Celebrate 9/13

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I have all kinds of celebrations this week, big and small. 

Wednesday was our 15th wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it has been that long! We actually went out to celebrate last Friday night. I had a Groupon for a fun restaurant, The Melting Pot. It was a neat experience eating fondue for dinner and we really enjoyed the food, but I was really glad we had the coupon.  That place is sooooo expensive! Anyway, we have had our ups and downs, our challenges and our easy times, and I am glad I have such a great man to share my life with. 

We made shrinky dink magnets for the classroom. I am so excited about these magnetic boards! I got the idea for the magnets from one of the articles on Choice Literacy by the Two Sisters. My students loved the magnets and wanted to take them home. I see another shrinky dink project in our future...

My students have done a stellar job of working up their stamina for independent reading. We started at 3 minutes and built up from there each day. There are a lot of kids in my class who are very easily distracted so I am pleasantly surprised that they were able to get to 30 minutes in just 2 weeks. Sorry for the blurry picture.

I read Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson with my students while making a "reading salad" to mix together text and thinking. The idea for this lesson on Metacognition came from Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor. It worked so well and my students wanted to do it again with the next read aloud we did. 

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a big hit and my Judy Blume basket is empty because students are reading her other books for independent reading time.

I started using GoNoodle for brain breaks throughout the day. It is a really cool resource and my 4th grade students are loving it!

I spent Wednesday and Thursday nights helping a group of staff members to finish setting up their grade books online. It is quite a cumbersome process because of the way our district wanted it set up so I knew people would need more help. I was there until 6:30pm both nights and we got it done for most people. The celebration for me is the positive energy sent my way from these colleagues that are so appreciative of my patience and willingness to help out.  

Tuesday I started a yoga class. I have been wanting to go to do yoga somewhere and just had not put my butt in gear to get there. This Yoga class for people with MS is a ten week class and it came along at just the right time. I also got up early on Monday and Wednesday to do my exercise bike before getting ready for work. I am happy I got some movement in this week.

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!