Linking Up with Love and a Great Tip!

As I was scrolling through blogposts this morning I discovered a Linky Party - Linking Up with Love, from Tessa at Tales from Outside the Classroom. I knew I had just had to join...I just LOVE love. If you ask my future husband, I am always interested in reading a book or watching a show/movie that has love involved! Yes, I am sucker for Love.

Who do I love?

I must begin with my future husband, Jeff! As of this February, we will have been together for 5 years and we will be getting married this July. I feel so lucky and fortunate to have found a man who adores me! Love is definitely in the air for us this year!

I am madly-in-love with my family, especially my sister! My sister and I are "talkers," just ask our significant others. My sister lives in CO and we have found time to connect for hours on the phone. She is one of the great highlights in my day!

(My sister is the one in the blue, brown, and white dress)

My dog, Elvis. He has a way of making my life wonderful, crazy, and frustrating, all at the same time. However, I wouldn't be the same without him. 

What do I love?

Hart of Dixie! A co-worker of mine had been telling me to watch this show for quite some time, and I began catching up on it over winter break. Needless to say, I am hooked and in-love! If you haven't seen it before, check it out on Netflix, you won't be disappointed :)

Home Goods -- My fiance and I bought our home last summer and we have been slowly, but surely, decorating each and every room. Home Goods has allowed me to create a beautiful and stunning home, but for just the right price!

Second Grade! I teach in a multi-graded classroom. I have been teaching 2nd and 3rd grade for 4 years and I have found that my heart belongs in 2nd grade. You just know when you have found the grade you were meant to teach in and I have found mine.

,I love "Wake Up With Taylor" on Cosmo Radio (found on SiriusXM)! Taylor and Kenny are hilarious and they make my 45 minute commute funny, enjoyable and quick. 

As for my tip, I have been wanting share muscle movements I use to teach sight words. A few years ago, I attended a workshop about reading research. While I was there, I learned about the alphabet stretch. The alphabet stretch is where students move based on where the height of the letter. For example, a letter that stops at the plane (dashed) line, such as "a", students put their hands on their hips. For a letter that reaches the sky like, such as "t", students reach to the sky, and for letters that hang down to the worm line, such as "g", students touch the ground. As students are looking at the sight words on the board, they recite the spelling of the sight word, as they match the stretches with the letters. 

I tell the students that these stretches help them to build muscle memory, so that they can achieve fluency with their sight words. 

Here is a little video of a student stretching and spelling a sight word. Hope you enjoy and this little tip helps support your classroom!

My apologies for the lovely, long post!