Summer Reading

Like I have said before one of my favorite things to do during the summer is READ! In our house during the summer, the TV goes off and books get read. I wish I could say the same the other 9 months of the year, but for some reason this is one of the things that makes summer so special in our house. I also think it sets such a great example for our children for them to see mom and dad reading in the evenings instead of being on phones, watching TV, etc. Here are the books that I have read this summer: 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah- With courage, grace, and powerful insight, Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of word War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the Women's War. It was a fabulous book (even my husband is reading it now..shhhh) and turning into a movie soon!

  

Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks- this was an emotionally powerful story about a father and his daughter filled with unconditional love, challenges its risks, and most of all rewards. Coincidentally, I finished this book on Fathers Day weekend! Reminded my how thankful I am for my father and my husband.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult- in this book Jodi tackles the profoundly challenging yet essential concerns of our time: pride, prejudice, race, and justice. 

After attending the GYTO National Conference I picked up Rachel Hollis' new book Girl Stop Apologizing and it was just as good, if not better than Girl Wash Your Face. Rachel does an amazing job at encouraging women of all ages, and all walks of life, to discover how to "sell the sizzle"and view themselves as powerful and worthy assets, just like the product, service, or business they are working hard to promote. Through the book she provides six no-nonsense yet essential behaviors and skills that have helped her succeed beyond her wildest dreams, not only in the professional word, but also in her personal life Believing wholeheartedly in what you have to offer and doing so without apology! 

I now on the regular listen to Rachel Hollis' podcast called Rise as well as her and her husband', Dave, combined podcast called Rise Together. Some may ask "Sarah, how do you have time to listen to a podcast?" In the past I would tell you simply, that I don't, because my commute to work is a whopping  5 minutes (if that) and the rest of the day is full of little children. However, one thing that I learned while reading Rachel's book is to make time for yourself for what is important. From her book I now wake up a full hour before my children do, yes even during the summer, for some "me time". During this time I either exercise, blog, work, or do some personal development. I have loved this practice that I have put into place in the summer because it makes me a better mama and wife!

Anyways thats it for now! Hope you choose to pick up one of these great reads! Happy Reading!! 

Summer adventures

As i sit here and write this I cannot believe there is only one week left of summer for me before I go back to work. Although I am excited to meet my new students and see my co-workers, I am also sad to give up our lazy mornings in PJs and afternoons spent by the pool.

Summer wouldn't be summer without some exciting summer adventures. During the school year our family does a fair amount of traveling, however those are mostly for weddings! This summer we had some fun adventures both near and far. Let me share some of our favorites! 

We love our summer days and early evenings spent up at the lake. Thankfully we just travel to Lake Lanier, which is short 30 minute car ride north. This summer, both of the kiddos were brave enough to go for a tube ride and LOVED it!!! I think our favorite was when Cooper kept asking for "more". I think he must have enjoyed it too much because he then took a good solid nap on the boat. 

Another highlight early this summer was Ansleigh's 1st dance recital! She had a blast as a Baby Ballerina while dancing/singing at the top of her lungs on stage! 

Next up in early June we celebrated Cooper's 2nd birthday with a fireman theme. We were even able to swing having the fire department bring their fire truck out to our house, and that was a HUGE hit!!

Pretty soon after we ventured to Mobile for Fathers Day Weekend spent with Elliot's family. Ansleigh had been counting down the days for months to go to Mobile. She is always so excited to get to visit with her cousins and Lolli and Papa. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post I was blessed to get to attend the Get Your Teach On (GYTO) National Conference in Dallas. It was hands down the BEST PD. 

Even though we ventured away from home for many adventures some of our favorite adventures took place at home: 

 Many mid-week (during the school year we only go on the weekends) grocery shopping trips with tiny carts. 

 Lazy mornings full of lots of snuggles!

 Concerts at the park with friends.

 Evening hikes down by the River. 

4th of July fireworks that EVERYONE stayed up to watch and LOVE! 

We took an end of the summer week vacation to our happy place... the beach!!! We had a great week at Hilton Head with Elliot's family. Here were a few highlights from our trip: 

Summer 2019 you have been a great one! Although it makes me sad that our children are growing older by the day, it does make for some fun traveling adventures! 

Get Your Teach On (GYTO)

The last four days, I had the privilege to attend a conference of a lifetime! Most would think that a teacher conference would be boring and filled with lots of learning. It was indeed filled with of LOTS of learning but it was far from boring. In fact it was a PARTY!!!! I was blessed to go with the support of my school and with a colleague of mine. We had an amazing time listening, learning, and bouncing ideas off of each other. I come back from this conference feeling inspired and full of great ideas for this school year. I was also able to meet some of my favorite "famous" teachers who I follow on social media. I was totally "teacher crushing"! I cannot wait to share these things with my team and school. Here are a few pictures from our incredible four days in Dallas, TX. 

 Jenny and I catching an early flight to head out to GYTO in Dallas. 

 The conference was held at the beautiful Gaylord Texan Hotel. 

 Even during the summer teachers have a good time especially at the water park!

 Night one waiting for opening session. Like I said it was a PARTY!!!! 

Night one was INCREDIBLE!!! The keynote speaker was Rachel Hollis, and she was nothing short of amazing! Her stories had us all laughing and crying, while at the same time inspiring us to follow after all of our dreams, especially as women. If you are reading this and have not read her books I highly encourage you to! Well thats a wrap for a long but amazing 1st day at GYTO. 

Day 2: 

Day two started out with a bang by listening to Wade and Hope King speak and again inspire us all to follow our dreams and make the magic happen in our classrooms each day. If you haven't heard of Hope and Wade they are husband and wife teachers from The Ron Clark Academy and are making waves in the field of education. They also have a book out called The Wild Card. I encourage all teachers to read this book. They give simple, practical tips, of how to make the magic happen in the classroom. After this session I attended several break out sessions to dive deeper into content, all of which were amazing!!! Day 2 breakouts for me were: Math Super Solvers, Marvelous Writers, and Social Studies and Culture. In each of these sessions I was able to listen to very knowledgable teachers, some that I knew and some that I didnt (but I now follow on social media). In the afternoon we also got to hear from two very talented current and former Ron Clark Academy students. These two students were both incredibly well spoken and brave to speak and inspire a room of 4,200 teachers. They shared about their lifetime impacts from their teachers. 

Here are some pictures from day 2:

 "Teacher crushing" getting to meet Amy Lemons 

 Just a portion of the amazing "swag" given to us

 Getting to listen to the amazing Hope King

Day 3: 

Day 3 was another incredible day at GYTO. We started out in the morning by getting to listen to five different teachers' stories and why they became teachers. Each of these stories were very touching and motivating to keep building relationships with our students because thats what truly matters. After this keynote we broke out into some more amazing breakout sessions for the day. My sessions for day 3 were: Building a Super Classroom Community, Building Super Readers, and The Art of Integration. The afternoon concluded with another session with Hope and Wade King. In this session they talked about how to continue to make the MAGIC happen in the classroom by empowering our students to be successful all the while keeping relationships at the heart. 

Here are some pictures from day 3: 

"Teacher crushing" getting to meet Chris Pombonyo 

 Our wonderful host this morning Jared Lemons 

 Another wonderful session with Hope and Wade King 

 Being "super reader" detectives 

Day 4: 

Day 4 was a short, sad, day because it was the day we had to go home. The past four days were incredible full of lots of FUN and learning with like-minded educators. It is my goal to make it to another GYTO National Conference in the years to come. This morning we were able to sit in a Q&A session with some of the GYTO educators. Then we attended one last breakout session before we had to catch our flight: Collaborative Stemagination. 

I know it sounds cheesy but I will forever be changed from this amazing conference! Thank you so much to the GYTO staff for an amazing 1st time experience. 

For those of you who have never been but are interested in going check out these 3 quick videos of a recap from the week: 

And one last thing, if you are looking to get some inspiration from some amazing teachers be sure to check them out on social media: 

Hope King

Wade King

Deanna Jump

Lanesha Tabb

Abbie Mullens

Cara Carroll 

Cassie Stevens

Amy Lemons 

Chris Pombonyo