SALE, Crazy Kid Game, and Slim Down

This week has been absolutely nuts!!  Here's some randomness and motivation for myself and my students.  

First up - I'm joining up with a bunch of other sellers and put my store on sale through this weekend.  

I'm Lovin Lit is hosting a linky of sellers on sale.  Check it out if you want to link up your sale or if you want to go shopping during the game tomorrow.  :)  

Student Motivation - I wanted to share a crazy game that my students love to play.  It's just called Statue and we play it the last couple minutes of the day IF we have time and it everyone stayed on green.  This past week I took a couple of pictures of the crazy poses they get into.

I don't know how his head and neck doesn't hurt...

We have statue of liberties, feet up, skiing, rock star, skateboarding poses... the kids get crazy.  It's just a matter of a countdown from 10, then calling out "STATUE".  I choose 2 judges - one girl, one boy and after the kids are posed they choose their favorite poses.  The winners then are the next round of judges for the next game.  It's easy and the kids LOVE it.  

Okay - my Slim Down motivation.  

Being honest, I knew going into this week that it was going to be tough.  Last Saturday was my son's birthday party, and basically every night this week we had something going on and most of it involved a meal out.  I did try to make healthy choices, it was hard to do when the restaurants didn't have their nutrition posted.  

Sunday - Lunch with my sister at BJs.

Monday - dinner home

Tuesday - Mexican dinner out after we signed the Estate Plan

Wednesday - Real birthday dinner - Chinese take out

Thursday - Grabbed lunch at Bagel Street Cafe on route to son's field trip

Friday - dinner home 

I forgot my water at home again... and didn't eat as many veggies.  I did keep that activity tracker humming though, and had my best day ever (since last August when I got it).  I don't know if my scale is broken (I don't think so), but it showed up as 0 again.  Maybe it's all that sodium from dining out, maybe it's lack of water, maybe it's that birthday cake... Anyhow, this week is going to be better (and hopefully not as crazy).  

Hope this helped you in some way.  Have a great day!  

Saturday Motivation (Students and Slim Down)

Saturdays... a chance to relax.... YEAH RIGHT!!  My family is in a mad rush to get ready for my son's 4 year old Power Rangers party.  It's still a couple of hours away.  My house will soon be filled with 3 and 4 year olds... that I don't know from his classes at school and church... Wish me luck!  

This week for Student Motivation I wanted to share about my students celebrating the 100th day of school.  I tried something this year that was hilarious, I gave my students the option to dress up like they were 100 years old.  Now, I can't post their pictures - no point without seeing their faces - you wouldn't be able to see the wrinkles, gray hair, and facial hair.  It was so much fun!  I had 3 canes in class, lots of thick glasses, huge beaded jewelry, a full suit, some floppy hats, etc.  I totally forgot how silly they get when they dress up.  Worth it for one extra day of fun.  :)

As for my own Slim Down motivation...  well LOOK! 

Yes, that says I lost 5.6 pounds this week.  5 point 6.  I knew my scale lied last week when it was -0.  It might be lying again this week, but since it's in my favor, at the moment I don't care.  I did check it about 5 times this morning to see if the number would change (I was a little in shock).  

I'm still avoiding sugar like the plague (going to be hard today since I ordered a cake for the party that I actually like).  I got on the bike again during our nightly shows, and I am still Power Walking with the Biggest Loser contestants.  I have been wearing that Activity Tracker every day and have been making sure to get it to 100% of goal.  I forgot to bring my water bottle to school this week - partly because I was hauling so much other stuff to school and didn't have a free hand.  Next week that will change.  I also forgot to pack a snack a couple of days at school, so by the time I got home I was so hungry I wanted to eat everything in sight.  I need to do better with that.  I did finish up the book Made to Crave.  Such a good read, I think it got my head on straight.  I just started the devotional book that corresponds - just a tidbit a day to help me remember the point of this all.   

That's me.  How did you do this week?  

Dusting Off My Motivation (School and Home)

I'm going to be double dipping in this post - Motivation for my students and for myself!

Linking up with Head Over Heels for Teaching to share something I did this week that worked wonderfully to motivate my students.  I'm going to apologize in advance that I don't have pictures of it - it was a last minute, much needed activity.  We acted out our rules, specifically acted out our rules concerning Silent Reading/Read to Self.  Very early on this week I had HAD it!  I was nit picking with everything - dinging and moving kids back to their seats ASAP as I fought to get them back into the normal wonderful routine of Read to Self.  So soon they forgot their stamina.  

{Side note - I do a different version of Daily 5 in my classroom, we do it altogether directly after lunch recess.  The kids come in, we have our whole class read aloud, and then we go straight into 30 minutes of absolute quiet while I pull kids for intervention.}

So this week I called them off early from Silent Reading.  They headed back to their seats and proceeded to look at me crazy as I had 2 chairs in front of the whiteboard with the words "Yes" and "No" above them.  I told them I needed 2 volunteers, and of course they all raised their hands - so I used my student number sticks to choose.  The "Yes" volunteer was an excellent example of what to do.  I whispered to her to show what reading should look like, she demonstrated it, and the kids brainstormed what made it "YES".  

The "No" example happened to be our class clown.  I whispered for him to do a lot of different random things from wandering around the classroom, to whispering to a friend, to daydreaming, to writing, etc - and the kids were able to pinpoint what made it on the "No" list and what needed to change.  I got to give my spiel that I've done almost every day this year - How reading is so important because it builds comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary... that one is not only hurting themselves when they don't use the sacred time to really focus on their books, they are also hurting their friends who become distracted... 

Then they got to go and show me how true reading looks, and of course they did it perfect both that day and the days to come.  I'm really hoping they don't forget over this weekend!!

Okay, my motivation!!  Slim Down Saturday time with Third Grade Tidbits!  

This week I really started on the exercise portion to getting healthy.  I have had this DVD for a couple of years, but I really was trying to figure out WHY I messed up in the past.. messed up meaning I was going good and then hit a roadblock when school started.  I had it in my head that I HAD to exercise in the morning (which doesn't happen during school because I need my beauty sleep).  I also had it in my head that I needed to use my regular TV and DVD player to do it, which of course is used a lot in the evenings by the other members of my family.  

Instead I changed it up to doing the video after dinner this week on our computer.  This new schedule is working for me.  I have some "me" time when the kids are playing and before the nightly routine of baths, stories, prayers, tuck in, and adult TV time (which our TV time consists of me now watching our nightly shows from the exercise bike).  It's working!    

The past 2 weeks I've also been reading the book Made to Crave.  Tara mentioned it over on Instagram, and it's really been helping me get my head on straight.  Between exercise, logging my food into my phone, recording my exercise on a separate calendar in our closet - not just on my phone, using my Active Link on a regular basis (meaning not forgetting it on my dresser), avoiding sugar, and reading Made to Crave I am going into this next week knowing that I did my best no matter what the scale says.    

So without further ado - here are my stats for this week:

Yay!  

Heading off to see the sister in law… and hopefully meeting the baby while we are there!  Have a great day!  

Slim Down Saturday {on Monday}

What a huge weekend it was!  There wasn't time to share with you how I'm doing with my New Year's resolution to be healthy.  Linking up with Third Grade Tidbits to let you know how it's going with me.  

I'll be quick about this...

This past week I really tried to get on the right track again… After so much yummy holiday food, I was having a hard time making good choices... like those cookies I ate for breakfast on December 26th...  I'm a vacation dieter, it's easier for me to get on track when I can focus on it completely.

So here's the scoop from December 27th - January 4th:

Goal:  I'm setting small goals for myself this time around since I get overwhelmed with the big number.  Ultimately I would love to be able to run after my kids without huffing & puffing (big bad wolf style).  I want to get out of the pre diabetic range, not get diabetes (like my dad), or have heart problems (like my mom).  I want to live a long life so I can enjoy my family and retirement… if I ever can retire…

Loss and Positives:  I lost 3.8 pounds this past week.  Yay me!  I also am proud of myself that I still managed to do that on vacation at Legoland.  I made good choices and avoided sugar.  I ate my veggies.  I made good choices dining out.  I portioned out my food.  I exceeded my pedometer goal.  I got on the exercise bike when I got home, and I got moving.  

What I need to work on:  I was so cold this week that I didn't remember to drink all the water I need.  That and I didn't want to have to wait in those amusement park women's bathroom lines… I know you know what I'm talking about.  So that needs to change.  I also need to add in more exercise and figure out a BALANCE between focused Emily during vacation and absent minded Emily when school is going full speed ahead.  I need to remember to put me first.  

I guess I'm putting this on a teaching blog because I know there are others that feel exactly like I do. We all have good intentions, it's just hard to follow through when life gets in the way.    

I'll be back tomorrow with classroom stuff.  :)  Thanks for keeping me accountable!  

Remember to enter the gigantic giveaway from this weekend.  :)  

Have a great day!