Holy ravioli, Batman!  2019 is here.  Like for real.  If you need a little laughter and appreciate sarcasm, here’s a new set of resolutions to help you giggle in the new year. This is what I did instead of taking down the tree. I get asked from time to time for permission to share.  Please feel free to share with attribution. Happy New Year! Want more?  Check out 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018’s new year resolutions. Note About Images: These are stock photos. I typed in “angry teacher” and this model came up.  I just love her cheesy expressions.  I ..read more

A new year is just around the corner and most of us are still home in our pajamas enjoying the last few days of Christmas break.  How about a little sarcasm?  Here are the top teacher new year’s resolutions for 2018. Want more?  Check out 2015, 2016, and 2017‘s new year resolutions. And here’s nine more for 2019 ..read more

An Open Letter to Administrators If you haven’t heard of Nutraloaf, it’s basically a substance given to prisoners who haven’t made good choices.  I’ve read that it contains fruit, meat, grains, and veggies all ground up and packed into a warm, moist brick and served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! It looks gross and probably tastes worse.  Prisoners complain, but what choice do they have?  Officials say it’s food and provides proper nutrition to keep prisoners healthy. They’re required to feed prisoners, and Nutraloaf does just that.  End of story. So, what does this hav ..read more

Christmas is over and I should be putting away my holiday lights and taking down the tree.  Instead, I spent the day making these!  It’s cathartic!  Year 2017 is just around the corner.  Happy NEW YEAR from the Pensive Sloth!  You can click here to see the lists from 2015 and 2016 if you would like. And now…version 2018! And here’s nine more for 2019 ..read more

Unless we’re going to actually learn something new, can we just skip this week and bring the students back early? I’d much rather spend my day with kiddos who are ready to learn than repeating the same training sessions year after year. Ugh ..read more

Yes. It’s that time. Back to school season. I honestly love the beginning of the year and getting to meet my kiddos, but I’m not quite ready to start setting the alarm every day.   In honor of Lesson Deli–my bloggy buddy group–reaching 1000 fans on Facebook, four of my best-selling resources are only $1.00 this weekend.  If you teach about insect metamorphosis, persuasive text, financial literacy and taxes, or weathering, erosion, and deposition…stock up now! Visit TPT and use the #bestfansever hashtag to search for other great resources on sale for a buck.  Thanks for being t ..read more

STAAR scores for Texas students finally came out on July 5th.  For 4th grade writing, it literally took 13 weeks.  The other tests took forever, too.  We took the tests in early May and got results in July???  Really.  For reference, it took longer to get STAAR results than it takes to get SAT scores and about the same amount of time as it takes to get bar exam results back.  That’s not the purpose of this post, though.  I thought I’d make some fun graphs to show the growth, or lack there of, from last year to this year across the state of Texas. Here are t ..read more

Where did 2015 go?  Seriously.  While I try to figure that out…here’s some NEW teacher new year’s resolutions to make you giggle.  You can click on 2015 to see the original list and 2017 to see the new set.  Oh…and now there’s a version 2018! And here’s nine more for 2019 ..read more

Hang in there my teacher friends.  You got this!  Here’s a little humor to help you make it to the finish line ..read more

Spiral review.  When I think about spiraling through skills, math is the first thing that comes to mind.  But daily review isn’t just for math, it can also be very powerful for science!  Students need repetition and multiple opportunities to engage with content and vocabulary if we want them to hold onto the concepts we are teaching.  Here’s an idea for adding a little spiral review to your science routine. Give students a copy of this recording sheet.  It’s free to download, just click here.  There are 5 spaces, one for each day of the week. Display a photo of m ..read more