Sweet Summertime!

I am so thankful to have the 9 weeks off in the summer with Easton and Preston. Here our the top 10 events for our summer bucket list:
1. Multiple beach trips- Longboat key, Anna Maria Island, Coquina Beach
2. Multiple Pool play dates-
3. Lowry Park Zoo
4. Hitting up every single park in our area, especially the splash parks
5. Florida Aquarium in Tampa
6. Mote Marine Aquarium
7. Bush Gardens and/or Sea World
8. Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa
9. Panama City with my best friend Lindsey~ We will take all of our kids on the military base to enjoy their marina, playground, and campsites.
10. Family beach house in July on Anna Maria Island

It's going to be an amazing summer! The key to success with Easton and Preston is to keep them busy. Like their mama, the busier they are the more productive they are and the less trouble they get into! Yesterday, we went to the beach and pool, came home for nap time and then played with the slip and slide in the backyard. Needless to say, the boys slept great!  In addition to entertaining the boys, my plans include cooking healthy meals four times a week. Last week was my first week off and I surprised myself with delicious kabobs, chicken fajitas and a yummy pot roast. I am not taking these 9 weeks for granted! I made a summer calendar to make sure we don't get sucked into a day in front of the TV with our pajamas on. (Ok, well maybe that will happen one or two days ;)

Have a great summer everyone~

Better late than never!

I just realized that I never posted our Spring Break and Easton's 3rd Birthday Pictures~ As always, I'll let the pictures do the talking! We had an amazing time in Breckenridge, CO.

Teacher Tips for your Toddler from Mrs. Fulmer

Hi Mommy and Daddy Friends!
     I want to take a minute (or two) of your time to give you some early literacy ideas for your toddlers. I am currently working on my Reading Endorsement to specialize in reading instruction. As I am reading research on early literacy development, I cannot help but to think of your precious children and want to provide you with some literacy support.

     As many of you know, the new literary standard for a four year old VPK student is to be an emergent reader. This means that a four-year-old should be able to identify all letters, sounds (phonics) and retell a story through expressive language (comprehension). One of the greatest areas that we can enhance our children's literacy is through oral language. Here is what the state of Florida has to say about oral language and learning expectations for a four-year olds:
"All children’s oral language development, including listening and speaking skills, proceeds at an individual pace. However, for most children, the prekindergarten period is one of rapid growth and expansion of understanding, interest, and expressive language skills. When immersed in environments rich in language, novel experiences, and conversation, children make dramatic gains in their comprehension of spoken language and in their ability to effectively use oral language to communicate their own ideas and experiences."
(If you are interested in more PreK standards simply google: What does Common Core say about VPK standard)

More Research:
According to this NPR report, children in affluent homes hear over 2,000 words a day.

"Children in professional families are talked to three times as much as the average child in a welfare family," Hart says.

And that adds up. Hart and Risley estimated that by the age of 4, children of professional parents had heard on average 48 million words addressed to them while children in poor welfare families had heard only 13 million.

    So with that, I wanted to share a resource that I have found to be wonderful for Easton and Preston: Audio Books. I was given the Toy Story audio book by the Early Learning Coalition a few months ago. I am fascinated by the vocabulary development, expressive language, and story elements that is provides. I play the audio CD while in the car and the boys take turns with the book. Since they have seen the movie Toy Story, they are engaged with the characters and story line. I have recently ordered more audio books and I am excited to share them with Easton and Preston. Many PreK and Kindergarten teachers use Listening Centers with books to enhance children's fluency (rate and expression while reading) and other literacy skills.

This is the one that we have: Toy Story 1, 2, and 3
I ordered these:  Princess Tales
Cars Read Along
A few more I found:
Peter Pan
The Little Mermaid
    Nothing is better than sitting down and reading with your child. I have started to ask the boys questions about the story and have them help me read the book by omitting words. In addition to books and audio books, I have a word wall in the boys' room and I'm labeling pictures throughout our house. (Name recognition is a great place to start) I have found sidewalk chalk and bathtub crayons to be extremely helpful too. If you have other ideas to share, I would love to hear how you are encouraging early reading in your home!

One more piece of research to share: A vast amount of research accumulated across the last several decades tells us that the
emergent literacy knowledge and skills that children can develop during prekindergarten are the key foundations upon which much of their later reading, writing, and content learning capabilities are built. These skills allow children to easily break the code of reading, especially once their formal reading instruction begins in kindergarten. Together with a growing mastery of oral language and an expanding vocabulary, the print-related skills learned early on pave the way toward success at creative and clear writing skills and reading comprehension.

    This blog is a little long so I'll wrap it up with: Try something! Every child is different and will learn in their own unique way. Try to be intentional with your plan to weave literacy development into their young lives!



With Love, Mrs. Fulmer, M.Ed.National Board Certified Teacher

The pictures say it all, literally!

Valentine's Day- Picture Post

Here are the boys in 2012. Some days it feels like just yesterday, other days, it feels like a hundred years ago.

Boy have they grown up!

Our precious Easton! His eyes are still his best feature.

Easton and Preston are best friends and I am so thankful that they have each other to "do life" with!

Melt. My. Heart.

Yes, these boys make my heart swell daily!

"How's Kevin?" Well, thanks for asking!

    So hopefully, if you are reading my blog, you know about my best friend, since middle school, Kevin Swan. See this post here for the initial announcement about Kevin's diagnosis of ALS. This February will be one year since Kevin was diagnosed with ALS at Northwestern University in downtown Chicago. It has been a wonderful year, as Kevin has only slowly progressed in the disease, moved back to our hometown allowing me to see him multiple times a week, and the launch of his foundation, A Life Story. In the last few months, I have had more dinners and face-to-face conversations with Kevin than the last 12 years combined. What a blessing!

I love this picture I captured of Kevin. It was his first night at his new condo.

In this picture you see Kevin's first tattoo. Kevin described his tattoo as, "...representing everything from seasonality, strength, timelessness, shade, deep-rooted family, and a commitment to GROW."  Kevin intends on adding words and phrases to his tattoo. Let's be honest. Kevin hardly has any use of his arms and hands anymore. Putting a tattoo on his arm is an expressive way to still utilize them.

His Progression. Here are the answers to what everyone means when they ask, "How's Kevin doing?". Thankfully, he can still text and use his iPhone to communicate. Verbally, his voice has softened, yelling isn't an option but isn't his style anyways ;) His arms and hands are at about 5% use.  When we go to dinner, I always sit on his left so that I can assist him with eating. I'm learning way more about my best friend than I ever thought I would! For a second, put yourself in Kevin's position. His humility surpasses my expectations. Let me be clear, he is able to use both hands to eat a sandwich, it is the coordination of using silverware that is lost. He can't style his hair, eat cereal, or drink from a heavy glass. His muscles in his hands, arms and neck are wasting away. Visually, you can see his fingers curling, his drooping shoulders and skinny foreams. He wears a wrist support and often someone asks him if he hurt his wrist, after going in for a handshake. Oh, how I wish Kevin could say, "Yep, a basketball injury." Of course, Kevin finds the positive and uses every person's question as an opportunity to educate them on ALS.
    I'm sure everyone is wondering, how much longer can he walk? How much longer can he talk and swallow? Honestly, we have no idea. The doctors do not know and we do not care to speculate. There is no timeline or progression chart with ALS. In the beginning Kevin had fasciculations, or spasms,  in his arms and to this day he still has limited use. Since the first symptom it has been 2 years and 5 months. Is that good or bad? Hard to say. Since most people aren't diagnosed until years after their first symptom it's hard to gauge a "normal". The fasciculations have begun in his legs. This isn't good news. Sorry but at this moment I cannot find the positive. I must move on.

What Kevin cannot do does not define him.  It is what he CAN do that impresses me about him. He can FIGHT! He can BELIEVE. He can live every day to it's fullest, dream big, and work toward finding a cure to ALS.

Kevin's foundation is called "A Life Story" foundation. Kevin's vision is to showcase how ALS is effecting the lives of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands and best friends. He is candidly sharing his own story and wants to record the stories of other ALS fighters. The purpose of sharing their stories is to create awareness, which in turn, creates funding for clinical research. This is Kevin's plan to cure ALS. If there is one thing I know about Kevin, it's not to doubt him. He is extremely capable of running a successful foundation. His time owning a production company in New York City and his experience as Singlehop's director of public relations, has prepared him for his title of CEO of his foundation. The goal of the foundation is to find the cure to ALS. I have no doubt that we will do that.  I'd appreciate your support, financially and through advocacy, on this journey to find a cure.

Here are 5 things that you can do right now to support our fight:
#1. Pray for Kevin! Pray that God continues to reveal Himself to Kevin. Pray that God helps us find a cure to ALS.
#2. Go to the website and watch Kevin's video.
#3. Find A Life Story Foundation on Facebook and follow us to learn about events! Our next event will be in May. Stay tuned! We are in the planning stage. If you want a task for our event, please email me!
#4. Buy A Life Story Foundation merchandise on the website! Sample pictures below. The branding and quality is impressive. We will be adding more merchandise soon!
#5. If you are a local, come to our events to show your support!

I love the branding that Kevin designed out!

These bracelets ROCK!

Koozie anyone?

Wine tote bags! =)

Kevin.

Kevin's amazing mom, Julie, who has been a ROCK throughout the last year! Her role in the foundation is CFO.

My hubby Ryan with Kevin. I am thankful for the amount of support that Ryan has shown Kevin!

Probably a lifetime favorite image of me and my bestie. I have accepted the role as Director of Awareness for Kevin's foundation. I intend to work diligently to find the cure to ALS.

Love his laugh and smile!
I took these pictures as a Christmas gift for Kevin's parents.

This is Kevin's brother Zack~ He is in his senior year at BU. It was so nice to have him in Bradenton for the full winter break. He's a gem.

Another picture that I cherish.

Brother's laughing it up!

I made Zack hug Kevin! LOL =)

Why so serious gentleman?

This got a good laugh!

If you made it all the way to the bottom of this post, thank you!!! I appreciate your support. I love blog comments, so please leave your thoughts. I'm sure Kevin would love to read them too.
With Love,