Museum Memories

Yesterday Ry and I took the day and visited Midway Village and The Discovery Center.  We "milked a cow", played make believe, and spent some quality time together.  We even grabbed lunch with Glamma. Good times.

Riley and "Soxanne"

Riley "milking" the cow at Midway Village

She wanted me to milk the cow too.

Riley ruining bacon and ham for me. :)

Working on a car and making Daddy proud. Oops! The muffler goes in back.

Working on a building project with a new friend.

I've heard that when it comes to parenting "The days are long but the years are short."  I'm working on making the most of the moments we do have together. Even if you're not a parent, I hope you'll make the most of your moments this week. :)      

                                                                                                        

"...find the good and praise it."

Hi!
One of my favorite moments from Monday's Inauguration Ceremony came when Sen. Lamar Alexander opened his speech by saying, "Ladies and gentleman, the late Alex Haley, the author of Roots, lived his life by these six words: "find the good and praise it."  It really got me thinking about how I could find the good that was happening around me.  Oftentimes, I get so busy that I forget to take the time to find the good.  I forget to actively seek.  So, here's my quick list of the recent good and my praise of it..

1) This past weekend I spent resting on the couch with Nick and Riley.  We've all had the cold/cough that's been going around.  It was a fantastic, restful weekend. I forgot how nice it was to snuggle in my pjs and watch movies. It's a shame I have to be sick in order to make myself do this. :)

2) I have been blessed with an amazing student teaching experience and guidance from a teacher that has been incredibly supportive.  We have had so much fun! I'm thankful for everyone I had the chance to work with and learn from. What an opportunity!  

3) I got a package in the mail this week from my other mom (Nick's mom) Tammy.  She knew I loved the Happiness Project book and got me the one-sentence journal to go with it.  I have been using it every day because it only requires one sentence. Totally manageable. What a wonderful surprise!

4) I was sad to hear that one of my favorite stores in Rockford was closing. Parable was the store that I loved to visit when I wanted to feel better.  I would browse book title and listen to music. I always seemed to leave with something for our house. It was one of my happy places (Starbucks being another happy place).  Even though I was sad to hear they were closing, I was thankful that they were selling the fixtures from the store.  I ended up buying two revolving book display racks and two of their double-sided book shelves.  To be able to bring parts of my "happy place" with me into a future classroom is something to praise. :)
 *Disclaimer: I don't expect everyone to be as excited about book displays as I am.  Thanks for humoring me!*

5)  This week I learned that "If you do something once and have a great time,  then it should become a tradition."  Words to live by and something I will be practicing. :)

I hope you have a wonderful week and make time to find the good and praise it in your life.

Happy Trailer (Documentary 2012)

Happy Thursday!

It's been a busy few weeks.  Yesterday was the first day back at school after winter break.  It was a fun and fast break for our family filled with lots of family gatherings.

One of the things Nick and I did over break was watch a movie I had downloaded from Starbucks. Starbucks offers a free movie rental, app, or music download each week and right before break one of them caught my eye.  It simply read "Happy".  I downloaded it and on New Year's Eve Nick and I watched it.  The film examines different things people can do to increase their joy as determined by research. According to their data, approximately 50% of a person's happiness is determined by their genetic predisposition. Another 10% is influenced by life's circumstances (finances, health, marriage, etc.)  This leaves another 40% that can be influenced by intentional behaviors.  If there are small things I can do every day to increase happiness I want to do them...don't you?

This is a fascinating topic.  Last year I read the book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and am currently reading Happier at Home by the same author. One of the recommendations from those books that I also saw in this film was to keep a gratitude journal. Write down at least 3 things each week that you are thankful for. When we are mindful of our blessings, we are less likely to complain or feel sad.

If you enjoy documentaries, I would recommend taking the time to watch Happy.  You can visit the website at: http://www.thehappymovie.com/   Here's the trailer:




May you have a day filled with happiness! :)

New Font

Happy Saturday!

I do not think I will land a job in web design any time soon.  It was brought to my attention that it is very hard to read the font I chose for this blog.  So, I went ahead and changed it.  I hope it's easier for you to read! :)

Eric, let me know what you think of this font. :)

New posts coming soon.  It's been a busy break!

Flocabulary - Five Things (Elements of a Short Story)

Hi!
I came across a great You Tube video the other day on Pinterest that I wanted to share. Our class is in the process of writing their own "trickster tale".  Students began by completing a story map to help organize their ideas.  They came up with the characters, setting, plot, and conflict (trick). This video is great because it helps introduce each aspect to the students.  They loved it!

Jacob's here!

Happy Wednesday!

After Thanksgiving there is a special visitor at the Jones house...Jacob the Elf.  He is a mischievous little elf and we love to see what kinds of things he does while we're sleeping.  He started coming to our house two years ago and Riley adores him.  Jacob came with a note from Santa this year.  He told Riley that he's counting on her to teach Jacob how to behave.  The first morning we found Jacob drinking syrup out of a straw!

He's had a "snowball fight" with marshmallows.

 

He's tee-peed our tree.

 

He wrote a note on Riley's bathroom mirror.

He's even drawn on one of our family pictures. 

   

We love having Jacob at our house! He has brought out the kid in all of us. :)

                                                              

Puzzle Maker

Happy Saturday!

One of my projects this semester was to write a technology curriculum for third grade.  We have computer lab time every week and while there are Information & Technology standards, there are not ready-to-use lesson plans. So, I set out to create some.


Yesterday our class had fun creating a word search puzzle using Puzzle Maker on the Discovery Education website.

I created a list of computer terms they needed to include and they plugged them in. The software generates random word searches that we could print and use right away. The students liked that every puzzle came out different even though they all used the same words.  You can choose from word searches, mazes, and cross word puzzles.  It's a fun tool and it's free! :)