Mini Shop Vac {Bet You Didn't Know You Needed This}

I'm borrowing an idea from "The Clutter-Free Classroom" blog, which has a series on helpful classroom items that she finds absolutely necessary. Here is my necessity:

This little guy is FABULOUS for cleaning out cabinets, sucking up loose threads, random food particles, and the very worst custodial offenders: hole punches! It is soooo worth the investment (less than $30 at Lowe's) to have my very own shop vac that remains in my classroom. Just make sure you write your name all over it. It's no guarantee that it won't walk off, but it's more likely to be returned.

Summer Worker Cinnamon Rolls

As I've mentioned before, I think it's very important to show appreciation to the people at school who help you to do your job! As a FACS teacher, I usually rely on baking to accomplish this purpose. In the summers I like to bring in a pan of homemade cinnamon rolls for the summer work crew to chow on during their breaks - nothing says "Thanks!" like an insane amount of butter and sugar!

Doesn't it drive you nuts when you remember to take photos of every step except for the finished product? Or am I the only one? Sheesh...

I brought these puppies in for the adults and kids working to make my new school all shiny. Like magic, they disappeared pretty quickly.

What do you do as a "Thanks" for making the school pretty over the summer?

Cleaning Baking Dishes

So I've been putting a lot of time into deep-cleaning my new kitchens (again), and I thought I'd share a few insights. Yesterday I posted about stand mixers, today it's glass bakeware and cookie sheets.

Since I've now been through the whole setting-up-the-kitchens things several times, I've come across some pretty nasty-baked-on-grease-and-other-unrecognizable-substances cookware. Apologies for forgetting to take before and after photos, but here's a good example I found online:

Mmmmm, appetizing! Luckily advice abounds on the Internet (Pinterest especially) on how to deal with these things. Since I've now had much experience in such matters, I'll share the method that I've found to work the best.

1. Don a pair of heavy-duty gloves. Possibly a face mask as well, if they're really gross.

2. Gather all cookie sheets, glass bakeware, etc into one central location.

3. Find a good-sized, sturdy box. The best ones are cookware boxes, because they're obviously designed to hold some heft.

4. Place ALL items into the box. Fold the top tightly closed - here's a demo video if you're not sure how.

5. Create a large, clearly written sign marked "TRASH," tape it well to the box, and set the box outside your classroom door.

Seriously.
AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!!!!!!!!!!

I have wasted an insane amount of time cleaning up items that are relatively cheap to replace when my time would have been much better spent on other tasks that needed to be completed in preparation for a new school. Either sacrifice part of your budget or pay out of pocket, it is WORTH IT. Plus, you'll have shiny new stuff which the kids will take better care of anyway.

Actually, let me change one thing: leave the box top open. Chances are that someone will take a lot of the stuff out of the box - even once it hits the dumpster. Trust me. I just wanted to include the video, I thought it was hilarious.

Stand Mixer Fixer

The last time I worked at my new school, I used grant money to purchase brand new KitchenAid stand mixers for all of the kitchens (did the same thing at the next school I worked at - love these things!). They really class up the kitchens, and of course accentuate the color-coding scheme. Practical as well.

So, these mixers are now only about 5 1/2 years old. The photo below shows the general condition I found them in this week; I think that Dante needs to deal with people who would allow this to happen to a KitchenAid:

So, should you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, here's what you'll need: warm water, Dawn dish soap, a gentle rag, a toothbrush, a towel, and a magic eraser. 

Wash the unplugged machine as best you can with the water, dish soap, and rag, using the toothbrush for all the little nooks and crannies. Dry with towel. Repeat. Then use the magic eraser over the entire thing to pick up the well worn-in grime you can still feel with your hands. This should do the trick. For a little added shine, spritz with a little bit of glass cleaner. Bask in the glow of your beautifully transformed stand mixer : ).

Grocery Bagging

I LOVE getting to bag my own groceries! This is primarily due to the fact that about 98.4% of all baggers out there don't seem to know what they're doing.

Disclaimer: This is a rant. Brace yourself.

1. I always bring my own bags. One of the beautiful things about the reusable bags is that you can fit 3-4 times as many items into them. For whatever reason most baggers only fill these bags maybe one-third of the way. This drives me crazy.

2. Despite the fact that I want them to use my bags, I think it's only common sense to wrap meats in plastic before placing them in the fabric bags, in case they leak. I'd say the odds of a bagger offering to do this or automatically doing it is somewhere around 50/50.

3. I place my items on the grocery belt in logical groupings so that like items will be bagged together. For example, I put all of my frozen items together so that they will be bagged together. Likewise refrigerated and pantry items. Yet when I arrive home I will have one bag (2/3 empty) with ice cream, a cucumber, Juicy Juice and toilet paper all mixed in together. The rest of the bags will follow suit in containing a jumbled up mess.

I realize this is an over-controlling impulse, but seriously, there are sensible reasons! Keeping the cold items together keeps them cold; also, the ice cream won't melt while I'm sifting through the rice/ground beef/toothpaste/one bag of frozen vegetables bag looking for it. Not to mention that it takes significantly less time to put the groceries away if they are grouped by location!

In my life I have had maybe half a dozen baggers who have had their acts together, and one of them was a former student of mine whom I taught about grouping groceries on the conveyor belt.

Is it just me? Does anyone else have this issue?

What I'll Miss From Summer Vacation

This is not a Linky, just a post inspired by one written by Miss Trayers over at Not Just Child's Play. She wrote about what she'll miss from summer vacation, and I felt inspired to do the same.

1. Spending time with friends.
When you're a teacher there's really no time for a social life during the week, and naturally the little free time you have over the weekend you want to spend with your family. That makes time for friendships difficult to schedule (especially when your friends are also teachers!), compared to the freedom and flexibility of summer. Back in January I made a commitment to myself to meet my BFF in Chicago for brunch at least once a month, and it made such a difference in my well-being. I will be holding on to that this school year!

2. The ease of keeping the house clean.
This would seem counter intuitive, because I'm around a lot more to make a mess of things, but when work kicks in plus grad school, keeping up becomes a little more difficult. During the summer it's pretty darn easy to find a little bit of time during the day to clean, but during the school year I've got to keep to a pretty strict routine or things will get out of hand.

3. Time for reading!
I sooooo love to read! Reading time drops significantly once school returns.

4. Hanging out with my kitten.
We adopted a kitten this summer to keep our lonely cat (10 years old - quite the grumpy old man) company. He is such a cutie pie! The older cat spends most of his time during the day sleeping under the bed, and only comes out to socialize after about 4pm or so. The kitten spends most of his time hanging around me though, so we've had some good times. As I've started going in to work to organize my classroom he's become increasingly needy while I'm at home, so I hope he does well with the transition!

Back to School Goals

Yet another Linky - unusual for me, I know, but I was planning a "Back to School Goals" post already before I saw this and it was the perfect lead-in! If you want to join in, scoot on over to I {heart} Recess.

Personal - As I mentioned in my "Currently August" post, I am a recent C25K grad about to run my first race! I've really been enjoying running, so I want to make sure I keep up with it. I've been worried that going back to school might throw off my routine and/or dedication; I'm just going to have to establish a new routine that includes both work and running!

Organization - Every year I make one or two "New School Year Resolutions." The past couple of years one of them has been to make sure my desk is completely clear (meaning things are put away, where they belong, not stuffed in a drawer!) before leaving each day, and it has made a HUGE difference! This year I have a much longer commute, so in case there are any delays in the morning I want to make sure that everything is ready to go for the next day before I leave each day. I've always been really big on getting to work extra early each day (especially when I was coaching and staying after was not an option!) to set everything up and get caught up on grading, etc, but again with the commute I don't want to leave anything to chance!

Planning - My planning goal is stay at least one full unit ahead in each prep this year: activities, copies, supplemental materials, props, the whole sh-bang!

Professional - I have a lot of ideas for maintaining regular parent communication this year. I've done pretty well at staying in contact with parents in the past about their kids' performance, but with so much technology available now there are some things I want to try out to keep them informed about what's actually being accomplished in class. And after last semester I am completely in love with Remind101 and so I will definitely be implementing it for parents and students from the very beginning this year!

Students - My goal for my students is that they feel safe in my class and look forward to my class. This is an annual one, because of course how can they learn if those two things do not hold true? In some of my classes we have some pretty intense discussions (child development = conception is one that springs to mind) that require mutual respect across the room to be successful.

Motto - Make it awesome! If you still haven't seen Kid President's Pep Talk, watch it right now! My message to my students this year is that they have the choice to make their time awesome, or to make it boring. Awesome definitely seems preferable to me!

TPT & YouTube

Apologies for double-posting in one day...

I have after long delay decided to jump on the Teachers Pay Teachers bandwagon: 1) I've received many, many requests for my foods lab task cards, and 2) Who can't use a little side money for their classroom? Prices for task card label sets are only $1 each (and in MS Word, so completely open for customization), accompanying recipes are free (as they should be, I didn't write 'em!). Please note that only the .doc file for the labels is for sale - you still have to do the printing, the sticking, the assembling, etc.

Click the TPT button on the side of this blog, or click here to check them out if you're interested. Right now there are three sets available: Cheddar Bay Biscuits (just like Red Lobster!), Sugar Cookies, and Pancakes. All recipes are sized to an appropriate amount for one cooking group, and all task card sets are prepared for a three-person kitchen (because you just know that somebody's going to be absent on cooking day!).

Also, I am beginning to upload my lab demonstration videos to YouTube, under the channel "facsclassroomideas." They all have close-up shots that focus on what I'm actually doing, so while you'll hear my melodic voice you won't see me, just a pair of disembodied hands :). Feel free to use in class or as inspiration for creating your own lab demo videos. Or if you're extremely bored one night, fill up a bowl of popcorn, kick back and... call someone! Watching my demo videos is no way to spend a free evening! : )))))

Small Talk with Kids I Don't Know

Anyone else ever experience this occupational hazard? Sometimes when I'm out in public, I just automatically talk to a kid that I've never seen before in my life and who has no idea who I am. And then he or she naturally gets a little weirded out.

It can't be just me, right? I'm used to making small talk with kids I see around school, even ones I don't know; after all, even if I have no idea who they are, they usually know who I am, or at least know that I'm a teacher. So that's okay. But apparently I don't know how to shut it off.

I first noticed this when I was in a Panera restroom near Madison, WI, waiting in line to wash my hands. A junior high aged girl was standing there also waiting, and she was all dressed up. I automatically said, "Wow, what a pretty dress!" And she then looked at me like I had a forked tongue or something. At which point I realized, right, I'm just a creepy stranger. Good job, Denise.

Last weekend I boarded a hotel elevator where there was a 6 or 7 year old girl who was holding what seemed to be a really cool looking balloon giraffe. So I asked, "Is that a giraffe?" She leaned into her mother a bit and looked up at her. Mom, thankfully, nodded at the girl, who then said yes. I told her it was a really awesome giraffe, then kept my mouth shut.

Awkward.

Sometimes this goes well, though. This past week my husband and I were waiting in line for a shuttle bus to take us from the JFK Library & Museum (truly awesome place - if you're ever in Boston, you simply must put this one on your to-do list!) back to the train station. What appeared to be the worst chaperoned group of teenagers in the history of summer field trips was running around the area, and when the shuttle arrived they all crammed around the door jockeying to be the first on. My teacher voice automatically kicked in, reminding them that they needed to wait for all of the people who were trying to get off the bus first. Like a charm they all backed off and started telling each other to stay out of the way of the people who were getting off the bus.

So maybe it's okay for me to boss around children I don't know in public, just not make small talk. I suppose more research needs to be done to answer this question.

Anyone else have any similar experiences?

No Names

Why I stopped accepting no-name papers during fourth quarter last year. This was from one week. One week.