Melissa, Andy and the kids' Blog

Every Sunday night Andy and I go over to his parents for dinner. Most of his other siblings come as well. It is fun to be with the family, especially the little nieces and nephews. They sure do keep us entertained at times. For mother's day we got Lindsey a Nana frame since the grandchildren call her Nana. I finally got around to taking a picture for that frame, but of course I haven't printed it yet. These kids just love their Nana! We will have to take a picture with all the grandchildren the next time the out of state grandkids come to visit. Miles is full of energy and life. He is a funny kid! This is how these brothers bond. However, it is a little unusual that they only had one cell phone out! Sunday nights are great. I love spending time with Andy's family. I just wish that I got to see my family as often. I miss them, and I wish that I could watch my nieces and nephews goof off every week. Whenever I see them, they are even more grown up then the last ti...

I am in my second year of teaching first grade. My first year in first grade was great, but I decided that I want to be an even better teacher. Lately I have been spending hours reading teacher blogs and websites, and I have come across some great ideas. Some ideas are about organizing, decorating, reading, and so on. Here are a few I have already used: 1. Birthdays - Instead of just writing my students' names under the month they were born, I took pictures of all of the kids born in a month. I had them hold the sign of the month and their date. Look at the kiddies below. (Now I just need to get them printed and up on the wall.) 2. Mystery Readers - I'm going to have parents come in and be mystery readers. Before they come in I will read clues about them, and the students try to figure out if it is one of their parents. Then the parent will come in and read to the class. 3. Names - I've also done a few fun things with my students names. They had to cut apart the...