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Prepping for eLearning? I have been teaching elementary in the online setting for 12 years! Here are some simple tips: •encourage families to keep a routine and schedule at home. Tiny humans thrive with schedules and it sets them up for learning (and more sanity for everyone)! •create flipped videos to help students learn at home. Think of your math warm up, phonics practices, and etc. Try to keep them short (I like the formula of the students’ age plus two for your minutes goal). Also, you can check out my IGTV for a short tutorial on how to record any PowerPoint and save it to YouTube! •create a (free) FlipGrid Account. You can ask the students a question and they can record their answers. They can also see each other’s answers. •use Zoom (also free) to meet for a live class. Teach a mini lesson or read a story to your class! •take advantage of the amazing educational software programs offering free membership such as ABCmouse, BrainPop and BrainPop Jr, Epic Books, and more. Find a link to the full list here (this is not my link, just sharing it!) Update: Now that I have learned that Indiana has expanded eLearning, I have created a quick tutorial about how I would manage eLearning for Tiny Humans YouTube keeps pulling the video because of it's length. I have it posted on IGTV if this video does not load. Find a sample Google Slides Syllabus here. Feel free to make your own copy if it's helpful.
This time of year two things are happening, little humans can’t sit still in their seats and we are learning about life cycles because they pair naturally with spring! Last spring I saw this great idea in many of my teacher groups, so I can’t reference the source, but I can share how it worked for me. At the beginning of the month I put paper eggs in each student’s chair. They were instructed to sit on them and keep them warm. Then as we were going through our day I would periodically get out my highlighter (no announcements, no threats, nothing) and quietly color one egg for each student caught keeping their egg warm. At the end of the month (or a few weeks—you know your bunch) every student that had a full sheet came to school to find their egg cracked and a Peep Marshmallow hatched in its place. It was so fun to watch them get excited when they reached their goal and remind their tablemates to keep trying so everyone to could get there! Please tag me on Instagram if you use this—I can’t wait to see!
I have been coloring my poor hair since 7th grade. Remember when highlights were in style? Or better yet, getting your hair "highlighted" so often it looks colored a yellowy blonde ALL OVER...ooh the good ole' days.
Anyway, in college I decided to color my hair all shades of brown, purple-brown, once it accidentally turned out black and cried, paid a ridiculous amount to get it "corrected" after having to cut it all off to make that process more affordable, and then wanted to hide in my apartment instead of leaving my house...basically all the typical rights of passage. Now friends I'm over it. It costs way too much to go to the salon (not picking on stylists, please don't yell at me--I just have tiny humans that want to eat every single day), you get shamed to death for using box color, and it all adds up. Plus, I think I'd really like to know what my natural color is. I'm well aware that I'm making this decision just in time to start going gray...but we'll cross that bridge next. I made a goal in August that I was going to stop coloring my hair and I have stuck to it! Whoop whoop! However, around December my hair looked like a HOT MESS! More so than my day-to-day hot mess. Insert Keracolor--the product I used last summer to keep up my purple dye (oh, that happens in the summers, too...I will miss it this summer). I got the brown tone and my hair has a light filter of brown color I can transition out while my hair continues to grow out. My hope is to slowly use less and less Keracolor as my hair gets longer then cut off the rest of the older colored hair at the bottom this summer! I'll be sure to post updates!
After almost a year of being curious, I took the plunge and tried Ritual Vitamins. For some magical reason I have no issues making the habit of taking them, they have an amazing minty taste, and I've noticed in my energy since starting them--something even more magical after years of battling hypothyroidism and trying to find a fix. Obviously you need to speak with your doctor before taking something new, but these vitamins have my seal of approval at this point. I also have a link for $15 off your first order, so I had to share! I am obsessed with planners, notebooks, flair pens, and anything else that gives me the allusion of being organized.
To be honest, it is not because I am Type A...it is because I manage my anxiety and put my worries away by getting things out of my head and on to paper. Then when I've mapped out my lists and planned my schedule for the upcoming week I can push them all out of my mind and put it down. Lists and planning are my coping skill and I've embraced it. So since this is such a huge part of my life, why not make it beautiful!? (Insert flair pens, stickers and pretty patterns here). I also love shopping small since my husband and I used to own our own family business that I continue to run on a smaller-scale on my own. I know that when I shop local and shop small I am putting money back into my community and helping families like mine in a big way! Enter TF Publishing! I found an Indy based company that makes my favorite things in the world! Their planners, notebooks, and calendars are adorable and affordable on a teacher budget! Be sure to check them out! Confession: I adore the turn of the new year. I love planners, flair pens, setting goals and a yearly reminder to dream big! This year, the new year brings goals I set in August to a close. Here is my accountability post. Buy zero new clothes until January unless needed. UPDATE: I did okay on this goal. I bought three things that weren’t a need, but two of which I had gift cards for. I feel like it wasn’t strict with myself, but I did well! I also realized how much I stress shop for clothes. 🤣 Start working out! UPDATE: I started and completed Morning Meltdown with @robin.mccollum29 (the best, positive coach ever) I am so proud of myself and learning that the scale isn’t the biggest indication of success. I feel stronger, lost inches, and feel more comfortable and capable in my own skin than I have in a long time. No coloring my hair until January. UPDATE: I did it! I’m going to continue this and see if I can get back to my natural color. Make enough on TPT to pay for Netflix. UPDATE: Pretty close most months. My TPT store hasn’t been my focus and I switched to Disney Plus. 🤷🏽♀️ I wanted one brand rep opportunity in Insta! UPDATE: I’ve had three. These made me so nervous, but I went for it! I still feel honored and surprised each time. My BIGGEST goal! I also got my @donorschoose project and Bucket List goal of attending @getyourteachon University funded! ⭐️ I hope to keep going and growing in 2020! This is the conclusion of my August-January goals and now it’s time to set new goals for the new decade. What are your goals? Give me some ideas! Happy Holidays! Thank you so much for supporting my fledgling blog. I love you all and there is nothing you can do about it!
Here is my Christmas gift to you...I have partnered with Vooks to tell you about their wonderful video books. Vooks not only creates beautiful moving pictures to go with well know titles, they are are always ad free. After showing my son at home I found the book he was reading pulled out from his library. It. does. not. get. any. better. Well, actually it does. As a thank you to all of the incredible teachers who are educating and inspiring children everywhere Vooks is offering a FREE FIRST YEAR exclusively to all school teachers and homeschool educators! The best part is that it takes no payment information up front! I hope you love it as much as I do! This year I wanted to make something with my toddler to gift everyone for Christmas. I didn't want to make cookies or bake, so somehow I landed on making homemade bath bombs. When I was pregnant my aunt sent me some with a quilt for my son. It was such a treat. Thus started my mission. I did a lot of research and this is what I landed on. Make your OwnHere are the ingredients that I used. I linked what I could on Amazon (as an Amazon associate I get a small amount for qualifying purchases, but it costs you the same! ! Win-win!) I doubled this recipe and got about 30 bath bombs! Ingredients
Directions
Voila! My son loved this and can't wait to hand them out at Christmas. We even tried one out...just to be safe! ;) Getting my monthly box from Words by Heart is always a treat! Here are this month's treasures. Don't forget to use code TEACHERMOMLIFE at checkout! |
What you're in for...Here you will find my ramblings of motherhood, teaching, & life while like many I try to balance it all. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases, but it does not cost you any more! :)
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