What am I Reading?

So whatever day I am on in the 30 Days of Me is about Fiction and Nonfiction Books.  However, the only thing that I am reading these days has to deal with teaching.  So why not share those!!

This past semester, I taught 1 day a week in a 1st grade classroom.  My mentor teacher introduced me to The Daily 5 and CAFE.  I was hooked.  These books are a teacher's dream!  Gail Boushey and Joan Moser are veteran teachers who were frustrated with teaching to Basals and not seeing their students achieve what they felt they could by the end of the year.  The Daily 5 gives students choices during their Language Arts Block and CAFE gives the students strategies to improve their reading!  It is AMAZING to see implemented in a classroom.  My 3rd grade classroom that I will be student teaching in this fall uses this curriculum.  If you are a teacher, you MUST read these books!  It makes providing differentiated instruction a breeze!  And as an added bonus, The CAFE books provides a CD-ROM of PDF copies of forms "The Sisters" formated and implemented in their classroom.

I am currently reading, Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller.  My mentor teacher that I will be student teaching with told me about this book. In fact, the school will be doing a book study on it this October.  Debbie Miller is an inspiration.  What I love about this book is that she gives real life examples on arranging classrooms.  What you need, what you do not need, what you cannot live without, and how to include your students on room arrangement. I have not finished the book yet, but I LOVE IT!!

Reading with Meaning is also written by Debbie Miller.  I just earned $20 in gift cards at swagbucks.com (Did that catch your attention, check out my button on the blog to learn more!) and I am about to order this book.

I know these 4 books will be attached to me during student teaching and when I land a job.  If you are a teacher and have a book that you cannot live without, let me know!  I am looking into some books on Math strategies in the classroom.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT week so far!!

Catching Up

Ok, so I am going back to my 30 Day Posts.  Man it is hard to get back into blogging after a short break.  But man on man was that break ever so nice!  I think I am going to post 2 days at a time for my 30 Days.

Day 11 is a picture that I have taken recently.  My IRL friend, Allison @ The Story of 5 did a post of an assortment of foods in a muffin tray.  I thought this would be something fun and different for the kids so we tried it out today.

I had the kids waiting in the den while I prepared their lunch.  

They love it when I make a big deal out of the little things in life!

They were so excited with their lunch!

I cut up a pickle in half, turkey, carrots and ranch, 100 calorie cheese, and applesauce.

Would you believe that the carrots and ranch were the first things to go!  

I will definitely do this again.  I have ideas of different things to serve up!

Day 12 is something that tickles your fancy.  

This group of girls crack me up!!  For all Early Childhood/Elementary Ed majors, the semester before you student teach you take a block of classes known as PDS.  It is intense and stressful, but very rewarding.  We formed a great bond and support system to survive the semester!  I miss these girls like crazy and cannot wait to hear their student teaching stories this fall!!  

And Oldie, But Goodie

Day 10 is a picture that was taken over 10 years ago!

This picture was taken before David's Ole South Formal.  I had my hair looking so great that night, but the southern humidity got to it before I walked out of the door.  I really cannot believe that this picture was 10 years ago!!

David is on leave this week and I am not going to be around a computer that much!  I am soaking up every minute with him because next week a big exercise kicks off.  ARGH!!  Hope everyone has a great week!!  We are having a blast so far!!

Snaggle Tooth

Day 9 is a picture that I took.  This is a picture that I took of Tyler last spring!  I LOVE IT!!  She just lost her top front tooth.  I cannot believe what a difference a year makes!!

Always in Our Hearts

Day 8 is a Picture that  makes me sad.

This picture is of David, Tyler, and my father-in-law in July 2005.  We had just bought our first house and David's parents came up to help us move.  November 2007, David's dad suddenly passed away.  David was 27 years old, Tyler was 4, and Landon was 9 months old.

Allen served in Vietnam War and was so proud of David joining the Air Force.  David loved sharing stories from his first deployment to Iraq, TDYs, and things going on at work with his Dad.  He would call him to get tips on how to make his rose bushes grow and any electrical problem that he had stumbled upon.

It makes me sad that David cannot call his Dad and tell him military stories.  It makes me sad that Tyler was so young and we always lived far away from home and she didn't get to spend that much time with her Pop, as she called him.  It makes me sad that Landon Allen will never know his namesake.

But we always talk about him to Tyler and Landon.  Allen LOVED Elvis and Landon has some major Elvis moves.  We always crack up laughing and say that Papa is looking down on us and telling us hi through Landon's dance moves.

I used to always give Allen a hard time for wearing a white shirt.  I swear his wardrobe was a white t-shirt and jeans.  If he was getting dressed up, it would be a colored t-shirt and jeans.  Whenever Landon runs around in a white t and jeans, I can't help but laugh!

This Makes Me Happy

Day 7 is a picture that makes me happy!  Words cannot express how much I love this picture.

This picture was taken the night David got home from his deployment.  The kids were glued to him!  My heart still skips a beat when I see this picture!

The Southern Girl in Me

Today of the 30 Days is Whatever Tickles My Fancy!  So many people would be shocked if they knew this about me.  In fact, I think I was pretty shocked too!  David is a HUGE hunter.  I mean we are from Arkansas, it is what people do!  HE has always wanted to take me hunting and I was like yeah, ok, whatever about it.  Getting up in the wee hours of the morning is not my thing.

This past Thanksgiving, my parents told us they would keep the kids for us and we could go spend the night at the deer camp.  I got pretty excited about it.  Ok, maybe it was a night away with David more than anything.  So David gets all excited about taking me hunting and decides that I need to go shoot my Dad's gun, just in case.  OMG.....talk about a RUSH when I shot the gun!  I was hooked and I was so excited about going hunting.

That night was a blast.  We made s'mores over the camp fire and talked about everything and nothing at all!  WE got up the next morning and before the sun was even out a doe walked up.  As soon as the sun was up, I shot and had my first kill.

I am so sorry if you are not a hunter.  I do not mean any disrespect, but it is for the protection of your car!  

What is something that would surprise someone about you?

I Need Cake

Last summer, David was deployed and my favorite summer show was The Cake Boss.

I am so excited that this show is back on!  I feel like I gain 15lbs just watching it!  HA!  I kept telling David about how much I love this show and he gave me his crazy look and complained when I made him watch it.  Needless to say, he loved it!  Why does he ever doubt me?

So now I am CRAVING a real cupcake or cake from a bakery.  There is nothing around here!  We do not even have a bakery.  Yeah we have the commissary and Wal-mart, but come on!  I was begging David to take me to NYC for graduation or our 10 year anniversary!  Don't I wish!

So today is Day 5 and today's category is your favorite quote.

Tell me and I'll forget

Show me and I may remember

Involve me and I will understand.

-Chinese Proverb

I am planning on having this painted on a canvas and hanging in my classroom!!

Day 4 Favorite Books

This is a dangerous topic for me.  I LOVE to read!!  I especially love children's literature.  I have a good collection started for my classroom and Tyler and Landon's closet is full of books!  Here are some of my favorites:

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I better stop with these books.  I could go on and on and on.  

What are your favorite books?

Day 3 and Our Weekend

We had the best weekend!  I am really loving the ages of Tyler and Landon this summer.  I look back at this time last year and we were getting ready for David's deployment.  This summer is off to a much better start.  We spent the afternoon at the pool yesterday.  It is so crazy to think that Landon would have NOTHING to do with the pool last year.  He would barely stick a toe in it.  This year he is jumping off the side of the pool, loves the kid's pool, and begged to go down the big slides.  He has come so far and we are so proud of him.  I do not have any pictures.  It is so hot and we do not stay with our bag.  I am afraid something would happen to my camera.  

Today we took the kids to see Shrek the, heck I have lost count which one it is.  David and I were hesitant to go see it.  I mean, after so many could it really be that good.  And I am not a big fan of the 3D movies.  They costs so much money and they usually give me a headache.  We decided to go anyways.  I am so glad we did.  It was really cute and the 3D was pretty tame, no headaches!  Now we are counting down to go see Toy Story 3!

So Day 3 of the 30 Days of Me is my favorite TV show.  So here we go:

I am pretty sure that I will go into seclusion when Grey's comes to an end! 

I know that so much of Army Wives is so far from reality, but that's Hollywood for ya!

David and I love watching this show together.  Capt Phil was my favorite and died on my birthday!  I am still very upset by this!

What are your favorite tv shows?

Day 2 Favorite Movies

Today's topic is Favorite Movies!  I have so many favorite movies!!  

I think my all time favorite movie would have to be The Wizard of Oz.

Unfortunately, I could not find a picture or video that would not violate copyright rules.  

So here is a picture of my Dorothy and The Scarecrow.

What is your favorite movie?

Hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC weekend!!!

We have been hanging out at the pool!  Life is GOOD!

Me in 30 Days

I found this on Julie the Army Wife's blog and she got it from here.  Anyways, I thought this would be fun and give me some blogging material.

Day 01 - your favorite song 
Day 02 - your favorite movie 
Day 03 - your favorite television program 
Day 04 - your favorite book 
Day 05 - your favorite quote 
Day 06 - whatever tickles your fancy 
Day 07 - a photo that makes you happy 
Day 08 - a photo that makes you angry/sad 
Day 09 - a photo you took 
Day 10 - a photo of you taken over ten years ago 
Day 11 - a photo of you taken recently 
Day 12 - whatever tickles your fancy 
Day 13 - a fictional book 
Day 14 - a non-fictional book 
Day 15 - a fanfic 
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly) 
Day 17 - an art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.) 
Day 18 - whatever tickles your fancy 
Day 19 - a talent of yours 
Day 20 - a hobby of yours 
Day 21 - a recipe 
Day 22 - a website 
Day 23 - a YouTube video 
Day 24 - whatever tickles your fancy 
Day 25 - your day, in great detail 
Day 26 - your week, in great detail 
Day 27 - this month, in great detail 
Day 28 - this year, in great detail 
Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days 
Day 30 -- whatever tickles your fancy


So here is Day 1, my favorite song.  I really do not think that I can narrow that down, so here are some of my favs!.





Please ignore the corny video! David made sure that I found a video with the best recording. It is a classic, you know!





Once again, ignore the video. There wasn't a code to embed the REMs version of the video! Major sad face here!








David introduced me to this song when we started dating. I had always loved Pearl Jam and was shocked when I had never heard it before. This was my ringtone during David's first deployment.


Man, I could go on and on. David and I LOVE music! I have so many favorites and so many that have a special place in my heart.