Good-Bye Summer 2012 Linking Party

There is a change in the air...Can you feel it? It's getting darker earlier and the calendar says that fall is just around the corner! I'm thinking about all the things I wanted to do, but didn't. It always comes down to this, the last two weeks of summer will be my most fun and most productive! To help me say goodbye to summer, I'm linking up with Peterson's Pad.

The rules are simple:

1. a place you visited

2. a book you read (for fun or for school)

3. something you did or made for your classroom

4. a fun thing that you did

This is the most fun part. Sheree would like you to comment on two linkers before and one after you. I LOVE COMMENTS and leaving them, so I like this idea!!

Ready...Set...Go!

1. A place I visited...

This has been a bit of a boring summer in the visiting department. It's the first summer we didn't go to some National Park. My family loves to travel together and we decided to save up and go to London next summer. My oldest daughter will graduate from college. My son will graduate from high school, and my youngest daughter will graduate from her pre/el/middle school where she has been attending since the age of three! We thought it would probably be the last family vacation we'd be able to take before the kids are scattered around the globe! Not to worry. We live by some pretty awesome parks and we do a bit of hiking when ever we get the chance.

Just a few days ago we headed to our state park and took a hike with the goal of seeing owls. We didn't see any owls but we did see...

2. A book I read...

I've read quite a few but two that really touched me were...

Loved this book study! I got
so many valuable ideas from this
book! Well written and adaptable for
any classroom!

A sweet love story told by
the son of the Clyde!

3.Something I did or made for my classroom: 

I'm working on animals right now to go with my word wall. I'm making two sets. I'll keep one set and give the other away! I'm hosting a giveaway right now. If you'd like a set, you can enter my giveaway!

I'm up to the letter K! I'm going to work on this project as soon as I post...

 

I also finished up some old business.  Any student who earns 100 points in Accelerated Reader gets to pick a friend and come to my house for lunch. I don't push Accelerated Reader, but some of my students LOVE it! One made it to 150, so I finally had her over for lunch last week...

We played games, ate lunch and laughed! I made them each a magnet

to remember the day by. 

4. A fun thing I did...

Helping out at my churches Vacation Bible School was a blast. Seeing students old and new was so much fun. One future student couldn't leave with out coming and talking to me at the end of the evening. I wish I had a picture of him to share or a video of him saying each night, "I hope you have a really great night!" It was precious! I ran the sound and video presentation from the balcony. Working with one of my favorite people in the world leading the kids in the front, I enjoyed every 

minute of our music time.

My view from the balcony

I still have two more weeks to get out there and do something fun! First it's time for one more cup of coffee, one more load of laundry and one more chapter to read in my book...hmmm...That sounds like fun!

Thanks for the Linky, Peterson's Pad!

Back to sChOOL Giveaway!

I am super excited about my new scrapbooking software. I love scrapbooking, but once school starts I rarely have time for it. Because our move sucked all the fun out of summer kind of stretched out over the whole summer, I never got out any of my toys. That's okay...I found a new toy and it's self-cleaning! No scraps, no paper schnitzels, NO MESSES! I don't have to print out my photos even, but I can!

I want you to know that this review is my own. No one told me what to say or not to say. I'm not being paid to review this product. Even though the words may sound professional they are my very own words...I love MyMemories!

I won the MyMemories suite package from a giveaway at Snickety Things. I didn't know how much  I would use it, but I use it a lot. I use it to show off my work and to create different projects as well as to scrapbook! You can export projects as PDFs, jpegs, and PNG files. I have printed 8 by 10s of my projects and created books and shared them electronically. One of my favorite things to do is speed scrap on Sunday nights  from 8:00 until 9:00! Other MyMemories scrappers join together on Facebook to participate and share!


I'm going to show off a couple of things I've done and then give you a chance to win your own MyMemories Suite. You can use all of the digital art you already have from names like Digital Bakeshop, JazzyPatterns, KPMDoodles, MelonHeadz or your own favorite! You can make each project as simple or as complicated as you would like!

You may not want to wait for my giveaway to get you own. That's okay, too! You can use my code to get a discount and help me send two children to college next fall!

Use this code:    STMMMS20473 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make a Difference...Care!

Do you ever sit down to blog hop and start writing a post because you feel so compelled? It is happening to me right now! I want to thank everyone who has said a prayer or left a word of encouragement during these sad days. You have shown me that you care.

You have shown me care as a noun, verb and its synonyms! Thank you. 













For that care I am eternally grateful!

My family and I love this book
This book makes us laugh because the cover looks like my husband at times! He quite often stands this way, but not USUALLY with that look on his face. I call him my Cranky Bear! In this book a sweet little sheep shows care to a bear and it makes all the difference in the world.

Every day we wake up and show care to those around us we are making the world a better place. Sometimes a smile is the care a child needs. Sometimes a hug. Sometimes a word well spoken.  When we show care as a verb and as a noun we make a child's world better and they learn what caring is, too. We all know that experience is the best teacher.

I'm linking up with

 

Thank you again for your kind words, prayers, thoughts! It shows you care!

.

Monday Made it...Owls Of Course! Freebie!

I have been wanting to join
Monday made it for the last ten weeks! FINALLY I am linking up with two things that I have made.  First up is another two of my owls. I just love these little owls and my Cricut cutting mat has a permanent outline of this owl engraved into it! One of these guys is flying to Florida and the other is going to hang outside my classroom door. I'm going back to Joann's to get more of the handwriting scrapbook paper, so I can make more of these owls. 

I blogged about these a few posts back and was happy to send one to my new friend Lauren. She should get it in the mail any day now! I'm using these clocks in my daily schedule display. I can't wait  to take them to school and get them settled in this afternoon.

I teach with an incredible group of teachers. Yesterday at church I was blessed to be able to gather with them and cry, laugh and pray about our student who was tragically taken from us last Thursday. We are praying now for a little girl in serious condition who has received a new heart because of this tragic event. We also pray for the children that will receive new chances to live because of her kidneys pancreas and liver. Life will continue because of her gift. 

I want to do something for my teacher friends to let them know how much I love and appreciate them in my life. Thanks to my favorite Chickadee, I was inspired to create these with my MyMemories software. I wish I could share both of the pages I designed, but I must follow copyright laws! Thank you Laurie for your inspiration. I can't wait to share these at our first meeting. I plan on putting them in  frames. 

The top picture was designed using Christine Smith's design pack called Whooo Loves You available through MyMemories. Click on the bottom picture if you'd like to go to the link. JazzyPatterns is the designer of the clipart. JazzyPatterns has a store on Etsy that I love.

Thanks for hosting 4th Grade Frolics. I needed some prompting today!

Saying Goodbye

How can you help a child make it through the death of another child when you are having a hard time with it yourself?  There are always more questions about death than answers. When it is a child’s friend it makes it even harder.  When it is your own child asking questions you can’t answer it is heart breaking. I believe that what God has prepared for me is better than anything I can even imagine. I believe that when I am in the presence of Jesus my questions suddenly won’t matter or be remembered. I believe that every situation in life will draw us closer to our God or pull us away. Even in my anger, sadness and grief I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that God’s ways are not mine. “The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe.”  1 Corinthians 1:21

This week I lost a special friend. A twelve year old who loved animals, had a sensitive heart for people who were feeling down, a child who loved to laugh has left a mark in my life. Knowing her has brought me more joy than pain, and more laughter than tears. Here sudden death has caused me deep pain and more tears than I’ve shed in a lifetime. I don’t understand, but I choose to hold on to what I do understand. God is in control. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward.” Philippians 3:14

Here are some ways that we can help children cope with death:

Allow children to talk about their feelings. Listen to the stories that they tell about their loved one.

Don’t assume that children understand or view death the same way that you do. We all have different ways of thinking about death based on our own life experiences.

Grieving is a process that is different for each person. Don’t press children to resume normal activities before they are ready.

Help children find ways to express condolences to family or friends of the person that has died.

Allow children to see your own expressions of grief so that they learn it is natural to express feelings of sadness.

I have found this website very helpful for myself in understanding
 how to help my daughter through this difficult time:

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/griefwar.pdf

This book is a great resource to have when helping a child through the grieving process. It allows children to write and draw their experiences and feelings to help them become whole again.

Life is precious. Tonight my friend won’t get to say goodnight to her child. She won’t shake her head because her socks were left stuffed in the couch. Her father won’t call her in from the backyard and kneel beside her bed at night to say prayers. I will and I will treasure the time knowing that we don’t know what a day might bring. I need to tell and show the people in my life how much they mean to me.

Thank you for allowing me to grieve in your presence. I ask that you not leave a comment, but use that time to say a prayer for a family who is feeling torn apart. Please pray for a school that has had their heart broken by sadness.

Boo-Hoo: Final Chapter and Two Free Mini-Posters

I cannot begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed this book study! It has been an eye-opening study and I am coming away with so many great ideas from not only Katie, but also all of you, friends! I have enjoyed all of your insights, encouragement and friendships! Thank you to all of you who made this such a great study. I won't cry because it's over...I'll smile because it happened!

This was probably one of my favorite chapters. I love the predictability of picture books and they bring a certain level of comfort and familiarization to my young readers, as well. I remember quite clearly one of my students stopping me as I began reading a book to ask who the book was dedicated to. Several of her friends nodded in agreement with her question. Yes, they all wanted to know who the book was dedicated to! I paged back to see who it was that the book was dedicated to and read the dedication page aloud as my listeners wondered who that could be. This class was so attune to the  layout and design of books and they taught me about the importance of taking time to notice these important details. Katie says, "Whether they are conscious of it or not, readers respond to the layout and design of texts." Yes! They do! As we study illustration to help young writers we need to make our writers aware of the subtle details illustrators make as they design their pages.


We all do it. Bloggers are visual. We think about how things will look. If I see a blog with lots of text and few pictures, I rarely linger very long unless the subject is of great interest to me or if it is your blog. The way a blogger lays out their page can either draw me in or turn me off. I hope I haven't turned you off, yet! Helping children see possibilities in text/illustration layout strengthens their decision making skills and helps them to keep their pages interesting.
Laurie Keller's books are great illustrations of visually appealing text and illustration.
I had the pleasure of attending one her speaking events, as she lives in the area! She is a wonderful entertainer as well as author and illustrator!
The dedication page is hilarious...

Have your students write dedication pages...It is so heartwarming!

Laurie designs print to convey meaning. (Technique 43!) I love the fonts and colors in the book Do Unto Otters.

Laurie designed a cover that drew me in and highlights all the main characters of the book. I love going back to the cover after reading it to talk about how each character played an important role in this book about manners.

Technique 40:  Designing the Placement of Words and Pictures
Katie recommends that children be taught the vocabulary of page design. This kind of design vocabulary is important for children to understand in many kinds of texts. I have been having so much fun with My Memories software for scrap booking. I have tried using it to make mini-posters and thought that this might be a way to make a visual to teach children these vocabulary words.

Click on either picture to go to Google docs and print your own set! Also available for free for a limited time on TPT!

Thank you everyone for the memories and insights!

Want to see more on this topic? Hop on over to... 
Thanks for hosting, Kindergals!

Vista Mania Mini-Poster Freebie!

Yesterday was a day for me to waste two hours on Vistaprint creating some really sweet items. I saw the offer  on Groupon to buy a certificate for $20 worth $80. I had to check this place out. Off I went with no idea what Vistaprint was. It took me a while to fill my cart with $80 worth of original designs using some of my favorite Digital Bakeshop owls. Yes! I could fall in love with this store. I was all set to check out, so off I went to purchase the certificate from Groupon...You know what I'm going to say, if you use Groupon...SOLD OUT! For about five minutes there was a big black cloud hanging over my head!

Not one to let things get me down for too long, I returned and kept my favorite items in the cart. The deal wasn't as sweet as I had hoped, but at least I was able to come up with some great things for my classroom and for my students.

Ready for the big reveal? Here it is...

This large car magnet will be hung on the door to my classroom. I'll write student's names on the owls.

This small magnet will go home with each student at the
open house we have prior to the first day of school.

I'll wait for a good coupon or deal to print this poster...No moreimpulse shopping for me...this week!

This morning I had to play with my newest toy.  Digital Bakeshop's Hoots and Tweets Back to School. I love these owls and look at the poster that is saved in my porfolio:

If you would like a copy for yourself you can get one HERE Google Docs or find it free at my TPT store. Thank you for following along! 



Haven't seen Vistaprint? Check it out and sign up for e-mails to get great deals and free stuff!


Need more reasons to love Vistaprint? I'm headed over to link-up and check out other Vistaprint creations. A fellow Michigander is hosting this party, and I love to party!