A Recap on the Bat Mitzvah

A little over 2 years ago, I shared all the planning that was going in to getting ready for Annie's Bat Mitzvah. It was such a beautiful day!

So many friends and family came to help us celebrate Annie's great accomplishment.

When we first started out on this journey, we really didn't know Megan, the girl with whom Annie shared her Bat Mitzvah, and her family. Now, I can't imagine my life without them.

Here's some of the things we did:

For the service we wrote our own program. It had some information about the girls and specifics to their service, a lot of information about our synagogue and some great ideas about things our visitors could do while they were in Memphis. If you would like a copy for your Bar or Bat Mitzvah, email me!

We also made busy bags and coloring programs for the service. This was a HUGE part of having a really great day! The kids who came to the service all had a way to engage with the songs that are a regular part of the service, but the coloring pages were pictures of what was happening in the same order that things were actually going on!

For the luncheon following the service, we invited family to Central BBQ. We had posters of each girl for family to sign and paper and crayons on the tables to keep the kiddos occupied. Flowers acted as center-pieces for a few of the tables and the whole experience was warm and special.

For the party, we headed to the pool! A inflatable projector screen made it possible to share pictures of the girls and we grilled burgers and hot dogs! We had custom cups printed as a party favor, and really got to enjoy a big birthday celebration!

If you are interested in the weekly to-do lists for the last couple of months of planning, I am working on a DIY workbook! If you are interested in being one of the first to know about it, please let me know, by emailing me here.

Here's a few pictures of the great day!

It was a great day, beautifully photographed by our dear friend, Hiedi Walter. If you would like to have her photograph your family, please email her here.

Context Clues and Observation Skills

Keys to Success

As a science teacher, I think those two things are the two most critical pieces of a student that I can help develop. Context Clues and Observation Skills. My students do not always come to me with these skills, nor can I always develop them as much as I would like in my 9 months with my sweet darlings.

Today I received an email inviting me to speak at STEMCON. I plan to try to go. It's an incredible opportunity to share with some of the really great minds in my field. But, what I find we all keep coming back to, is that as teachers we have to find ways to bring out the context clues for our students or demonstrate the use of observation skills. This means that no matter the skill level, reading level, IQ level, functionality, etc, our students can all use more developement in the area of context clues and observation skills.

I find that my students not only hear teachers often say, "are you sure you read ________" referring to novels, directions or most anything, but that often the students eyes have gone over the symbols on the page without really absorbing the full content within, much less gaining any clue to the context.

Most of our students today have grown up around technology in a way that most veteran, ie 4 years or more, teachers did not. Most veteran teachers watched the technology develop, some have even embraced it into their classrooms as much as their schools will allow. What this means for our students is that they are used to memes, instagram and vimeo videos, youtube, google, facebook and other medias, being short snipets of information and sound bites that are always at their disposal.

How as teachers and parents can we navigate the minefield and get them to actually see the world around them!?! How will they discover the science behind Leonardo DaVinci or Claude Monet?! When will they notice the patterns of flowers directly match the wind patterns months prior? Or how will they find out that Vincent Van Googh was the first to finally make us able to see turbulence and the prior to this, no scientist or artist could really get it right?

What as teachers can we do?

1. Create class lessons that utilize 10-20 minutes of time and then require the student to do a different task using a different part of their brain.
2. Question what we show them.
3. Give them word searches and word puzzles and brain teasers to start our high school classes.
4. Make our content rich classroom, Actually RICH WITH CONTENT! Don't throw it all on the wall, give it meaning.
5. Teach your students to see context clues and how to use observation skills. Maybe give them a search and see sheet for your classroom or show a short clip and have them write everything they saw.

What ideas do you have? Post them in the comments below.

Fancy Baby Pictures

Those who know me personally, can tell you that splurging on "fancy newborn pictures" is not really my thing. But when your professional photographer friend wants to take pictures of your sweet newborn, it's really hard to say no!!

So, friends, here is Georgia's photographic debut!

If you love these pictures and want some of your own, please talk to my friend Kellie Conlon!! She does great work, is really sweet and accommodating with the kiddos and really makes beautiful pictures! Here's a link to her site.

Seriously. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Call her. You won't regret it. I only wish I had done maternity pictures with her!! But, hopefully, she will be doing our Holiday Pictures!!