2013. Just when it was getting interesting—with a surprise Beyonce album, an actual bipartisan budget deal in Washington, DC, and a Boston Red Sox World Series celebration duck boat parade—it’s time to turn the calendar over to 2014.* Here’s a look back at some of the highlights from The Mailbox in 2013. The Mailbox turned…
Fun
Life Is a Bumpy, Messy Thing
When my parents came to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday, we discussed the long and expensive path I took that ended with a degree in elementary education. You see, my high school guidance counselor encouraged me to go into another area of study instead of teaching since teaching jobs in Michigan were difficult to come…
Merry “Thanksgiving-mas”!
During my morning commute, I flip between two different radio stations—back and forth and back and forth—looking for appealing music. About two weeks ago, one of “my stations” went to all Christmas music. I did a lot of grumbling and ranting and muttering about how we have to jump into every holiday way too early….
Coworkers and Friends?
Last weekend, I went to a three-day scrapbooking retreat with Lynn, the managing editor of The Mailbox magazine Kindergarten edition. Around six years ago, we discovered that we were both into paper crafts. Ever since, we’ve been piling ridiculous amounts of crafting stuff in either her car or my car and going to various…
Teachers’ Pets
Did your nose wrinkle as you read the title of this blog? If it did—unwrinkle it! This blog is not about the notion that teachers show favoritism to select students. Ugh! We know better! Nope, this blog is about our furry, feathery, and scaly companions who are sooooo happy to see us after a long…
Throwback Thursday
It’s Thursday. In social media circles, a major trend is to devote Thursdays to revisiting past ideas, classic photos, and more. It’s called Throwback Thursday and is often accompanied by the hashtag #tbt. In the spirit of #tbt, here are five of my favorite blog posts from 2013 that you should revisit or read for…
What Would You Miss?
Lately, I have been demonstrating creative activities for YouTube videos from The Mailbox. (They haven’t been posted quite yet, but they will be soon!) I found that sharing these fun activities takes me right back to the classroom. I almost feel like there should be a bunch of wiggly students gathered around me. (In reality,…
What Does the Fox Say?
So I tend to get songs stuck in my head, and once there, they cycle around and around until I want to scream. Lately, the song featured in my head is “What Does the Fox Say?” by Ylvis. I like the song, but it’s ridiculously catchy. A friend of mine forced it out of my…
Halloween Evolves: 1973–2013
In the time of wide lapels, enormous cars, and disco music that we fondly call the 1970s, going to school on Halloween without wearing your costume was about the biggest faux pas a kid could commit. And the only night more exciting than Halloween was the night before Halloween, which we called Mischief Night—an evening…
Fall Leaf Activities!
What can you do with fall leaves (besides walk through them and listen to that fabulous crunch, crunch, crunch!)? If the October/November edition of The Mailbox Preschool magazine is any indication, the answer is a lot! Here are some of the things we did with fall leaves—and you can easily implement them in your early…