Five for Friday: Lovin' Summer!

I'm finally back to doing a Five for Friday post!  I hope everyone is enjoying summer as much as I am!
Thanks, as always, to Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting this sweet Linky!

Here are my five randoms from this week...

Look what finally came in the mail!!!

I'm on chapter 3 and loving it! Guided Reading groups are in for a makeover this year! I would highly recommend this book. Jan Richardson offers strategies and resources to enhance your literacy instruction and maximize your effectiveness in helping readers succeed. It's one of those books where you find yourself highlighting way too much text... so you need a second color to underline the stuff you want to easily reference again later.

Here's my most recent teacher made creation. A Sound Sort Set!

I had been eyeing this set from Lakeshore Learning, but there were so many other things I wanted for $145.

I thought...girl, you can make this!

I saved all of the Colorations play-doh containers we used up this year (and those of other teachers) and added letters to the tops. In each can I've collected trinkets that start with each letter.
(Another teacher had graciously given me her sound sort trinkets that she kept in large Easter Eggs. I wanted containers that were less seasonal and easier to store.) I scoured through every junk drawer at home and at school to fill each container. (X and Q are a work in progress...)

I plan to use them for Guided Reading initial sound sorts at the beginning of the year.

Nothing feels as good as crossing off projects on your summer to do list!

I've been spending time this week downloading pictures we took from our trip to Chicago last week.

It was ahh-mazing!

We visited The Field Musesum to see Sue.

I snapped some awesome pictures at the Shedd Aquarium.

And I have seen Monet's beautiful waterlilies - the real deal - not in a text book- with my own two eyes! I basked in the beauty. (My hubs on the other hand said his favorite thing about the art museum was the exit. Har-har. No appreciation for fine art!)

We also tried some splendid restaurants at which we ate a lot...like A LOT! Which brings me to my 4th item...

...the Whole30 Challenge!

Click on the picture to learn about the Whole 30 Program

The friends we went on the trip with said we should all do the challenge to get "back on track".
I caved to peer pressure. (To read more about this new journey I'm on, check out my blog post here.)

This is a HUGE stretch for me! I love sugar just as much as any kid does. Maybe even more. It's bad. Really bad.

I plan to post at then end of each week about my Whole30 journey with some meal and snack ideas...if I make it that far! Have you tried the Whole30? I may need some encouragement from those of you who have.

So far this is my favorite recipe: Watermelon Slush.

It's just partially frozen watermelon that I blended in our Vitamix and added garnish to.
So refreshing!

Speaking of refreshing, my soul has been revitalized this summer by a Bible study I'm doing along with some fellow teachers from my school. It's become an annual event. We rotate hosting the study at each others houses.

 This year we are doing a Precepts study on the book of Philippians. What has really struck me in this study is that we are living in light of eternity. We have dual citizenship when we follow Christ. Earth is not our eternal home. When you see every circumstance as an opportunity to give God glory... and that everything is for Him...that is where you find true peace and joy.

We all cherish the extra time we have in the summer to really dig deep into God's Word.

I love that this study uses colored pencils to mark specific words. So colorful!

I'm looking forward to visiting the linkup to seeing what everyone else has been up to this week! Head on over yourslef. Better yet - link up and share five randoms from your week!