Celebrate This Week 5.16.15

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

It's been awhile since I've posted a Saturday celebration!  So much to celebrate, but thinking back to the past two weeks...

Celebration #1 - a great family trip
We've recently returned from a wonderful family trip to Disney World.  We were so fortunate this time to go with my parents and my sister's family.  Sometimes family vacations can get a little crazy, but this one was just right.  Everyone had fun, the weather was amazing, and we had time to be together.
My husband and I ran the Expedition Everest Challenge together.  My daughter read the Harry Potter series this year, so being able to take her to Universal Studios to see Diagon Alley and Hogwarts was really fun!  Here are some fun pictures:

Getting ready for our big race - a nighttime run through the Animal Kingdom!

I thought this was rather appropriate!

Can you spot DeVine lurking in the trees behind us? 

She's about a thumbnail above my daughter's head :)

Walking into Diagon Alley!

All aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Celebration #2 - a great doctor visit
Our trips to Florida generally involve a doctor's visit for my daughter.  Her orthopedic doctor is in West Palm Beach and it's a (long) day trip to see him.  This time it was to plan for her upcoming lengthening.  What I love about Dr. Paley is his vision.  His mind is always working and he sees new possibilities that other doctors don't see.  He made a new plan for my daughter.  She has to have a quick, minor outpatient surgery this summer, but it should pave the way for her to have an "easier" lengthening next summer.  Fingers are crossed and we are very hopeful.  

Celebration #3 - reading and books
I love the anticipation of summer because it means more reading time ahead.  As we end the school year, we're looking to find ways to make sure our students are excited about summer reading and have reading plans in place.  At the end of the year, many schools have "Field Days".  Time for kids to engage in some fun, (hopefully) outdoor games.  Our P.E. teachers work hard at planning some great activities that get kids moving.  But our bodies aren't the only things that move over the summer - we want our brains moving, too!  This year, our media specialist has enlisted the help of my colleague and me, and we've been planning some ways to get summer reading plans in place for our students as part of our "Move It" Days.  On one particular day, students will rotate through stations.  One will be a peer book talk station.  Each student will bring a favorite book to book talk with their peers.  Every student will have a special page to write down some book ideas that will become their summer TBR list.  Another station will be run by me.  My plan was to book talk some books I've read and books that are coming out this summer.  After seeing Mr. Schu's post about his presentation this week in New Hampshire about the Best Books of 2015 (so far), has me thinking about restructuring my presentation to be something similar.  Of course, I don't have all of his ARCs (bummer), but I've read quite a bit, and I know some kids have not seen some of these books.  I'm really excited to have time to talk about these books, and tell them about upcoming books.  Our final station will be my colleague, and she is going to share some book trailers.  We know that visual piece can be what hooks kids.  I think everyone (and I'm hoping some teachers, too) will be going home with some great summer TBR lists!

Hope you're finding time to celebrate this weekend!