Melody’s Teaching Adventures

I love this!!!

WE THE PEOPLE, Y’ALL ❤️ I am honored to have been commissioned by America250 Mississippi to create the commemorative artwork celebrating America’s 250th birthday and our state’s contributions to the nation.

Mississippi is good people, small-town pride, family traditions and HOME! Mississippi links us to our past and is a bridge to our future. My artwork is inspired by the people and traditions that have shaped my life while growing up in the South.

I am so thankful for the experiences and connections I have made through my art. God has richly blessed my life. I am honored to use the gifts He has given me to give back to my community and state.

Photo taken in Oktoc, MS by Audrey Chaney

I always recommend that teachers spend their summer doing what brings them joy. For some, that means putting school completely aside and enjoying a well-deserved break. For others, it means working on projects that spark creativity and excitement for the year ahead. Neither is right or wrong.

For me, I enjoy spending a little time preparing materials that will make the start of the school year run more smoothly.

One of the things I enjoy checking off my list is preparing my back-to-school folders and getting our first reading unit ready to go.

This summer I’ve been working on resources for The Wild Robot, our first novel study of the year. My goal has been to create materials that go beyond simply answering questions and instead focus on vocabulary development, text evidence, knowledge building, and deeper comprehension of the story. I’ve also created anchor charts to support reading strategies throughout the novel and word study charts that connect directly to the spelling patterns students will be learning.

I’m excited to have everything organized and ready to go, and even more excited to see my students interact with these resources this fall. My hope is that they will strengthen their vocabulary, comprehension, and understanding of the world around them while becoming fully immersed in an incredible story. There’s something special about watching students learn, grow, and fall in love with a great book at the same time, and I can’t wait to begin that journey with them.

Growing doesn’t stop in summer.

This summer has been one I’ll never forget. We packed up our RV and traveled across the country to celebrate one of the most precious moments of my life, watching my youngest daughter marry the love of her life in Montana. Before our journey is complete, we’ll travel through 13 states, including our own Mississippi.

While this trip has been filled with family memories and beautiful scenery, it has also reminded me why I love teaching. I’ve found myself studying maps, noticing landforms, learning local history, spotting wildlife, and imagining ways to share these experiences with my students. Every stop seems to offer a new story, a new lesson, or a new connection to something we learn in third grade. Teaching has a way of changing how you see the world. You don’t just travel through places. You wonder about them. You learn from them. You carry their stories with you.

This summer I’m collecting more than miles. I’m collecting memories with my family, celebrating a new chapter for my daughter, and gathering experiences that will find their way back to Room 124.

Because the best teachers never stop learning. Summer just changes the classroom.

Hello, June ☀️
May this month bring slower mornings, sunshine on your face, unexpected joy, and the kind of rest that fills your heart back up again. To the teachers who spent the year giving so much of themselves… I hope June reminds you that you are more than lesson plans, deadlines, and to-do lists. You are making a difference every single day, even when you cannot see it yet. Here’s to fresh starts, peaceful moments, summer memories, and finding little bits of happiness in the everyday.

Today we pause to remember the brave men and women who gave their lives for our country. Their sacrifice is the reason we enjoy so many freedoms each day.

Wishing everyone a meaningful Memorial Day filled with gratitude, reflection, and time with the people you love. ❤️🤍💙

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There’s something so special about the way summer arrives after a school year.
The early mornings, the busy days, the lessons, the laughter, the growth… and then suddenly, the pace slows and our hearts finally catch up.

This summer, I’m hoping for slower mornings, meaningful moments, sunset skies, lake days, laughter with the people I love, and quiet time to rest and recharge.

Most of all, I’m hoping to hold onto the joy found in ordinary moments because those are often the ones that matter most.

Here’s to a summer filled with peace, memories, fresh perspective, and a heart ready for whatever comes next.

A little introduction for some of the new faces here lately. 🤍

I’m Melody Macon — teacher, creator, mama, dog lover, and the heart behind Melody’s Teaching Adventures.

Most days you can find me surrounded by lesson plans, clipart, Canva tabs, pink and blue everything, and probably “just one more idea” I want to create for my students or fellow teachers.

My journey to this season of life hasn’t always been easy, and honestly, it hasn’t always looked the way I planned. There have been unexpected turns, hard seasons, and moments where I’ve had to lean deeply into faith and grace. But through it all, God has continued to guide me, grow me, and remind me that beautiful things can come from paths we never expected.

I love Jesus, my family, my students, traveling, pretty things, organized chaos, and creating resources that help learning come alive.

Some favorite reminders I try to live by:
• Anchored in Christ
• Grace Over Perfection
• Faith Through the Journey

If you ever need anything or have questions about teaching, creating resources, or honestly anything at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to help and answer questions to the best of my ability. 🤍

Thank you for being here and following along with this little corner of my world.

25 years. That number feels almost impossible for me to say out loud because in so many ways, I still feel like the young teacher walking into her classroom for the very first time with big dreams, nervous energy, and a heart full of love for children. Teaching is such a beautiful journey, but if you have done it long enough, you also know it is not always an easy one. There have been years when I crawled to the finish line, exhausted, overwhelmed, and praying for summer to come quickly. There have been hard years, filled with personal struggles, difficult moments, challenges, inside and outside the classroom, and seasons where I question whether I was making enough of a difference at all. But then there are years like this one. Years that remind you exactly why you stayed. Years that somehow fill your heart back up in ways, you did not even realize you needed. Years where the connections with students feel extra special, the laughter feels louder, the purpose feels clearer, and the calling feels deeper than ever before. Being named teacher of the year for my school and district teacher of the year during my 25th year of teaching was such an incredible honor, but the truth is, the greatest reward has never been a title. It has always been the children. It is always been the relationships, the trust, the growth, the hugs, the stories, the small victories, and the moments that have been quietly inside four classroom walls every single day. Renewing my National Boards this year again, for the second time, also gave me the opportunity to reflect on how much this profession has shaped me, not just as a teacher, but as a person. Teaching has taught me, patience, resilience, compassion, flexibility, humility, and how to keep showing up even on hard days. And maybe that is what I would say to teachers, who are currently in one of those hard seasons: hold on. Some years are simply heavier than others. Some classes challenge you in ways you never expected. Some years stretch you emotionally, mentally, and physically. And somehow, after all these years, my students are still my reason why.