doing the right thing when they heard it).   The kids are so excited about it and are always excited to see how many points they earn each day.  

At the end of the day, I pull up a graph that Classroom Dojo shows that shows the percentage of how they did in class.  It breaks it down by each rule.  We talked about what rules got a lot of positive points and what rules lost the most points.  Many students tell me daily that they are going to try to be the top point earner the next day.  :-)

If you haven't seen Classroom Dojo, make sure you check it out.  It is very easy to use and has very clear directions as well. 

My co-teacher has also used it this year and loves it as well.  We have talked about using it more next year and starting to use it at the beginning of the year.  Since we have decided to do that, we decided that we are going to have a monster theme.  I am so excited because I plan to use the Monster Theme Pack that Crystal made.  It is so cute and I am excited to decorate my classroom in it next year! 

Have a great week!!

Wisdom for Thursday!

Welcome to this week's:

Well, it is that time of the year when I feel like I am so busy and can't keep up.  So, today is Wisdom for Thursday since I missed it yesterday.  I believe this quote says it all.  Whether you are facing a tough, good, easy, hard season in your life this quote applies to everyone.  It also applies to this time of the year for a lot of us who are tired and very busy.

Have a great week!

2D and 3D Shapes

In Math, we worked on 2D and 3D shapes.  This little Math Helper on TPT came in handy to help remember the shapes.  

After working all week on the shapes, we ended with building the shapes.  The kids had a blast doing this and worked really hard on it.  Each student got some toothpicks and mini marshmallows along with a card that had a shape on it.  I found these cards that showed how to build the shapes on TPT.  They got to build their shape and when they made the shape, they got a new shape to try.  The last shape that they made they got to keep and take home.

Have a great week!

Skittle Graphing

This week, we had a lot of fun working on graphs in math.  The favorite activity was of course the skittle graphing.  I found this graphing page on TPT.  We got skittles and graphed them by color and then talked about our graph.  The kids enjoyed the skittles when they completed their graphs. 

We also took a big piece of paper and broke up into groups.  Each group created their own bar graph.  They had fun making their own graph.  (Sorry, I forgot to get pictures of it).

Have a great week!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Asking Why???

Welcome to this week's:

Have you been there?  Asking God that question of Why?  I know I have and feel like I have been there a lot recently.  For me, when things haven't worked out the way that I wanted them too, I have felt disappointed and unfortunately at times have become upset with and have even questioned God about the situation.  I will ponder at times why he didn't change a situation because I know he is capable of doing that for anyone.  Sometimes, I just feel like if only God could let me know why certain situations have happened, then I could be satisfied and possibly move on.  But, in reality maybe God only tells us what we need to know.  Or it may be that he only tells us what he knows we can handle.  Possibly it's that he only allows us to know so much because he knows all of it could hurt us even more in the future.  Therefore, I need to stop asking him why and begin to ask him what I can learn from these situations and know that he will get me through them.

Have a great week!

Fun with Sequencing!

I found this cute activity at The Teacher Wife about writing how to blow a bubble.  I had the kids sequence the steps down on paper and then they got with their shoulder buddies.  They switched papers and followed the directions that their shoulder buddy had written on how to blow a bubble.  They thought this was so much fun!  It was fun to watch them read the directions and do each step.  Here they are:

Have a great week!