Wisdom for Wednesday-Trust in the Lord

Welcome to this week's:

I was thinking a lot about this verse from the bible as I was reading it the other day.  Then I started to think about how many people we trust daily in our lives.  We trust so many different people.....even strangers.  As we are driving in our cars to get somewhere, we are trusting all those around us to be driving safely.  We trust strangers to cook our food and keep it safe for us when we go out to eat.  Our world is very trusting of people that we don't really know.  

So, why is it so hard to always trust in the Lord at times.  At least for me, I sometimes have a hard time with it.  For example, there have been times that I was hesitant to give because we just didn't have the money to do it at the time.  After doing it though, God still came through and provided me with everything I needed at that time.  He is always there for me and will take care of my needs, I just need to trust in him all the time.  

Have a great day!

They go in 3's

Well, have you heard that saying that once one household appliance breaks, 2 more follow?  Unfortunately, it came true for me. Here is what all broke on me: 

 

1.  My dishwasher that I have had for 5 years.  The control panel went out on it and when I checked to see how much it would cost for just that part.....it was $300.....why are those parts so expensive?  My husband and I decided that it would probably be best just to invest in a new one since the control panel part was so expensive.  I was ready to buy, but we had started to do Dave Ramsey's financial peace last year and if you are familiar with it, he says that your emergency savings account is for emergencies only.  Well, to me this was like an emergency, but really it was just me being LAZY!  So, we decided that if we wanted a new dishwasher, then we would just have to save our money for one.  

The best part about this is that after a couple of weeks, we looked on ebay and found a control board and panel that was white but the individual had painted it black.  It was only $22, so we decided to get it. We thought it may not look the best because it had been painted, but we were fine with that as long as it worked.  When we got it my husband was actually able to take the board out and transfer it to our original panel and it worked!!!!!!   YAY!  Now, I have a working dishwasher and it only cost $22 in the end.  The funny thing is that I developed the habit of washing dishes by hand, so I've still done that a few times.  :-)

2.  My coffee pot that I've had for about 7 years was the next one to go.  It was probably time for it to go out.  It was a cheap one that I bought for about $10.  :-)  I haven't replaced it yet.  Maybe on next payday.  

3.  My dyson vacuum :-(.  

I have had this vacuum for about 10 years and thought it was broke a couple of years ago because the cord broke on it.  Luckily my hubby was able to fix that for me.  This has by far been the best vacuum cleaner that I have ever owned.  The hose on it where the suction is broke.  My hubby tried to fix it and thought he had it but it didn't work.  :-(  I'm still hopeful that maybe if he messes more with it that he will be able to get it fixed.  Unfortunately these vacuums are very expensive so I'll have to save up for one.

On a school note, I was told about these neat pumpkin plants at Growing in Pre K.  We have been talking about plants and seeds in Science and I thought this would be fun to do with the kids.  I wanted to see if anyone else has tried it.  I just don't want the pumpkin to rot in my room.  :-)

  

Open a pumpkin. Leave the "guts" inside. Add some soil, and just a little water. Look at all of the pumpkin plants that we'll have. 

Have a great week!

October Currently...Treat!

Happy Friday!

I'm linking up with Farley's Currently...finally. Kristi has been beating me to it the last few months. Ha! Really the first of the month just always seemed to fall around her turn to blog, so...my turn!

The kids are at pep band and spending the night at my brother's house, so hubby and I are enjoying a nice "date night" at home--my favorite date. We are watching Love it or List it, which kind of annoys me, but I watch anyway to see how they fix the houses up...

I signed up to work a volleyball tournament tomorrow...ugh. Love watching volleyball--and being paid to run the scoreboard--but hate getting up early on Saturday to get there!

Wanting...new dishes. I've had the same dishes for I think about 15 years. They no longer go with anything in my house and well, it is just time for something new. That being said, I probably won't get new ones anytime soon. I have a hard time spending money on things I just want (and don't need).

Needing sleep. What else?

And finally, a treat for you! I've changed this to a freebie in our TPT store for the next week. Enjoy!

We've been hard at work on place value in second grade. I used this I Have...Who Has...? game to review ones and tens. After we practiced a few times, we then went on to our game that includes the hundreds. 

My students seem to finally "get it." I've got a little quiz set for Monday to see if we can move on...here's hoping!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Necessary Practice

Hi there! I hope you are having a great week. 

Mine is shaping up to be quite busy...raced out of the building today to head to an IEP meeting at another building (16 minutes away), tomorrow I'll race out of there for my son's cross country meet, and then Friday I have another meeting at the other building! 

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it...so I'm trying not to think about it. Remember "embrace the day!" That's my motto this year. :-)

Enough about me! On to the reason you are here...

This quote applies to so many areas of life!

Practice is necessary to ensure success...whether we are talking about teaching, fitness, or simply just living a certain way. 

We practice teaching methods and strategies to improve in our profession. 

We ask our students to practice...well, everything. 

We practice holding our tongue to keep from saying things we shouldn't. 

We practice controlling our thoughts to keep from thinking the things we shouldn't.

Everything takes practice if we want to get better at it. 

It makes me think that maybe--just maybe--the failure would be in refusing to practice.

Hmmm...thoughts?

Record Keeping Troubles

Well, I always thought that I had a pretty good ok system going on keeping track of who had turned in what work until the other day when I was looking at my spreadsheet.  WOW!!!  It looked like I had what looked like a million check marks.  I was overwhelmed!  It had always worked well for me in the past, but this year I have 22 students and it was showing a lot of check marks.  So, here is what I have done in the past-on an excel spreadsheet I have all the students names listed on the side and up at the top I have all the assignments that have been given for the week.  Once the student has turned it in with no corrections I put a check mark on the assignment by their name.  Every week right now there are about 15 assignments-hmmm... well that would be about 330 check marks if all the students completed the assignments, no wonder I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

I am now on the hunt for a better system to do this record keeping.  Something that will not be so overwhelming.  I need help with this and would love for you to let me know how you keep track of who completes what work throughout the week.  I'm not the best at organizing things so I'm hoping to find a very organized system to do this record keeping.  I look forward to hearing about your system.

Have a great day!

Seriously Random Five for Friday!!! :-)

Happy Friday! 

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs again.

Popping in for a quick post before I go to a football game. My kids play in the pep band. No football players here--my son runs cross country and my daughter plays volleyball.

1. This first one may be the only teaching related picture I have this week...so sorry! I promise we did in fact have a week full of educational activities. Maybe we were so busy and engaged in learning that I forgot to take pictures...maybe. :-)

We are starting this book study at school. 

I'm so excited! I started doing some Whole Brain Teaching methods last year in my second grade classroom and I love it. I'm anxious to learn more about it so I can get better at using it. 

I know that it works with those challenging kids (as the title suggests). This last week, I worked really hard to use some of the methods in music (why I hadn't thought of that before, I have no idea) with THE class. We did "mirror with words" a lot. I used it to teach the key words BEAT and RHYTHM. It worked so well that I am scrambling to find more key words to teach in music. We also did many "ten finger woos" and they ate it up. THE class had the best week in music since I've been teaching them.

2. Last Saturday, my husband and son entered their cars in a local car show. Both of the cars are "unfinished" but I'm so glad they finally entered (hubby has been talking about it for years...like 18 years). He has a 1970 Chevelle with an extreme engine (see below).

My son has a Camaro that he hopes will one day look like the old Bumblebee off of Transformers.

3. I may have sent this picture to one of my K-State fan friends just to show off my new shirt. 

That friend may have responded with:

"Thanks for ruining my computer. I threw up all over the keyboard when I saw the big Jayhawk!"

LOL!

Just to be clear, I do not watch football. Just basketball so I have no idea how the Jayhawks are doing right now.

Also, I cheer on all Kansas schools (even the Wildcats) unless they are playing my Jayhawks.

4. Speaking of Jayhawks, I ordered these nail wraps from Jamberry. Can't wait to sport them during basketball season this year!

 5. And finally, I'm definitely in school-mode. If we are home--meaning no cross country meet, volleyball match, church activity, or something else--I am in bed by 9:00. It is helping me stay dedicated to my morning workouts though! ;-)

Well, that's all I've got for this week! Have a great weekend!

P.S. Bex at Reading and Writing Redhead is having a birthday celebration giveaway. Kristi and I are donating toward the prizes. Be sure to check it out!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Do not be afraid

Welcome to this week's:

How many times does it take for it to sink in that God doesn't want me to live daily fearing or worrying about things?  I would say that 365 times is a lot of times to remind me of this very thing.  Although, I still find myself worrying or fearful of things that are before me.  I need to work on my faith more and listen to this phrase because it must have been very important since it is mentioned that many times in the bible.  

Isaiah 41:10

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Have a great day!