Fantastic New Science Resource {giveaway}

The Backstory When I was at the TAGT conference in San Antonio, a fantastic new science resource caught my attention. I don’t promote products very often (read: as in never), but I absolutely fell in love with this, so I’m sharing it. When I was looking at it at the

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Christmas Story Collection – Free Audio Download

There’s nothing like a wonderful Christmas story to get you in the holiday season, and I’ve recorded a few of my favorites for free download. I’ve annotated the list to share why I think it’s a great shareable story. You can click on each title or image to hear or

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The Day My Little Free Library Came Home

I hope you’ve seen Little Free Libraries. In fact, I hope you have a Little Free Library in your neighborhood or even in your yard. If you’re not familiar with them, Little Free Libraries were started by awesome Wisconsite Todd Bol, who wanted to honor his mom, a bibliophilic former

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That Time I Went to Jail

I went to jail last night. I went there to read. Because, you know, reading. If you know me, I’m probably on your list of Top 50 People Least Likely to Go to Jail, so I’ll share the backstory. How it All Began. When my parents retired, they returned from

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What’s Your Sentence?

What’s your sentence? What is one sentence that would convey what you are all about? I loved this idea when I saw it in this video: It’s part of Dan Pink‘s work on motivation, which I love and speak about in my trainings on internal motivation. I started incorporating “What’s

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Why I Joined Teachers Pay Teachers

I recently joined Teachers Pay Teachers as a seller, and I thought I’d share why I joined Teachers Pay Teachers & what I think so far. It started with a friend’s suggestion Like so many things in my life, it began with the suggestion of a friend of mine. Laurie Westphal

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Brainstorming with Microsoft SmartArt: A Tutorial

Brainstorming  with Microsoft’s SmartArt is an easy and free way to make brainstorming in class a breeze. Brainstorming is one of the most common classroom techniques, and Microsoft’s SmartArt can make it easier than you ever imagined. There’s no need to invest in graphic organizers when Microsoft’s SmartArt is there

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Differentiating for Rigor in the ELA Classroom

Differentiating a challenging course can confuse even experienced educators. How do we add rigor to something already rigorous? It can feel like gilding the lily. Yet, even in advanced courses, the students are different. They have different levels of ability, interest and preparation. Where there is need in students, there

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How to help children love great art

Helping children appreciate and enjoy art doesn’t need to be daunting. Gifted children are often tuned in to the aesthetic nature of things and can easily become aficionados with very little encouragement. Both the Waldorf and Montessori methods are based in part on the idea that even very young children can

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My 5 Favorite Office Supplies

I became a teacher because I like office supplies. I love kids, and I love learning, but let’s face it: I’m also in it for the colored pens. I think it began with these guys. If I ever meet Mr. Sketch in person, I’m going to plant a big smooch

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Creating Printables in PowerPoint

How you ever wondered how teachers create those cute printables? It’s easier than you could possibly imagine. And free. Which is always good. This tutorial will teach you how to create printables in PowerPoint. You can use them in your home, classroom, blog, or even sell your awesome product! This

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PowerPoint Tutorial: Working with Images the Easy Way

PowerPoint Tutorials can make everything easier. If you have ever struggled with working with images in PowerPoint, this tutorial is perfect for you! Have you ever tried to pull an image into PowerPoint and had it be so huge that you couldn’t even find a corner to grab to shrink it?

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