Spotlight Saturday 10-3-15

I'm so sorry about last week, friends! I was laid low by a stomach bug and didn't get out of bed much, so was in no shape to put together Spotlight Saturday! I apologize to my regular followers who look forward to each week's installment, and I promise to do better in the future.

I have GOT to get back into the routine of blogging, my poor blog has definitely suffered since school started up again! Hopefully now that I've been back for a few weeks I'll be able to get back into the swing of things!

Without further delay, here is this week's installment of Spotlight Saturday!

In case you're just now stumbling across this little link up, let me break it down for you.

This link up is designed to act as a sort of Teacher's Show and Tell/Show and Share. This is where you can post your favorite activities, products, ideas, lessons, tips, tricks, techniques, and anything else that could make our classroom lives easier, more awesome, or both! You can share pictures as well as a description of the idea, and even suggestions of how to use it in the classroom or how you yourself have used it!

This week I am veering slightly away from teacher tips and tricks to talk about a little piece of technology that is slowly changing my life, and can be a benefit to your life too!!

As many of you already know, I was severely injured in a car accident in January. I spent close to 8 months on the recliner, unable to stand up and bear my own weight. Towards the end of July, I was finally able to being putting weight on my injured leg. However, during those 8 months of immobility, I put on quite a lot of extra weight!

In order to try and motivate myself to be moving as much as possible, I invested in a Fitbit. I had heard so many wonderful things from friends and coworkers that already had one. 

My injury is still bothering me and I cannot do nearly as much as I would like to. The extent of my walking comes from what I do around the classroom and school, and even that is limited since I am still in so much pain. I use a roll-about scooter to go up and down the hallways, since that much walking is still much too painful for me.

However, I am able to walk again!! I cannot tell you how exciting that is! In order to encourage my progress, I began to research the Fitbit. There are several different styles, including the Fitbit Zip, Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge HR, and the Fitbit Surge. There is literally a style of Fitbit for everyone!! You can learn more about each style by visiting the official Fitbit site <click here>.

I had no idea which would be best for me, so I did some research on their website and read some comparisons. I wanted something that would track my sleep as well as my movement, and also something that would help track my heart rate. I poked around on the Fitbit site and found a really awesome page, 'Find Your Fit'. This page laid it all out for me, allowing me to compare each device side by side.

After a bit of reading, I decided that the Fitbit Charge HR would be the best fit for me. It would track my sleep, my activity, as well as my heart rate. I opted not to go with the Surge, because that seemed to be a better fit for a serious fitness guru, and I'm just not there yet.

I am very pleased with my choice, and ordered mine through Amazon. I put it on as soon as it came and proudly hobbled up the stairs and down the hall just to get my very first reading.

I know it's not much, but for the first time being mobile in 8 months I was very proud of myself! I have worn my Fitbit faithfully every day since getting it, and have used it to encourage myself to walk as much as possible. While I have not yet come close to the recommended 10,000 steps a day, I have earned two badges! One of the badges I earned is the March of the Penguins, which means I have walked the same amount of miles as the Emperor Penguins do during their migration. How cool is that!?!?

There are lots of different color choices, even more since I purchased mine.

I may have purchased the tangerine one, had it been available when I ordered mine.

I can't tell you enough how much I love my Fitbit, and how instrumental it has been towards my recovery. Not only am I able to track my steps each day, I can also record the amount of water I drink as well as my sleep patterns. Apparently I am a very restless sleeper, and only average about an hour and a half of solid sleep each night before I grow restless. Could be why I'm so tired all of the time!

I am not getting any kind of royalties or reimbursements for this post, I just wanted to share something awesome with you. This little gadget can really help up your workout game, and keep you on track with your goals. There is an AWSOME app you can get for your Smart Phone that syncs up with your Fitbit and records all of the important information. You can even link up with your friends and have weekly contests to see who walks the most steps or is active the longest! I have yet to win, since I can barely walk, but it is awesome to have the support of friends through this journey!

Do you have a Fitbit? I would LOVE to be your friend, and you get the added bonus of adding a friend you are guaranteed to walk more than!! :-) I would love to link up with you, just leave me a note in the comments of your username or email and I'll friend you!!

I would LOVE to hear if you have a Fitbit and how you use it! Leave me some feedback love!! :-)

I welcome each of you to link up for Spotlight Saturday and share some of your favorites! Please feel free to use the Spotlight Saturday graphic from above or below, and if you're posting about someone who has a Facebook page make sure to give them a shout out and let them know you Spotlighted them!

Please read the rules and link up with us!

Rules:

1) You need to spotlight an educational resource that either you have created or you have found from someone else and love! This means you must link up with a blog post you have written putting an activity or idea in the Spotlight. Please do not link directly to a product in Teachers Pay Teachers or Teacher's Notebook or similar sites.

2) If you are Spotlighting a product from your own TPT store or that of another seller, make sure that in your blog post you Spotlight a freebie or a paid product. If you have a freebie and a paid product from the same seller, feel free to use both in your post. If all you have is a freebie, then post about the freebie and how you used it. You can also Spotlight a freebie that someone else created along with a product that you created.

2) Make sure to give credit where credit is due! You will need to include the name of the creator as well as a link to their TPT or Teacher's Notebook store where others can get a copy of the resource as well.

3) Include pictures of the product in your post, either screen shots  or photographs of your kiddos actually using the product. Give us a snapshot, just a brief glimpse into how the product or activity works. Just an image of the cover and one of the pages you have listed in the preview of the activity on TPT would be fine. It gives readers a visual and helps them better understand what your product is all about.

4) Make sure to leave a comment on the post of the two people before your post and the person after. This will help get conversation rolling, and will make sure everyone feels recognized for their efforts!

5) This is not the place to share your frustrations or disappointment with an activity or how you would have done it differently. If you are unsatisfied with your purchase that is a private conversation you need to have with the seller via email. This is not a link up to bash any sellers or their products, and any posts like that WILL BE DELETED!!

6) Follow my blog with Bloglovin' to make sure you are kept up to date on all the latest link up additions. Don't forget to follow my Facebook page too to keep up with all the notifications I send out!

7) To Link Up, you will need to click on the small blue button underneath my closing signature. It is directly under my name on the left hand side of the blog.