Wisdom for Wednesday - The Battle (Take Two)

Hello there!

As I was thinking about the Wisdom post for this week, I kept thinking of how wonderful it feels this week to be less busy.

You may remember we had state volleyball on Friday and Saturday. We finished 4th in the state (not quite what we had hoped for, but still an amazing season with a 40-5 record). I have the next couple weeks off of practice before basketball starts up. I know--I'm crazy! But I enjoy coaching as much as I do teaching! It is just the "busyness" that it creates that sometimes makes me feel a little overwhelmed.

Anyway, back to the Wisdom…these thoughts of "relaxation" reminded me of an old favorite post (originally shared on May 6, 2015) and I just had to share it again.

Just as before, it speaks to me not just about the "work" we do for the Lord, but also the stuff of life. The things that distract us from our relationship with the Lord. 

This year, I have really tried to remain focused on the things of the Lord. No matter what the day--or my class (ha!)--throws at me, I want to be ready to face Jesus Christ at any time. 

The things we do here on this earth are important. They are necessary. However, my relationship with the Lord is most important!

Do I live like it?

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the week. Friday is coming! ;-)

Fall Parties!

Today, we had our Fall Party at the end of the day.  The kids had a lot of fun.  They started off by putting their hands into some boxes and feeling inside of them.  One was supposed to be eyeballs and it had watermelon in it and another one was supposed to be hair and it had hay in it.  Some of their facial expressions when feeling some of the stuff was just priceless.  

Then they got to eat a lot of yummy treats, including dirt and worms (chocolate pudding, oreos and gummy worms).  They had a lot of fun!

 I hope you had a great day!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Drifting Away

Welcome to this week's:

Isn't this just the cutest picture?  I know you are probably thinking what does this have to do about any type of wisdom??  I've seen lots of pictures of sea otters like this and I was curious why they hold hands so I looked it up.  It says that they will hold hands while they sleep so that they don't drift away from each other. It made me think about how we need to be holding on tight every day to God just like this so that we don't drift away from him.  When we drift away from God it is usually a slow and steady process and doesn't just happen over night.  We may at some point realize that we have been pushing God away instead of running toward him and holding on tightly to him.  So when I see these cute creatures it reminds me that I need to be holding on tightly to God and his word so that I don't drift away from him at any time.  

Have a great day!

Parent Teacher Conferences Week

This week will be our first parent teacher conferences for the year.  In the past I had found some neat ideas to add to conferences.  The first one that I liked, I found at What the Teacher Wants.  It is a kid's personal grade card.  I found it very interesting to see how each kid felt they were doing in a variety of areas.  Here is what it looks like:

 

The second thing that I found that I liked was just something to give out to the parents at the conferences.  It gives a lot of websites that the kids can go to and work on various academic areas.  I found this very helpful especially since we are living in a technology world.  I found this at Mandy's Tips for Teachers:

 

 

It also includes websites to help with math, spelling and grammar.  It is a great resource.

 

How do you do your conferences and have you added anything that you found helpful to your parent teacher conferences?  I would love to hear about them. 

 

Hope you have a great day!

Five for...Well, Sunday!

Good morning!

We had a short school week last week with an inservice on Friday and then we will have another short week this week with PT comp day on Friday. 

Anybody else feel like short weeks are longer??? 

I don't know if it is because I'm trying to cram so much in or what the deal is, but I'm always completely confused what the day it actually is (my kiddos corrected me at least five times on Thursday for saying Friday) and completely exhausted by the end of the week! Ha!

Anyway, let's jump in to this week's photos for the Five for Friday linky from Kacey at Doodlebugs Teaching.

1

Last week, we reviewed telling time to the hour and half-hour. This week, we'll work on telling time to the five minutes. Games and practice pages from our Telling Time Mega Pack make planning easy! :-)

2

I also introduced the kids to Showbie this week for the first time. I love this app! While I don't go completely paperless in second grade (I think it is still important for them to learn how to WRITE on paper), I do like to put things on Showbie that are good review but simple enough they seem like a waste of copy paper!

3

Our math games from Dealing with Math Homework from Teacher's Clubhouse are always a hit. We practiced this new one and they loved finding the missing addends!

4 and 5

 Yesterday, was regional cross country for my son and then we rushed back for sub-state volleyball for my daughter (and the team I help coach). My hubby was ready to make a quick wardrobe switch to support them! ;-)

The entire cross country team PR'd! It was great to see them run well. My niece will move on to the state meet next weekend.

The volleyball team won their sub-state tournament, taking their record to 38-2. We will play in the state tournament next weekend. Here's a picture with a bunch of the fans that showed up to cheer us on (my daughter is #14). :-)

Have a blessed Sunday and a great week!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Strengthen Thou Me!

I just love reading and studying the book of Psalms! There is so much encouragement to be found there.

As you may know, I'm currently attempting to memorize the 119th Psalm, so I am meditating on those verses a lot and our Wisdom post is taken from there. 

This verse was part of the passage I was memorizing last week. 

I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and discouraged about things at work*. I had been working on this passage for a few days when it hit me (call me a slow learner - ha!). God was giving me the encouragement I needed. It was right in front of me the entire week! This verse is the reminder I need that I am not alone and I do not have to "do it" alone. God is with me and He wants to be my strength!

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psalm 18:1-2

*PRAISE - We were finally able to hire a special needs para to help with our caseload and more help is on the way! The last two days have been so much better for my students and me!

Sight Word Fun!

We have been drilling our first 9 weeks sight words and I'm happy to say that the majority of my students passed this 9 weeks!  YAY!  They were even more excited because my co-teacher found these cool pinwheels on clearance at Wal-Mart.  If they could read all of their sight words in 2 1/2 minutes then they earned one of the pinwheels.  You would have thought that they had got a million dollars.  They were thrilled and mesmerized by these pinwheels.  

They were so excited about these things!  Now, to figure out what they can earn for the 2nd nine weeks sight words.  Any ideas?

Have a great day!