Sure, Mr. Popper is an inquisitive fellow with a great passion for penguins. Sure, he’s the main character in the popular children’s book Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. And yes, Jim Carey did play the character in the movie version of the book. However, just for today, I’m asking Mr. Popper to…
winter
Cool Quilt
I know, I know, I know. A quilt activity and display isn’t anything new. And yet I can’t resist sharing this free activity I found at TheMailbox.com. The idea can easily be adapted for use in any grade level. It’s quick and easy for teachers, and it encourages students to embrace themselves and others just…
Shivering in a Winter Wonderland
I don’t ever remember the school bus being a particularly warm place in the dead of a New England winter. Sure, it was better than walking, but I think we were warmed mostly by our own youthful sense of excitement about going to school or going home. Later, of course, it just wasn’t cool to…
A Snowy Song For You!
I see that some of you have snow up to your armpits and are about to have freezing temperatures on top of it! (And I suspect that a lot of you are enjoying a snow day today.) Personally, I would welcome a small amount of snow down here in North Carolina, so feel free to send a…
Brrrr!
Have you gone to see Disney’s Frozen at the movie theater? I went last night with a friend of mine. We managed to get to the 5:05 pm showing, and we were the only ones there. So yes, we talked too loudly, laughed in an unladylike manner, and attempted to sing along with the characters….
When Students Are Absent
Ah-choo! It’s that time of year, or at least my nose thinks it is! Isn’t early December about the time students begin missing school due to wintertime illnesses, such as the cold and flu? No teacher wants her students to be sick—well, wait a minute, there was a student or two…:0) But seriously, an absent…
Morning Motivators Book Giveaway
Beds. Every year, some mattress manufacturer comes up with a new way to make our beds more comfortable. We were once encouraged to sleep on mattresses filled with water. Drifting off to sleep took on a whole new meaning. In this, our Information Age, many of us have bought into the idea of sleeping on…
Don’t Know the Reason I Stayed There All Season
Having a classroom on the third floor of an 85-year-old school building in New England in the middle of winter was pure joy. Before students started streaming into the building, I could stand in the silence and look out my classroom windows to watch thin trails of pure white steam rising from rooftops of neighboring…