McKenzie Ross

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023

Brain Breaks for Students That Actually Rest the Brain

Brain breaks are so important in school! It’s hard to sit down and cram your brain with so much information for several hours a day. So teachers, listen up! Here’s a list of (actual) brain breaks for you to use in your classrooms. This list applies to all ages of students, too.

Let me start off with this tidbit first. When choosing brain breaks, remember that the goal is to rest the brain, not make it work differently. What I’m trying to say is, Kahoot! is a great resource, but its time and place aren’t during brain breaks.

Take a walk. Walk around the hallways of the school together or if it’s nice enough outside, take a walk around the school outside. A change of scenery can do wonders for the mind!

Color a picture. There are a lot of free and paid printables online or ask parents to donate coloring books. Coloring and drawing can be so therapeutic!

GoNoodle. I *think* that most teachers are aware of this resource, but just in case you’re not, GoNoodle on YouTube is great for movement brain breaks! They are videos designed to get students up and moving.

Dance party or freeze dance. Turn the music up and play freeze dance or just have a dance party! I don’t think they’ve done any official studies on it yet, but I’m pretty certain the more dance parties that happen in a classroom, the happier the teacher and students are!

Read a picture book. Kids are zoning out during a math lesson? Why not switch it up a bit and grab a fun picture book for them to enjoy before you get back to dividing fractions?

Turn on relaxing music and play Sleeping Lions. The goal of sleeping lions is to be the lion that sleeps the longest. Everyone chooses a safe spot to lie down on the floor and rest while relaxing music plays. Go until the students start getting restless.

Yoga. Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube is a great resource, or there are other yoga videos for kids you can look up as well.

What brain breaks do you use in your classroom?

April 8, 2023April 8, 2023

Dear Future Teacher Me

Dear Future Teacher Me,

I know it’s been a few years since you graduated with your teaching degree and received your teaching license (OKAY it’s been more than a few.) But someday you’ll find yourself back in the classroom teaching again when it feels suitable for your family. Someday you will walk through those doors to set up your own classroom instead of walking your own to theirs.

And someday when that day comes, there are things you need to remember to carry with you that you learned during your time as a parent in the school setting instead of a teacher.

Remember that all you ever want is what’s best for your kids. So when it feels like a parent won’t get off your back about something, remember that really all they want is what’s best for their child.

Remember that you’re doing the best you can to support your children’s teachers, but sometimes it’s hard to be as supportive as possible because your life is busy and there’s a lot going on. So someday when you feel like you’re not getting enough support in your classroom, remember that these parents have multiple children and jobs and responsibilities. Their time to volunteer may not be right now.

Remember that every day you send your children to school and worry immensely about their safety, but also place a lot of trust in the teachers and staff of the school to do everything they can to keep them safe. Remember this, because someday parents will be sending their kids to you and expecting the same.

Remember that you think so highly of your kid’s teachers and are constantly impressed by what they are able to create and do in their classrooms and that someday, parents will think the same of you.

Remember that you often forget to convey your gratitude and appreciation for your kid’s teachers and that parents will forget just the same. But that doesn’t mean the gratitude and appreciation aren’t there.

Most of all, remember that you love your own kids, but you’ll also love your students like they are your own kids, too. Someday, you’ll make a great teacher. You may not have been teaching in a classroom for the last several years, but you’ve done your fair share of teaching with the children in your home, and that experience will carry over to your classroom someday, too.

You’ve got this.

April 4, 2023April 4, 2023

The Best Way for Kids to Prepare Over Summer Break is to…..

Summer break is… almost here? I’m not sure how the weather is where you are, but we seem to be having a very late spring here! Either way, school will be out before we know it.

That means parents and teachers will be hit soon with ads all over the internet from programs boasting about how great their summer workbook is for kids. Or an online curriculum they can follow through the summer to be “second-grade ready!”

But do you know what these students need over summer break?

They need to play. Like, REALLY play. Not structured “Let’s add a manipulative to make it seem fun and call it play!” No. They need unstructured, free time to immerse themselves in a world of play.

They need access to good literature. This means books they might find interesting or want to read, and this also means adults or older kids that read to them. Pack away the reading charts and trackers, just pull out some books and let it come naturally.

They need to sing. As loud as they can, at the top of their lungs, or just casually as they play. They need to hear and feel and sing music, whatever suits them and your family.

They need to color and draw and create. No, stop. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Yes, Pinterest has millions of cute crafts your family can do. And sure, you can do them! But what your kids really need to carve out space for is unstructured creative time. Where they can write and draw and have access to craft supplies (within your means/ comfortability level) and let their imaginations go wild.

They need to be engaged in daily conversation. Discuss why the world is the way it is. Ask questions about their favorite characters from books and movies. Get them chatting about the pro baseball player they look up to or the new video game releasing soon that they’re looking forward to. Tell them about your plans for the day, and tell them your thoughts on the political happenings of the time. Engage in whatever conversation they are willing to have with you.

They need you to not feel guilty about screen time. Everything in moderation! Spending time outside is fantastic! Reading books is great! Diving into an art form is incredible! Screens are amazing! If you spend your summer berating them for spending too much time on screens it can lead to bad effects that you don’t want, like hiding their screens so they don’t get caught, or feeling poorly about themselves for wanting screen time.

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And the last thing they need? More play. More time just being a kid and enjoying their time away from academic pressures. What your kid needs most this summer… is to just, be a kid.

April 3, 2023April 3, 2023

Picture Books For Spring Break

If you’re looking for some good picture books for Spring Break, look no further! Here’s what we added to the bookshelf in our house:

My Garden by Kevin Henkes

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

Worm Weather by Jean Taft

Waiting by Kevin Henkes

Over in the Meadow by John Langstaff

April 1, 2023April 1, 2023

Learning in the Wild: The Herrett Center for Science and Arts

Our favorite learning days always happen to be the impromptu ones. One day when we were out running errands in Twin Falls, Idaho, we decided we needed a break. We were driving past the College of Southern Idaho and chose to stop in at the Herrett Center for Science and Arts. It’s a fantastic museum full of Idaho history as well as a planetarium with showings each day.

We explored a few of the live animals. They had, a tarantula and a very large snake… I wish I could remember what type of snake it was, but I didn’t get a picture. Mostly because I didn’t want to go too close, snakes are not my thing! We took a minute to learn more about those specific animals and the environments they need in order to survive.

We walked through the exhibit of Native Americans in Idaho showcasing how they lived, what they ate, etc. We didn’t have a single worksheet or checklist on a clipboard to tell us what to look for or how to learn, yet we (yes, even myself), walked away with new knowledge.

Learning doesn’t have to be uniform or done in a specific way. It can be a day out running errands and deciding to stop in at the local museum. It can be exploring all of the different rooms with rocks and plants and art pieces. It’s practicing new reading skills while reading a sign about fish in Idaho because it’s interesting and fun.

Learning in the wild is still learning.

March 30, 2023March 30, 2023

Buying Into Kinder Readiness: It Needs to Stop

It was a very innocent Thursday. I was casually scrolling through social media catching up on what was going on in my friends’ lives. There was a video of Cindy’s four-year-old swinging independently for the very first time, a huge win for that little guy! Carly went to the water park with her littles. Sarah posted a video of her 3-year-old naming every shape, even a rhombus! Clark had a picture of him and his daughter sitting in their rocking chair enjoying a chapter book together.

“My daughter can’t name that many shapes, and she’s 4.”

It was an intrusive thought, but it still felt very real.

“She’s starting kindergarten soon, should I be reading chapter books to her?”

These thoughts are coming into my mind even after I’ve written countless articles on this very platform about not stressing over kindergarten readiness and really trying to hit home that what kids that age really need is copious amounts of freedom and play. I’ve scoured research articles, and other online posts, and I’ve even watched my own kids grow and develop. Yet somehow, I’m still here in this position. I’m seeing friends post about their 5-year-old reading entire sentences and writing his own Christmas list phonetically, wondering if I should work harder with my 4-year-old because there is no way she would be doing the same thing at his age. She’s still hit or miss on knowing all 26 letters. Never mind capital versus lowercase.

Even with my background in education and the years of research I’ve done for this blog, I’m still falling hard for buying into the fast track of kinder readiness. I cannot even imagine the amount of pressure parents feel to make sure their kids are doing everything and anything they can to read in preschool and get ahead so they can be the smartest and the best by kindergarten.

So here’s my reminder, to you and to myself.

Your child is doing great.

You can drop the expensive, intensive preschools and they are going to be just fine. Better off, probably.

If together you are talking, singing, reading, writing (drawing, coloring), and playing, then you’re doing everything they need you to do.

Play is a child’s work. Play is not a worksheet or studying magnets shaped like letters or shapes.

If your child is not reading before kindergarten, they are not behind. If your child isn’t reading by the end of kindergarten, they still aren’t behind!

Kids who learn to read at their own pace show a greater love and appreciation for reading later in life.

You are doing a really good job.

I know how stressful the push for kindergarten readiness is, I’ve fallen victim to it as well. It’s made me question if I’m not teaching my kids enough at times! Are they going to be smart enough to hold up in public school someday?

Don’t trust society’s push for your kid to cram everything into their little brains as fast as possible. Trust yourself. Trust your kids. That’s how you’re going to have the best shot at getting ready for kindergarten.

What You Can Find in Our Sensory Drawer

We have a sensory drawer in our house that has become very utilized! It’s a great resource for when my kids need to move and touch and have extra sensory input. It’s a drawer that I’m making a mental note of as it grows, changes, and adapts so that I can use a similar setup in my own classroom someday. Things come and go in the drawer, but these are the staples.

In our sensory drawer you’ll find:

Pop its: Is there an official name for these? I’m not exactly sure. But we love them! We have a large variety of these, some big, some small, some tougher, and some softer.

Fidget spinners: The OG fidget.

Pop tubes: Okay I know, these can get annoying because of the noise. But if it’s something you feel like you can handle in your home or classroom, there are a lot of possibilities with these!

Silky scarves: These have come in handy when someone needs something smooth to run through their fingers and work great in pretend play, too!

Moon sand: There is a special bin set aside with this stuff. I tried a few homemade versions, but none of them ended up how I wanted them. So we caved and spent the money on actual Moon Sand. It’s been our best purchase! It doesn’t dry out, doesn’t stick to your hands, and is easily picked up off the carpet when spilled. (I won’t even say “if” because we all know it’s a “when” it’s spilled, not “if” it’s spilled.)

Chewy tubes/ sticks: My son is a chewer! He will chew on anything and everything if we let him. So instead of toys and clothes getting ruined by chewing, we give him safe options to chew on instead.