Every Teacher Should Read for a Smile

I was cleaning out some old college files this weekend and I came across an old copy of this poem, given to me by a professor I had in undergrad. It made me smile and I thought it might make some of my blog friends smile too! Since the version I had was old and wrinkled, I retyped it to make it cute enough to hang up by your desk or in your classroom somewhere. If you'd like to download a PDF of it you can click right on the poem. 

 

Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

Crystal at Kreative in Kinder posted today about coming together as a community of teaching bloggers to assist the teachers who were affected by the tornadoes that hit the midwest last week. More than 30 people were killed and thousands were left without homes and schools. The idea is for teachers to adopt teachers and donate supplies, books, and resources to rebuild their schools and classrooms, as well as send them letters of encouragement and love. Link to her page to spread the word and adopt a teacher.

Looking for other ways to help? Here is a list of other ways to help, along with a heartbreaking slideshow of photographs of the devastation.

In a time when educators and schools are losing hope, it is powerful to watch communities come together and remember what is really important...the kids and their futures!

March Madness...This one is for the boys!

TGIF! Is anyone else convinced there was a full moon this week? I need something to blame for some of the bizarre things that I encountered this week. Today is a beautiful sunny day in Buffalo. If I didn't know any better I would think the expression started with "March comes in like a lamb...." It's hard not to be in a great mood when the sun is shining and people are moving around outside. What a great way to kickoff the weekend.

I posted some new items in my store this week and there are more to come. I created some basketball themed activities for first and second graders. During the month of March all I hear about is brackets and college basketball, I figured I might as well put my spin on it and give the boys some literacy playing time (get it?) I've been reading so much lately about how female-centered classrooms and classroom libraries can become. So this one is for the boys! There is a contractions game, an inferencing game, math exemplars and sentence fixers. I also posted a freebie with some basketball themed writing papers and a write the room activity. These activities are not specifically centered around March Madness- they are just basketball themed, so you can use them all year 'round with your little all-stars!

Last but not least...

THANK YOU to everyone who purchased something from my store this week and to all of my new followers. The TPT Leap Day sale was such a big success. I am so grateful and excited to see my ideas helping others!

Also a big thank you to Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac for awarding me with the Top Ten Blog Award this week. I was thrilled! You should all visit her blog- today she has a Read Across America freebie and she is also doing a great giveaway.

Have a great weekend!