Welcome to the start of a new school year! I am very excited about some new changes that we will be incorporating in our classroom this year.  Movement is going to be a major focus in our room.  Research shows that movement is a key component for children to learn!

See all the ways that learning occurs through movement!

My inspiration for this school year came from what I have taken away from my graduate course this summer.  According to Connell and McCarthy in A Moving Child is a Learning Child, movement is the foundation for learning. Below you will see what I'm centering my philosophy around.

One major change that you will notice in our room this year is that we are ditching the traditional desks.  Students will have several options for sitting and standing that they can utilize to complete their work.  This arrangement is called flexible seating.  Giving students the choice of where to sit and having the option to freely move about to complete work will hopefully help to reduce negative behaviors.

Here is a sample of what flexible seating can look like:

This sample picture was borrowed from http://thecreativecolorfulclassroom.blogspot.com/2016/03/flexible-seating.html

Each child develops differently and acquires knowledge uniquely.  Flexible seating provides one way to meet individual needs.  Activities and lessons will be designed with the Kinetic Scale below.  By individualizing activities through the use of this scale, students will receive a well-balanced physical diet for whole-body and whole-brain development.

As parents, you play such a valuable role in helping your child to learn! Encourage your child to move and explore at home. Your interactions and conversations have such a powerful impact on your child.  See how you can help your child to learn through conversations below:

I am so excited to partner with you this school year to get kids up and moving and learning!





A Motherly Moment

Bryson is going to a local day camp this week. Even though the camp is only 10 minutes from our house, I decided to let him ride the bus since he doesn't ride a bus to school (and he has been very happy about this too!). Well, this morning we go to the drop off spot, Bryson jumps out, runs to the bus and I notice that he heads right towards the back of the bus. Automatically, my stomach drops and I know that this is not good because the back seats are already filled with older boys (poor Bryson doesn't understand that sitting in the back of the bus is a right of passage that comes with age). I see the kids pointing to the front of the bus and telling him he can't sit there and what does Bryson do- he, despite their prompting, plops right down in the sit in front of them. (My stomach drops even more) Now regardless of where Bryson was sitting on the bus, I wouldn't leave the parking lot until the bus pulled out, but now that I see this unfolding there was definitely NO way that I was leaving. So the bus continued to wait for several minutes, and during this time I see the older kids talking to each other, saying stuff to Bryson, and a girl who you could tell thought a lot of herself kept staring at me and telling the boys that I was sitting right outside the window. This is when "over protective Mommy" mode comes out right?! I fought the urge to just march onto the bus and pull Bryson off and just drive him to camp (which is what I wanted to do) and I just waited instead and let me blood pressure raise. At one point, one of the older boys (who kept turning around and looking at us) wouldn't stop staring at me so I finally gave a real smart-alic wave back, hoping to remind him that I see you and you better not do anything to my child! Finally after what seemed like eternity the bus pulled out.

There was no way that I was letting these kids out of my sight! SO I followed the bus (probably closer than I should of) just to remind those boys that I was still watching them. And that girl that I mentioned earlier, kept checkin' the entire way to see if I was there (now my only thought on this is- why would you be worried if I was there unless you were doing something that you shouldn't). I followed the bus until the final road to the camp. I tried to make it look like I was heading to Wal-Mart- just in case Bryson asked. :) I will say that I didn't see them do anything to Bryson but they did keep talking to him. I just kept praying that they wouldn't corrupt my son or ruin his camp experience.

I know that I probably over reacted, but it felt like I was watching my son get set up for the slaughter. It hurt to see his innocence set him up for ridicule. Today has seemed so long because I have been dying to hear how that bus ride went. I hope that I totally misread the whole situation. But my guess is that Bryson will still be oblivious to the fact that he shouldn't sit in the back of the bus. But you better believe that I'm threatening him that if he isn't sitting in the front of the bus tomorrow, I am driving him the rest of the week!

Here's the last thought that I've had about all of this today. As the bus was pulling out of the parking lot, Bryson stood up, gave me a wave good bye and gave me this special smile that said I love you Mom and I'm proud that your my Mom look. That smile made the hurt hurt a little bit more. But it made me think of Abraham as he followed God's command to sacrifice Isaac. It helped me to see how hard it must have been for Abraham to lead Isaac to the place of sacrifice as Isaac knew nothing of what was to come and the looks he must have given his father as they traveled together. The reality of that brought tears to my eyes. It just showed to me how great of a commitment to obey God Abraham had!

A Question to Not Forget

While driving in the car the other day, Bryson asks "Mom, how old do I have to be to get married?" Really surprised by the question, I answer "Ah, at least 18!" He says "Oh, ok." Then there is silence. Very curious why he's asked this question and wondering why there wasn't more to this conversation, I finally asked why he asked the question. His response- "Oh, I was just wondering if you'd still be alive when I get married." Wow, thanks Bryson! I'm glad I look that old to ya buddy. :)

9 Years Baby!

9 years ago yesterday, Adam and were doing this before our friends and family. . .

We had waited 6 1/2 years for this day to come, which seemed like forever! (especially since we had to sit through 5 other weddings in the 3 months leading up to ours!)

It's so hard to believe that we are now 9 years into this marriage!

It seems like just yesterday we were on our way to Jamiaca for our honeymoon. There was no tropical vacation involved with this anniversary celebration, but we did make a 2 hour trip to purchase this. . .

It kind of makes me giggle. I don't think Adam or I would have considered this exciting 9 years ago, but time sure does change your perspective on things. While we both were happy to be upgrading (since our old van was starting to become unreliable) we were more excited to get it home and show it to the kids, because we knew they would go bonkers. Bryson saw it and said "What! We have a TV like Aunt Heidi and moving doors like the Hershey's (Our good friends). This is great!" While it's still a minivan, Adam and I were excited to gain back some of the fun stereo features we lost when we gave up our "sporty cool" car to meet the needs of our growing family.

Wordless Wednesday

Memorial Day

The weather was crazy hot over Memorial Day weekend here, but we still managed to have an action packed weekend! Sunday evening Adam's parents and his sister came over to camp out in our backyard. The kids thought this was super great and I love enjoying outdoors with the convenience of your house only steps away! We had a lot of fun, but I forgot to take pictures. :( Memorial Day morning the boys were in our towns parade with their baseball teams so we were out the door by 8:30! The boys thought this was super fun and Addie had a lot of fun snagging up all the candy the parade people throw out without the restraints of her brothers. Bryson then had a game at 12 in the blazing hot sun. I was kind of happy to get some sun on my sorry white arms but everyone else sat under a tent thing that my brother-in-law brought, which was probably a lot smarter. After the game, we had a cook out at our house and then finally sat around and relaxed. We finished our crazy day off with a quick jump in our favorite pool. Boy as I'm writing this post I'm realizing all the pics that I missed of the day, but here's what I got.


Tanyon going by in the parade


Daddy and Bryson going by and giving a wave!



Addie enjoying a popsicle with her cousin Morgan! Addie just loves spending time with her cousin!

Mother's Day Request

The one thing I asked for on Mother's Day was a picture with my kiddos. We have very few pictures of me with the kids. I often joke/drop subtle hints to Adam that if I were to die the kids wouldn't remember what I looked like because we don't have many pictures of me with them. So we got our picture, after about 20 attempts. It is virtually impossible to get everyone to cooperate at the same time! Not perfect but I'll take it!