Weekly Inspiration :: Cheers!

When your birthday week is the same week as Saint Patrick's Day, and it's your 30th, AND you're in the Bahamas celebrating with your family... you do a lot of Cheers-ing! I hope your week is full of cheers (and green!) Stop by my other love to see what drinks we'll be mixing up this week!

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Weekly Inspiration - Nevertheless She Persisted

Totally feeling this rn.

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Why Use Essential Oils?

If you're like me, you see Essential Oils everywhere but don't want to spend the money or don't know enough about them to make the plunge. Well, I'm here to say - do it! I finally made the leap and I haven't looked back.

What are essential oils? Basically, the best way to think of it is when you see a rosemary plant (or any plant) you take the leaves and rub them between your fingers. That smell you get? That is the essential oil of the plant. 

Why use them? Well, you know how lavender is calming or how sucking on a peppermint can help your memory? Well take those ideas and. put them in oil form. There's an oil to help you conquer everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) and it's a great way to improve parts of your life that you didn't even know were lacking. You can diffuse the oils in a diffuser, rub them on your body with a carrier oil (like coconut oil), or spray them with a spray bottle. The choice is yours! 

I LOVE using oils in my diffuser. For example, I'll throw some Citronella in there whenever I don't want to slather on bug spray. My family and I are heading down to the Bahamas next week and you can bet I'll be packing my diffuser and diffusing Citronella every night while we sleep. (Shoo mosquitos!)

Essential Oils are great for helping you transition into a greener and healthier life. They are perfect for boosting that immune system, helping you breathe, or clearing out stinky smells in your home. I even add a drop of lemon or a drop of peppermint to my water, depending on how I'm feeling that day. Some oils are great at killing bacteria, some help wake you up, some help calm you down, and some ease your symptoms when you're not feeling well (hello ginger oil when I'm nauseous)! Whenever I feel a certain way, I'll just quickly google (or text my friend) to discover what oils will help me most. 

Where to start? Ready to check them out? Leave your e-mail in the comments below or e-mail me at AppleSlices4th@gmail.com. Also, be sure to stop by our Oily Teachers Facebook Group to learn more and see how other teachers are implementing oils in their classroom. I'm here to help you, so please let me know what questions you have, what you want to know about oils, or anything else you're curious about! I truly believe that these guys are powerful, and I want to share them with you! 

It Always Seems Impossible Weekly Inspiration

So true... I am a procrastinator to the max! But I've been trying really hard to stay on top of things lately. It always seems overwhelming, but if I just focus on finishing the task, it's over before I realize it!! Hope this weekly motivation helps you have a GREAT week :)

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Weekly Inspiration // You've Got This \\

Just sitting over here ready for Spring! I'm so excited to get back to sharing my Weekly Inspiration iPhone backgrounds with y'all! Snag this one to stay motivated this week and stop by the blog every Sunday for a new background!

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Treasure Hunt Math Game

As a teacher I was always on the hunt for the BEST math games! Math games are just the perfect way to practice the basic skills. And those basic skills are IMPORTANT. Treasure Hunt is one of my favorites because it's simple, cheap, and is so easy to differentiate. Watch the video for a quick "how to"!

The game featured in the video is all about practicing multiples of 1's, 2's, 3's, and 4's, but other games in my store work with higher multiples. (And there's more to come!!) This game increases fluency and comfort with multiples and makes multiplication and division so much easier!

Groundhog's Day Writing Freebie

With Groundhog's Day just a week away, I wanted to share a freebie I created! 

I love writing and I love teaching writing. They're truly passions of mine. Helping a kiddo write something they're excited about is one of the best feelings! My hope is that all students (and teachers!) find writing time to be fun and manageable. Nobody enjoys taking a writing test. Being forced to write something you don't care about? EW! But being able to write "on demand" is a skill that serves a viable purpose. We have to write on demand all the time! That e-mail sitting in your invoice waiting for you to respond? That's writing on demand! 

I firmly believe that a writing curriculum followed by a systematic on demand writing environment will vastly improve student's writing skills and writing enjoyment.

In this freebie, you'll find 1 passage and 1 writing prompt, relating to that passage! It's great for homework, small group work, or just extra practice during writer's workshop! Enjoy!