Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!!

It's hard to believe it's mid June already! Time is going fast and the kiddos are learning new things every day.  Today I wanted to take the time to thank Steve for being such a fantastic father to our three children.  

He's been my rock through everything!  He is the most compassionate and understanding man I know.  He is devoted to his God and his family.  I knew I was lucky to be dating such a stud 12 years ago! This year we will be celebrating 8 years of marriage! 

Thank you for being a great friend, husband, and father! Happy father's day! I hope you enjoy your day and your gift from the kiddos. Thanks for allowing me to be your partner in life. 

 

Literacy Strategy-Amy Miles

Environmental Print Mini Lesson

Background Information: 

     This lesson was taught in a preschool/daycare center where I used to work.  The students ranged in age from 4-6 years of age.  In the past when teaching environmental print in preschool and kindergarten I taught more informal lessons.  In preschool, I would ask them questions about the food items in the kitchen area when they were doing imaginative play.  In kindergarten,  environmental print was integrated into the morning message, social studies, and activities that were sent home with the students to complete with their parents. 

New Strategy:

    ReadWriteThink-Read the World Around You 

    Published by International Reading Association

Justification:

    After researching various environmental print lessons and activities this lesson was short, simple and self contained.  The students that I worked with only had their previous experiences with them and very limited structured teaching content experience.  I needed a lesson that would stand alone and still provide the students with a learning opportunity and information they could take back and share with their families.  

Procedure:

   *Greet the children and introduce the lesson about EP. 

   *Lay out labels from different brands and products of food, toys, movies, and health care products so that all students can see. 

   *Ask each student to pick out one item that they recognize from the pile. 

   *Take turns asking the students the following questions:

          *How do you know what is in the bag/box/container?

          *What letter do you see at the beginning?

          *What sound does that letter make?

          *Do you see other letters that you know?

          *Do you see letters from your name in the words on the box? (for younger children)

          *Do you see any blends? (for children who can already read)

   *We went through the questions with three different EP items.  Then we talked about how we look for picture clues to tell us what things might be.  I asked them if you could tell a story with out knowing the words to the story.  Then we tried it with a book one of the children picked out. The children realized how many different stories could be told from pictures.  

   *We ended the mini lesson with a game of "I Spy" and a challenge to read labels in their pantry at home to their parents. 

Reflection:

    Looking back at teaching the lesson I would have created more opportunities for the students to extend their learning at home.  This could have been done with a list of games parents could play with their child, a check list or worksheet for the child to complete at home, or by creating a book with the group that they could then use in their classroom.  I also realized that if I had taught this lesson in a culturally diverse setting I would have needed to enlist the help of parents.  Each family could have brought in a bag of labels and logos from food items and health and beauty products used in their homes.  This would have been a great way to give the students a larger view of the world beyond themselves and ensure that all students could identify items from the pile.  

    The students all responded well to the questions.  Some of them needed confidence boosting as they kept saying, "But I can't read."  This is when we talked about using clues around us to figure out what the words might say. 

Baby Steps

I was in 8th grade and feeling both nervous and excited about my first formal dance at school. 8th grade graduation culminated with an evening dance for all of the students at West Intermediate. I was very intimidated by dresses and everything girly. My mom and I went shopping and I found a pair of brown and yellow thinly striped dress pants that matched a button up sleeveless top.
The day of the dance my friends Meghan and Mel took me to the salon with them. I sat down in the big soft black chair and held onto the hard plastic arms for dear life. A man greeted me and asked, "What were you thinking of doing with your hair?" I froze in the moment.
I thought to myself, Me...this man is asking me what I want done with my hair. Didn't HE go to school for this, because I wear a pony tail EVERY day to school. I tried to gently let him know that I was in no way a girly girl and therefor I had no idea what I "wanted" done with my hair.
"Ummm...I like curls and I usually wear it up." I responded quietly.
He took his fingers and weaved them through my hair piling it on top of my head, combing here and there, then letting it fall again to my shoulders. He wrapped his large fingers around a can of hair spray and sprayed a thick cloud of sticky spray over my head. Then he took it section by section and sprayed it even MORE! I was holding in my breath so that I wouldn't offend him by coughing at his "masterpiece".
The male hairstylist then curled each piece of hair perfectly and pinned it into place. Some of the pins slid effortlessly into place while others jabbed into my scalp. As he neared my ears I requested that he leave two pieces down near my ears and curl them. After a few more pins, nips, and blasts of the hairspray my hair was complete. A beautiful pile of curls impeccably placed on the crown of my head. I let out an audible sigh, thanked him and went on my way to prepare for the dance.

Virtual Worlds

This week in class we talked about virtual gaming and its place in education. We read an article and watched a youtube video about Second Life, which is a virtual world similar to The Sims. I remember playing The Sims a few times but I just could not get into it. My brother loved it though! I think that because I have a hard time getting excited about it, it would be difficult to use this in my classroom. Also being a mother of 2 little ones I don't have the time available to invest in developing a "virtual world" to use with my curriculum. I also think that with the limited time teachers have to teach each topic, this would/could be a total time waster. Students could spend a lot of time and not complete the task at hand. If I taught in an area that had a laptop program I might think about doing something that deals with the virtual world, because they have time at home to complete the work and spend as much extra time on it as they would like.

I'm all over the place on my feelings for it. Because of how involved people get in virtual worlds it becomes another gaming problem. Students will be spending more time indoors on the laptop or computer all because of an assignment that a teacher gave them!

I don't think that VR is a fad because I remember it when I was in 6th grade with a VR game at Studio 28 and it's still around. It is evolving and there are still people out there who enjoy it. As long as there is bullying, depression, etc. there will be VR. There will always be someone who wants/needs to escape the reality that they are in and VR gives them that opportunity.

-Amy Miles

Checking out some educational technology blogs

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/12/education-technology-tweet-wrap-for-the-week-of-11-28-11/comment-page-1/#comment-27058

This week it was hard to find an actual blog for some reason. Lots of them I found seemed to be articles more than a blog.

Curricular Integration Project

For my CIP I have chosen to do a webquest of sorts for my small group of girls that I teach for 8th grade confirmation. This webquest will include outside reading (or looking up bible verses on the Internet), video links, and websites. The final project or outcome of the webquest is for the group of girls to research and select a charity that is in need during the Christmas season. Then as a collective group we will listen to each of the girls "presentation" of their project and then select a charity to do a service project at before Christmas.

To complete the project I need to do some more research of my own and find some good links to use within the webquest. Also I am trying to decide if they will be on the "hunt" for something, if the quest will have a story line, or if it will be more of a guided project. I am also thinking about collaborating with the director of confirmation to see what tools he usually uses to teach this topic/lesson and see if I can design something that could possibly be used for all of the confirmation groups.

By doing this project I hope to learn different ways to integrate technology into the webquest while still having the learning get a significant amount of information/learning through completing it. I am also counting on being able to easily complete the webquest since I learned how to do this about 5 or 6 yrs ago in undergrad! I also want to try and use my podcasting skills within the webquest!

I feel that I can connect the learning from this project to what I will be doing in the classroom as this project is like a trial run. I can try out several different things and see what works and what doesn't. I also will learn from my small group of girls what parts they enjoyed, had trouble with or what they disliked by receiving feedback more quickly than I would in the classroom. By trying different items in the project I will also become more familiar with the tech tools that we learned in this class. (BTW-random note...we are watching the state football playoffs and they are using Google Earth to show where a city is in MI and then zooming in to show their high school!)

In the future I hope to be able to more easily integrate the tech tools that we learned through this class into my curriculum focusing on the fact that the subject matter comes first and then the technology should be there to enhance the learning experience. I have also learned that it is important to have a plan in place before you just take your class to the computer lab. In my classroom in the future we will be planning out our Internet searches before we go to the computer lab to make the time in the lab more efficient. From this project I am learning that no matter how thorough or self explanitory you make your webquest or lesson you can't just assume your students know exactly what is expected of them. So its important to show examples and go through the directions before the students get on the computer. They may have questions or come across problems that I had not anticipated.

I am excited to use what I have learned from this class and this project in my future classroom. Also to use it as a sub. I was thinking about recording some stories read by my as a podcast to play for my students when I sub if they need to listen to a story to kill some time at the end of the day (I even bought some portable Black Friday cheap speakers for this purpose!).

Webquests

This week we learned about Webquests in my grad class. I remember learning about them and creating one in my undergrad technology in education class. I believe they are a great way to keep students focused and on task while using technology. It also helps to ensure that the information they are using is valid (hopefully the creator makes sure it is!). The weakness of the Webquest is that students aren't able to sift through internet sites themselves to determine what is credible information and what is just junk out there. This is a skill that students need to develop and teachers may feel that its too time consuming! Another weakness is that like anything created by us teachers it may have bias. Depending on the topic the bias may be very clear or it may be hidden. This is a problem because as teachers we want our students to develop their own thoughts and opinions based on what they learn and experience not because its what their parents, teachers, or friends believe.

http://questgarden.com/133/79/7/111022141423/index.htm

Above is the link I found for a Webquest on Climate and Weather for 7th grade.

1. Introduction. Strength is that the Intro is clear and simple. Weakness is that the webquest teaches the students a larger objective and not just how to compare and contrast weather and climate. This may cause students to discount the other information that is being presented.
   

2. A task that is doable and interesting. I think students would be interested in being a reported and videographer. The weakness is that there is a discrepancy between the Intro and the task. The Intro. says the students will travel into the future and the task speaks of traveling back in time. This is important because climate is more about the atmospheric conditions or weather over time therefor you need to look at the past to determine what the future may hold.
   

3. A process (do learners know what to do and when?). The learners know what process they are supposed to complete and what they need to do before they can move onto the next step. The only weakness is that Process 1 fails to mention the need to apply the information to the state which they selected and where to find that information. The process has a lot of different types of information for the learners to interact with.
   

4. Evaluation. Students have a rubric and questions to follow to make sure that they have included everything. The weakness is that items that are not associated with the subject matter receive more points than the science content!
   

5. A conclusion that brings closure to the quest, reminds the learners about what they've learned...Overall thoughts. The conclusion seems to tell the answers to the Intro. The weakness with this is that students could simply click ahead and use that information in their project instead of viewing the videos, songs, and reading the articles that go more in depth about the information. Having a hard time finding a strength in this part, but I suppose it would be that it takes the standard taught and makes it simple to understand.
   

6. And, lastly:

7. Is this a webquest you think you could use without modification in your classroom (not for the project in this class -- that should be your own creation)? What might you have to change? No I would not be able to use this webquest without modification. There are some areas that need some more attention to detail so that students get the most out of the project. It's a great idea and has good resources but the students are supposed to transfer this information they learn and apply to a state of their choice. I don't see a whole lot of guidance for the students with that transition. Some students could jump that gap but other students would have great difficulty trying to apply the new information themselves.
   

1. 
   

METS

The standard I chose to address is:

PK-2.CC.2. use a variety of developmentally appropriate digital tools (e.g., word processors, paint programs) to communicate ideas to classmates, families, and others

I currently teach Preschool to 3 year olds where we don't have technology available in our classroom. I think the center is against using it in the classrooms for children under 3.5-4 years old. So here is what I would do to integrate it into my current curriculum if it was allowed where I worked!

Next week we will be learning about how our body grows. I would do the following activities during center times throughout the week to enhance the curriculum about how our body grows.

Literacy- Students will type their names on a word processing document that is already opened. To enhance their skills the teacher can show the students how to make a capital letter.

Math-The pictures the students "colored" on the computer will be printed, cut out and used for a sequencing activity.

Art- The students will create a self portrait using the paint studio on the computer. First they will create a self portrait of themselves as a baby (using pre-made shapes on the computer) and then they will make a self portrait of what they look like now.

Science- Students will use the paint studio application to fill "color" the pictures of how a plant grows from a seed to a plant.

Once a week the teacher will ask the students a question and the teacher will type their response into a word document. This will help to model the use of word processing and for students to be involved in a print rich environment.

Fine motor- The students will practice holding a mouse and clicking the buttons by moving it around on a piece of paper that has a line drawn on it.

Students will be assessed by the teacher while they are involved in the activities throughout the week. Each center has 2-3 students at it.

Digital Writing, Digital Teaching

GVSUgraceam is the first comment on this blog post from an assistant professor at Central Michigan University. Go Chips! Who today are playing NC State!

http://hickstro.org/2011/10/06/some-thoughts-on-digital-reading/#comments

Sharewith911

I found this blog that lists some great educational technology websites. One of them I chose to read was this http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2011/09/mobile-phones-in-schools-as-lifesaving.html?showComment=1316734486784#c3685837517615893014

It talks about using mobile phones in schools to help save lives! The example is using your phone to take a pictures of what is happening in a school during a school shooting. While this is one of the extreme examples it could be very beneficial to law enforcement and first responders! Be sure to check it out.

Technology: Home and School

Technology at Home:

In our home we have a desktop, laptop, iPod touch, iPod nano, PS3, and 2 Plasma TV's with Netflix streaming and the ability to connect to the internet. We also have cell phones, but we don't have a texting plan so that puts us a little behind the generation that we currently teach. For me I feel we have plenty of technology in our home! My husband would disagree since he loves to have the latest and greatest of things. He is currently dreaming of a projection TV system for the basement along with an iPad.

I currently teach at a preschool and we have hardly any technology. There is one student computer in the Pre-K classroom and it currently doesn't work. In my classroom I bring the iPod touch and connect it to a speaker doc. I use it a lot to play movement songs, relaxing songs for nap/rest time, and songs to bring the students together when they aren't following directions! I think that having more technology would be amazing in preschool. These children can't write yet so they only have their words to express themselves. How cool would it be to have a webchat with another classroom! Pen pals for 3 year olds via Skype.

When I worked in the middle school setting technology was always being talked about. How can we get easy to use technology that's free into the classroom so that teachers can use it! Our technology teacher taught us after school about virtual field trips, how to navigate and search for ones that are free, as well as how to set them up in his classroom. I think that as teachers we need to think about how the technology works to engage our students. We don't want to use it just to use it. How can we use it to get our students excited about the more boring topics??

I would hope that with greater opportunities with technology in the classroom that my students would benefit from it. Would they be able to learn more about different cultures by taking a virtual field trip to another country? Then could we work to set up a Skype session where the students could do a Q and A to learn more about what its like to be a child in another country. Facebook has really opened up the opportunities to meet and stay connected to others around the world. We just have to take advantage of it and bring it into the classroom and have administrators and technology directors that agree with it!

I hope that this class will introduce me to different ideas about technology, new ways to use technology and the different successes and struggles in school districts across Michigan!

Have a great week!

-Amy Miles

It's been a long time!

It's been too long my friends!

Abby is getting big (2 years old now) and Luke ( 5 months old) are doing great. I also started taking classes towards my masters and will be posting here for one of my classes!

-Amy

Just sharing something that came from my bible study...

Don't feel sorry for me this is just part of the grieving process...

My Beth Moore study posed this question/statement: Oh, Beloved, surely you've found yourself still standing after a time when the enemy came seeking your slaughter! Testify here of his foiled plans.

Satan thought Faith's diagnosis would tempt and turn me away from God. Then he thought that the need for ECMO would, nope...so he tried surgery with a silo bag, nope...a blood clot, nope and then cardiac arrest. What Satan didn't know and I didn't truly know is that God was standing with me the whole time. I found out the night that Faith coded that He was with me the whole time. He wrapped his arms around me and told me it's going to be ok. Your heart will ache but your precious baby will be with me healthy and whole in Heaven. I held my baby as she slipped away. The saddest moment but the most comforting moment. I never spoke out loud but I talked to her in my head. Her spirit now in Heaven free of saddness and pain. That moment has changed me as a mother, wife, and person. Sure I still get scared. But I know now more than ever before that my God is a BIG God and He does good work. I hope to someday be able to put into words what I have learned from all of this without using cliches. To speak from the heart, but the words are hard to find. That last night with her replays in my head often. Brings me to tears to think about it. But I can't help but think that there is a reason or purpose that it replays. Something that I am not yet aware of that I am supposed to see in that moment. An intensely personal moment in my life, but I am not afraid to share it.

I hope my words can comfort someone, bring them peace, help others in someway. I just felt the need to share this.

Love,

Amy

Long, long time

Wow it's been a long time since our last post. We were remembering Faith in the Smoky Mtn. National Park. Since then my nephew David was born a tiny 5lbs 5oz on April 30th. He's growing so fast and his momma and daddy love him so!

My sister, her fiance, nephew, Abby and I went down to FL. We went to a CDH conference and got to meet David. It was super hot already in May!!

Steve finished the school year and has a job for next year woohoo! Praise God! It's so nice to have him home and to get to hang out as a family.

We have been swimming and hanging out with friends. Our run Journey to Faith was a success. On Friday, June 18 we drove down to Ann Arbor and marked the route. Stayed the night with the Jacoby's (Faith's primary care nurse) and had a great meal and even better entertainment. A storm blew through and knocked down a power line in front of their house. Well really out in the road but it was crazy to be that close to a downed power line. So we got to call 911 and hang out in the dark :) In the morning we got up and headed to Ann Arbor and took some pictures at the Ronald McDonald House.

The first day of the run was amazing! I don't think we could have asked for a smoother day (maybe a few degrees cooler). The Saranac High School Cross Country team did an amazing job and so did all of the other participants. Day two was a little bumpy at the start but things quickly smoothed out and we had another fantastic day! The PR people for the Ronald McDonald House called and said that the newspaper was going to do a story. We were excited about that! Then at 2:30pm as I was biking while Tricia and Anna were running we got a call from WZZM13 our local ABC TV station. They met up with us with about one mile left and filmed us running to the cemetery. Steve and I led everyone the last mile to the cemetery, we got a flower and placed it on Faith's headstone. Then we hugged and circled up for prayer. It was a great ending to a fantastic weekend! WZZM13 did an interview and we were on the 11pm news coverage. They did a super job on telling our story. So Journey to Faith 2010 was a success and we met our fundraising goal of $2,500!

Since then we celebrate Abby's first birthday party. My mom flew up from FL and stayed for about a week. At Abby's one year well baby check she woke up with a fever and was diagnosed with an ear infection. Then Saturday she woke up with a gunky eye and Sunday she had a yucky cough! We are still trying to kick the cough. She has a recheck for her ears on July 15 and two weeks after that a weight recheck since she was in the 10th%.

We have been playing in the yard lots with Abby and last night she was practicing standing up. Today she took one step on her own! Our days of a walking baby aren't far away.

Steve has been helping to motivate me and has been running with me. I am finally up to running 1.5 miles and walking a mile or more afterwards. I want to run my first 5K in 10 years sometime soon. Maybe in September. So I was thinking about blogging about that. I know its a little boring but hey maybe it will be motivation.

Hope everyone out there is doing well in blogger land!

Great Smoky Mountains TN

Book Drive 2010

Wow we just want to say a HUGE Thank you to everyone who helped out with the book drive this year! We have been blessed with amazing people in our lives and now all of us are passing on the blessing to families with children in the hospital at Mott's and DeVos Children's hospitals.



In 2009, we gathered 370 books for Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan. This year we added plush animals and shifted to only new books.



Thank you to all who donated:

The Robinson Family

The Olivarez Family

The Crawford Family

The Heald Family

Desiree Casillas and Matt Steingass

The Price Family

Tom and Cindy Miles

The Wheeler Family

The Feazell Family

The Baker Family

The Kruskamp Family

The Michel Family

C & R Family Chiropractic (paitents donated too)

Amanda Dickens

The Wilkins Family

Brenda Page and Family

Amber and Milena Viau

Jennifer Grace and Taylor Herington

Lou Miller

Erin Zimmer

Tressa Doepker

Shari Ebner

Marisa Grace Mogg

The Claybaugh Family

Amanda Duncan-Cyr

The Ansell Family

The Carroll Family

The Machuta Family

The Klynstra Family

Meghan, Jason, and Brianna Hathaway

Pat and Jim Hathaway

The Austhof Family

Jane Palmondon

Chris Johnston

Jan Fortino

Mike Evans

The Gardner Family

The McCarthy Family

Saranac Community Schools
The list is not complete...I may have missed someone. If I have I am so sorry and please let me know.

We delivered 130 books and 55 plush animals to Helen DeVos Children's hospital!
We will be delivering 168 books and more plush animals to Mott Children's Hospital on Friday!


Again we can never thank you all enough for your donations. Without you we would not be able to do this. You are bringing hope and a smile to children's faces!


Love,

The Miles Family

Birthday Weekend!

Well it's official...I'm 28! This past weekend we got some books ready for the book drive with stickers on them and the thank you's all ready. Then we went back to MP, saw Avatar, visited my Grandma Grace, ate at the Pixie and I went to Women's Comedy Night at a church in MP. It was a very busy day! But lots of fun. We stayed at Steve's parents house and forgot to turn up the water heater so Sunday morning we drove back to GR to shower real quick before church. Sunday was just as busy! Drive, church, lunch, made cupcakes, 8th confirmation class, Meijer and then home.

I was so tired I took two naps today while Abby slept! :) I must say it was pretty nice!

Our church just finished a great series called Victorious Secrets. You can listen to it online! http://cornerchurch.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=68901 After church I went to the prayer corner and asked for prayers. I have been worrying lately, more than normal. Worrying about what I will do to keep my family safe if there is a fire or if Abby chokes. Abby has been sleeping on her belly with her face buried in her hands. I have been praying for God to keep her safe. I need prayers to stop worrying. Give my worries up to God. I thank God for every day with Abby and Steve and pray that we will have many more.

I get the feeling that my worries will always increase around this time of year, because last year when I was pregnant with Abby around this time I was worrying about all kinds of crazy stuff. Faith's birthday is coming up March 6th. Steve is costuming for Star Wars night at the Griffins game. Then Jenn, Taylor, Lou and his son and I are all going to the game. Abby is going to stay home with a sitter (which we have yet to find)!

We hope that you all have a great week!

Take care,

Amy, Steve, ^Faith^, and Abby Miles

Birthday week!

What a week of birthdays! Friends birthdays, CDH angel and sibling birthdays and then mine!

Where has the month gone already! Abby is still doing the wounded soldier crawl (half an army crawl) and gets around really well. If I am making baby food in the other room she cries at the sound and tries to find me. She's a cutie!

She is eating three meals a day. The last few days she has been napping well which is new!

My sister in law is getting closer to the 28 week mark. Continued prayers that they stay pregnant and baby David continues to grow stronger. (They are dealing with gestational diabetes, incompetent cervix and borderline pre-eclampsia).

We are still collecting new books and plush for the hospitals. The books can be sent to 2275 Fawnwood Dr. SE, KEntwood, MI 49508

We are also doing a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House of Ann Arbor by selling Party Lite candles through the 26th of Feb if you are interested.

Not much else going on! Hope that all is well your way.

Love,

The Miles Family

New Orleans and Orlando Jan 2010

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

From New Orleans to Orlando

Abby and I successfully made it to New Orleans and spent the last week with the Michel family. It was AMAZING! I really couldn't believe how at home we felt and it felt like we had known eachother a lifetime.

We enjoyed some Popeye's, gumbo, grilled red fish, beneits from THE Cafe Du Monde downtown New Orleans, King cake and many other treats. We went and had the girls' pictures taken at Penny's in their tutu's and headbands. They turned out sooooo cute. The pictures should be in the first week of Feb. Thursday we went into the city and delivered bags to the NICU in memory of Drake Alexander Michel for Project Sweet Pea. Then we went into the French Quarter and walked and walked and walked. It was very interesting to walk around the city and just take it all in. Friday we were supposed to relax but went shopping instead. We had a fantastic time and I don't think it could have been more perfect.

Abby did well on the plane rides...though its a little difficult to nurse an almost 7 month old on the plane :)

We arrived here in Orlando on Saturday around noon. We hung out at Bob and Carol's house (my bro's) and made them dinner. It was good to see them again, since its been almost 6 months! Today we are celebrating my dad's birthday early. Sometime this week we might do Disney, since Abby is free!

Our friends had their twin boys on Jan 21, 2010 at 35 weeks. They are both doing pretty well. Just working on gaining some weight. Please keep them in your prayers.

Talk to you all later!!

Pictures will come after Thursday..I forgot the cord to the camera.

Love and kisses from FL!

Amy and Abby