If you asked me last year if I missed teaching, I would have said no. Ask me today and I’ll tell you I do. I had no plans to return to the classroom but a strange twist of fate brought me back to teaching and I find myself missing my students more than I ever…
middle school
Rick Riordan’s Trials of Apollo Continues with The Tyrant’s Tomb
Disney Book Group sent me a copy of The Trials of Apollo #4 to check out and is partnering with me for a giveaway It’s not hard to understand why Rick Riordan is called “storyteller of the gods” by Publishers Weekly. Successful best-selling series such as Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and the…
I Didn’t Love Middle School But Now I’m Teaching Middle Schoolers!
When you ask people about their middle school experiences, no one ever seems to have happy memories. It doesn’t matter if their middle school years were just for two years (grades 7-8) or also included grade 6. There’s something about middle school (tween & teen angst, perhaps?) that makes it a place that people don’t…
Why The Misadventures of Max Crumbly is a Great Book Trilogy for Boys
Simon & Schuster is partnering with me for this giveaway As middle school students, our kids spend so much time reading books that aren’t of their choosing. English teachers hand them books that are part of required reading and we know that not all of what they’re assigned resonates with them. But now that it’s…
How to Create Effective Routines to Teach Middle School Study Habits at Home
This sponsored post is written in partnership with Workman Publishing Middle school. It’s a completely different ball game from elementary school. A new school where multiple elementary schools converge on a larger campus with more students, having lockers for the first time, figuring out bell times and how to get from one place to the…
Why Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Movie Gives Parents a Reason to Relive Middle School with Their Kids
Middle school. Who recalls their middle school years fondly? Not many of the adults that I talk to do and while the jury’s still out on how Emily will remember her 6-8th grade years, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is a movie that tweens will identify with. Based on the Middle School…
4 Tips to Decrease Your New Middle Schooler’s Locker Anxiety #LSSS
This is a sponsored post Graduating from elementary school is a big milestone but the transition to middle school can be exciting yet filled with anxiety. As the school year draws closer, your new middle schooler might not seem worried but there could be some concerns brewing in the back of their mind. There could…
The Best Free Resources for Teaching Kids Financial Literacy
This is a sponsored post Even though April is Financial Literacy Month, financial literacy is a topic that requires ongoing conversations to impart different lessons at each age and stage to teach kids necessary lifelong skills. I remember learning how to write checks and balance a checkbook as part of my financial literacy education as…
Future City Competition Encourages Middle Schoolers to Use STEM to Solve Real World Problems
This is a sponsored post With research showing that girls start losing interest in math and science during middle school, motivating this key age group to use their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math isn’t hard when they’re asked to use their skills to solve a real world challenge. This is the premise behind…
Public School Superhero: New Illustrated Novel for Middle Schoolers by James Patterson (w. giveaway)
With a 5th grader in the house, middle school is on our minds. It’s comforting to know that Emily will be going to our neighborhood middle school with many of the same friends she’s attended school with for the past six years but there are certainly going to be new challenges for her ahead such…
