I lingered over the tomato plants during a recent trip to a well-known home improvement store. I love fresh tomatoes, but I don’t have a green thumb. If I don’t kill the plant myself then I suspect my harvest will be picked off by local squirrels and groundhogs. Soon it will be time for me…
Today is my birthday, and it’s a big one. Let’s just say that my cake would have many, many candles…but that’s okay! I actually really enjoy birthdays. I believe that getting older is a privilege, and honestly, the older I get the more I really know who I am and feel good about myself. Plus,…
Some of you may know that in addition to writing blogs for The Mailbox, I also do Facebook and other social media channels. Last week I put up the following question on The Mailbox Facebook page: What do you wish your school would do for Teacher Appreciation Week? I suspected you would have opinions…and I…
Life is pretty expensive right now. I’m fortunate in that I work from home and don’t pay a lot for gas but there’s still the cost of groceries and utilities. It makes me think about my needs versus my wants and how easy it is to blur the line between those two categories. I may…
This Thursday, April 21, is Big Word Day! Yes, it’s one of those non-holidays…but this one sounds pretty entertaining to me, simply because you can make it a fun day in your classroom. Try out some of these engaging activities with your students: Challenge students to seek out and learn a big word, use it…
I live down the road from an exit to a major highway, and whenever I drive that way I’m appalled at the amount of trash people have thrown out of their car windows. To me, throwing litter into a trash can is really just the bare minimum people can do to help the planet. Clearly,…
Have you ever had an accident (egg-cident?) while making hard-boiled eggs? My husband discovered that if you forget about your eggs to the point that all the water has boiled out of the pan, then they will explode (eggs-plode?). We’re still cleaning bits of egg from the top of our cabinets. This is a word…
Did you know The Mailbox® provides activities for tons of picture books on our website—and we have all the books in a handy list. Click here to check out the literature list and other featured topics for your grade level. I’m the managing editor for the preschool magazine, so I decided to count the number…
How many times have you had your students lined up and ready to go when all of a sudden your schedule changes? Perhaps the music teacher isn’t ready for your class, there’s another class in the hallway, or the assembly you’re supposed to be going to is slightly delayed—and you know that your classroom management…
Today is Albert Einstein’s birthday and Celebrate Scientists Day! The pairing of the two is not coincidental. Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany. He was a professor in many European cities before he renounced his German citizenship for political reasons and moved to the United States, where he ended up teaching at Princeton….