Sisters

Oh how I love these ladies. They are some of my bestest friends. We laugh together, cry together, and even fight once in awhile. But I know they have always got my back in whatever situation I find myself in. They have been loyal supporters in everything my family has going on recently.

At Natalie's sealing we tried to recreate a favorite photo from her wedding four years ago.

Just keep swimming

That Dory sure knew what she was talking about. Her advice to Nemo is timely and has been my mantra for the past six months . . . along with these songs . . .

Stayin' Alive
I Will Survive
Living' on a Prayer

My summer classes came to end today with the math final I took. Only missed one and I sure do wish I knew which question it was. Eighteen credits completed in the last 6 months. I feel like I can surface for a quick breath of air before another deep dive begins into the abyss of lesson planning and all things school related. I've got a 7 week hiatus until school starts and then soon after classes start up again.

My language arts class required that I complete a literacy project. She didn't care what it was only that it had something to do with literacy and it had to take six hours. I was vegging at my desk one night, looking at the hoards of books I've acquired from the DI, the library book sale, a retiring school teacher, and envisioning the books left in my classroom for me. I had my project.

Organize, label, and level my books.

It was a project I was going to do eventually anyway so why not have it count for something.

I want my classroom to have lots of books for the students to choose from. I once read that a classroom library should have at least 20 books per student but I want as many as I can successfully fit. I came across Beth Newingham’s library organization method on the Scholastic website. She uses the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading levels where the range for second graders is K, L, M. However, I plan to have most of my books in the yellow with books in the red and blue to help students who struggle and students who need to be challenged.

Previously I had done some research on why you might or might not want to level your books. I came away with not wanting to level every book, but to use it as a guide for me to guide students to books that they are interested in and also books that are at their reading level so they don’t get frustrated. If I leveled every book, students might get dissuaded from reading books that might challenge them.

I used a hybrid by using four colored dots to represent the different levels. On these labels I them used a number 1 through 4 based on the different level also. This was a way to let me know what the level of the book was without letting the student exactly know. A student might see a book leveled N and not pick it up because they know they are reading at a level M. Whereas with this system of colored dots and numbers, this same student would pick up a book with a yellow dot and a number 4 and not necessarily know right away what level. As the teacher, I would know that it is a level N but it wouldn’t be as obvious to the student.

I used the Book Wizard* on the Scholastic website to find the levels for most of my books. Some books weren’t on there and some nonfiction books I chose not to level. I also put a label on the inside of the books that said, “From the classroom library of Mrs. Leary” to keep track of my books.

I am not sure exactly what bins and bookcases I might already have available, but I would like to keep my books in bins that are labeled according to what they will find in the bin. Some of the categories to use are Fiction Picture Books, Animals, Chapter books grouped by series, Poetry, Historical Fiction, etc. I printed out some labels for bins.

Each book will also have a corresponding label that matches the bin the book should be in. This will help students know exactly what bin the book needs to be returned to.

I liked how Beth used four different colored baskets for Fiction, Nonfiction, Chapter Books in a series, and Chapter books not part of a series to also guide students in their book selections.

This project is on going. I have several more boxes in the garage to sort through and a whole classroom to sort through too.

*I downloaded the app on my phone which made it so much easier to find books to level. I could utilize the voice to text feature instead of having to type. This made the job easier.

Nate's car and the wisdom fairy

Nate had an opportunity to win a car in the last week.


The catch was we needed to be to the Channel 2 news station at 6am which meant getting up pretty early.

This is why Ash wanted to come . . . to sleep like a homeless person on the sidewalk in the early morning hours. She really came because they promised free breakfast which really turned out to be nasty french toast sticks from Arby's.

He may not have been the lucky winner but he did score a lot more free stuff

and made it on the early morning news.

Afterwards we came home and had a long morning nap.

This week the wisdom teeth came out with no hiccups other than he has an extremely hard time swallowing pills. He was pretty adamant about me getting a video and kept insisting he could drive home.

Four less teeth didn't keep him away from the piano,

and today we got a glimpse at what Nate will look like if he ever gains a lot of weight.

The yard

We having been working to get this yard in shape for a wedding. We really could host tomorrow and it would be fabulous. In fact it might look better this week than in four weeks.

I couldn't help but take a photo from roughly the same spot to see how our yard has matured in two years. I love seeing plants grow and mature. In fact I think this is the first year where our foliage is dense enough that we don't see behind our fence.

Two years ago when we were getting ready for the garden tour.


Just the other day.

Selfless giving

I'm not even sure how to title this blog post. As we were sitting in the Huntsman Center waiting for Erik's graduation to start, my mom and dad came in and sat down one on either side of me with a story to tell.

They had decided to stop and eat at Chuck-a-rama in American Fork. They walked in to see my two cousins Craig and Tim (brothers) there, both living in Vernal. Craig was my age and we were quite close growing up. Tim was number 5 of 6, the 4th boy and not someone I really knew at all. He was the forgotten child who didn't seem to amount to much growing up. He had older brothers who kind of stole the spotlight and a younger brother who was the baby.

As my parents chatted, Tim brought up the fact that my oldest, Kiersten was getting married. He then said what a great mom I was and took a $100 bill out of his wallet and slid it across the table. "Give this to Miss to help with wedding expenses."

My parents were flabbergasted and tried to give him some change, but there was nothing more to do other than hand it over to me when they saw me.

Now, what do you do? What do I do? How do you thank such generosity? Who carries around a $100 bill in their wallet? And who has the sudden thought to give it to a cousin they barely know? And how would he have known he would run into my parents on that particular day?

I sat there stunned as the emotions took over. The world is full of such good, giving people. I want to be one of them who doesn't blink an eye about giving of my substance, my time, my self.

Tim and I now have a special relationship in my heart unbeknownst to even him. I will always remember him for his Christlike thoughtfulness who followed through on a thought he had.

Graduation

Well, we have another graduate in the House of Leary.

It's kind of hard to believe we have two who have graduated from high school.  My little tribe is growing up and leaving the fort.

And Kiersten received her associate's degree in the mail this week.

*I loved how the envelope said DO NOT BEND. I guess that does not apply to the mail carrier. She twisted and turned and shoved that thing in our mailbox.

Erik's principal always gives her talk centered on some movie.

At one of the tennis matches she happened to be watching, she asked an expert what movie she should incorporate into her talk. That expert was Alex, a 7 year old.


He must have told her Angry Birds because that's what she did and even made a point to tell Erik that it was Alex's idea as he came through the line.

Erik and Scott have made quite a pair over the years from kindergarten graduation to now. It's been so exciting to watch these cousins grow and mature into two fine young men who have accomplished much and will continue to do so in the years to come.

This is what we do while we wait for Erik to find us after the ceremony. Pretend we are divas.

And then duck and hide in the crowd during the ceremony so Erik can't find us. Well we didn't duck, but he sure never found us either as he continued to scan the crowd looking for us.


Two more years and we're doing this again. I guess that's the punishment for having your kids close in age . . . they tend to leave all at the same time.