This lesson is best for students who have difficulty forming their own sentences/paragraphs.

There are lots more ways to recycle pantyhose, stockings and tights, and save money in the bargain. All you need is a pair of scissors.

There is such a big learning curve to just do basic functions when switching from PC to Mac. This is my cheat sheet of 6 tips I wish I would have known.

Learn about the most effective type of laparoscopy for endometriosis. Last summer I had an appointment with my OB-GYN to figure out the next step for treating my internal pelvic pain, which she su…

So you finally landed the job out of grad school and are ready to start as a School Counselor. Congrats! It's a difficult profession but you will make a difference in the lives of children, hooray for you! Here is a list of things I wish I knew as a first-year Counselor to hopefully help you.

#ad Have you been thinking about getting Invisalign? I'm sharing 5 things I wish I knew before getting Invisalign. I'm sharing real things that helped and what I go through daily with having Invisalign. #MintThatFits #movemints

This page shares information I wish every National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) candidate knew about the entry 4 (documented accomplishments) portfolio instructions, based on the information I learned as a candidate, mentor, and especially as an assessor for entry 4 one summer. I was trained by NBPTS to analyze this entry and have … Continued

After a year full of rehearsal and practice some of my school instruments look a little thrashed. Most of my school cellos are shared by 3 students - so they get a lot of use in a day. (Someday I hope to have enough cellos for all my students, but right now I’m about 40 short.) After our final concert I do an instrument cleaning day and get everything looking shiny. It’s good for general maintenance to have all students clean their instruments at least once per year. We use spray bottles filled with distilled water and 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar. I tell students to never spray ‘cleaner’ on directly on their instruments. We use a collection of bandannas I found in my classroom and students spray a little vinegar water on a bandanna to wipe down their instruments. They use a dry bandanna for buffing. Recently I was able to tour the repair shop of a local music store, Summerhays Music in Orem, UT. www.smcorem.com I learned some maintenance tips I wish I would have known when I started teaching! These tips would have saved my program budget a lot of money. Summer is a great time to check instruments and do these simple steps to make sure instruments stay in good condition. 1. MINERAL OIL Do you have any of those fine tuners that are super hard to turn? In my classroom I have a few cellos from the dark ages with tuners so stiff it hurts my fingers to try to use them. When instruments are cleaned you should unscrew the fine tuner and put a drop of mineral oil in the hole where the screw goes. This will ensure the fine tuner keeps working properly. I will be having students do this on our instrument cleaning day from now on. You can also use mineral oil to lubricate bass pegs/mechanism. 2. ENDPINS I have a little epidemic going on in my orchestra. Students are constantly losing those little endpin bolts and we’ve had a few endpins go inside the cellos. I can’t stand it when that happens because it’s so frustrating to get those endpins back out! I once tried to get an endpin back in place with a back-scratcher…..doesn’t work. Inevitably I have to send those cellos to the repair shop to have them retrieve the endpin. At school I’ve just been wrapping masking tape around the end of cello endpins to keep them from going inside the cello. It doesn’t look great...but that was my quick fix. At Summerhays I learned you can just go to a hardware store and buy bolts (size M8 1.25) that will screw right back on the endpins. They’re super cheap..and you can SUPER GLUE them in place so they never fall off. This is going to save my program some money for sure. 3. BRIDGES A have quite a few cellos with warped bridges. I thought it was happening because the wood was bad, but I learned that the warping happens when the bridge is crooked. I have never consistently checked the bridges on all my instruments to make sure they are straight. This will now be part of my routine. The Summerhays repair shop taught me how to properly adjust the bridge. They said you do NOT loosen the strings to adjust the bridge (unless it needs major adjusting/placement). You brace your hands on the bridge and move/adjust from the top. You don’t try to move the feet...just the top of the bridge until it is 90 degrees. 4. WITTNER PEGS I actually discovered these pegs a few years ago. I was wasting too much time trying to tune old cellos with ill-equipped pegs. When these Wittner pegs came out I loved them so much...I slowly started using my school budget to have these pegs put in all my school cellos. It is worth every penny! Saves a ton of time with tuning. When I start a class of 50+ beginners I have to be able to tune them all in 3-5 minutes. These pegs make it a breeze. It also helps students tune their own instruments with ease. I teach beginners how to tune about mid-way through the school year. I now rarely have a student who breaks a string. 5. OLD STRINGS I’m guilty. There are cellos and basses at my school equipped with some ancient strings. At school I usually only replace strings when they break. I’ve never made room in my budget to replace old strings. I know some of my instruments would sound way better if I would just put on new strings. Part of my summer maintenance will be to finally start replacing strings and keeping track of when new strings are put on. My inventory is currently organized in a google spreadsheet. I can type notes directly on my inventory regarding when strings have been replaced, what repairs have been done, etc. That way I can create a rotation to begin replacing strings without having to do all 50+ instruments at once. At Summerhays I learned that it is best to purchase strings that are straight (not wound in a packet). This ensures the winding on the string lasts longer. The core and the winding of the string can deteriorate when the winding is bent and compromised. Buying local is ideal because you can buy strings that are straight. Summerhays has awesome low prices (even lower than online retailers) and stores all their strings straight. I hope you find these tips useful as you spend time with your inventory at the end of the school year/beginning of the new school year.

Congrats new speech grad! You are ready to start your CFY! Have no fear...Speech Time Fun is here with time and money saving tips for you! Several years have passed since I graduated from grad school with my masters in speech-language pathology. After working in the field (in public and private school settings) ...

Parenting a high energy toddler can be very difficult and extremely exhausting. I have learned so much that would have helped me back when my son was three.

As I was entering college, I was fascinated with the idea of this field of study with little knowledge as to what it means to…

These teacher hacks are brilliant ideas for your classroom that'll make your life so much easier this year. Number nine will change your life!

This month I'm linking up to discuss parent communication. I will say my parents appreciate the systems I've put into place to keep them informed about their child's education. 1) Weekly Newsletter- every Monday students take home a newsletter in their folder. As you can see I let parents know what we're learning that week, important dates, notes and homework. 2) Classroom Website- every weekend I update the classroom website with the weekly newsletter above and important dates. I have information about our classroom (wish list, birthdays, classroom management plan), math study guides and links to practice pages, as well as Social Studies and Science study guides and study cards. 3) Parent Emails- In addition to the hard copy newsletter and classroom website. I occasionally send emails to the parents about items and events I feel need to be communicated directly and then I put it in the newsletter and on the website.

I didn't have a very hands-on family when I was growing up, so I really enjoyed taking a Home-Ec class when I was in highschool. I learned a few things that I still use today, but I wish I would've had more hands on training in home life skills.

I was asking this question 4 years ago, so I'm writing the post I wish I'd had. 🥰A little background: Our family began officially homeschooling when our oldest son was entering kindergarten. I wasn't homeschooled and only knew a few homeschooling families, so I had a lot of questions (and trepidation) about choosing a curriculum.Here's what I've learned along the way:+ An open-and-go, boxed curriculum can be very helpful for your first year. We used Sonlight (with no regrets!) and I have many friends who love My Father's World. You go to their website, select your child's grade level, and order the materials. All you need for the year - the instructor's guide, books, and supplies - arrives at your doorstep. You're ready to homeschool! This helped me feel confident that yes, I was doing enough, and had advisors ready to help me if I needed it.+ A trusted homeschool mama in your community is an invaluable resource. If there's a homeschooling mom in your church whom you admire, ask her all your questions. How did she get started? What curriculum would she choose (or stay away from) if she could do it all again?+ Start simple, as it will take a while to find your rhythm. For example, all that a kindergartener *really needs* is a reading/phonics program, a math program, and (for Christian families) a morning Bible/devotional time. If that's all you do for your child's kindergarten year, great! You can add history, handwriting, science, and other electives as you grow more confident.+ Remember that you may not land on your favorite curriculum or educational philosophy your first year. And that's ok! If you're interested in finding your homeschool style, I've linked a helpful quiz in my profile.+ After you've narrowed it down to a handful of curriculums you're interested in, I love Cathy Duffy's review site (cathyduffyreviews.com). Her reviews are straightforward and very helpful.

Since you never know how long your labor is going to be, it's no wonder that you want to know how to speed up labor so that it's as quick as possible. I don't think that a single one of us wants to be in labor for hours and hours on end. I have a sister in law that had a 30-hour labor—yikes! But there are things that you can easily do to make yours even just a couple of hours. Be sure to follow these tips for quickly and easily speeding up your labor in natural ways. 9 Ways To

A few years ago, I spent nine months living in New Zealand; here's a list of things to know before moving to New Zealand!

Here's what you need to know about macro tracking as a beginner. If you're new to flexible dieting for fat loss, you will learn how IIFYM is more beneficial than other dieting methods and important info you need to lose weight with it successfully.

Everyone tells you that the newborn phase is one of the toughest phases of early parenting. You literally hit the ground running as soon as your little one is born! After having two of

Hey teachers! I have some adorable student clipart that will be just perfect for your Teachers Pay Teachers products and classroom lessons. Please click here to get your FREE kids clipart. Best wishes! You Might Also Like:Teacher Clipart Kit for SUMMERSchool Supplies Clipart – 78 FREE GraphicsBitty Borders: Fit It ALL On One Sheet!Bitty Borders: ... Read More about FREE Student Clipart for Teachers

This morning I was feeling overwhelmed with all the little things I had to do today. I was wishing I could do something that "mattered"—and I was sure loading the dishwasher didn't make the cut. I found myself thinking about the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus, and I had one of those "aha!" moments where I realized

Last week we sent a bunch of Scout Books to SXSW in Texas with @rohdesign and @austinkleon for their Visual Notetaking 101 Panel. These guys take awesome notes, and they designed this pocket notebook to offer you a chance to create beautifully illustrated notes, too. The cover features illustration exercises for better notetaking. Count yourself lucky if you were at the panel and received one of these! They ran out right away! Collectors item.

Tables of 6, 7, 8 and 9 in Your Hands: At the age of 8 I had to learn the multiplying tables. I've never been good at memorizing lists or tables. It was easy to learn the tables from 1 to 5 but from 6 to 9 it seemed to be way more complicated... A year later I heard this t…

I love homeschooling. It’s been the means of so much joy in my life, and I can’t imagine the last 25 years without the fun of reading aloud with my children, making crafts together, field trips, nature walks, painting, writing, and yes, even math. I’ve learned so much through the years, but a few si

Kristen Kelly, blogger at "Ready, Set, Parenthood!" provided readers with information about hand-foot-and-mouth disease, a common childhood infectious disease. As stated in her 2014 blog post, after doing some research online and speaking with her son's pediatrician, she learned so much about this disease that she wishes she would have known before her son got it. With the new school year and the typical germ season underway, Northeast Ohio Parent editors thought we would re-share to help families.

Bras, slippers and mister fans, oh my! Veteran educators share 27 secret but genius things teachers need in their classrooms.

Are you preparing for a c-section birth? Here is everything you should know about the procedure, delivery, side effects, and recovery of a C-Section.

DIY Project! Learn how to make a silhouette of your child! Love this idea for all my kids!!

What every parent needs to know before their child goes to kindergarten. What to expect after the first days of kindergarten.

How to Choose Effective Practice Activities for World Language: This is the sixth in a series of seven posts about How to Write Effective World Language Lesson Plans. In this post, we will be discussing how to choose effective practice activities, the, “guided practice” portion of the lesson plan. Get FREE lesson plan!

Thank you to Diane for submitting this fun book report poster. It’s legal size (paper) worksheet and is great for lower grades (or as an easy project for upper grades). Great end of the year …

Here's everything I wish I'd known about how to hang double barn doors before we started our project. All the tips, tricks, and resources I used!

These items will help you keep an organized counseling office. They are must-haves for your school counseling office, check them out and starting making your counseling office epic.