Indy Zoo!

We took advantage of a long weekend and went down to the Indy Zoo! It's not bad...a little pricey, but definitely an all-day experience! We got to feed a giraffe, pet a shark, and if we had the energy we would've raced a cheetah. :) Definitely got me on an animal kick--I bought 20 books about animals from Goodwill this morning! :)

4th of July!

We got lucky and got to bring some kiddos from our church downtown to watch fireworks, eat too much junk, and play with sparklers. Very laid back and fun! I think holidays are just sooooo much more fun with kids. They get excited about everything!

Cerene's Wedding!

I'm a little late about posting these pics, and I will hopefully have some better ones to scrap with once the three family/friend photographers get some in for her, but here are some pics from my little sister's wedding! 

June 29th, 2013

Happy Hollow Park

President Ellis officiating

The kids were the only wedding party...sooo cute!

It rained. Lightly, but constant. We had prayed for better weather, but in the end it was actually super romantic and perfect and sweet, especially since it was a very intimate and casual wedding with just a short ceremony and then a family barbecue afterwards. 

Their story is sooo sweet, too. Best friends and next door neighbors all through childhood. Childhood sweethearts, too--we used to play wedding all the time. :) Went their separate ways, had some kids, then timing worked out and they met back up with each other and fell in love all over again. And for good. It's a great love story. And he is adopting Caida, so she will finally have a dad! God is good.

Grandpa Hall walked her down the "aisle"; she had to hobble a little because of her recent foot surgery, but guess what? No one cares! She was so happy.

My mom cried. 

My dad came.

It was a simple, good day! I wish every wedding were so laid back! It really helped the focus to be on them, not on the decor or the money, just the family they were creating. *Happy sigh*

Welcome to the club, little sister! And welcome to the family, Casey!

Sisters!

More teaching stuff...and a birthday board freebie!

Just a few more pics I feel like sharing; these aren't as LEGO-y, either, so they may be of some use to another teacher. :)  I'm slowly, SLOWLY getting there.  Can't believe I only have about a month left until I start!

When students leave the room for speech, resource room, etc., they'll have to leave one of these on their desks first--it'll help me see at a glance who is out!  (You think you remember these things but it changes every day, and once you get into a rhythm...)  The only exception is the bathroom--they'll put the boy/girl hand sanitizer on their desks instead.

My "how we get home" board...with clothespins bearing each student's name on the appropriate circle (bikers/walkers, car rider, bus, after-school activity...)  I liked this idea because it was easily changed out from day to day. Downloaded it from HERE.

My "rate yourself" stoplight exit ticket board.  Gotta laminate it still...but basically, when we learn about something, I can then have the kids take out a mini post-it and put their name on it, along with rating themselves on how well they know it--if green, then explaining/performing it well; yellow, asking a question to clarify something; or red, they really don't get it and need extra help.  Self-evaluation is really important to me.

I also made up this birthday board.  Saw something like it on Pinterest but it wasn't free.  Mine isn't as cute, but it's a little more neutral and I'm offering it as a free download to anyone who wants it.  :) Gotta thank Connie Prince for the digiscrapping kit I used to make it (Go!Go!Go!). It's made to be a 16x20 poster, which Walmart will print off for you for about $13, but an 11x14 has almost the same ratio and works just as well for half the price.  You choose what's best for you.  :) When you frame it, it becomes dry-erase, which is awesome for the classroom.  Or, you could just add family birthdays in Sharpie.  OR, if you're tech-savvy, you could add text to the image before printing.  Lots of options.

DOWNLOAD HERE!

Still working! :)

Just some school stuff I've been working on today

ASL signs--so I don't interrupt dialogue by mistaking a permission-seeking question for a meaningful comment. :)

Quote bubbles. They'll go in 8x10 frames and be used to record the funny and insightful things my students say, dry-erase style, behind my desk. :)

Writing process poster--will be laminated, and clothes pins with names will be moved around during writers workshop. :)

I also made up my reading logs/fluency pages, OhMyGoodness! Other things that aren't interesting if you're not a teacher. :) Maybe I'll do a post on those things some other time. I'm just excited that things are finally coming together, slowly as it may be. :)