White board personalized gift

The Paleo Diet

I have tried several dieting programs to lose the post baby weight, including Weight Watchers, South Beach, and MyFitnessPal.  All of them work, by the way, but I am not very good about keeping track of points or calories. I had heard about this new diet craze called The Paleo Diet from a few friends, but had never really paid any attention, because it sounded too hard.  Honestly, no diet is perfect, because when you give up one bad habit, often times you pick up a lower calorie bad habit.  Diet coke instead of regular coke, for example, is no better and not much healthier because there is absolutely NO nutritional value to it whatsoever.  The Paleo Diet is pretty simple, but it takes a complete retraining of your brain on what is healthy and what is not. So far I have lost almost 20 pounds and I feel great! Google the Paleo Diet for more information.

"See it! Pin it!" Interactive Classroom

I'm always looking for new and innovative ways to make my class more relevant and interactive for teenage 7th and 8th graders. Recently, during one of my insomnia episodes, I was messing around on Pinterest (another one of my addictions) and had an epiphany. Why not create a classroom pin board! I thought to myself. So, today, I finally created it.

I changed the title after I took this picture and it isn't quite finished, but at least it gives you an idea. For extra credit points students can bring in clippings from magazines, pictures of signs, screen shots from the Internet, and any visual from a source outside of school. They bring it to class, pin it in the corresponding category, then share their pin with the class. For instance, under the "Grammar" pin board, I want kids to find examples of grammar mistakes in published writing and from public places.  They will bring in a caption of the "grammar blunder" (that's what I plan to call it, pin it to the board, and share what they found to the class. I am hoping that by making a classroom pin board, kids will be encouraged to see the value of word knowledge, proper grammar, reading, and sharing of ideas outside the classroom. I'll let you know how it goes! 

Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl is one of the blogs that I subscribe to as a teacher.  I am always looking for new ways to teach grammar.  One thing I do is post "Daily Grammar Tips" on my classroom web site, called Edmodo ( a FREE classroom page and blog at Edmodo.com), and post little tips from various sources.

Grammar is probably one of the most challenging subjects to teach because students don't see the value in learning the "grammatically correct" way to speak and write.  Grammar Girl takes common misunderstandings about grammar and sheds light on what the experts, like Merriam-Webster,  say and what is the commonly accepted way (the two ways are not always the same) to speak and write.   Take the noun copy editor or copyeditor for example.  Here is what Grammar Girl has to say about it:

No wonder kids and adults are so confused about the "correct" way to write!  I tell my students that English is constantly evolving.  Grammatically incorrect ways of speaking and writing are often excused  based on the purpose of the writing.  Advertisements, commercials and magazines are riddled with incorrect grammar, but it is widely accepted because of the genre and audience the author is addressing.  

Check out Grammar Girl at www.grammargirl.com 

Craigslist Addict!

Recently, I have had an addiction to Craigslist.  My friends think I need an intervention.  I don't know why I never dabbled with it before, but it is incredible the kinds of knickknacks, furniture, and home accessories one can find.  The trick to Craigslist is to download the apps onto your smart phone or tablet.  I happen to use cPro Craigslist, but there are several others.  You can set up a notification system to alert you as soon as someone posts the kind of item(s) you are looking for.  This table I scored, for instance, was FREE! 

When someone posts a "curb alert" they will often times take pictures of the items they are giving away, in hopes that someone will take everything overnight.  So, when my phone alerted me about this table, I moved on it pretty fast.  With FREE stuff, it is first come first serve, and furniture goes fast!  Now I just need to find the time to refurbish it.  So, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, there is a lot of potential in turning someone else's trash to treasure!  I'll keep you posted on my furniture rehab table project. 

Bathroom Makeover (in progress)

Meet my team...

This picture was taken about a year ago, just about the time I decided to become a "blogger." LOL Then I started my masters program, while working, and trying to be a good mommy.  Needless to say my blogging experiment was short-lived.  So here I am again, a year later, with one year left to complete my masters and going into my 7th year of teaching.  There is no time like the present.  I am looking forward to my new hobby and finding inspiration in blogosphere.