Saturday, February 1, 2014

Celebrate This Week 2.01.14



It's always good to end the week on a positive note.  Sometimes we concentrate on the negatives.  We have a choice.  Choose positive.  Choose to celebrate.  I will be joining Ruth Ayres and her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week.  Check out all the other celebrations HERE


Time to Celebrate!

1.  As I'm sure so many other educators around the country are celebrating this week - I'm celebrating the ALA medal selections!  It was the first time I watched them live and it was ridiculous how exciting it was!  My daughter woke up and joined me for the last 2, which as you know were the "biggies" and we were both squealing with excitement!  It was neat knowing I had read so many of the books.  There are many that I don't own, yet now I feel compelled to buy them.  But I'm going to wait until I know that shiny sticker will be placed on them!

2.  More Cold Days!  While I'm not going to celebrate the CRAZINESS of trying to catch up on (another) two missed days of work (where do you start when you get back?  Monday's work?  Tuesday's?  Wednesday's?), I am going to celebrate the laziness that an unplanned day off brings.  Although I never get done what I think I will!  But I did make a multi-room fort with my daughter.  We both read.  And one of the days, I didn't wake up at the crack of dawn to work out!  I got sleep :)

3.  And speaking of my daughter and reading, I am going to celebrate our first Mother/Daughter Book Club!  I didn't call it that, didn't want to make it sound so formal.  But we did read our first book together - One for the Murphys!  It was such an excellent book to read together.  Now, we've read many books together, side by side.  This was the first time we each had our own copy, read it separately, then came together each night to discuss.  I tried showing her how you can go back and talk about those lines that stick to you.  My absolute favorite?  When Carley tells Daniel that courage is "being afraid and doing it anyway!"  Just LOVE it!  It was funny talking about the ending with her.  On the second to last night, I just couldn't stop at the designated spot, I had to finish it!  I was crying and crying and crying.  She finished it on her kindle while I was driving in the car.  Totally dry-eyed.  Maybe she has her dad's sensitivity chip ;)  Anyway, I loved being able to talk about Carley and Mrs. Murphy with her.  We're already planning our second book to read!

4.  The last celebration I have is my school.  We just had a Family Activity Night planned by our P.E. teachers.  I am so lucky to work with such an amazing staff.  I work so closely with the classroom teachers, but I don't always get a chance to see what our specials teachers do.  Every so often, they have special nights - Art Show, music concerts, and now this - an Activity Night with stations all designed to show families how important it is to have a healthy lifestyle.  I helped for part of the night and I know kids are always so glad to see their teachers.  My husband and daughter came and my daughter had a blast.  She said, "your gym is so much better than my school's gym!"  Very proud to be a part of my school!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Celebrate this past week and celebrate the time at home!

8 comments:

  1. Wonderful celebrations for you. I love One for the Murphy's. That is our current read-aloud. I have a student who reminds me so much of Carley. I think some of the kids even pick up on that a little. What a great book to share with your daughter.

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  2. How wonderful to read and celebrate books with your daughter. I haven't read One for the Murphy's. Now I'm going to order it!

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  3. I love that you read this title as your first book together with your daughter. This is our current book club selection. Such a powerful title. Do you have some more titles in mind to read together next?

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    1. I think our next one is The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. I've heard a lot about it!

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  4. Love your mother/daughter books club! I hope that I can do that with my boys! Thanks for celebrating!

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    1. You will be able to! And it's so rewarding when you do! I loved the read aloud time, but my daughter was ready for the next step :)

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  5. One for the Murphys was one of our Mock Newbery books last year. We loved it. Two other possible titles for your mother daughter book club are Lions of Little Rock and The Liberation of Gabriel King. Now I'm off to bed with a stack of award-winning picture books.

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    1. Thank you for the suggestions! I have Lions of Little Rock so that could work!

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