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Doing your part to increase morale!
So we all know that teacher morale can be low in schools. You didn’t go into teaching for the pay, but you also didn’t go into teaching for the late night grading and data input. But that being said, the reasons that you did become a teacher are the most important. And sometimes you will need to be the one to remind your coworkers that educating the future generation is the most exciting, rewarding and let’s face it, funny career there is! Here are some things that I did with my coworkers that made us happy, appreciate one another, and help us to raise one another up. Wicked Wednesday Oh,…
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Celebrating Birthdays in School
OK, so you probably didn't have a hard time falling asleep last night, but if it's a student's birthday today, they did and they are going to be excited. And the worst thing you can do? Not be ready. And by ready, I mean saying 'Happy Birthday, Susan!' as soon as they enter the room, at the very least. I always told my students they looked taller, asked about their morning, and gave them a hug.
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How to Get the Most from TeachersPayTeachers
If you are a shopper on Teachers Pay Teachers, you already know that products range in price from totally FREE to over $400! Here are a few tips I have learned over the years from being a seller on TpT that I want to pass on to you. (Full disclosure: I have been a seller on TpT since 2014. But these hints are for you to use across the TeachersPayTeachers website, although if you particularly want to shop at my store, who am I to stop you?) Save Your Money And Use Teachers Pay Teachers for Schools Have you heard of TpT for Schools? Just as your school submits purchases…
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Staying Focused on Workdays
Going back to school, even when we are at our most enthusiastic, can be tough after a long vacation. Especially when we have a list of tasks we have to complete. And when we haven’t seen our co-workers all summer and we need to catch up. And when our administrators and districts give us professional development classes when we just want to put up the alphabet posters in our room. It can be overwhelming when you enter your classroom on that first workday with chairs stacked against the wall and empty bulletin boards begging for life. Here are three tips to keep you at your most productive and to respect…
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The Best Easter Egg Hunt EVER!
After about 75 seconds of a whirling, screaming dervish, two kids had bumped heads going for the same egg. Billy had found 107 eggs. Jasmine had found one. Billy did not want to share the eggs he found. Jasmine was crying. Mallory whined that she was tired. Lilly wanted an animal egg that Jared had found. Jared wasn't giving it up.
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How to Make Flowers for Your Bulletin Board
I had seen these beautiful flowers on my Instagram feed from Pinterest perfect classrooms and admired them from afar, wondering where they came from. After some research I found that creative teachers were making them and not one to be outdone on a craft I set out to try them out myself. And lo and behold, they are not too difficult. I enjoyed making them far more than I did these paper fan wheels, and I think they would look amazing with the bulletin board lettering you can make from PowerPoint without a Cricut! (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to…
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Teacher Hack: Organizing Your Paper Supplies
Everyone has that cabinet with construction paper. It's in a cabinet because you can close the door and not look at that mess all day.
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Printing on Post-It Notes
Being able to print on post-it notes is such a time saver. Spend a few minutes creating the text, copy and paste it and bingo! You have 24 reminder notes about a field trip. To make life even easier, I have shared a free template for you to stick your post-its on. Download it here when you sign up to join our newsletter for free. You will need: PowerPoint on your computer 3×3″ sticky notes (I use these brightly colored ones) A printer (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and…
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Keeping Your Bulletin Board Headings Straight
It’s definitely back to school season – I have seen so many beautiful bulletin boards in the Bulletin Board FB group! I have been working in Mr. B’s classroom for a couple of days helping him to set up his kindergarten room for the new year, and he is not particularly interested in classroom decor so I have had free reign. His only caveats were not to do anything with shiplap, cacti, llamas or any thing too cutesy. He wanted bold and bright, so we went with pirates! (You can check out our favorite pirate books in this post). One thing that I have had to deal with over the…
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Are You Getting the Most out of Your Word Wall?
Chances are you have a word wall in your room. And if you are anything like the majority of teachers, you have a word wall because you were told to have a word wall, because you know it is good practice to have a word wall, and well, you have to put up those high frequency words/sight words somewhere. But are you making the most out of your word wall? If you are just throwing up three words a week (when you remember), and never looking up at it again save when one of the words falls down, you are probably not getting the most from your word wall. Used…
