For a Sweet Little Girl

I came across a blog today about a sweet little girl named Avery.  She suffers from a rare genetic disorder.  It is such a moving story, and so courageous for her parents to choose to celebrate her in this way.  As I look towards the years in my life where my husband and I hope to become parents, I am so grateful for families like this who share their stories to educate and help other hopeful parents.  Please support Avery and her parents, and get the word out about SMA.

Canahuati Family thank you for your bravery and sharing your journey.  May God bless you and keep you all.  You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Here is the link to the blog:
http://averycan.blogspot.com/

I'm thinking BEACH!

Hello  friends,
It has been quite a busy few days and I have not been able to write you!  I don't know about you but I often find my mind wondering to the beach these days.  With the 80 degree weather, sunshine, and the fact my husband put my hammock up for the season....it is really hard not to go on mental vacays!

Anyways- in keeping with the beach idea I found some treasures at the Target dollar section....you know the one my husband says, "it's not a dollar section when you spend 50 dollars."  Yep that one!  So during my language lesson we use phoneme drill cards/flash cards and have the students trace the letter three times in cursive while saying the sound.  Well to spice it up a bit I took a math beach ball idea and made it into a language idea.  On the ball I put all of the sounds they had learned this year.  Then we take turns tossing, shooting, etc. the beach ball and whatever two graphemes/letters your thumbs land on you have to give that sound.  If it has multiple sounds, for example y that says /y/, /e/, and /i/, they have to give all three sounds.  Of course you then have those times when the thumb isn't exactly on a letter.....just choose the closest one.  Here is what it looks like:

Also in the dollar section, I found a set of plastic horseshoes.  I set these up and have the kiddos break into teams.  I quiz them on a spelling pattern, rule, etc.  If they answer correctly they get to throw their horseshoe.  Pretty cheap ways to have fun and chances to get OUTSIDE!!!! Here is a picture of them:

Anyways hope you enjoy!

Candi : )

Back in the routine....

Well last week and today was Spring Break.  I actually held to the promise to myself of doing absolutely nothing work related. So instead I was able to organize my house, ok I'll be honest parts of my house. My 3 year anniversary was this week too, so as one of his presents I organized what my husband calls the "knife drawer."  You see I hate having stuff sitting out on the counters.  He has tried to buy cutesy little utensil holders for the countertop, but I just can't do it.  Instead I put (he says cram) all of them in one drawer.  It drove him crazy.  I went to Target and bought the ridiculously overpriced drawer organizers and went to work.  When he came off I proudly showed off the new and improved utensil and knife drawer to which he was amazed and thrilled.  You see my husband and I can be both CDO (you know the saying-like OCD except the letters are in order as they should be) and complete slobs and we never seem to be on the same schedule with it.  But who knew organizing a few knives would make his day.  Anniversary gift = check.  Lame I know- but I also got him a new tie and a Woolrich jacket.

Now that I am working on getting back in the routine....yikes....tomorrow may be harder than I thought, I found a couple of photos I wanted to share...and no it's not the knife drawer.

Just as I have my students track with a pencil or finger as they are reading text, I also have them use the tracking strategy for mathematics.  This brings their attention to the numerals, helps them read the numerals from left to right, and also helps in determining which numeral is in what place.  If the student is able to read the numeral correctly...for example- "fifty-four" ....they can hear themselves say "fifty" and know there are 5 tens.  

Just a tip from my classroom to yours.

Have a great week!

Candi : )

Easter = Love

 God showing his unconditional love towards mankind. What a wonderful gift! I invite you to come or watch via internet to one of these great places of worship:

http://newspring.cc/

http://mudcreekchurch.org/

God's greatest blessings to you all!  Happy Easter!

Candi : )