Do you have good memories of trick-or-treating? I loved swishing through the crunchy leaves in the dark with my skull flashlight and pumpkin pail full of candy. I feel like Halloween involved all of my senses: the sound of the crunchy leaves, the feel of my costume, the sight of flickering jack-o-lanterns, the taste of…
This Wednesday, October 20, is Love Your Body Day. That’s a tough order for a lot of us, because we’re used to focusing on our flaws. Even young students can find themselves unhappy with the way they look, particularly when they’re bombarded with photoshopped images in the media. That’s why it’s important to teach students…
I’m leaving this week for a vacation, and this trip is going to be different from others in one way: I’m going to drive a car in a foreign country. Picture a medium-size SUV and tiny, winding little roads with questionable smartphone service. (What blows my mind is that I think this was actually my…
We normally talk about seeds in the classroom during spring…unless we’re talking about pumpkin seeds! That is definitely a fall topic. And as luck would have it, Wednesday, October 6, is National Pumpkin Seed Day. I’ve never had the patience to remove the seeds from the pumpkin, clean them, and then roast them. Fortunately, this…
Fall is finally here and I’m excited! I don’t know about you, teacher friends, but I’m all about sweatshirt weather, fall leaves, and candy corn. If you need to get excited about this season, look no further than the October issues of The Mailbox® Magazine. I spent some time looking at all the grade levels…
Sometimes it’s easy to come up with the title for a blog and this is one of those times. Check out this collection of terrific freebies and helpful products—including a FREE fall writing activity from The Mailbox®. Start your week off on a great note with all this good stuff. Go here for FREE…
Encouragement is an action giving support, confidence, or hope. In my opinion, this is one of our most important jobs as teachers. Hope is necessary for a child to have a growth mindset—and we’re in the business of creating life-long learners. Yesterday, September 12, was National Encouragement Day. So this is the perfect time to…
Labor Day has a lot of associations. It celebrates fair working conditions, but to a lot of people it also means the end of summertime and the beginning of the back-to-school season. And let’s not forget that Labor Day also means picnics and a day at the pool to a lot of us. Whatever your…
Wednesday, September 1 is Ginger Cat Appreciation Day! My husband and I have four ginger cats—Moose, Ralph, Rufus, and Droolie—so I couldn’t let this particular day of appreciation go by without recognizing it. They are all chunky troublemakers that we love dearly. To celebrate this rather random day, print this learning center on decomposing…
Do you remember when you were a child and time seemed to stretch on forever? As an adult, I feel time is like a roller coaster. You buckle yourself in for a new month. The month itself lasts about five seconds, there’s a bit of screaming involved, and you end it with your hair blown…