This 100th Day of School writing on what they liked and didn't like so far about first grade stopped us in our tracks. We are in our second year of a new math adoption, and our class has made it pretty clear how they feel about math in our classroom this year. The audible math moans and groans and passive aggressive journal writing were keeping us up at night! Like, HELLO teachers? Are you hearing us...We HATE math! We knew something had to change. I hated math as a child growing up, and I had ... VIEW POST

For as much time as we spend in our classrooms as teachers, we should love it! Our students should love it too. It’s their home away from home after all and becomes a place they are proud to come to each school day for learning and growing. Here are our top tips and tricks for decorating your classroom.  Pick a Scheme...A Color Scheme!  One of the absolute best things we ever did was choose a color scheme for our classroom. Blue and green have been our color wheel for many years now, and ... VIEW POST

Growth Mindset is a hot teaching topic and one our school sent us off last summer encouraging us to learn more about. As a psychology major back in college, I knew this was right up my alley. I'd heard about the book Mindset, by Carol S. Dweck, Ph. D. many times, but I'd never found the time to actually sit and read it. Confession...I never did find the time to sit and actually read it last summer, but I did discover how amazing Audible.com is for this busy mom who spends hours in her car ... VIEW POST

Running a responsible classroom is something we've worked hard to accomplish each year for over 20 years. It seems as time has gone by, there is a greater need to teach these small humans to care, share, and be aware of themselves, others, their surroundings, and their belongings. Truth be told, these lessons (on being responsible) were once presumed to be home parenting lessons. Truth be told, they are not always assumed to be home parenting lessons nowadays. So we do what we do best...We ... VIEW POST

Very few school supplies get used in our classroom as much as dry erase markers do. So we were excited to start the school year off with our new favorite EXPO Dry Erase Ink Indicator markers this year.  To say the kids love them is an understatement! If you know anything about teaching or classrooms, you can probably imagine the level of excitement that comes along with a marker where, "I CAN SEE THE INK!" (shouted in our best 'outside voice').   You can learn more about the EXPO Ink Indicator ... VIEW POST

There are very few school supplies we use from the first day to the last day like dry erase markers. It seems we can never keep our stash stocked. One day we've got dozens and suddenly they're all dried up! So, when EXPO Markers asked if we wanted to try out their new dry erase ink indicator markers, we were thrilled for many reasons.    You can learn more about the EXPO Ink Indicator Markers here and see our initial review here.    *Please Note: This post was written in exchange for free ... VIEW POST