Wishlist Wednesday: TpT Teachers Are Heroes SALE!

Woohoo, it's time for a site-wide sale on TeachersPayTeachers! To celebrate, I'm linking up with Aileen Miracle for Wishlist Wednesday! First, here's a product that I want to tell you about from my store: My Japanese folk song lesson bundle just keeps growing! I just added the lesson set for the famous "Sakura" last week. If you...

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Teacher Tuesday: ideas for Music In Our Schools Month

Well, the end of February is fast-approaching. Can you believe it? Time to get ready for March, when we get to celebrate Music In Our Schools Month! If you haven't celebrated before and you want to learn more about it, go check out the official website, run by the National Association for Music Education. They have music your students can learn and...

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Mommy Monday: creating an entryway when you don't have one

Last week, I showed you my simple mail-sorting and happy mood-making area on the right side of my front door. Today I wanted to show you what I have on the left side of that door- and now you will have a complete picture of what I look at every morning as I get ready to leave the house! :) So, as you can probably tell, I don't have an "entryway"...

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Teacher Tuesday: hand signals for quick transitions

I cannot take any credit whatsoever for today's tip- that goes to my cooperating teacher during my student teaching. This is totally and completely stolen from her, and I have continued to use it in every single class, every single day of my teaching career. Transitions between activities, especially when the students need to move, can be one of the...

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Mommy Monday: a simple and happy mail drop spot

I live in a pretty small apartment, so I don't have an actual entryway, let alone a mud room or anything else of the sort. But I do still single-handedly manage a busy home, so I have found my simple and happy mail drop spot by my door to be very helpful for keeping things in order! This is right inside my apartment, on the wall next to my door....

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Teacher Tuesday: world music- finding "authentic" music for the classroom

Music from around the world is an integral part of my teaching, but I don't own a single book that is a "collection of songs from around the world" or something similar. I also don't have much of a classroom budget, so I get most of my music for free- both for general music and for my choirs. When I share my ideas with fellow music teachers, I have...

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Mommy Monday: quick potluck recipes

So you've just been asked to bring something to a potluck-style meal or event, and you don't have any time to go to the store beforehand. You also don't have a lot of time to cook. Sure, you could just bring something store-bought (drinks, cookies, chips and salsa, or a rotisserie chicken are great in a pinch!), but you'd rather bring something you've...

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Teacher Tuesday: recorder storage solution

I recently started my 3rd graders on recorders, and I'm trying out a new storage and organization system for the recorders this year that I think will make it much faster for students to find and grab their instruments at the beginning of class: Of course, you can't be surprised at this point that my system revolves around my color-coded groups,...

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Mommy Monday: snow day ideas for toddlers and preschoolers

Well, here in CT we're in for another snow day today- we've had quite a few in the last couple of weeks! Today I wanted to share my favorite things to do with my 3-year-old girls when we are unexpectedly stuck at home. 1. Cook Yep, our #1 favorite thing to do on a snow day is cook! And why not? My girls love helping me cook, and I can stock up...

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