Even if it isn’t a necessity, having some part time extra income can be a nice way to supplement a full-time teacher salary.  

But what types of places will hire teachers just for the summer, beyond a basic summer school gig?  

Read on to see some out-of-the-box ideas for how to use your teaching degree and earn extra money in the process.

Back when I first graduated with my bachelors degree in education, the only work I could find right away was as a substitute teacher.  

And boy did I sub.  For two years, I worked almost every day between 3 local school districts in order to make ends meet as a single parent.  Having no benefits was terrifying, but my daughter thankfully was covered elsewhere.

I would even make sure to come in early and stay late to schmooze with the staff members in order to try and secure additional work by encouraging them to take personal days.  Ha!  

Luckily, I also secured two different long-term positions two years in a row, which immensely helped keep the income rolling in.

But, come winter and summer breaks, that’s when it hurt the most.  

Trying to find a “regular job” for just a few weeks in the winter was pretty much near impossible as employers knew I wouldn’t have much flexibility to work nights and weekends once school started back up again.

Knowing then what I know now would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights and stressful crying sessions.  

I can only hope something on this list can help other educators who are also relying on additional funds to keep their family afloat.

Or maybe you are just a teacher friend who wants to continue to share the love for learning all summer long.  I’ve got you covered as well!

Local Gigs for Teachers During the Summer (or Anytime)

1. Run a community summer reading challenge:  Does your local library do any sort of reading challenge for students?  If not, perhaps there are community funds available to get one set up.  Get donations from local companies to issue prizes, choose books for the challenge, and ask parents to help you get the word out.

2. Sell handmade goods:  Do you enjoy creating homemade necklaces, pottery, or monogrammed home decor?  What you consider a fun hobby could also be a great income-generating activity.  Set up shop at the local craft fairs or sell exclusively online.  Etsy is a wonderful place to post those items for sale.

3. Local Tutor Group:  Put together flyers and ask administrators at several area schools to send them home with students. Group same age/subject area specialty students together to make small groups.  Charge per student.  Having a small group for 2 hours a couple days a week makes the time go by fast – and parents are excited for that small break as well.

4. Direct Sales Consultant:  Direct sales has come a long way since Tupperware parties back in the day.  Today, modern direct sales consultants are capable of earning incomes rivaling a teacher’s full time salary!  {I know this from personal experience.}  And many times that can be earned without having to do home parties.  Online direct sales parties are pretty mainstream now.  With thousands of companies to choose from, you have plenty of choices to pick a product that is something you are already using and can stand behind.  One additional tip when choosing your perfect match?  The best products are consumables.  That way your customers will continue to need additional products from you.

5. Seasonal company training leader:  I live near a large amusement park and every summer, they hire teachers to train their seasonal part time workers (who are mostly high school and college students).  This uses your current expert teaching job experience, but in a slightly different angle.  See what other seasonal companies are in your area that need to train staff annually.

6. Pet sitter:  With so many people heading out on family vacations in June and July, many are willing to pay top dollar to have a trust-worthy person come into their home to check on Garfield and Odie.  It may only take 30 minutes a day, but the peace of mind for those pet owners not o have to stress out their extra family members by sending them to boarding kennels is worth a hefty price tag.

7. Laminate, cut out, and ship digital classroom decor sets:  Have you seen the gorgeous DIY classroom decoration sets online that teachers can download, print, and put up?   Many teachers shy away from them because they really aren’t interested in sitting around waiting for the printer to run out of ink, papers to get jammed, laminating, and then cutting everything out.  If that is your jam, I can guarantee you will have customers who are willing to pay you to do it for them.  Even if they are not local to offer delivery services, you can ship the completed items to the purchaser of your services. Need a step-by-step how to for this one? Download a free 7 page guide below!

8. Local tour guide:  Most communities have some sort of local history and proud heritage.  This usually comes in the form of local walking tours or museum talks.  Typically the organization provides the information.  They just need someone to relay those facts who can speak clearly and walk with a crowd while doing so.  {No crowd is even close to the Kinder teacher walking her new students down the hall the first week of school.}

9. Garage Sale Host:  I don’t know about you, but I personally have loads of items I keep meaning to list on garage sale sites – or just to have one large sale.  Honestly, if I could put everything in a pile and let someone else do it for me, I would gladly share any of the profits just to get the stuff out of my house.  Offer this service and make  money imply by organizing the sale and (if applicable), shipping it off if you are selling on eBay or Facebook Marketplace.

10. Airbnb experiences host:  Do you know how to surf, or to paint, or know all the best places to eat desserts in your city?  Apply to become an experience host and share your love for what you are already good at with visitors to your area.

11. Seasonal rental housekeeper:   While I realize this doesn’t really take into account your whole teaching degree, I know several teacher friends who make really good money by simply tidying up and changing sheets in seasonal rental units throughout the summer.  Usually the switch happens around lunchtime, so you have your mornings and evenings free and not tied up with a job which is a nice perk.

12. Create parent summer field trip guides for local places in your area that include travel tips, fees, drive times, and learning questions to ask throughout the trip:  Parents love educational materials that are geared towards them and not specifically to teachers.  They don’t have a background in child development or have a clue what the standards jargon even means.  But they still would love to be able to do educational events with their kids throughout the summer without having to pay for summer camps.  Find local educational places in your area (could even be county parks or the beach) and put together brochure-type field trip guides which list interesting facts and guiding questions  for parents to ask their children as they explore the area.

Online Side Hustle Opportunities

13. Proofreader:  Online virtual work websites such as Upwork is a great place to post about your services.  Or simply asking around in blogger groups who could use a proofreader for their products, blog posts, social media posts, advertising, and more.

14. Write an eBook:  Do you have a unique way you do something in the classroom?   some examples might include:  how you encourage sharing or a classroom management hack that always seems to work.  If so, other teachers would gladly pay for that information in book form.  Write your mini book in a basic word processing software (such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs) and then save as a .pdf.   Create a fun cover and put it up for sale.

15. Essay reader:  Most teachers scoff at the idea of reading more student writing papers than absolutely necessary, but some actually love this task.  If you are a lover of all things writing, do a quick search online for essay reader jobs and you will see a ton of freelance writing opportunities from which to choose.

16. Edit videos:  If you are technically inclined and love to create cool videos for your students that include video clips, slideshows, voice overs, transitions, or even music clips with intros and outros, you have a huge market of online entrepreneurs.  Being that social media loves these types of videos, online content bloggers and creators are trying to get more of these made.  But it doesn’t come natural for many (including myself).  If this is your forte, hit up the online blogging niches and offer up your services.  You will be so busy you might be a bit sad when your school break  ends.

17. Sell lesson plans:  No matter whether you are an elementary, middle school, or high school teacher, everyone needs lesson plans.  To save educators time and create more work-life balance, Teachers Pay Teachers was created with this end in mind.  If you have a knack for creating great lesson plans built around specific standards, you can really help others by listing your work there. Plus it becomes a source of passive income beyond that point.

Have you always wanted to create your own custom classroom printable worksheets, decor, teacher planners, forms, and more, but didn’t know how to start?

Custom Classroom Creations is your go-to for learning the ins and outs of teacher digital scrapbooking!

Find out more HERE!

18. Sell photos online:  If you love to take photos in your spare time, this may be just the avenue for you.  Many website owners and digital product creators need great images to add to their work or websites.  Upload your portfolio to a stock photo site, such as Deposit Photos and you can get paid every time someone purchases a digital version of your picture.

19. Online tutor:  Of course online tutoring jobs are really big at the moment.  You’ll hear VIPKid mentioned in online teacher groups almost daily.  But that is because it is a great way to use your teaching credentials, continue to educate students, and earn some additional spending cash all while sitting in your home office.

20. Become an Amazon affiliate:  Do you love to shop?  I may have an online shopping problem to be quite honest.  But as much as I love looking for the best deals and unique items online, I also love sharing those details with others who I think would benefit from those same things.  Even better when it’s on Amazon, a site most people know and trust to buy from.  When someone clicks on an Amazon link and purchases something from their site within 24 hours, you make a small referral fee as a thank you for your referral.  Just by sharing items with others that you think they will love, those small amounts can add up quickly.  If your ultimate dream is to be a personal shopper, this might be the next best thing.

21. Write blog posts for teacher bloggers:  Most teacher bloggers don’t like to write.  You heard it.  Im tossing it out there for all to see.  We love to come up with ideas.  MAYBE even take the photos or prep the social media images.  But the actual typing of words seems to take forever when we could be spending that same amount of time on something far more creative. If you can take a given idea with a title, some subheadings, and even a couple pictures and make it into a complete blog post of 300-1,000 words, you will have a raving market for your time and work.

22. Create and sell clipart:  Using software like PowerPoint or air tablets that can export your personal drawings, if you have an artsy hand, you can make and sell fun teacher graphics for teachers to put on their notes home to parents, permission slips, or Open House fliers.

23. PD book “cliff’s notes”:  During the summer, teachers have a little extra time to do some personal development reading.  But let’s be honest:  they would rather use that time to relax and rejuvenate for the next school year.  If you enjoy reading teacher PD books, you can consider creating “cliff’s notes” version to sell to teachers.  That way they are still able to learn a little something over their break without feeling they need to read an entire book word for word.

24. Get paid to pin:  I know this sounds like a joke because you might already be spending most of your waking hours finding the coolest pins and saving them to your carefully cultivated Pinterest boards, but teacher bloggers also use social media to get the word out about their newest blog posts and products.  If you would love to get paid to pin, offer up your services to teacher bloggers so they can focus on creating more posts and products while you take over the pinning part for them.

25. Make your own fonts and sell them:  Along the same lines as creating your own clipart, there are programs for handwriting your own alphabets, which then translates those letters to digital versions, and then consumers can purchase them to use in their digital creations.  Various fonts are used in advertising and branding for all companies out there.  You never know, but your own font creation could be featured on the next soda can.

Bonus: go to the beach.

It’s an unpaid internship, but the “sweat equity” is worth it.

What others ideas do you have for teachers who are looking for extra income over the summer or other school breaks?   Feel free to share in a comment below!

Want the FREE 7 page step-by-step for how to Create Your Print on Demand Classroom Decor Business? Download it below!

Click here to email your freebie

~Charity

The post 25 Other Jobs Teachers Can Do On the Side appeared first on Organized Classroom.

It’s Jaime from The First Grade Bloom. I’ve been so fortunate to guest blog for Charity at the start of each month this past year.  As this is my last post, I’m going to share 3 of my favorite, most used, things right now.

Would you like to know step-by-step routines that put teachers back in control in just 4 weeks?

Download the FREE Classroom Systems Starter Kit now!

DIY Student Clipboards

My students have been up and about doing many different writing tasks across the curriculum lately that I needed to find an easy way to come up with clipboards instead of shelling out a ton of money and buying them.

I simply use the whiteboards I already have and medium sized bulldog clips that I had and scrounged around for.

Perfect for at seat or out of seat work!

Do-Not-Disturb Necklace

I actually found this at a dollar store in Billings, Montana several years ago but it can be easily made with things found at JoAnn Fabrics (as if you needed a reason to go in there).  I wear this necklace primarily during writing time when I need to conference with students and when I’m doing one-on-one reading assessments.  If students still come up to ask a question or chat with me, I simply hold up the necklace for a quiet reminder and continue with what I was doing.

Mini Nurse Station

You all have students who like going to the nurse, for one reason or another.  This little station allows kids to self manage their aches and pains so they don’t interrupt you.

Here is a side view so you can see the nurse’s passes and pen included too.

Here is what the steps are for students if they feel a little ill:

#1. Go to the bathroom.
#2. Get a drink of water.
#3 Bandaids.
#4. Try a mint.

I believe the old wives tale that peppermint can calm an upset tummy and stock this drawer with those small, pastel, chalky, melt-in-your-mouth mints.

I keep the Nurse Passes here too, so it’s easy and convenient to fill one out when a student really is sick.

Need a Nurse Sign with these ideas for your classroom? Grab one inspired by this post!

Enjoy!

The post 3 Favorite Classroom Things appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Relax and get ready to smile!  Let’s get this teacher humor appreciation post underway!  Extra credit if you chuckle too.

Before School Day

6 am:  You wake up and once that coffee is flowing, you are ready to begin the day.  Bring it on!

7 am: Heading to your mailbox, you stop by the office to chat, and smile to your co-workers who are also arriving for the day.

8 am:  You remember just as the students are getting ready to arrive that you forgot to run the copies for the small reading groups – yikes!   Of course the copier is possessed.  Exactly when you need it the most.  Time to come up with plan B.

During School Day

9 am:  Trying to get students to line up in a straight line, while keeping hands to themselves, and zipping their lips seems to be a science experiment that has yet to be perfected.  If it is a full moon, the month before a major holiday, or a random Tuesday, the task is futile.

9:30 am:  Student Brad has just asked you for the 247th time to repeat the directions.  Again.  After you have already stated them, have them written on the board, copied on the handout, and made sure Brad was looking at you throughout the explanation.

10 am:  Trying to pull up an IEP for a very persistent parent that has lost their copy yet again and your computer freezes every time you log in to the software.

10:30 am:  One of your silly students says to you:  “Hey Mrs./Mr. ______.  Why can’t you give Elsa a ballon?”  You are still a little flustered from the computer business, so you shrug your shoulders.  She then replies, “Because she will Let It Go.”  You suddenly feel a whole lot better.

11 am:  You realllllllllly have to go.  So you sneak your head around to the classroom next to yours and ask the neighbor to keep an eye on your class for 2 minutes.  Upon your return, your administrator is teaching your lesson.

12 pm:  Lunch, try the copier again, pick up from the morning lessons, prep the supplies for the afternoon lessons, check your mail, finally get your computer to work and email the IEP to the parent, check your school email inbox, oh – and it’s your day for recess duty.

Looking for a way to celebrate this crazy career with colleagues?  Check out these super fun Secret Staff Buddies Door Hangers to brighten everyone’s day!

1 pm:   These student behaviors might be getting a bit out of hand.

2 pm:   Jamie gets it!   She tells you she finally understands!  You have been working on this skill for a month!

3 pm:  Dismissal.  Also received a note from the office to call the IEP parent who can’t figure out how to open the attachment and wants to talk to you.

4 pm:  Staff meeting – just hope whoever was in charge of snacks remembered today because you have earned it!

5 pm:  Bag packed and then you realize you forgot to call parent.  Quickly dial the number – and proceed to chat with the parent for way longer than you planned as they pretty much just needed a private conference.

After School Day

5:30 pm:  Relieved that the parent is now feeling better, but you are running late to pick up your own child!

6 pm:  Eat all the things for dinner.

7 pm:   Chores of your own, getting your own mail, and making sure your own family has homework done and quality time spent.

8 pm:  Finally winding down and you get a chance to watch a little TV and do some much needed pinning.

9 pm:  Grading time!

10 pm:   Sooooooo tired…

The Next Morning

Wake up and realize it’s Friday!

Can you relate? Ha! What else did I miss?  Share your ideas in the comments below – I love to hear from you!

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for staff morale in your school? This 111 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 15 articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:
-Work/Life Balance Tools
-Top 10 Survival Tips for New Teachers
-Several Fun (and Easy) Gifts for Your Colleagues
-Teacher Appreciation Ideas
-Staff Celebration Suggestions
…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!

See it HERE.

Want some free funny copy machine signs to brighten up your teacher workspace? Grab the pack of 5 below!

Talk to you soon,

~Charity

The post A Day in the Life of an Elementary Teacher: As Told in Memes appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Blessed to be able to help teachers all around the world.  

Blessed to share my ideas and creativity on a weekly basis.  

Blessed to have had even the tiniest bit of impact on children in the classroom where my materials are being utilized.  

Blessed to have met some of my best friends through blogging who are now BFFs in real life too.  

Blessed to be able to provide luxuries to my family that we would not have without the extra income my teacher seller business has generated.  

Blessed to have made contacts with individuals and organizations I have only dreamed of (can we say featured in Scholastic Teachers Magazine several times?!).

While I know I have been blessed and that working with teachers on a global platform has been my true calling, I see other teachers who are curious about following in my footsteps, but then give excuses as to why they aren’t able to share their gifts with the world too.

Here are 7 Myths About Creating a Teacher Seller Business:

1.  It is expensive to start your own business.

Truth:  You can actually create digital products for free, host a free blog, and even create a free seller’s account at a teacher’s online marketplace.

While there are other solutions, such as a premium seller’s account which allows you to keep a higher percent of commission, and creating a website that has a small hosting fee each month but is better indexed by search engines, none of those are necessary to get your business started.

Long gone are the days when you needed a business plan and were forced to go to your local bank for a small business loan.  At least not for what we are trying to set up.

Our focus is on e-commerce (a fancy way of saying we are selling digital downloads online).

There is no inventory required, no shipping costs to consider, and we can even make sales while we are sleeping.  

Literally, there is zero risk involved.

2.  The technology is hard.

Truth:  If you can move a mouse or your finger on the screen, you can set up your business in a few short clicks.  

When I first started, the technology was a pretty steep learning curve.  My first website was created on iWeb (which is now not even a thing).  It was pretty archaic, but it was the best I had at the time.

Today, you can point and click and have a website and blog with your favorite colors and backgrounds in 30 minutes or less.  It really is that simple.

Not to mention if you do want to snazz it up, YouTube is a wealth of knowledge for most anything you want to do.

3.  I don’t know how to create a digital product.

Truth:  I use a really old version of Microsoft PowerPoint to create my printables.  Seriously.

You don’t need to be a designer or have knowledge of Illustrator or Photoshop. Now, if you do, that is another avenue which you can use.

But for the rest of us, regular ole PP or even Google Slides will yield a perfect result every time.

If you can open a new document, add a text box, know how to resize your text/change the fonts, and maybe add in an image for visual effect, you can create a printable to share.

You can even do it on Microsoft Word, but to be perfectly honest, word has some formatting limitations.  PP is the way to go if you are using standard Office products.

Are you interested in learning how to create your own digital printables?

Click HERE to see all our Custom Classrooms Creations digital classroom materials workshops!

4.  There are already too many teacher sellers out there.

Truth:  If you have ever heard the saying “A rising tide lifts all the boats,” then you will understand that the more teacher sellers out there, the more awareness we bring to the educational community, which results in more sales for all.

When I first began blogging, very few even knew what a blog was, let alone purchasing anything online.

Most teachers at that time were flocking to the teacher supply store every August trying to find some classroom decorations and lesson planning books.

If they had budgets, they were handed super large catalogs from which to look through and purchase a few manipulatives.

Most new lesson ideas came from the basal series or from local teacher workshops where they were able to do a make-it-take-it training once or twice a year.

While all those options were great at the time, we have come a looooooong way in even the last several years.  

Now, teachers can buy full sets of classroom decor in whatever they choose, print it, and hang it.

They can create their own economical versions of manipulatives from ideas on Pinterest from teacher blogs.

And they can find superior lesson ideas to download and implement immediately.

Many school districts are even now opting for spending their budgets on these digital download, rather than purchasing expensive (and usually outdated by the time they reach students’ desks) curriculums.

Saying there are too may teacher sellers is like saying there are too many books in the library.  More is a good thing.

5.  I haven’t been teaching for long, so I don’t have anything to share.

Truth:  Even brand new teachers can write about their experiences.

Be the person who shares the real life journey of a new teacher for those who aspire to follow your same path.  

What are some tips you have learned along the way?  What has been your best advice from mentors or veteran teachers?  What do you wish you had known then that you know now?  Share those ideas.

Create printables or checklists which help those soon-to-be-teachers have it easier than you did.  I can promise you have plenty to share.

6.  I don’t have time.

Truth:  As long as you are consistent in building your business, you will make progress growing it. It doesn’t happen overnight for anyone for the record.

Yes, it still is a “job.”  But, would you rather have some part-time income coming in 6 months from now because you started – or still be living paycheck to paycheck in 6 months’ time because you preferred to binge watch Netflix every night?

For me, my business started out as a hobby.

While it has grown to much larger than that over the years, it really did start out as a way for me just to connect with other educators out there.

If you put in just a few hours a week on a consistent basis (that doesn’t mean 3 hours one week and never to look at it again for another 3 months), your business will start as a small snowflake – and then roll into a snowball – and eventually an avalanche if you continue those consistent steps to growing it.

I can choose to read the latest chick lit novel (which I do from time to time) or I can choose to create something from my thoughts which will help students everywhere.

More times than not I pick creating.

7.  All my ideas have already been shared out there.

Truth:  You could say the same thing about every self-help, diet, or business book out there.

But yet there’s a whole section dedicated to those genres in the library and the bookstore.  And people keep buying them.

Why?  Because even though some of the ideas might be the same, the execution and delivery of the concept by that particular author is different.

What resonates with one person, will not resonate with the next.

Your ideas and how you put them together are unique to you.

How many different classroom management strategies are being used in just one school building?  I bet each teacher does it a little differently.

That’s what is awesome.  We are all as unique as our students.

Your idea may be the one that makes a difference to a teacher across the country who has tried everything else up to this point.

That is the goal.  Teacher sellers should be creating for the purpose of making a difference.  Just on a larger scale than only his or her own classroom.

Start Your Teacher Created Product Here

Not sure where to start?

Grab this free product map handout. Pick ONE item from each of the three boxes. Get started!

PS – If you are not sure HOW to get started creating digital products, Custom Classroom Creations will teach you in a self-study (aka at your own pace) course.

If you already know how to create digital products, but don’t want the hassle of starting your own website/blog and still want to share your free items with teachers around the globe, then check out how to join us as a Classroom Freebies Author where you can share without any prior website know-how!

Starting a teacher seller business is an amazing way to connect to education professionals in places you have never even heard of on a regular basis.

Not only will you get the satisfaction of sharing your ideas, but more importantly, you become a part of something larger than yourself.  What I get FROM those professional educators is far greater.

I really am super blessed.

Happy creating and sharing,

~Charity

The post 7 Myths About Creating a Teacher Seller Business appeared first on Organized Classroom.

After feeling a bit jittery on most mornings, I decided maybe that much sugar probably wasn’t in my best interest so I swapped out my morning candy for a Pop-Tart.  I really needed something that was easy to grab once I was already at work because eating as soon as I popped out of bed was something I couldn’t bring myself to do.

Even funnier?  After seeing a local nutritionist from an employee wellness program offered at my school, she told me she would rather see me eat the candy over the Pop-Tart.  I was floored.   {Her reasoning was because the Snickers at least had some protein in the peanuts and far fewer ingredients, while the Pop-Tart was filled with all sorts of chemicals.  So in her opinion, the candy was the less evil of the two evils.}

It really opened my eyes to how I was treating my body and how much energy I *didn’t* have after teaching all day.  At that rate, I was sure to burn out physically and mentally very quickly.

While some teachers train for 10Ks or marathons, others find that a small workout on a regular basis really helps with stress relief.

Keeping long work hours is a given.  Teacher mental health is already strained.  Those 2 things probably aren’t going to change overnight.  So what can we do?

Taking care of ourselves is a pretty important key.

When a teacher feels mentally and physically strong, he or she is then able to serve students and families better.

The world needs good teachers that are going to be around for a long time to come.

Whether you choose walking a few more steps, yoga, meditation, weight training, eating better, or a combination of all the above, knowing that you are working towards something for you will increase your self-confidence and energy in and of itself.

Small changes daily can build up to a lifetime of benefits.

Better Choices While At School

• Healthy potlucks:  We all love when the admin brings in donuts on Friday.  But, what if instead everyone chose to bring in soup in a crockpot to share.  A few others bring in salad fixings?  Soup and salad for lunch will keep you sustained a lot longer than the sugary treats.
• Use a fitness tracker:  Teachers are walking all day every day.  But do you know exactly how many steps you have taken each day?  An inexpensive fitness tracker can help you know that information and build on it.  If you are walking an average of 5,000 steps daily, try to increase that number to 6,000 and go from there.

• Workout after school with colleagues:  One of my favorite ways to get in shape is with teacher friends after school!  Organize a walking troupe that walks for 45 minutes around the local neighborhood after contract time is up.  Too cold for that?  Bring in a Zumba DVD and have fun shaking your money maker in the gym instead.  The laughs are good for the soul – and the waistline.
• Do a biggest loser contest:  Put some wagers on the line.  They don’t need to be monetary in nature either.  The “winner” gets their duties covered by others for a month {Hello to skipping out on parent pickup}!   If the thought of others seeing you weigh-in breaks you out in a cold sweat, do a “most consistent” contest instead.  Track eating and fitness goals and get rewarded just for making better choices.

Want to know more about time management strategies for classroom teachers?

Check out Teacher Life Balance Academy HERE!

Better Choices While At Home

• Meal plan and prep:  It’s much easier to make better choices when home if you have planned ahead.  For me, I have a habit of waiting until I get home and realize that I have not thawed out anything to prepare, so frozen pizza is usually the winner.  But, if I plan all my meals and grocery shop on Sunday, I am far more likely to remember to thaw the meat out in the fridge the night before so I have no excuse for not cooking healthier.
• Get a walking treadmill to use while grading:  This can be expensive option, but if you get a windfall, I highly suggest one.  It allows you to get some movement in during a time when you are probably sitting instead.  It also works well when you are catching up on your shows and pinning online.
• Plan outdoor activities with your family/friends:  Try to do something outside at least once per weekend.  Instead of going to the movies, choose to hike a trail in the woods and look for seasonal wildlife.  The fresh air not only is good for your body, but the mind and soul will thank you for it too.
• Try a new fruit/vegetable each week:  Have you actually tried every variation of produce in your local grocery store?  Most likely not.  We tend to stick with what is familiar to us.  Try one new-to-you item a week.  Make it a fun game for the family to pick out something together to test out.  Even better, if you can get to a local farm market for fresh seasonal items.
• Look for discounts for nutritionists and local gyms from your school district benefits department:  Many local health and fitness services are available to most school district employees.  Simply contact your home office to see what is available to you.  Sometimes those services will even come to you onsite if you get enough teachers interested in their offerings.

Teacher Fitspiration

Need some real-life fit teachers to follow and be inspired?  While not an exhaustive list, these role models will get you started!

@simplystrongfit

@luceebeefitness

@fitness_food_fourth

@kghealthylife

@whattheteacherwants

I personally love looking through the real life journeys of these amazing ladies.  Knowing that they are regular people like me and have real jobs and families yet have found a way to get healthier for themselves and others really is inspiring!

Need a couple fit trackers to keep you motivated? Here is a free 3-pack that includes a Monthly Habit Tracker, a Weekly Meal Planner, and a Goal Tracker. Open in either Powerpoint or Google Slides and you can add in your own text boxes and track digitally.

Or choose to go old school (like me) and simply print the pages off and write on them.

Who else do you enjoy following for teacher fitspiration?  We would love to hear them in the comments below.

~Charity

The post Fit Teachers to Follow appeared first on Organized Classroom.

She was feeling pretty great actually.  

Lesson plans and copies for the week were done on Friday, grading is caught up and entered, and she is excited about a new novel the class will be starting today.

Janelle greets her students as they enter and they get started working on their morning work until the bell rings.  

Everything is going great until mid-morning, when Janelle suddenly feels a HUGE headache coming on.  By the end of the day, it is pounding, and she spends Monday evening in a dark, quiet room trying to get it to subside.  

So much for starting out the workweek feeling productive.

Does this sound like your typical Monday?

There have been some lengthy discussions on the Organized Classroom Facebook page about how the fluorescent lights in your classroom could actually be causing headaches.  Not only for you, but for your students too.

I am certainly not a doctor, nor claim to be one in any way, so take this suggestion simply as a suggestion:  many teachers are trying out light filters in the classroom and are having good results.

After seeing many discussions about light filters on our FB page, Educational Insights sent me over a pack of 3 Pete the Cat filters to check them out for myself.

How adorable are these?

They are super lightweight fabric which has magnets around the edges – so they are super easy to attach over the metal lights along the grid!

The covers don’t completely darken the room at all, and all that horrible white blaring light is no longer shining and reflecting off every classroom surface.

I do know some of you are not able to use light covers due to fire code regulations.  For anyone wondering, according to the packaging, the fabric contains a flame retardant coating.  Not sure if that will help you to “sell your case” to your fire marshal, but it might be worth a shot if they have been banned in the past.

Check out my lights before:

And after:

Here is another image from the EI website:

You can check out these Pete the Cat Decorative Light Filters HERE if you need a solution ASAP.

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for organizing your classroom environment?  This 108 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 16 ad-free articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:

• Easy DIY Projects for Making Mundane Office Supplies Cute Again
• New Ways to Use Old Supplies
• A Quick Tech Tutorial that Will Save You Money on Classroom Decor
• Unique Ways to Use Binder Rings
• Student Desk Straightening Tips

…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!  

See it HERE.

If you have used light filters in your classroom, let us know in the comments how they worked for you.

~Charity

The post Minimizing Classroom Migraine appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Here is the gist:

Collect all those student love notes, poems, drawings, and more and keep them in a binder to display all year long.  Love it! 

It makes it so much easier than trying to hang all the extra scraps of paper all over the classroom. 

It gets tough sometimes to find a new space to display the materials.  The binder will be your catch all, and will still be on display!

How to set your own binder up for your students:

1.  Grab a large 3-ring binder.

2.  Place either hole punched plain paper or some clear sheet protectors in the rings.

3.  When students share something with you that they made just for you, make sure they write their name on it (you need to make sure you always remember who created it), and then have them add it to the binder by sliding it in a sheet protector, or use a glue stick to add it to the plain paper.

Yay!  How fun to collect the binders from year to year as an awesome memento from your years of service! 

And the students will also love to add their imprint on the memories as well.

You can call your binder “warm fuzzies,” “love letters,” or even “buddy notes.” 

Whatever you like the best will be perfect for your students, no matter what grade level you teach!

Ready to take your Classroom Organization to the next level?  I have a proven system that will show you how and allow you to take back your nights and weekends at home!

OC Workshops:  Classroom Organization Bundle

I created a fun little freebie cover to snazz up your very own “Big Book of Heart!” 

Just download the page and make sure to open it up in the newest version of Adobe Reader (not in preview) to make sure the font works right to customize your binder with your name or year! 

Enjoy!

~Charity

The post Create Your Own Big Book of Heart! appeared first on Organized Classroom.

I know too many teachers who have had foot and back problems later in life from standing and teaching all day for years.  Plantar fasciitis is pretty common for veteran teachers.

How can we combat that?  Well I have two little things that might assist you on your way:  check out the very short video below and under that, I have compiled all the comfortable shoe suggestion answers from fellow teachers from the fan page.

Hopefully new and veteran teachers alike will find some of the suggestions helpful and be able to save those aches and pains from happening.

What kind of shoes do school teachers wear?

Comfortable and attractive shoes for teachers don’t always go hand in hand.  You can find a super cute shoe to match your outfit, but find that you can’t stand on your feet longer than 30 minutes because they are pinching your toes or rubbing your heels.

Or on the opposite end of the spectrum are the shoes that feel like clouds on your feet, but look like they were issues by the military.  While that might not matter to some (which is fine too by the way), it does matter to other teachers.

Finding the balance between function and style for a new pair of shoes can be tough at times.

Where do teachers shop for shoes?

Finding comfy shoes online can be tough, but if you read the reviews, you can usually tell whether the product will meet your needs.  Of course, trying on your new ballet flats in person is the best to check for things like a high arch support or if you have wide feet.

Amazon is great for purchasing because you can easily see thousands of dress shoe styles in one place, including the popular mary janes or lace ups.  Just make sure to double check your dress code so you know whether you are permitted to wear anything other than closed toe options.

When I taught in Florida, pretty much anything went.  In fact, I am pretty sure I didn’t wear a single pair of socks the entire three years I lived there due to always wearing some sort of sandals every single day.  But when I moved back to Ohio, that district required closed toe options that were not tennis shoes.  {We weren’t permitted to wear jeans ever either, but that’s for another post…}

You want your feet to feel great and look good.  If you order from Amazon, they do have a really great return process, so if they aren’t what you need, you can return them easily – though always check the return policy before purchasing from anywhere.

Some teacher shared favorite brands include Dansko and Vionic so that may be a good place to start your search.

Foot Care Tips for Teachers:

This topic got me wondering what teachers can do for our feet because we do work standing up. We’re talking. It’s very rare that we’re sitting down. Maybe we know a few teachers like that do, but you’re probably not one of them.

What can we do without having to wear sneakers every day because some school districts don’t even allow sneakers in the classroom unless you teach PE?

Tip 1:

One thing that I’ve done, and you can ask anyone who’s taught with me, is as soon as those students leave the building, I have right underneath my desk a pair of slippers. I pop them on and that’s what I wear for the remainder of the work day.   Of course, that is contingent upon not having a parent or staff meeting and I don’t have to walk down the hall to see the administrator or anything like that.

If I know I’m going to be in my classroom after school working and confined to my classroom – or maybe popping next door to see a colleague, the slippers or the flip flops come out immediately.  I can sit at my desk and just relax my feet out.

I was always known for wearing a small or a chunky heel but a smaller one. I’m short, so it’s rare that I wear flats anyway. I hated to wear flats because I was already short enough as it was.

Now, you can even use this tip during planning periods during the day, as long as you don’t have students, but the only thing to consider is if your feet tend to swell, then you’re going to have a really hard time getting your shoes back on when you have to go pick up the kids from specials. I usually waited until the end of the school day after they had left so I didn’t have to worry about it so much.

Tip 2:

Look for a cheaper version of a kitchen gel mats that you can find in the big box stores or bedding/kitchen stores. Go and see what you can find. The ones that I’ve seen are kind of expensive so maybe try to look for a discounted version. There are usually one or two spots in the classroom where you tend to stand when you’re teaching, when you’re standing up by the interactive whiteboard or your bulletin board, or even during center time or at your carpet.  Wherever you’re going to be standing most often during the day, grab one of those mats and at least be able to stand on the gel. That will help your feet a little bit as well.

Now, of course, if it’s a more expensive item, you want to make sure that the students are not getting their hands on it. If it’s just a small mat that you can pick up and carry with you, keep it behind your desk.

Tip 3:

Then, the last suggestion (which may be a little too far out for most), would be bringing in a big flat foot bucket and fill it up with hot water.  You could soak your feet while you’re sitting at the desk doing your  work as long as you don’t have to get up if you’re just going to be sitting at the desk anyway.

Does everyone on your grade level team have achy feet after a full day of standing and teaching?  Have a grade level meeting planned after school?

Make it a team spa planning meeting once a week or once a month just for something fun. Rest your feet, put some hot water in there, let them soak a little bit.  Everyone brings their own Epsom salts and lotion.

It’s not an idea for everyone or even every team obviously, but I know I have worked on some teams that would have loved this idea. It would be something fun and different and it’s kind of like getting a little pedicure at school. Perfect for team building and when you get some work done in the process it’s a double bonus!

Anyway, take care of those feet friends.

I’ve heard so many teachers that have so many foot problems later in life because they’re on their feet all day long. Do what you can to salvage them and as long as you can, and look at the ebook down below for other suggestions of types of shoes to get which may even help with back pain.

Take care of you so that you can take care of the students.

How do you save your feet and back from hurting at the end of the day?  We would love to see your suggestions in a comment below!

~Charity

The post What Are the Best Teacher Shoes? appeared first on Organized Classroom.