Favorite Websites

It's another Monday, which means it's time for another link-up with Miss Monica from I Heart Grade 3.  This week's topic is favorite websites.  Boy, do I have a lot of those.  So, here are a few that I either have used in my classroom in the past or use to plan for my class.

1) GoNoodle - If you are not using GoNoodle yet, you really should be.  It has great brain breaks, as well as activities for indoor recess and exercise.  My students love it and beg to use it over and over.  The best part?  It is free!  Sure there are features you can pay for, but I have never met anyone who has paid for use.  There are no ads, and you can add your own favorite brain breaks from YouTube.  Plus, you class gets to pick a monster that grows with their progress.

2) Starfall - Starfall is great for Kindergarten to grade 2, although parts of it could also be used in Pre-K.  Starfall has sequential basic phonics skills, games, videos, and books.  Plus, it is very interactive whiteboard friendly.  This was my go-to when I had a few extra minutes to fill.  My first and second graders loved it and learned at the same time.

3) Pre-K Pages - This is a great website for preschool and Kindergarten teachers.  It has lots of ideas for centers, sensory play, and art projects perfect for our little ones!  I also follow them on Facebook.

4) Teachers Pay Teachers - While this may sound like self-promotion, I really do love TpT!  I am almost always able to find the resource that I need for either free or at least a lot less than I would spend at the store.

Check out the link-up to find other teachers' favorite websites!

International Literacy Association Annual Conference

Boy, have things been hectic and busy!  I feel like I have barely had a real summer, but school is already starting up again!  I did get some time away for just Pete and I, but much of the summer has been spent preparing for my new adventure in preschool.  I also made sure to take advantage of some professional development.  The International Literacy Association annual conference was in St. Louis this year, so I made sure to go.  Besides being lots of fun, I learned a lot!
The opening general session speakers were Shiza Shahid (cofounder of the Malala Fund) and Shaquille O'Neal.  Believe it or not, Shaq has a doctorate in education and has been writing children's books.  These speeches were mostly motivational, but were very good.
Of course, I went to a bunch of sessions.  I got to learn about oral language development in preschool, early literacy and Kindergarten readiness standards, beginning sight word instruction (with lots of freebies!), and a variety of early literacy strategies.  I also got to attend a panel discussion with 5 children's book authors about their books and writing life.  On top of that, I got free food (and alcohol) by listening to publishers talk about their products.  The best one of these was the Scholastic author breakfast, which included Mark Teague, Dan Santat, Brian Selznick, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Jewell Parker Rhodes.  The authors all spoke about their favorite teachers, and everyone got a good breakfast and a nice tote bag filled with books by each author!
Of course, the exhibit hall is always a great place to spend time while at conferences.  I walked away with around $400 worth of free books and materials.  I may very well buy some things from some of the exhibitors in the future because I was so impressed with their products!  However, I got out of the exhibit hall having only spent $3 of my own money.  (That was to buy a copy of Esperanza Rising to get Pam Munoz Ryan to sign.
The closing general session speakers were Stephen Peters and Octavia Spencer.  I had a really good view of the stage for this session.  Once again, the speeches were mostly motivational, but, once again, very good.
I was very glad I went.  I don't think I will be able to make it to Boston next summer because of the other travelling I will be doing, but I hope to make it in the future!
ILA also kicked off their new literacy initiative at the conference.  There are almost 800 million people in the world who do not have basic literacy skills.  If you want to help with their literacy initiative, you can text LITERACY to 91999.  The official hashtag for social media is #800Mil2Nil.

An Act of Kindness

Technically the topic for the link up with Miss Monica (I Heart Grade 3) for this week has to do with a random act of kindness.  However, I decided to use this opportunity to brag on and give thanks for my former students, parents, and colleagues at Christ Lutheran School and their kindness toward me, even if it wasn't random.  I taught there for the past 5 years.  However, because my husband relocated, I had to leave my wonderful school.

At our end of the year awards night, I received some wonderful surprises.  The first one was a "Giving Tree."  Many of the parents of my former and current students, as well as some of my fellow teachers had gotten me gift cards and put them on a tree.

I also got a plaque for my five years and a music note coat rack in thanks for playing the piano.

The best gift I got was the one that, of course, cost no money, but did take time.  (I still can't believe they got my students to do it without my knowledge!)  Every student in the school wrote me a short note on a heart.  They collected them together and put them in a container.  I read them all when I got home and admit that I cried like a baby.  (For the second time, since I also cried during the awards night.)

I am excited to be starting at a new school this year.  However, I am going to greatly miss the students, parents, and faculty that made teaching at my former school so rewarding.

On another note, the Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School sale starts today!  Everything in my store is 20% off today and tomorrow.  Plus, if you use the code BTS15, you receive an additional discount.  Click on the picture below to get to my store!

Check out the link-up!

My Talents

It's another week and time for another link-up with Miss Monica at I Heart Grade 3. The topic this week asked the bloggers to write about our talents. This is a hard one. While there are many things I enjoy doing that others would call talents, I admit that I don't usually feel that I am talented at them. However, I have picked a few of these.
I love music. I started piano lessons when I was six towards the end of first grade. While I took two and a half years off in middle school (because I simply wasn't practicing), I continued my piano lessons throughout high school (which amounts to almost 9 years of lessons). I really do enjoy playing the piano. Even with nine years of lessons, I am only adequate. Of course, not getting very many opportunities to play for awhile during college and the early years of my marriage did not help my abilities. However, at the school I just left, I was the only teacher who could play piano, so I played daily. We had daily devotions and weekly chapel that involved hymns as well as the service of Matins for chapel. I admit, my piano playing has improved greatly over the past five years due simply to the fact that I played every day at school. While I sometimes was frustrated with having to play (especially when a hymn was giving me trouble), I will miss accompanying my students this year. (Becuase I left, the school got the PTL to buy a recording of all of the music in the hymnal. It cost $700. I apparently am not cheap to replace!)
I also love to sing. With the exception of 1 year in high school and this past year due to living apart from my husband during the week, I have sung in choirs since second grade. (This year I did get a few opportunities to sing with choirs as well.) I especially love to sing more challenging music, especially that of Bach and Mendelssohn. In May, I had the opportunity to sing with Opera Theatre of St. Louis in their Spring Sing event, which was a way to kick off their festival season. For that performance I got to sing with the season's cast, as well as famed operatic talents Christine Brewer and Denyce Graves. It was a lot of fun and a good way for me to get back into singing shape after a year of very little choir time!

Photo Credit: J. David Levy and Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Denyce Graves and Christine Brewer are by the piano.  I am a little harder to spot, but I am there!

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My Favorite Picture

It's time for another link-up!  This post will be short as I have had a crazy weekend at the International Literacy Association conference (more about that later.)
My favorite picture is a painting painted for me by my friend Karen Duke.  It is a painting of Ebenezer, a devotional spot at the camp where we both worked (and where I attended as a camper and also met my husband).  This might be my favorite place in the whole world.  Because of that and the fact that my friend lovingly painted it for me, it is my favorite picture.

Check out the link-up to find other bloggers!

The Best Trip of My Life

Well, it's time for another link-up!  This week's topic is "The Best Trip of My Life."  This topic seems especially timely, as I just got back from a vacation to Ontario, Canada.  While the vacation was wonderful, I cannot say it was the best trip of my life.  I have been very fortunate to be able to visit many places in my lifetime.  My parents viewed travel as important and took us different places every year.  They instilled a love of travel in me, so my husband and I take a real vacation every year.  This means that I have been to some incredible places.  I have been to many (but not all, although it is a goal) of the US states, as well as to 8 foreign countries: Canada, Mexico, Germany, Austria, the UK, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel.  That makes picking my favorite trip quite difficult.
As I was talking about this with my husband, he mentioned the trips I talk about the most: Great Britain (all three times I have been), Austria, and Alaska.  Since I have been to Great Britain 3 times already and would love to go back again, I decided I would pick my last tip there.
My first trip to Great Britain was a family vacation while I was in middle school. The second was on a high school choir tour.  The last time I was there I got to take my husband and see him fall in love with some of the same things I had loved for years.  We started off in London.  I love the Tower of London and the New Globe, while my husband could have stared at old manuscripts in the British Library for hours.  After that, we headed to Stratford-upon-Avon, where we did all of the traditional Shakespeare things.  We also got to see a fabulous performance of Antony and Cleopatra by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  We then headed to York, where we visited Yorkminster (of course), the Jorvik Viking Centre (which I love), and got to do a ghost tour.  Finally, we went to Edinburgh after a detour to Hadrian's wall.  My husband fell in love and decided he wants to retire there.  We stayed in a one-bedroom flat right on the royal mile, a block from Edinburgh Castle, which is one of my all-time favorite castles. There is so much history in Edinburgh, which makes it a great place for us to visit.  One of our favorite finds was Craigmillar castle.  It is a little out of the way.  It is largely a ruin.  It was very quiet when we were there.  It is the kind of castle where they give you the run of the place, so you can take your time and dream and imagine.

We also walked out of our flat one day and into the middle of the dress rehearsal for the installation of the new governor of Edinburgh Castle.  They did the entire ceremony, including the pipe and drum corps.  It was amazing!  While I don't have another trip planned to the UK anytime soon (our vacation destinations are planned through 2020), I do hope to visit again!
Check out the link-up to find other bloggers!

Where I Was 5 Years Ago

Once again, I am linking up with Miss Monica over at I Heart Grade 3.  This week's topic is "Where I Was Five Years Ago."
Five years ago my husband and I were living in St. Louis and getting ready to move to Chester.  We had a signed contract on our first house.  I had just left my job teaching Pre-K and was getting ready for a new teaching job at a small Lutheran school teaching a first and second grade combined class.
My husband had just graduated from seminary and was getting ready to be ordained and installed at his first church.
Five years later we have moved again.  I sadly had to leave my small Lutheran school and am preparing for a job at another small Lutheran school, this time with 3 and 4 year old preschool.  My husband is the pastor at his second church.  We own our second house while still trying to sell our first one.  A lot can happen in five years!


Check out the link-up to find out what other bloggers were doing 5 years ago!