Happy Ground Hog's Day

Hello, Happy Ground Hog's Day 2009!

I seem to be averaging one post a month. I wish I had the extra time to post more often. Ground Hog's Day is always a lot of fun to talk and read about at school. To find out what whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow today visit the offical website at www.groundhog.org Who knows maybe spring will be just around the corner - yeah! You can also find interesting facts and activities at
http://www.dgsweb.state.pa.us/CMSUploads/groundhog2009/index.html


This past weekend I attended an ISLMA (Illinois School Library Media Association) meeting in Tinley Park near Chicago. The meeting was for the Monarch Reading Award committee. For more information regarding this reading program and other Illinois State reading programs, including the newest one the "Bluestem" Award, visit the website at http://www.islma.org/grants_awards.htm

At the meeting we narrowed down the list of 50 book nominees to the 20 for the 2010 Monarch list. This was a very educational experience for me as I have never been on this committee before. Each member had to present a book review on one of the titles and then we all discussed the pro's and con's of the book. We discussed the story line, theme, illustrations, use in the classroom, appropriate age level of the reader, etc... There are many useful activities on the Monarch website for using the books in the classroom. The students at school are currently voting for their favorite book for 2009. The winner will be announced in March.


http://craigswarehouse.com/blog/ - This website has a lot of seasonal ideas, crafts, etc. on it.

Christmas Eve and Minnesota Vacation

We spent Christmas Eve 2008 at my parent's house. All of my relatives from my mom's side of the family were there (the Keller's, Noll's and the Fruth's).

This is my youngest niece C3 who is 2. She is so cute with her red curly hair. What a character she is.

At the right, are my aunt and uncle with their grandchildren. It was great to see everyone there.

L1 spent Christmas Eve at her father's house in Missouri. (Her cousins really missed her.)

We had a spread of delicious appetizers as well. I made Brie' cheese with pecans and brown sugar on top. I wrapped it in filo dough first and then baked it. There was bacon wrapped livers (my brother and sister-in-law made) which are always delicious. My cousin's wife makes a great buffalo chicken wing dip that is awesome. My aunt brings lots of different cookies, date balls are my favorite. I will include some of these recipes in a future post.

Santa also made his special visit to my parent's house on Christmas Eve. The kids were sooooo excited about this. He always brings the kids a treat. We really appreciate it.
(Thank you so much Santa and Mrs. Claus!)

L1 came home on Christmas day. She had been gone a week and we really missed her. L2 couldn't stand it any longer and we opened our gifts from Santa and each other. L1 got a neat suede/fur handbag with bath goodies in it. She got new clothes, boots and snow pants to use in MN.

L2 got a toy rifle. When he sat on Santa's lap at the Lion's Hall, all he asked for was a gun. Santa replied, "You'll shoot your eye out kid!" Hee! Hee! (Mom tipped Santa off about that one.) L2 said, "NO! Just a toy gun Santa!"He also got another V-Smile controller so he can play games together with Sissy now. He got the Cars V-Smile game and some new movies for the long car ride up north. Mom got a new food processor and Dad got a guitar song book and some music CD's.

We left the day after Christmas for Duluth, MN. We stayed at Grandma Walker and Papa John's house for a few days. My sister and brother-in-law came down and we got to spend the afternoon with them on Saturday. L2 got a timber building set and a silver piggy bank.
He loved both gifts. L1 got a lot of neat baking things in a cool basket, lip gloss and a make up kit.

Unfortunately, Papa John was sick most of our trip and we hope he is feeling better soon. He was planning on taking his sled dog team on a trip next week across Canada to Maine and run them at different points along the way. We hope he gets well enough to travel there.

L1 may write her Young Author's story about Papa John's dog team this year. She interviewed him and asked a lot of questions about the dogs and what it is like to drive a team. While S and I were in Alaska we got to see the Iditarod headquarters in Wasilla, AK. In a future post I will talk a lot about the famous Iditarod Dog Sled race that takes place there every year in March. The dog's names from left to right are: Dawson (the lead dog), Schubert , Foxy, Togo, and Taz.

Layne's favorite dog is Schubert. It takes a lot of harnesses to hook them up to the sled!

The kids got to ice skate at Congdon Park Elementary School (where S went to school as a kid). We also visited a closed ski run and had fun sledding down the ski slopes at night. In Grandma Walker's woods, L1 and I made a snow house in the creek bottom. We had two separate rooms and a roof overhead of tree limbs.

We dug out the snow and made a 200 yard bobsled trail that took us all the way down the hill to the snow house. What a fast, wild ride it was and we ended up riding the last turn on the edge of the sled (see picture below of us actually coming down the hill). Even though it got down to below 0 outside, we didn't feel it. It is a dry cold there. We had a lot of fun playing in the snow!



New Year's Eve 2009 was spent in Minneapolis at the Mall of America. This was L1's dream come true. She has wanted to go there ever since she watched the Mary Kate and Ashley movie.



There was an American Girl doll store. L1 found some things (below) that she would like to have for her birthday in February.


Of course we found a doll that looked a lot like her and a lot of baking things to go with her.


L2 and Dad loved Leggo Land. They played there for quite awhile. This was amazing to see. Everything was built out of millions of Leggos. The dinosaur, robot and motorcycle rider were completely made of Leggos.



We all had a great time riding rides. L2 went on a big roller coaster for his first time. It was called the Orange Crush. We loved it so much we rode it twice. We were lucky he is 43" tall. For all the fun rides you had to be at least 42" tall so he just made it! L1 made a few new friends there.


L1 and L2 rode the ride Swipper's Sweeper (yellow car #2 if you can see them in the video below) in the Nickelodeon theme park. It went around the corners really fast. It looks like you would get whiplash!



We all got Hawaiian leis to wear for the New Year's celebration. They "dropped" a huge glowing ball and hundreds of balloons at 10:00pm for all the kids to enjoy.

We also went to the acquarium in the Mall of America. It was really cool. You stand on a moving "sidewalk" and the glass is all around you and over head. You can see sharks, stingrays and other fish swimming right over you. We also saw an octopus. There was a play area where the kids could climb through a ship. This was a really neat experience for all of us. The shark picture below is only a background picture but looks really real!


The live coral reef was totally amazing to see. The fish were just beautiful in it. The kids couldn't believe that the coral was actually a living being. The seahorses were fun to watch as well.


The kids got to pet a live shark and stingray. L1 enjoyed petting them but L2 was not ready to do this yet. He just watched everyone else do it (see video clips below).

We RODE out the new year by staying up until midnight in the hotel room watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin'Eve on T.V. Then the kids ran in the hall shouting happy new year with all the other kids on our floor. Then they crashed hard!!

On New Year's Day we went to Uncle Dick's house and saw all of the Crouser cousins (see pictures of them below). I hadn't seen them in years. It was a great visit and we got to watch some home movies of all of them as kids.

We had a great time spending this trip with our little treasures!

Christmas Break 2008 - I'm posting from Duluth, Minnesota

Well, It has been quite awhile since I posted to my blog. I knew this was going to be hard for me to keep up-to-date with everything else I have going on in my life at this time. I think I am going to have to keep it as a personal blog vs. a professional blog. I will, however, keep updating my weblinks to help students, parents and teachers with reading resources. You may also go to my link at furl- http://www.furl.net/my/groups Here you can keep up with the links I am saving and organizing. The two groups I have created are called "ElemReadingTeachers" and "YoungAuthors". The other one I contibute to is called "Libraries".

My family is spending part of Christmas break in Duluth, Minnesota with my husband's family. The kids are enjoying sledding, skiing and ice skating. We are also spending New Year's Eve at the Mall of America in Minneapolis with Scott's cousins. I will upload photos when we get back from our trip. I hope everyone is having a great holiday! More to come soon!

Beginning a Blog

Hello,

I am beginning a blog site as a requirement for an online course I am taking. I never thought I would actually find myself blogging but here I go....

I am hoping this blog will help parents, teachers and students become more knowledgeable about the reading program we use in the Triad School District where I teach. This is my nineteenth year of teaching and my eleventh year as a Title I/reading support program teacher. I have taught in several school districts and have been in the Triad School District for over ten years. (http://www.triadunit2.org/education/district/district.php?sectiondetailid=1) My current assignment is at Silver Creek Elem. School which just opened this year in Troy, IL. Click here for demographic information - http://tinyurl.com/5vj2xe .

We just held our fall parent teacher conferences. As a result of them, I thought it would be worthwhile to create a blog to help answer reading questions and direct parents, teachers and students to websites that are fun, as well as provide practice with reading and language arts skills. I would like your help when it comes to updating this blog.

What helps YOU when dealing with struggling readers, as well as advanced readers??

What would you like to see added to this blog in the future??

I want this to be a safe place for sharing concerns about your reader or child. I will not personally have all the answers to your questions, but I do have a lot of professional colleagues and resources where we can try to provide some. Hopefully, other reading educators and parents out there will begin to share what works for them as well. Since I am just beginning with this blog, I will try to update it as often as I can. I will shoot for weekly updates to begin with.

I have an eleven year old daughter, L1, who is in sixth grade this year. This is also her first year of middle school. She says she enjoys reading, has a ton of books at home to choose from, yet I still find myself saying, "Why don't you go read a book!" She has to work hard as a reader to keep herself reading on level. She was in the Title I reading program in first, second and third grade. (Title I reading services in our school district end in third grade.) I was her reading teacher for two of those years which was a fun experience and a bit of a challenge. (Just ask me if she wanted to read with me when we got home in the evenings!!!) She is also not a big "risk-taking" sort of kid which I will explain in a future blog.

I have a 3 and 1/2 year old son, L2. He is in his first year of preschool. Our school district started a staff preschool for the teachers this year. It has been wonderful. He is in the same school building with me, right down the hall. He loves reading! He begs me to read several books to him each night and throughout the weekend. He loves getting on the computer to practice his A,B,C's and listen to stories. Two of his favorite websites are "Starfall" and "Raz-kids" (See my student links area). He is a big risk taker in more ways than one. I will share stories about him in future blogs.

How do you think taking risks relates to becoming a successful reader?

I will share some of my experiences with you on their "roads to literacy" as they are both unique individuals. Hopefully, from my parent point-of-view, you can also relate to what I have gone through and what I am currently experiencing while helping them become literate children.

This may not look like much to you but I have been working on creating this new blog site and my first post for over three hours now. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Readingmom