If one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to pamper yourself, I think Birchbox is a great way to do this. I have been a member of Birchbox for over 2 years now, and I’m obviously a big fan 🙂
I explain it to people like a magazine subscription, except instead of a magazine you look forward to receiving each month, you get a box of beauty goodies instead! When you sign up for Birchbox, you tell them about your hair, skin, and beauty preferences. They send you 5 or 6 high-end beauty samples each month to try out. I love this idea, because I get to try some great products that I would have otherwise missed. In the past 2 years, I have discovered some of my favorite beauty items, such as Orofluido Elixir, Shu Uemura, Number 4 Super Comb Prep, Benefit POREfessional, Jouer Moisturizing Lip Gloss, and Benefit It’s Potent! Eye Cream.
I’ve received goodies that range from hair and skin products to makeup, nail polish, gadgets, and gourmet foods. Samples that don’t seem to be my style me get passed along to a friend. Once I have tried a sample, I go on to the Birchbox website and give them my feedback about the item. In return, I get points that add up to dollars I can spend in the Birchbox store on full-sized items. I saved up enough points to buy a Amika Travel Hair Straightener and Hairdryer, which excites me to no end!
Lastly, I must say that I love having Birchbox as my go-to gift for others. I have probably gifted a Birchbox subscription at least 6 times. I can buy someone a 3-month subscription for only $30, and print out the gift certificate without even leaving my home! What I will do then is grab an old Birchbox box and fill it with some goodies and the gift certificate to let my friend know to check the mail. They can then log-in to Birchbox, create a profile, and receive samples tailored just for them.
Now doesn’t Birchbox sound fun? Go ahead, give it a try! If you sign up using my special referral code (I get store points), I would really appreciate it! Click here to sign up. Enjoy trying something new and exciting in the New Year!
I love this military jacket I purchased from The Limited. It’s a great fall look, very comfortable and versatile! Best purchase this year!
I went with my niece and nephew to see “Frozen,” and it certainly did not disappoint! This movie had so many unexpected treasures – Olaf the Snowman had me in stitches, and the love between Elsa and Anna reminded me of my own sister, whom I love so dearly. My husband and I really enjoyed how Disney departed from the traditional motif of true love / romance saving the day, and a man coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress. This movie was definitely about sisterly love and girl power!Â
I love “House”! I feel like I could sit and binge-watch for hours (yes, yes, okay! I have done this several times!). I enjoy the intelligent, witty dialogue that keeps me on my toes. I also like that I learn a lot from watching medical dramas, such as challenging vocabulary. My doctors and dentists get a kick out of me when I listen and pay attention as they take notes or talk to one another, and I actually follow along. I’m so sad this show is over!Â
My favorite restaurant in Milwaukee, WI is Rustico in the Third Ward. My husband and I had our rehearsal dinner here, and we always go back for our anniversary dinner together. The food is mouth-watering. The wait staff tells me that they send their chefs to Italy at least once a year to train in new recipes and cooking methods. They have locally made Gelato, and many of their ingredients (including the Lemoncello!) are imported directly from Italy. Plus, it’s located on the Milwaukee Riverfront, so Ryan and I can sit on the dock on a lovely summer day, enjoy a drink in a copper mug, and watch the boats. It’s lovely!
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I gave the Paleo diet a try, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. The Paleo diet is grain-free, dairy-free, and chemical-free. But instead of focusing on what I “can’t” eat, I focus on what I “can” eat – whole foods, meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and delicious meals I prepare myself! I can’t even tell you how much better I feel. I sleep better, my stomach is flat, I have no IBS symptoms, I have a TON more energy, and things just taste better. If you would like to read any of my posts about becoming Paleo, you can click here, here, here, here, here, or here!
Though you wouldn’t call Ruffy a gift in the traditional sense of the word, he has certainly been a gift to our family. On the left is Rocket, our 3-year-old Teddy Bear, and Ruffy, a 7-year-old Yorkie, is on the right. My grandfather passed away last November, and my grandmother passed away this November. Ruffy needed a home, and Team Dembro became his new pack. Yes, it has been a challenge taking on a spoiled lap dog with a ridiculous amount of medical needs who is also not crate or potty trained. However, the joy we get from having him in our home definitely outweighs those factors. Rocket and Ruffy have found their stride, and they are now playing together after almost 2 months of staring each other down from a distance. Ruffy loves to snuggle. And frankly, having him here is like having a piece of Grandpa and Grandma here, too. I love him 🙂
I absolutely love this poster, and I think it is so critical that we have this conversation with our students (especially now that my students all have iPads in our one-to-one school). We have this blown up and printed as a poster in our school, and I have literally walked a student over to the poster and gone through the flow-chart with them to help them decide if a picture was appropriate or not to keep and/or post online. I think this needs to be in every school (and, um, place of employment, too!).
My favorite blog post is about the Art of Writing Conference at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I attended this conference twice this year, and you can read about it here and here. It is a wonderful opportunity for aspiring authors and artists – I love attending each year!
I have to say that I am very proud of myself for publishing my first book, The Paper Chain. It has been a cornerstone of my classroom teaching, and I have seen my students grow by leaps and bounds from using this text. Now that it is for sale as well, I enjoy knowing that it will positively impact so many other classrooms and students as well. It’s a great feeling! It is available as a digital download and in paperback.
As a gift for my mother, my family got together for a family portrait. This picture is my favorite, and captures my family perfectly!
My favorite memory this year is when my husband took me up in his airplane for the first time. He recently became a pilot, and I am so proud of him. I tell my students about the hours and hours of studying, reading, and training it took for him to accomplish his goal. Many people are afraid to go up in his 2-seater propellor planes, but I couldn’t feel more safe than when I am in his ‘hands.’ He is an extremely intelligent and conscientious person, and he is always in control. Though I get air sick, it was a lot of fun and oh so beautiful!
My goal for 2014 is to finish my dissertation. I have 3 chapters written, and 2 to go. I CAN DO IT!!!
I have been actively concentrating on finding Joy in life, and this has been the single best thing I could have ever done for myself. Joy begets joy, and it’s that simple. I avoid expending energy focusing on the negative, and I look for the happiness, humor, and opportunities instead. I’m a very goal-driven person, so it’s easy for me to set my sights on the outcome and forget about the journey along the way – finding joy helps keep me present in the moment. There is so much to love about life!
So, how was your 2013? I hope it was filled with lasting memories, joy, friends, and family. I wish you all the happiness in the world in 2014!
Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you all had a most wonderful day yesterday. I had a great time celebrating Christmas 3 times! We began the morning at my husband’s mother’s house, the afternoon with my immediate family at my sister’s house, and the evening with my extended family at my aunt’s house. Festivities from morning ’til night – that’s how I roll!
As cliche as it is, I find that the joy of Christmas comes from giving, not receiving. For weeks or even months, I look forward to watching someone open a gift I carefully selected or handmade. It brings me such joy! Here are some of the gifts I made this year that I couldn’t wait to give:
Paw print ornaments for my mother and sister of our 3 dogs: Tyger, Ruffy, & Rocket. If you want to make your own, these are the wonderful ornament directions I followed (I added nail polish for flair).
My sister and I ordered a canvas print for my mother of a family photo session we had done this fall. She plans to hang it over her fireplace. She was SO excited! We ordered from CanvasonDemand.com
I made coloring books for all of my nieces and nephews for Christmas. They were a hit! (P.S. If you want to purchase a copy for yourself, you can click here).
I really wanted to give back this year, and I thought I had picked the perfect way to do so. I am O negative, which is the universal blood donor. I went in to the Wisconsin Blood Center the day before Christmas and donated a pint of blood. The problem was that when I went to leave, I blacked out. I came to with a team hovering over me, covering me in icepacks, palpating my feet and legs, and holding a fan on my face. What?! Woops.
Of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have some wonderful food to cook/bake for the holidays. I made a plate of Paleo Christmas Cookies, Mashed Cauliflower, and Coconut Almond Green Beans. The cookies are Cutouts (my personal favorite), Chocolate Peppermint Macaroons dipped in Godiva Dark Chocolate, Cardamom Thumbprint Cookies, and Energy Bites (my second favorite). I had 2 helpings of the Mashed Cauliflower because I thought it tasted aMAzing! I didn’t tell my family it was cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes, and most of them couldn’t even tell!!!
Today, we are enjoying the leftovers and relaxing. The dogs are pooped!
Having off of work is GREAT!!!! For the last 3 days, I have been cooking and baking like a madwoman. I’d love to share some photos and recipes with you. By the way, all of the food below is Paleo, which means grain and dairy-free.
1. Vegetable Omelet – just egg, unsweetened almond milk, peppers, tomato, broccoli, and avocado on top at the end.
2. Baked Kale – delicious! Just put a bunch of kale in a bowl, add a tablespoon of olive oil, and mix. Then spread the kale on a baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, garlic, and ground pepper, bake for 10 minutes at 350, et voila!
3. Bacon – I bake the bacon on a metal rack on top of a baking sheet so the grease can drip off. Make sure to line the baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier cleanup. 350 for 20-30 minutes.
4. Salmon in a Bag – I cut 6 round slices of lemon to line the bottom of a piece of aluminum foil, then placed the salmon on top. I sprinkled the salmon with salt and garlic, then topped with a few thin tabs of butter. Close up the aluminum foil, and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until the fish flakes apart and is cooked through.
5. Cardamom Thumbprint Cookies & Peppermint Macaroons dipped in Chocolate – I am a Norwegian, so I couldn’t resist trying the Thumbprint Cookies for christmas. The cookies turned out fantastic, and I will add that you really need to beat the vanilla frosting for at least 10 minutes to get the consistency you desire. I plan to add red and green food coloring for something festive 🙂 The Peppermint Macaroons turned out deliciously as well, but I will use less peppermint extract next time. Dipping the bottoms in dark chocolate (and licking the spoon!) was the best part!
6. Gyro meatballs and Tzatziki Sauce – this is BY FAR my favorite thing I have made! I used high grade ground sirloin, and I also pan-friend them after baking them to give a nice brown crisp to the meatballs. For the Tzatziki sauce, I used coconut milk instead of coconut cream or yogurt, and this was a mistake. It still tasted fantastic, but was a bit watery.
7. Party Tray – I made this for a party I attended. Crackers, 2-year aged cheddar, salami, goat cheese, almond cheddar spread, pistachios, almonds, and strawberries. Obviously the crackers and cheese are not Paleo, but the rest is proof that you can enjoy Paleo snacks with your friends!
8. Banana Nut Muffins – these are mostly just bananas and eggs with very little flour. They taste pretty eggy to me, but perhaps I should have used more ripened bananas. They are great warmed up with a touch of butter.
9. Homemade Granola – My husband and I just love this. It is absolutely better tasting than any granola I have ever purchased. I will make this again! Next time, though, I will add more nuts because there is quite a bit of the honey-mixture to go around.
Our last Friday before Winter Break was so much fun, I just had to snap a few pictures to share!
The Friday before school let out for 2013, we had an all-school Holiday Assembly. Each grade, 6 – 8, creates a volleyball team, and they compete for the honor of playing against the staff team. The Poms team performs, the Choir sings the National Anthem, and the Student Council veejays. What a treat this year – one of our students was surprised by his older brother returning from military service a day early and showing up at the assembly. The soldier was a former student of mine, all grown up and in his military uniform. Oh, how I cried! It was very touching. The students were all very well behaved and they had a great time! 1. A few other highlights of the day – the top left is my FAVORITE gift I received. A donation to the Sandy Hook Fund is such a perfect, meaningful gift for a teacher!
2. One of my classes was about 15 minutes ahead of my others, so we had some time to enjoy a small bit of ‘Home Alone’ – yeahhhh!!! (P.S. I gave them the options of ‘Elf’ and ‘Home Alone’, and they picked ‘Home Alone’ because they’ve been ‘Elf’ed to death. Is that even possible????)
3. The bottom left is a card for our wonderful custodian, Joe. I have learned in my 7 years of teaching that custodians and secretaries are the most valuable and hardworking in our school. Joe ‘The Custodian’ is much loved by staff and students alike, and he was recently diagnosed with cancer. We learned that he would be working all through the Winter Break cleaning and painting our classrooms, so we decided to leave him a few treats throughout the school: cards, notes hanging on the walls, student-made posters, etc.
4. We left with only 5 days before Christmas, and I made sure to remind every student to take some time to thank the people in their lives that matter, and to try and make something nice for their parents for the Holidays (even if it’s just a heartfelt card).
5. And finally, our Student Council gave every staff member a car charger for our iPads, which is very helpful.
I hope you all have a wonderful and safe rest of December, and I hope January doesn’t come too soon!
Hellooooooo, Winter Break! Oh how much I’ve looked forward to seeing you! Here are the highlights from week 16:
1. Chair Bungees for Restless Students: I discovered a really great, inexpensive, QUIET, unobtrusive fidget tool for the classroom – chair bungees. There’s not much to it, you just wrap a bungee cord or some kind of sturdy, elastic material around 2 chair legs. This gives students something to lightly bounce their legs against during class. Hopefully, this won’t disturb their neighbors or make any noise, but will provide sensory feedback for the student and a mindless outlet for fidgety behavior. I like that it occupies their legs instead of their hands, which we need for work!
2. Ready for January! I am all set to come back for break, which is a great feeling. I don’t have any correcting or lesson planning to do over my winter break, which means I can focus my energy on my family and on my dissertation. My calendar and assignment board are all set!
3. Phonics Spelling App – I found a great new app for our students struggling with phoneme-grapheme mapping, sight words, and basic foundational skills. Of course this is only one component of our multi-faceted reading intervention program for students who are reading 2 or more levels below grade level. The Simplex Phonics Spelling App costs $5, so I am working on locating the funds to purchase this app for our small-but-growing list of identified students. My hope is that I can introduce them to the app at school, but they will practice the app at home and with their parents. I installed and interacted with the app for a while, and I liked that it offered lots of support and that it didn’t seem too ‘babyish’ for our 6th through 8th graders. Here’s hoping this is a winner for our students!
4. Spirit Week! Leading up to winter break, we have had a ‘Spirit’ or ‘Dress-up’ day each day this week. Monday = Pajama Day / Tuesday = Twin Day / Wednesday = Blue Day to honor our custodian with cancer / Thursday = Nerd Day / Friday = Red Day. I love dressing up with a theme, so of course I was on Cloud 9 all week!
5. Like a Rock Star: I made the front page of TpT! I was so excited to see this!
So how was your week? I hope you are already (or thinking about) enjoying your Winter Break!!! See you in January 😉
Yesterday morning, I was asked to give a presentation to the staff at our monthly Morning Staff Meeting on Reading in the Content Areas (Science, Math, and Social Studies). Though I am a Language Arts teacher for 3 classes a day, I am also the part-time Reading Specialist for our school, so Professional Development is one of my honors and duties in that role.
For this Professional Development session on Reading, I decided to focus on Close Reading and Text-Based Reading Strategies, which I have been studying as part of my Reading Specialist coursework as well as my PhD in Language and Literacy. I created a 10-age handout on the top strategies that a classroom teacher can implement to modify a text for struggling readers.
I designed this handout by first selecting a short, 1-page text that might be used in a 6th through 8th grade classroom. Then, I described each of the strategies/modifications as well as modeled how I would use that strategy with the model text. This way, teachers will have plenty of examples right at their fingertips. I also offered to help teachers select, create, and implement these strategies in their classroom. The strategies include:
The great news was that my colleagues had heard of or had experience with each of these strategies at some point, but they were glad to have a resource that modeled how to use them as a refresher. It’s also a helpful idea to have this list of ideas in case you just need a reminder of another strategy to try.
If you would like to purchase this handout on Close Reading and Text-Based Reading, you can access it at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store by clicking the link or picture above. Thank you!
I have been absolutely in love with cooking and baking lately. I’ve gone from being an ‘everything-from-a-package’ girl to a ‘home-made’ girl, and I hope I never go back! I honestly didn’t know I had it in me. I used to just think I was a terrible cook, and I didn’t want to set myself up for failure. The thing is, I come from a family of great cooks – my mom, my grandma – and I just wanted to make them proud and live up to our family name.
So, I decided I was going to practice and practice and teach myself to be a good cook. These past 2 weeks, I’ve baked salmon, brined and roasted chicken, created a butternut squash soup from scratch, baked homemade cookie bars, made protein bites, chili, braised beef, baked acorn squash with homemade applesauce, julienned zucchini spagetti, cooked waffles, and on and on and on. My husband loves it, because the fridge is always full of wonderful healthy foods 🙂
I’ve been pulling out all of these gadgets that people gifted us for our wedding, but I never used. I am finally using our stand mixer regularly, as well as our waffle iron, blender, food processor, tools like a zester, masher, and press, and – as always – my beloved crock pot.
Now that I have my kitchen operating at full-steam, I see there are a few items I would like to add to the already-stuffed cupboards. Below is my current kitchen wish list – oh a girl can dream!
Wahoo and goodbye to Week 15! Only one more week until Winter Break – can you stand it? Everyone is so excited! We just have to keep it together for 5 MORE DAYS! Below are the highlights from Week 15:
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1. Fakebook assignment – For the past couple of years, I have used this Fakebook Template I purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers as a 2nd Quarter Independent Reading project. The students read either a novel or a biography, and they create the Fakebook Page based on a main character or figure. They have to do quite a bit of reflecting and inferring – identifying the character’s friends, hobbies/interests, personality traits (WITH evidence!), important events, and finally explain a statement the character made and what they may have meant by that statement. Clearly, the students put a lot of work into this and enjoy it as well. We hang them up in the library to share and encourage others to read. They turned out so wonderful this year, I just had to share!
2. Midwest Weather – As you may have seen on the news, or experienced first hand if you live here, it’s been…. interesting weather in Wisconsin for the past week. I won’t even re-hash all the details, because High Five For Friday is about celebrating what’s going well! I will share with you this picture of the view from my ‘office’ (aka classroom). I know I am extremely blessed to have this job, and this view is just another cherry on the sundae. It’s easy for the students and myself to stare out the window and become lost in nature. I love it!
3. My Resilient Talented Niece – Resiliency is such a powerful skill that we must teach our children. I had the privilege of attending my niece’s figure skating competition this weekend. She took second place, and was disappointed, but I couldn’t have been more proud if she had taken first place. Let me tell you the strength of character that my niece demonstrated. During her routine, she tripped and fell flat on her stomach – a thud reverberated across the rink, and her parents, my husband and myself all caught our breath in our throats. “Oh dear! We must run to her, scoop her up, cuddle her and wipe away her tears!” NO. Not at all – we must resist this urge to intervene. Instead, I watched what happened next in wonder. My niece’s coach helped her up, dusted her off, gave her a 3-second pep talk and a few high-tens, and off she went, back on the ice to finish her routine. WOW! Would other children have given up and quit? What was it about my niece that got her back on the ice? Resiliency. What a powerful lesson she learned that day. And to be honest, I learned an important lesson, too – let our students fall and pick THEMSELVES back up. Such a proud aunt am I!
4. Prank Wars! Oh, it’s ON! So I have this student – a rare student you are blessed with only one in a while – who is quite the hilarious jokester. He has been pulling pranks on other students for a while, and I gotta admit – they’re pretty funny (and also harmless). I love students like this, because they keep class interesting (in a good-natured way) and keep me on my toes. Â Well, now it is my turn – I am the victim! On Tuesday, I was sitting at my desk grading papers during study hall, and the room was completely silent as my little cherubs were busy at work. Suddenly, I look up and see a fork dancing on the edge of my desk. How did he get there? Well my jokester had army crawled across the room and was lying on the floor in front my desk, puppeteering the goofy creation. Oh how I laughed! Then, the next day, the student hid a ‘dollar’ where he thought I wound find it and pick it up. A very tempting prank, indeed. The ‘dollar,’ however, is only 49% of a dollar – this student knows that the remaining 51% is actually still redeemable for value, while the 49% is essentially trash. So there the dollar sits, teasing all passersby who glance at my pencil sharpener. What a stinker this kid is! Well I need to get him back, and boy am I racking my brain to drum up a few ideas. Let me know in the comments below if you can think of anything!
5. 100 Followers – Wahoo, I can’t believe it! I reached 100 wonderful, awesome, amazing followers on Teachers Pay Teachers! It was an exciting milestone to reach, and I am proud of my little shop, and so very grateful for all of my wonderful followers and customers.
So… how was your week? Are you all set for the holiday break?
Things have been going so very well with the iPads. In my classroom, we use them every – single – day. We do so much typing, it’s ridiculous. And frankly, if you’ve ever had to type for a significant amount of time on an iPad, you know what a pain in the rear this can be. Those tiny buttons, the tiny screen – iPads are great for consuming information, but no so great for production.
To help alleviate this strain on our students, my district did some hands-on research and picked out a quality bluetooth keyboard to offer to our students. They purchased them in bulk, then offer them for individual purchase in the office. They would up being only $13, what a steal for such an invaluable piece of equipment! The students quickly snatched them up, and I see many of them in use in my classroom already. They require 2 AAA batteries, and I am sure we will need to purchase those and have them on hand as well.
I purchased a keyboard for myself, too, since I know this will be a great tool for traveling, staff meetings, etc. And I’ll have one on hand to lend to a student when needed. I even thought – wow, for $13, these would make great Christmas gifts!
Bottom line: If you plan to use an iPad in the classroom, I feel that a bluetooth keyboard is ESSENTIAL, a non-negotiable. I just wish we had figured this out earlier in the school year and had these available sooner, but as they say – live and learn!
