I have a friend who jumped right into Christmas decorating on November 1. Now granted, she goes all out and currently has three Christmas trees inside and three more on her front porch. When you go all out, it makes sense to begin early. But I think the most common tradition is to begin decorating…
It’s time to tackle a controversial topic for a lot of people: Does your Thanksgiving dinner involve cranberry sauce from the can or a homemade version—or do you ignore cranberries altogether? Personally, I’ve always made my mother’s recipe, and it’s more of a cranberry relish that involves ground cranberries, orange peel, and sugar. That canned…
When I was growing up, my family had definite holiday traditions. I appreciated them when I was younger and even more now that I’m older. Family traditions give children a sense of consistency and community. For Thanksgiving, my extended family on my mother’s side would gather for the holiday meal. (My cousin would always bring…
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…
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…
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…
On July 4, 1776, the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was approved. But what happened on July 5? I did a bit of Internet digging to find out! The Declaration was given to a printer by the name of John Dunlap. He then made 200 copies of the document to send throughout the…
It’s hot here. This has been a strange year because it feels like we went from a comfortable spring one day to a full-on sweaty summer the next. I’m honestly not a big fan of summer in NC. It’s really humid and really buggy. (I’m a mosquito magnet.) With all this heat comes a desire…