3 Ways to Help Children at the Border

As teachers, we are used to loving and taking care of children other than our own. Regardless of your views on immigration or who you voted for, tearing children away from their families because their parents are seeking a better life for them is unnecessary, cruel, and wrong. 

1. Start by calling and writing your congress people TODAY to let them know you want them to support the Keep Families Together Act. If you have any Republican representatives or senators, this is particularly important, as no Republicans currently support the bill. You can use Resistbot to easily write your reps right from you phone. You can use 5 Calls to call your reps by just pressing a button.

2. After you contact your reps, SHARE this information. We want reps to be so overwhelmed with calls and letters that they feel compelled to act. You're welcome to share this blog post, or my Facebook post with the same information.

3. Then, if you're in a position to do so, donate to an organization helping the children at the border. Personally, I donated to Together Rising, an organization providing advocates and legal representation to children at the border. 

Let's do this, teacher-friends!

June Teacher Care Crate Unboxing

Want to know exactly what comes in the June Teacher Care Crate? Watch my quick unboxing video and find even more details, including retail value, below. Just be sure to subscribe by June 14 to get the crate shown here! 



Sweet Summer Tote Bag The Hipster Art Teacher, known for her hand lettered clipboards, applied her gorgeous hand lettering and illustration style to design this fun summer tote! It's perfect for wherever your summer errands take you, whether it's the library, beach, or grocery store. {Retail Value: $16}

Summer Bucket List Print Use this list to make the most of your summer! It features 17 suggestions for summer activities, plus two blank spaces for you to fill in your own summer bucket list items. {Retail Value: $8}

Citrus Mojito Soap This refreshing, handmade soap from Voss Botanicals has the perfect summery scent. {Retail Value: $6}

Tropical Tattoos The June Teacher Care Crate includes a full page of tropical tattoos from Ducky Street Tattoos! Pineapples, monstera leaves, and flamingos will look great as you head to a summer festival or just the pool! They're easily applied with water and can be washed off whenever you wish. If you avoid washing the area, your tattoos can last 2-3 days. {Retail Value: $3}

Teacher on Break Koozie Jamie from Little Miss and Company made the adorable mint koozies in this month's crate! They're perfect for keeping your LaCroix (or can of wine!) cool. {Retail Value: $5}

Shower Steamer Place your handmade shower steamer from Blue Oak Farm in the corner of your shower outside the direct stream of water for a spa-like aromatherapy experience that will last several showers. {Retail Value: $3}

Pique Tea Crystals Pour these mint green tea crystals in hot or cold water for instant tea without dealing with a tea bag. {Retail Value: $1}

Kick off your summer of self care with the June Teacher Care Crate! 

5 Easy & Affordable End of the Year Student Gifts

Each of these gifts can be picked up on your next Target run, and they all cost a dollar or less!

This post contains affiliate links.

1. Fun Erasers Sounds boring, but the Target Dollar Spot has sooo many cute options! I saw ice cream, dinosaurs, fish, and fruit the last time I was there. Tape them onto a coordinating card from my End of the Year Gift Tags Bundle with washi tape and you're set! 

2. Sunglasses These are a classic, but the kids still always get a kick out of them. You can find some quirky pairs at the Dollar Spot or you can buy them in bulk from Amazon here. Don't forget to attach a Sunglasses End of the Year Gift Tag!

3. Pencils Make sure your students are equipped to do their summer packet with a flashy pencil! The Dollar Spot has sharks, pineapples, flamingos, and more right now. All of the tags in my Gift Tags Bundle come with a circular pencil version. Just punch a hole at the top and bottom and slide the pencil through! You can also easily add your name since the tags are editable.

4. Light Necklaces These cute light up necklaces from Target are fun to wear and fun to use! The kids could even use the light to track words as they're reading. The ice cream necklaces go perfectly with my Ice Cream Gift Tags!

5. Goldfish Pair a snack-sized bag of goldfish with a punny Fish Gift Tag for an affordable gift. 

All the tags in my End of the Year Gift Tags Bundle come in three styles (large rectangle, small rectangle, and circle) with two different phrases. I've also included black and white versions in case you prefer to print on brightly colored paper.

Happy gifting, teacher-friends!

May Teacher Care Crate Unboxing

It's time to show you what comes in this month's Teacher Care Crate, my self care subscription box for teachers! Watch the unboxing video to see all the items, and read the descriptions below to find out more details, as well as each item's retail value.



Green Tea Sugar Scrub This scrub from Serenity Bath Shop is created with a blend of sugar, coconut oil, and green tea that's perfect for exfoliation. {Retail Value: $5.95}

Art Print One of my favorite teacher instagrammers, Rachel Frescino from Learning With Mrs. Fresh, designed this month's gorgeous art print. Each print is 5" x 7" and is professionally printed. {Retail Value: $8}

Dream Notes Each crate includes a pack of these dreamy circular sticky notes, either in teal or purple. Perfect for dressing up your planner or just leaving yourself a note! {Retail Value: $5.59}

Celestial Hair Ties Handmade by me, these pretty hair ties look as good on your wrist as on your hair. {Retail Value: $4}

Jade Roller You may have seen these pretty rollers on instagram! Gently roll the jade over your clean face (the larger side for your cheeks, jaw, and forehead, the smaller for under your eyes and around your mouth) to soothe your skin. You can also use your roller after applying a moisturizer or serum to help the product absorb. Store your jade roller in the fridge to make it even more refreshing! {Retail Value: $25}

Turmeric Latte This powdered version of "golden milk" is a mix of sweet and savory spices from Golden Root. It provides natural energy without caffeine, and is also known to reduce inflammation. {Retail Value: $1.65}

Breathe Decal Handmade by teacher-maker Jaime Hipwell of Little Miss and Company, this decal can be applied to a laptop phone, or basically any smooth surface! {Retail Value: $5}

Instructions are included with your decal, but you can check out Jaime's video directions as well:




With a retail value of $55, this month's Teacher Care Crate is the highest value crate yet! More importantly, it's full of items to make your day-to-day life more positive and peaceful. Commit to taking care of yourself first by subscribing to Teacher Care Crate, starting at $27.99/month with free shipping.

Using Study.com in the Classroom

This collaboration is brought to you by Study.com and is based on my unbiased experience using the site.

A coworker of mine once commented that it feels like we're now in a "post-curriculum" phase of education. Gone are the days when you'd be given a set of textbooks and a teacher's guide for every subject. And honestly, that's probably for the best. I have lots of dull memories of elementary school taking turns reading aloud from a textbook. But in many schools, including the schools I've worked at, nothing has replaced those curriculums. We're left as teachers to both teach and create lesson plans from nothing. We might have standards or mandates to guide us, but that can make things even more difficult! While there are tons of wonderful resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, it's great to have some other resources at your disposal as well.

Enter Study.com. This site has hundreds of courses designed for classroom use, ranging from Pre-K to post-graduate! Each lesson within a course has an article and a quiz, and many include videos as well. There are sooo many courses and lessons available on Study.com, so I want to zoom in a little bit and show how you could use a given course and lesson.

Science and Social Studies are so important, but they often fall to the wayside to the oft-tested and tracked Reading and Math. I know my co-teacher and I last year were always frantically trying to figure out what and how to teach each week! 

Instead of having to search for resources each week, you could use a course from Study.com, like Biology for Kids. This course has 360 lessons, far more than you'd ever need in one school year! If you have access to technology, you can actually have the students read the articles, watch the videos, and take the quizzes all on their chromebook/tablet/etc. And then from your teacher dashboard, you can track their progress and see their grades, all without any paper or prepping involved! However, you can also use the resources provided without any student technology. You can print the articles and quizzes, and show the videos using your projector. 

Here's a quick video to see how another teacher uses Study.com in her classroom:

In addition to classroom resources, Study.com also offers study resources for teachers! You can study and take practice tests for the Praxis, TExES, FTCE, and more to help you earn, maintain, or expand on your teacher certifications.

You can try out Study.com for free with their 5-day trial period. Let me know what you think!

3 Super Cute End of the Year Teacher Gifts

I get such a kick out of giving my coworkers gifts at the end of the school year. As a special education teacher, I work closely with many different co-teachers and clinicians, so it's nice to show how much I appreciate them. Here are some of my favorite ideas!

1. Chocolate + Champagne Pineapples. These take a serious amount of hot gluing, but the effect is SO awesome! Get the full instructions here.

2. Moscow Mule Kit. These are considerably less work than the champagne pineapples, but are still super cute! If you have a bigger budget, you could even package these in copper cups instead of jars. You can find the full details here.

3. Teacher Care Crate. For those extra special teacher friends, a Teacher Care Crate is the perfect gift! Help them kick off the summer with some much-needed self care. You can make it a one-time thing, or really spoil them with a three month subscription! 



While you're planning for the end of the year, try incorporating these meaningful classroom activities to end your school year strong!

3 Meaningful End of the Year Classroom Activities

The last few weeks of school can feel interminably long-- or maybe they're speeding by! Either way, you can make the most of your time by filling your days with meaningful activities up until the very end. Here are a few of my favorite ideas!

1. Reflect on the year with a growth mindset. While we often focus on growth mindset at the beginning of the year, it can also be a great tool at the end of the year. Prompt students to reflect on what goals they reached this year, as well as goals they have yet to reach. How did they achieve them? How did they deal with obstacles? My End of the Year Growth Mindset Reflection Journal pairs reflection with zen coloring pages-- perfect for students to complete independently when you need to work on end of the year tasks.

2. Focus on the positive. While you and your students alike may be counting down the days, you can still focus on what made this year great! These cute pineapples encourage students to think about what made their year "sweet," and they also make an easy end of the year bulletin board!

3. Build students up. Have each student take a turn standing in front of the whiteboard while other students write compliments all around them. Take a picture so the student can keep their compliments forever. You can do this all in one day or do a student a day leading up to the end of the year.



Enjoy your last few weeks with your students and have a wonderful summer!