You all back to school night was last week and I am still exhausted from it. This year because so many different grade levels came at the same time, I had to cancel the presentations for my 7th and 8th-grade parents. I encouraged parents to come by and say hello but it wasn’t the same. I am not sure I fully loved this way of doing things, so I’ll have to think about it for next year. My goal of B2SN is that parents will know what the class is about and they will know my heart and passion for education. This year instead of just having parents leave a note for kids, I created a template for them. In this template note, they will write a note, something they see in their child that the child doesn’t see in themselves, something they love about their child and something to make them laugh. 

I plan on creating a template with clip art so this will be ready for next year. Next year I also want to film my students sharing their favorite parts of study skills and create a video to share with parents. Maybe I can have the cinema arts kids help.

Some things I want to do for next time:

-Create teacher info business cards to hand out, here is a free resource I found

-Do a sign-in sheet to see who came, here is one that I loved

-Make a video of the kids sharing how study skills have helped them and create a QR code with that so people can see the video all year long

https://www.qr-code-generator.com/signup/?target=headbar

I am in year 10 but still have so much more I want to add to my B2SN. Whether you are in year 1, 5, or 10 you can always change things up.

Hi Guys!

I received some questions about the best tools for students who need fidget spinners or other devices to help sustain their focus. Here are some of my all-time favorite tools for those students.

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This summer has been a roller coaster of emotions. On the one hand, setting up our home for our soon-to-be foster kids and recovering from an emotional school year has been really challenging. On the other hand, I got to travel and rest which my soul, mind, and body were in desperate need of.

But toward the beginning of August, I started to panic that I wasn’t excited about the new school year yet, which almost never happens to me. Basically, I was fighting the Summer Blues just like so many of us fight the Sunday Blues at the end of a weekend before going back to work. I was and am still dealing with the list of all the things I need to do, and worrying about what next year will bring. But I am happy to say that through good friendships, therapy, and some personal reflection time, I was able to push through and get excited for the school year.

Here are some of my tips for beating the Summer Blues:

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Hi Friends,

As summer is coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to write some advice for new sped teachers or anyone looking for some inspiration for the new school year. These are the things I think about as I walk in the mornings. Below are six tips for any new sped teacher.

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I am so sorry that I have been MIA this last school year. To be completely transparent, last year was rough. There were many hard days and I felt like I wasn’t in a good place to write and share ideas. I was teaching a new ELA class and there were many changes that happened in the class. The constant changes in expectations, left me feeling stressed and defeated. So, when the school year ended I was beyond excited and ready for some time to mentally/physically/emotionally/spiritually get in a better place.

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With the start of the new school year it has been hard to write new posts. So today I wanted to write about B2SN, probably the scariest night for teachers. This year I had to combine classes and it led to parents coming at the wrong time. So here are my tips:

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When getting back to school, I like to do a lot of ice breakers to not get to know the students but for the students to get to know each other. There are a lot of ice breaker worksheets out there and some I love but when teaching older students I wanted to find something that is more suited for them. So I created one for their favorite youtube channels, snacks, music, movies, etc. I love it because not only will it help you get to know your kids but you’ll be able to connect to things you have in common. 🙂

Click here to download this great ice breaker

Before I have an IEP or parent meeting, I always get feedback from the student’s teacher or teachers. I get feedback on the student’s grades, work habits, and behavior. I used to email teachers asking for info but I would relay ever get feedback or on if I did it was super vague. When this happened I would have to go find the teacher to get current feedback. A few years passed and I went to a SPED conference where the presenter showed us her feedback form that she used as special ed teacher..and BOOM my mind was blown.

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Click here to download the letter template

Click here for the IEP at a Glance