How many times a day do you think, "man I am WORN OUT." Teaching is HARD! It's hard emotionally, it's hard physically and even hard financially. Without a little inspiration it's easy to get worn down. I hope that your students are telling you everyday how thankful they are for you. If they can't say it in words, I hope they say it in smiles, hugs and sweet drawings. I hope your administrators ... read more

Raise your hand if you grew up having a Thanksgiving feast at school. Some kids dressed up as Native Americans and some dressed up as Pilgrims. You ate "delicious" (cafeteria food isn't ever delicious) mashed potatoes and celebrated 2 cultures coming together. Just like at the First Thanksgiving. Except the "first Thanksgiving" wasn't like that at all. I'm still learning about the events that ... read more

This post is dedicated to Sara Esther Regalado Moriel. Sara and her husband, Adolfo, will be deeply missed by their friends and loved ones. Sara and Adolfo were parents to three daughters. and 4 grandchildren. "I'm not racist. I have friends of all different races." "I don't see color." "I wish they would focus on kindness and inclusion and less on being divisive. Why does ... read more

So there's a few places I think truly MAKE the classroom. The small group table...where relationships are built and deep learning happens. The front door...where students bring their worries and insecurities and we meet them with a hug and a smile. The rug...where we meet as a class and learn together. And the library...where readers find their confidence and treasured books. I have ... read more

Do you have that one spot in your classroom that just makes you so excited when you see it? You know your students love it and so much meaningful learning will happen there. For me, that spot is the classroom library. I absolutely love creating a comfortable space for my students to re-read our favorites and find new books to love. A few years ago, I started dreaming about helping a local ... read more

Have you read Creepy Carrots? It's one of my favorite picture books ever, but I enjoy it even more during Halloween. I love that it has a hint of "spooky" but it all turns out okay! I first heard about this book during my first year of teaching. We celebrated Halloween by dressing as our favorite characters and having guest readers come in all day. The librarian shared this book with my class ... read more

When I started planning my Character Education units, I knew I wanted to start with Kindness. It's typically pretty easy for students to understand and make real-life connections. Before students are ready to talk about things like self-control and mindfulness, they need to be comfortable talking about their feelings. Kindness is a great place to start your social-emotional curriculum and I'm ... read more

  Now that August is here, I wanted to stop by and share a few resources you might not know about! These resources were created with YOU in mind and are sure to cut down on the time you spend creating materials for your class. The less time you spend creating and copying materials the more time you have for what matters...building relationships that change lives! Editable ... read more

So I don't know about you, but I remember pretty much every single award ceremony I had as a child. A few times I even got the "Golden Eagle" award. It was an award given to a few students each semester for conduct, attitude, etc. My parents weren't always able to attend, but they tried. I remember the pride I felt having earned honor roll and the excitement we all felt on those days. Looking ... read more