The students in my old school get involved in many outreach activities. There are different school collections- mittens and hats for children, food for a Thanksgiving baskets, items for soldiers, …  They also spend time making money to support the school itself.  They sell wrapping paper, bagels and donuts.  They have bake sales.  They participate [...]

The Prussian General Karl von Clausewitz once said, “The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.”

Everyone’s pressed for time, and teachers more than anyone.  Which is why I love finding sites that include resources that are easy to create instantly, especially around holiday time when you might want to have extra fillers.  Check out the site Tools for Educators, where they have free word search creators, printable dice, a board [...]

I had heard about this super easy-to-use program called Photo Story 3 from a number of different people, but didn’t get a chance to check it out until today.  Wow, it’s awesome!  It’s free software you download from Microsoft that allows you to create a simple photo story with audio narration and music.  I was [...]

Remember the hand turkey?  How about the apple turkey made with apples, toothpicks and gumdrops?  If you still need an idea for a Thanksgiving project, check out these fun ideas from Amazing Moms.  There are projects that can be done with materials you already have and don’t require a degree in fine arts, like the framed [...]

While I don’t have the experience of my mom and can only dream of one day owning a basement of my own filled to the brim with cool teaching supplies like her, I have some teaching experience and am currently in grad school for library science and really excited about teaching and learning.  A little [...]

My kids used to complain that the only animals in our house were stuffed ones.  Like all kids, they started asking for a dog years ago. Fortunately for me, my husband doesn’t really like dogs so he was always the bad guy.  I actually like dogs, but I’ve never been very fond of guinea pigs [...]

I’ve always liked the teacher jokes and links I get from friends.  Now I’ve found the Jokes for Teachers website.  They have a great collection of jokes and a number of those lists like Questions You Hope Your Students Won’t Ask and Tips to Improve Your Writing.  If you want to look at other websites, try Jokes [...]

When I started teaching Spanish, my budget for props was essentially nonexistent so I learned to be very creative with what I found around the house.  I had the extra challenge of having no classroom.  Looking around in the basement one day, I found a wonderful thing – a bag of pom poms of various [...]

Do you need more sleep?  By Friday morning, is getting an afternoon nap your priority for the afternoon?  What percentage of teachers do you think are sleep-deprived?  According to an article in Your Total Health, almost a quarter of all teachers say their teaching is hampered by lack of sleep.  The study concluded that about 43% of [...]