True Friendship

1.) When you are sad, I will jump on the person who made you sad, like a spider monkey hopped up on Mountain Dew.
2.) When you are blue, I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3.) When you smile, I will know you are plotting something I must be involved in.
4.) When you are [...]

Happy Valentine’s Day/Anniversary!, Part 2

Ricky & Annette w/my niece Tiffany as the hostess.

Happy Valentine’s Day/Anniversary!

Today is my anniversary. It is also the day of my annual Valentine’s Day party that simply everyone wants to attend. Here’s some pictures of past Valentine’s Day parties.
These are the tables that I rented in my dining room. There are three of them. So, I was able to host four other couples-Ricky & Annette, [...]

Getting ready for my party!

I am getting ready for my big Valentine’s Day/Anniversary party tomorrow. I rented the tables earlier. They will be delivered shortly. I have this little theme going on- my colors are red, black, or pink. So, there will be one red table, one pink table, and one black table, with the chairs and the chair [...]

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Hello everyone! Good morning! Good morning! Good morning. You know what today is. The day for lovers. It is also my 10th Wedding Anniversary. So Happy Anniversary to me!
I usually have this big shindig where I move the table chairs out of my dining and go out all. I rent 3 round tables and 12 [...]

Scholastic Treasury of Storybook Classics

I just bought Scholastic’s Treasury of Storybook Classics. There are 16 DVDs with 100 stories of beloved classics.
There are so many stories in there. I have most of the books in the collection, but I have been on a quest to buy all the books in there. I am using this as a teaching resource.
For [...]

Handwriting worksheet generator

When I was subbing a couple of weeks ago, one of the teachers that I was working with had these handwriting worksheets that I thought were so cute. She bought the program at Lakeshore. This, however, is better. It’s free! That’s right up my alley. If you would like to create your own custom [...]

A picture of Moriah!

My little sister just gave me a picture of Moriah. Did I mention that I helped deliver her? Isn’t she one of the most beautiful little girls you’ve ever seen? Look @ all that hair. She looks just like my little sister when she was a baby. When my little sister goes out, people always [...]

Dolch sight words!

What are Dolch sight words? The Dolch Word List is a list of frequently used words compiled by Edward William Dolch, PhD. The list was originally published in his book “Problems in Reading”, The Garrard Press, 1948. Dolch compiled the list based on children’s books of his era. The list contains 220 “service words” that [...]

BOB books by Bobby Lynn Maslen

**This review is a bit long, but worth it. So bear with me; especially if you have a child learning to read.
I signed up to preview the BOB books @ momcentral.blogspot.com in July. I didn’t know what they were, nor had I heard about them, but since I was trying to teach Phillise how to [...]

Mommy, I’m writing a post!

I was writing a post when Phillise went to get her Barbie laptop and informed me that she was going to write a post also. Of course she can’t type, especially not a post. The laptop isn’t real, but it’s so cute that she thinks that she can and she is going to try [...]

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran

I know that this picture is big, but bear with me. It had to be large to show the detail. Just look at the book and use your imagination. Are those sticks or are they horses used to gallop around as they fight to slay the mighty dragon? Those are some of the questions that [...]

The ABC’s of first year teachers

I found this on a website: www.education-world.com
THE ABCs FOR FIRST YEAR TEACHERS

Admit your mistakes — and learn from them.
Be firm but flexible.
Communicate with parents.
Develop a homework policy — and stick to it.
Empower your students; don’t just lecture to them.
Find time to attend after-school events.
Get to know all the teachers in your school and make [...]

Attention: Job Opening

Attention all women, there’s a job waiting for you. It will be the hardest job you’ve ever loved; but you will love it. Here’s the job description:
POSITION :
Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Ma

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often
chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and
organizational skills and [...]

So creative!

My little girl is so creative!
She made this creation out of pennies and different coins lying around the house all by herself.

I’m creative and her grandmother is an artist, so she’s definitely a natural. I am so proud of her. Whenever she wants to do something, she does it. If she asks me to do [...]

Graduation 2007

It’s official. My baby has graduated from high school. Here are some pix. Enjoy!

This was such a cute picture of us that I just had to post it.

Sam, Auntie Camille, Dakota

Me, Phillise, Phillip, Camille, Sam, Dakota & David

Confessions of a crazed Post-A-Holic

For all my fellow post-a-holics out there, there is help. I went to my very first Post-A-Holics meeting yesterday. Here is an actual transcript of my recent visit.
Me: Hi! My name is Leila and I am a crazed post-a-holic.
Group: Hi, Leila!
Me: Today is my 76th post in a month and a half. Sometimes I post [...]

Prom 2007 update

 
 
 
 
 
Hey, I just left everyone hanging about Sam’s prom. Here are some of [...]

My personal promise

 
First and foremost, I promise to make my classroom a place of refuge, a safe haven, a place for them to feel comfortable.
I promise to treat them as if they were my own. (Yes, this is a good thing.)

I promise never to embarrass them or make them feel ashamed.

I promise to do the [...]

Baloney (Henry P.)

I wrote a post, Not the besta’ of Scieszka, reviewing John Scieszka’s book, Henry P. Baloney. As you will recall, I felt like something was missing from the book. However since my opinion isn’t the one that matters, I felt that I needed to rethink my post.
Well, after writing my review, I started thinking [...]

Blog nog

This thing called a blog is so intoxicating. It is so addicting. Like any drug or mood altering substance, more is required.
I find myself checking my blog and feed stats excessively. I find myself re-reading my posts and congratulating myself on how cute, original and/or good they were.
Well, what do you know? I actually [...]

Make it fun! Part 2

Here is another cute little website that I use at school. It’s great. The website is very child-friendly and is easy to navigate around. It teaches stuff like chunking, which is basically breaking the words into little chunks to make them more manageable.  It also teaches the long vowels and short vowels. Learning all of [...]

Tongue-in-cheek parent letter

 
As y’all know, I am trying to do as much as I can while I get ready to get ready for my first year of teaching. One of my things that I want to do is compose a parent letter to introduce myself, let the parents know what to expect, to get contact information, etc., [...]

To die for

I was so lucky. About three weeks ago, on one of my weekly trips to Michael’s, I got my heart’s desire. Imagine how happy I was when I saw that Sizzix’s personal die-cutting machine & the accompanying die-cuts were being retired so they were on sale for 60% off.

Now let me just tell you, I’ve [...]

Educational quotes

I love it when I find a quote that takes the words right out of my own mouth. In my earlier article, I stated that I want to be a victim of my own success. Well, I found the perfect quote that says just what I was thinking. It sums up my teaching philosophy perfectly.
A [...]