a graduation of sorts...

the school had a "surprise" graduation party for katie, matt, and i last week...here's a link to some photos...well two photos...they're posted by valerie, matt's wife... eilers oh and 6 days to i arrive in the us...about 6pm from LAX on saturday...if any one wants to visit the airport :)

silence, a book, and a project...

well i've been silent for awhile...mostly because life has been CRAZY... i've finished my master's degree...well i've finished the work for it...graduation isn't until dec 18...but well i'll be on  an airplane most of that day (which for those counting is only 32 days away) so won't be at graduation, but i will be on the same continent... oh and the thing that's really taking up ALL of my time...teaching first grade...getting in the grove of planning for new subjects, not that i haven't taught them before, but it's new content, not that it's hard content, cuz well it is first grade, but it's just new...it takes time...the last 5 years or so of teaching i would look back at the previous years of lesson plans to see what i did and use some of the previous ideas... i have no previous years to look back on...oh the time came to sign up for another year...i did...i like it here...i like my job...i'm staying... :) so a book as i said... it's here check it out...if you want you can buy it too :)

Purple by Heidi Garber | Make Your Own Book
so it's there.... and a project...it can be found here...i'll try to be good at uploading new pics to it...but well that requires me to take them off my camera :)
Picture of the Day

sliding, sliding, sliding

so this summer has been loads of fun...i've done a lot of traveling...first in a plane and then many, many hours in a car...the car i've been riding in/driving was purchased new at the end of may...it now has almost 7000 miles on it...too bad those miles don't count towards my airline mileage :) i've seen some awesome sights...and awesome people... below is a series of pics i took of one of my best friends (we've been friends for 20+years) kids...they're 7, 3, and 1 and super ADORABLE...and well slides are fun at any age :)

this last week here in the US will be spent with friends...so there will be more pics of kids to come...

Wang Fu Jing

so we went on an adventure last saturday... first to the summer palace...with mark, mysan and abigail (pics coming later) then we had some yummy noodles...massively big bowl...i couldn't finish it...then katie, mysan, abby and i went to wang fu jing street...it's a street near the forbidden city that is basically just shopping, but they had an assortment of foods available see the picture...

Interpersonal Strategy

Interpersonal Strategy

Submitted by: Heidi Garber

Title of activity: Community Circle

Intended for grades: 4-12

Description of learning activity:

choose a topic arrange students in a circle. 10 or less is best allow each student to speak by moving discussion around the circle. not everyone has to speak may circle more than once after each time around review what has been said and look for patterns when finished help students make conclusions using synthesis and reflection questions help students take leadership by pointing out positives and negatives from the discuss

Source of activity:

Silver, H. F., Strong, R. W., & Perini, M.J. (2007). The Strategic Teacher, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Materials/Supplies needed:

a circle of chairs or large floor space to sit on.

Ideas for extension or other application

Literature circles Shared interest groups Writer's clubs Morning Meeting

Self Expressive Strategy

Self Expressive Strategy

Submitted by: Heidi Garber

Title of Activity: Mind's Eye

Intended for Grades: K-12

Description of Learning Activity:

To guide students in the process: Find/choose reading passage. Choose 20-30 key words from text. Is the word important to the text? Does the word offer information about meaning, themes, character, etc? Does word contain visual or sensory information. Do they together provide enough information to make quality predictions. Choose order carefully. Have students determine which end product they would like to do: Raw a picture on paper of the picture you formed in your head. Ask a question you may have. Make a prediction about the book. Describe your feelings. Read words slowly having students adjust image at each new word Have students draw, question, predict or describe. Read text. To have students do it on their own: Begin with simple, non textual image making. i.e. apple, beach, sweet and sour chicken. Have them layer visualizations, chocolate, nuts, raisins, lemon. Have students pre-read passage, help them ID words with visual and sensory information. Have them discuss words they chose in small groups.

Source of Activity:

Silver, H. F., Strong, R. W., & Perini, M.J. (2007). The Strategic Teacher, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Materials/Supplies needed:

List of words Book to read Paper Markers/Crayons

Ideas for extension or other application:

Only choose one end product Have students draw an image from the text. Exchange images with another student. Identify text for the new picture.

Sample

See powerpoint located here: Mind's Eye PowerPoint

Self Expressive Strategy

Self Expressive Strategy

Submitted by: Heidi Garber

Title of Activity: Mind's Eye

Intended for Grades: K-12

Description of Learning Activity:

To guide students in the process: Find/choose reading passage. Choose 20-30 key words from text. Is the word important to the text? Does the word offer information about meaning, themes, character, etc? Does word contain visual or sensory information. Do they together provide enough information to make quality predictions. Choose order carefully. Have students determine which end product they would like to do: Raw a picture on paper of the picture you formed in your head. Ask a question you may have. Make a prediction about the book. Describe your feelings. Read words slowly having students adjust image at each new word Have students draw, question, predict or describe. Read text. To have students do it on their own: Begin with simple, non textual image making. i.e. apple, beach, sweet and sour chicken. Have them layer visualizations, chocolate, nuts, raisins, lemon. Have students pre-read passage, help them ID words with visual and sensory information. Have them discuss words they chose in small groups.

Source of Activity:

Silver, H. F., Strong, R. W., & Perini, M.J. (2007). The Strategic Teacher, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Materials/Supplies needed:

List of words Book to read Paper Markers/Crayons

Ideas for extension or other application:

Only choose one end product Have students draw an image from the text. Exchange images with another student. Identify text for the new picture.

Sample

See powerpoint located here: Mind's Eye PowerPoint

Candy

then i did this one with just jadon in color... he was soooooo excited to get his hands on all those reese's...

Blue Candy

so i edited this way first.... cuz i liked the blue....

does it work?

what does it look like when i just email it in?
flowers from banquet
good bye nicole...

a day's worth of fun...

barefeet...

so this weeks theme at iheartfaces is all about feet and the soles for souls organization...a couple weeks ago at recess one of the kids needed to take their shoes of cuz they were wet or something like that and then it kind of snowballed and soon everyone had their shoes off. and now it is almost a daily occurrence that i get asked "can i take my shoes off" when we're at recess. some days i say yes, some days i say no this particular day i had said yes and it just so happened that all the girls took their shoes off but the boys left there's on. so i took a pic of shoed feet and unshoed feet.














yeah then i found another pic with feet...to play tag they put their feet together and say "tag, tag, tag." until there's a group and then they do enie minie mini mo to figure out who is it. so here's three girls getting ready to play tag...

to see more entries click the link above or the button below! also check out the soles for souls website below too...

It's all yellow...

this weeks challenge over at i heart faces is about Yellow...which just so happens to be one of my favorite colors...This pic was taken last October during character counts week. it was yellow and green day...so yeah the pic....

if you want to see more yellow go check it out here..

flowers...Lilacs

this weeks challenge over at i heart faces is about lowers and faces...this pic was taken at my niece's wedding Lilacs are something i miss a lot..it was so unexpected to see and smell them. it's easily been 6 years since i have...i'm so glad :) this is my other niece in the photo (the bride's sister). so yeah the pic....

if you want to see more flowers and faces go check them out here..

Celebrating Mom!

this weeks challenge over at i heart faces is about celebrating moms...this pic was taken a couple of years ago at my mom's 60th bday party... the doll is one the pass from friend to friend at the milestone birthdays... i was so happy i got to spend Mother's Day with my mom this year...it's the first in 7 years...and probably the last one for awhile...so here's the pic....



if you want to see more mom celebrations go check them out here

Editing fun

well...i should be working on something...but editing is so much fun :)

i couldn't resist as these two little girls sat and watched shannon and her dad dance the father daughter dance

who can resist the lilacs...they were just begging to be photographed. it was such a huge blessing for me that they were blooming while i was there... i didn't notice the bee when i was taking the pic...

Highlights of MN

It's a long one :) lots of pictures...and this is only a few of the hundreds i took :)
family

Cousins

siblings

friends

Me, Gabe and Johanna

Gabe

 

Dawn and I

flowers

  i love my lilacs...and miss them too :)

rehearsal

ceremony

Kevin waiting

Rob and Shannon walking

exchanging rings

Unity candle

The Kiss

Mr. and Mrs. Grove

Reception

cutting the cake

giving the speeches

first dance

mother/son and father/daughter dance

Dollar dance

How can you resist this?

he's just too cute to resist :)

spring break

this past spring break i traveled with many people to tiomen (i'm never sure if it's tiomen or tioman, it's spelled both ways when i google it :)). the highlight of the trip...was the snorkeling, well it's really all i did. cuz the pool was small and the water was FREEZING (the water comes off the mountain), the pool chairs were nice, but there was little breeze by them so they were HOT. so i just spent the days in the ocean amazed at God's under sea creations. the fish were amazing the coral was amazing, the sea turtle and sting ray i saw were amazing...i could have stayed their forever...

some highlights of the trip.....

a turtle

a sting ray

angel fish

coral

coral

and more coral

fish

Nemo!

a giant clam

some great shells...

a bristle star

and people too :)

the water was a gorgeous color!!!

and these guys were all over the place...

to see more pics head here