One of the things that I love the most about journaling and the journaling community is the atmosphere and feeling that go into getting your thoughts down on a page. Then, add in the stress release of bullet journaling, feeling organized, and getting the running to-do list of groceries, errands, and work down out of your brain and on to the paper as well. Journaling is literal therapy you carry around with you on-the-go. Some of the best feelings is setting and establishing the tone and ambiance of journaling. Enter hygge. Hygge is not a new concept on the blog because it is a light feeling of happiness from self, things, surroundings and places, and even people. This post has a free 30 day hygge journal notebook prompt, and it contains some hygge tips for setting up your journaling atmosphere. Pick what you need from the 30 prompts or check out the 7 days of prompts to get you started and feel inspired in any notebook.

When this blog post was first published in 2021, it was the first blog post I wrote postpartum after having our baby girl. After over 12 hours of unmedicated labor, I officially became a mom to an amazing baby girl. My husband and I became a mommy and a daddy. Originally, this post was written as a way for new moms to talk about the role of journaling in the postpartum journey and newborn phase. Now, this post is more of an invitation to use journaling as a tool for lots of different aspects of motherhood. Motherhood is a remarkable journey filled with joy, laughter, and countless moments that you don’t want to miss. Yet, amidst the chaos, it's easy for busy moms to feel overwhelmed by the demands of nurturing a family, managing a variety of household items, and balancing work-related tasks. In the whirlwind of diapers, playdates, and bedtime routines, moms need to carve out moments for themselves, moments for reflection, and ultimately use journaling as an outlet for self-care. In this blog post, I invite you to explore practical tools for planning, goal-setting, continuous learning, and stress management. All by using a notebook or journal as your sidekick.

In 2017, when I started my first bullet journal, I was captivated by all of the terms and different ways that people could use journals and the bullet journaling system. It felt like a whole new planner, but one that you create on your own.

Almost like the ultimate journal or planner.

The best planner or journal of all time.

The perfect way to find balance, organization, and peace.

I began to see over the years that journaling can be made into your own unique needed system. You can take from one style of journaling, and then add it to another. You can mix and match. You find what works for you. The only issue with this is that it is sometimes difficult to keep all of the terms and lingo clear in your mind. This post contains a quick two-page dictionary for understanding the world of journaling. You can also check out the Introduction to Journaling that I have posted here, a free 73+ page guide on how to introduce (or reintroduce) yourself to journaling.

I wanted to share these playlists because on Fridays, we do Friday Free Write. Students love to listen to music, but sometimes it also helps if we collectively have music playing overhead. I have two playlists in this post: Music with Words and Background Music. I included as many lyrics videos as possible because I feel like the music that we play in our classrooms is directly related to our personal tastes and the standard of what we feel is “appropriate.” I know my personal tastes in music are represented in my playlists. I did enjoy putting these lists together because it almost felt like I was a teenager burning a CD again. I tried to balance genres, but I tend to be heavy in R&B, Hip-Hop, and Soul. We sometimes have a “one artist” day like Michael Jackson and John Legend. Kids love listening to both current and old hits.

Please make sure you preview music before sharing if you are unfamiliar with the artist, genre, or song. While I would play the music on these playlists, it does not mean everyone would consider them appropriate.

Please make sure you preview music before sharing if you are unfamiliar with the artist, genre, or song. While I would play the music on these playlists, it does not mean everyone would consider them appropriate.

The idea of passion projects is not new. However, the idea of the passion project being the medicine we need during tough or uncertain times is an idea that becomes relevant and clearer as we move forward year after year. I was having a conversation with teacher friend, and we talked about the importance of having ideas that “set our brains on fire.” In other terms, having hobbies, goals, and dreams that we think about with as much interest, happiness, and concentration as possible. These are the ideas that get you up at 4 in the morning…in a good way. As teachers, the idea of learning and discovering new things is one of the reasons why we teach. We like to see the lightbulb moments in our students. The ah-has. The moments of change that we find meaningful. But, we often forget that learning is something that drives the inner motor of the teacher, too. 

This post outlines 10 ways we can find our own light.

It is time we find what feeds us especially right now with all of the school closures.

And even more so, after the closures. Because something that anchors me through all of this is the idea that we will come out of this somehow changed for the better. Passion projects are activities that we find meaningful because they feed into two parts that are essential to our teaching: Mindfulness and productivity. Mindfulness in a way that feeds our sense of calm, sense of purpose, and who we are and want to be. Productivity in which teachers need something that pushes them to not just be busy, but busy with intention. We are natural multi-taskers. We are magicians with time because we make the impossible happen each and every day in our classrooms.

And now it seems like the magic may be gone for a while.

Grab your copy of Ratchetdemic: Reimagining Academic Success by Dr. Christopher Emdin.

This week is all about the colors of the rainbow! Colors are everywhere. When I was planning for this week, I didn’t want to make it too complicated. We are going to do many of our routine activities for the week with the goal in mind to be purposeful when talking about colors. For example, we are adding on to a bank of two-word combinations

Black-Cat

Yellow-Banana

Orange-Hat

The goal is to be more mindful in the hustle and bustle of the day to talk about colors, label colors as we see them, and try to work in some silly games that we may not have had in the plans originally. Our little one knows her colors already, but I am learning that language is all about confidence when it comes to speaking. I want to build her assurance when it comes to speaking, and also add on to the knowledge that she already has been working on so far. This post includes book recommendations, day-to-day activities for the morning, and some links to music from YouTube to get you and your little one moving.

Back-to-school season can mean immediate overwhelm and stress when it comes to lesson planning. Everyone is thrown back into the school routine, and it can be easy to not know where to start, especially with planning read alouds and book talks. I remember constantly thinking, I can’t wait to actually get to the content that I will be teaching.

So, why wait? Picture books can be used as read-alouds in the secondary classroom, and they can help access course content and building community activities. In this list, I have curated the ten best picture books that promise to ignite young minds, kindle imagination, and infuse the classroom with the joy of reading and writing. These storytime staples are here to accompany both students and educators on a captivating literary ride, setting the perfect tone for a year filled with exploration, growth, and endless possibilities.

Get ready to turn the page and dive into a world where learning knows no bounds!

Grab your copy of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad!

At the heart of the literacy classroom, you find stories. All kinds of stories. Especially in the middle-grade classroom, the personal narrative assignment seems to be the quintessential writing process project and often the first project done with students as a means to get to know who is in our classrooms. This is just one way to do a personal narrative project (out of many). Please take what you need to inspire your own teaching craft, and then tap into all of the amazing stories you have in front of you.

• Step-by-step instructions for teaching a narrative writing project

• Lesson ideas you can use now

• Group narrative writing projects to bring your classroom community together

What is one of the biggest lessons you have learned since becoming a parent or caregiver?

I would answer this question by saying: “I never expected to learn so much about myself and regulating my own emotions, reactions, and feelings in any given situation.”

While I am not quick to react to something, I do know that 13 years spent in a middle school classroom has made my default responses to things sarcastic and short. Now that we have a little one, I want to make sure she is raised understanding her feelings matter and are validated no matter what.

Feelings are a huge topic of conversation in all aspects of parenting. You will find this type of work almost everywhere in the multiverse that is mom blogging. This next week of activities focuses on a theme that holds immense importance in every conversation I have had so far that talks about motherhood– 'All About Feelings' activities for our little ones. From joyful giggles to big tears, this week will be about helping toddlers understand, express, and embrace their emotions. While some of the toddler tantrums are indeed “terrible,” some of the best words I have heard are that it isn’t a tantrum; they are not able to regulate their bodies, emotions, thoughts, or feelings. This idea of regulation made so much more sense to me because when we are upset, angry, or sad, often our own adult bodies seem like they are struggling for stability. Enter into the chat a 2-year-old with a limited vocabulary, shorter attention span, and increased need for control.

So, how do we help regulation?

I think the first step is by talking about what those feelings are and being able to label them as they come up. This post outlines some introduction activities you can use to start talking about feelings, labeling emotions, and making some ridiculous faces along the way.

Dialogue is an essential element of storytelling, bringing characters to life and adding depth to narratives. As English Language Arts (ELA) educators, it is crucial to teach students the proper use of quotation marks and rules of dialogue. By mastering these skills, students can effectively convey conversations, enhance their writing, and develop a strong command of punctuation. In this blog post, I explore the importance of using quotation marks and the rules of dialogue, along with practical tips for teaching these concepts in the ELA classroom. Quotation marks serve two primary functions in writing: indicating direct speech and enclosing titles of short works. In this post, let’s focus on dialogue as it shows up in works of fiction or narratives.

July and August mark the beginning of a new season of school. While many view this time of year with mixed emotions, the idea of back-to-school planning is often met with a particular groan. It is hard to narrow down what to teach our kids when we haven’t met them yet. We want to create activities that will help us get to know them, but we also have to balance building expectations, district expectations, curriculum needs, and any pre-assessments or standardized testing. The time blocks can fill up, and it can be easy to feel like time is running away from you.

This post contains 5 areas that you can consider when doing your back-to-school planning. Specifically, I will be talking to literacy teachers in classrooms grades 4-10, but everyone can pick up some of these ideas and apply the concepts to their own classroom. You can also feel free to steal my first two weeks of school already planned out in detail in this post.

The first week of working in a more structured routine means that we HAVE to start with identity work. I would do this type of activity if the kids were toddlers or in high school, and it seems even more important that this little one is my own. Anything that we are learning has to start with her interests. This week’s theme is a heartwarming topic that's close to every parent's heart: All About Me and Affirmations. I wanted to include the activities that we were going to focus on for the week and how they connect to each other. The goal is to keep those tiny hands busy but also lay the foundation for a strong sense of self-confidence and positivity. This post includes an overview of morning activities for Monday-Thursday. So, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, get ready to dive into the world of imaginative play, and let's celebrate our toddlers as the incredible individuals they are!

When I spent over a decade in the classroom, it never occurred to me that I would use those lesson-planning skills as a new mama. However, as our little one gets bigger and bigger, I can see my role as a teacher start to creep into the picture a bit more as we are moving to have more structured mornings in terms of activities and having some goals. Our little one is two, so we aren’t in a rush to get into a full-blown lesson schedule, but she really loves a schedule. I think her mama does, too.

The main goal of our time together is always to play, be outside as much as possible, and have fun.

But, with her being home with me, my teacher brain also needs the outlet of doing lesson planning and looking at different activities for our little one. Part of what fuels teachers is the creative input and output of ideas surrounding learning. I wanted to focus on the morning time after breakfast when we got back from being outside and before lunch. If she were enrolled in a 2’s program, she would be attending a class 2-3 times a week that would work with her on a “get-ready-for-preschool” curriculum. This isn’t that.

This is more so open-ended learning with goals and themed activities to have some fun each week. This morning routine strikes the perfect balance between work commitments on my end and those precious moments with my little explorer. From storytimes that spark imagination to the sensory bins and water tables that ignite their curiosity, we'll journey through different creative crafts, drawing, baking, and grooving to music and movement throughout the week. I have figured out by now that each mama is different and each kid is different, but I am hoping to share our learning routines and journey along the way as we figure out how to work, play, and grow together!

At each step of the process in this post, I will stop and show you some things I consider when I plan for that part of the lesson. These considerations come from the questions and experiences from teaching the mentor text routine to sixth graders. I teach these lessons to students with third-grade level reading and eleventh-grade level reading in the same room. I have coached teachers that have ranged from 4th grade to 10th grade with this process. The results are the same, but you may have to adjust the strategies for your content and level.

These considerations are not meant to be overwhelming, but I want to share what has worked for me along the way. I have also broken them down in terms of estimated time. When I was doing mentor text work daily it took 5-10 minutes each day because of the routine that I chose to implement in my room. One single mentor text lesson taught alone might take 20-25 minutes.

This quickstart guide walks you through everything you need to get started with teaching mentor texts in your classroom right away. There are 7 key elements to teaching mentor texts. At the end of this post, download the free template to get started with a book of your choice! You will also have access to my mentor text work. This includes 180+ slides and sentence frames featuring 55+ books.

The I Am series by Susan Verde and Peter Reynolds is one of the most identifiable book series in classrooms and stores. The art by Peter Reynolds is so specific to him, and the books have almost become synonymous with social & emotional text lists, mindfulness, and meditation for young people. There are 7 books in the series. This post covers 4 of them and how to use them in your classroom for teaching mindfulness through read-aloud and also writer moves for kids through mentor texts. While the recommended reading age for the books often states 3-7, these mentor texts could be used in any level classroom.

Let’s dive into using the I Am series as a whole group mentor text, and then let’s take a quick look at how 4 of the books can be broken down further for writing moves.

Grab your copy of Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab!

Upon reading this book for the first time, I was immediately drawn to the strong connections between wanting a work-life balance and constantly feeling disappointed by my past attempts to try to put anything that resembles self-care into place. I have always thought that self-care was an elusive idea that people aren’t ever really able to achieve. I thought this way until the moment that I read this book. Then, I realized that self-care (or the lack thereof) was largely the boundaries that we hold within our own selves, other people, and our time. While personal boundaries are something that I often do not struggle with in my life, I do struggle with work boundaries and creating a separate space for my life outside of teaching and learning. 

New notebooks may be a form of journal lovers’ addiction. There is nothing like a new notebook to make you feel like you can conquer the world or take on a new project. A new notebook purchase would logically take place when one notebook is filled up and can’t be used any longer. If you are an avid journal lover; however, you will often find yourself making up a new reason to jump into a new notebook.

Whatever form of journaling you use, I find that most people who carry some form of an everyday notebook or journal or more likely to need to move over to a new notebook for whatever reason. This journal could be a planner, feelings journal, diary, or bullet journal. Bullet journaling has become an incredibly popular method for organizing your life, tracking goals, and unleashing your creativity. However, there may come a time when you need to move your bullet journal or just your everyday journal from one notebook to another. Whether you've filled up your current journal or simply want to switch to a new one, this step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of migrating your bullet journal seamlessly.

I feel like having a toddler around has helped me understand the role of sensory work and play far better than before parenthood. I even look back on my own childhood and remember moments where I can recall feeling dysregulated or something was off. I never liked the feeling of itchy socks on my toes. I hated having my hair done because of how it felt. When I initially started learning more about sensory play, one of the most powerful pieces was that everyone has sensory needs. Sensory regulation does not require a diagnosis, label, or “special” treatment. We all have the power to feel regulated or dysregulated by the work of the senses. Incorporating sensory experiences into the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classroom can ignite students' creativity, deepen their understanding, and make writing come alive. By engaging multiple senses, educators can create a dynamic and immersive environment that inspires students to express themselves through writing. We can also help our students regulate their own systems and challenge behavior issues that are tied to classroom management. In this blog post, we will explore 10 sensory writing activities that can transform the ELA classroom into a hub of sensory exploration and literary expression.