Channeling my Inner Teacher: Sub Plans + Read-Alouds

Three cheers for making it to Friday, friends! I've actually had more energy this week, which has been weirdly nice, but I'm still more than ready for the weekend & the gorgeous weather we have on tap!



The girls reunited after school this afternoon, they claimed this was "the longest hug ever!"

I feel as though I've been channeling my inner teacher this week! My mom is going to be staying with the girls later this month while Derek & I make a trip out to Las Vegas for house-hunting, and I've been having flash-backs of writing sub plans while I prep everything for my mom. I've been writing out "menus" for the girls' meals, printing out driving directions (since my mom obviously doesn't know her way around San Antonio roads) & detailing the girls' morning routine (especially for the days when my mom has to get them up & out the door early for school drop-off)...you don't realize all the little things that go into taking care of small children until you actually attempt to write it all down! ;)  I'm way too Type A to not write every single little thing down, which explains why my sub plans were always like 5 pages long!! ;)  Whether they follow anything on my "lists" or not while we're gone, it makes me feel so much better to have covered all the bases on my part. ;)  Shelby is just tickled beyond belief to have three whole days without parents! I know they're going to have a blast with Grammy and probably not miss us one little bit, which is exactly how it should be! :)

And speaking of channeling my inner teacher, I have to pass along a recommendation for a great read-aloud that we stumbled across this week! Shelby has been enjoying reading "chapter books" with me, but I felt like we'd gone through most of the "classics" that come to my mind for her age group. So I consulted Google for some new ideas & found out there's a whole series by Kate Dicamillo that I'd never even heard of!

I was of course familiar with this author from Because of Winn Dixie, but the Mercy Watson series is relatively new (I think the copyright info said 2010). We've only read the first book (Mercy Watson to the Rescue!), but we've got the second on hold at the library already! If you're like us & are new to this series, I'd definitely recommend them! The book itself is pretty short with very brief chapters & vivid color illustrations, perfect for a younger audience! I actually think I'd recommend this book more for the 4 year old crowd as a read-aloud, but older kiddos who are reading independently would still love it! I read it aloud to Shelby, but she also read it on her own. The plot & characters were silly, sweet, and so entertaining! We're both looking forward to reading more of Mercy's antics in the next book!

Hope you have the best weekend!!!