Apple Slices Website

If you haven't had the chance, make sure you head on over to the new home of Apple Slices! The blog,  shop, and anything you need is there! Thanks for supporting me and following along on this adventure!

Cheers!

Free Saint Partick's Day Printable

Save this image to your computer, print, and frame! Enjoy all weekend :)

In our house, it's all about the green! I love to hang on to every second of any holiday, so I typically spread Saint Patties into a weekend event. This year is no exxception! Thanks to Flash Bash, we'll be toasting at happy hour with these sweet champagne sippers and starting the morning right with this delish Vegan Irish Coffee! And don't forget the Saint Patties Print (above)!! It's perfect for adding to your bar cart or a sweet touch framed in your entryway.  I'd love to know how you celebrate! Share in the comments below :)

 

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. Irish Whiskey
• 1 tsp. Brown sugar
• Hot coffee
• 1 can of full fat coconut milk (Thai Kitchen works well)
• ½ cup of powdered sugar
• ½ tsp. Vanilla extract

Directions:

• Place the can of coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 8 hours)
• Chill a glass bowl in the fridge 10 minutes before removing coconut milk from fridge
• Remove the can from the fridge and try not to wiggle it much prior to opening
• Open the can. Scrape out the thickened cream and leave the coconut water behind (You can use it in a smoothie later!)
• Place your thickened cream in your chilled glass bowl and beat with a whisk for 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy.
• Slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl, until your whipped cream is smooth.
• Brew your coffee and set aside
• In your coffee mug, stir together brown sugar and irish whiskey until blended
• Pour coffee over the sugar and whiskey and then slowly pour in fresh whipped cream. (At the risk of sounding ridiculous, take a Boomerang video of the pouring process - trust us, it's pretty.) 
• Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

• 1 bottle of champagne 
• 1 small seedless cucumber, sliced 
• 4 oz. sweetened lime juice OR fresh lime juice 
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, sliced  
• 4 oz warm water 
• Mint leaves and cucumber slices for garnish 

Directions: 

• Rinse and slice the cucumber and place it in a medium-sized bowl.  
• To julienne the mint leaves, rinse and dry the leaves, then stack them on top of each other. Starting from a short end, tightly roll the leaves into a round shape. Using a sharp knife, thinly slice the leaves and add them to the bowl with the cucumber. 
• Muddle the cucumber, lime juice, water, and mint leaves. Place in fridge to cool up to 12 hours. Tip - for a crisp and tart drink, sub the sweetened lime juice with fresh-squeezed lime juice. 
• When ready to serve, add an ounce of the muddled mint mixture to the bottom of the glass. Top off with champagne. 
• Garnish with fresh mint and cucumber.

You can find both recipes and MORE, via the Flash Bash blog!
Cheers!

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!

Friday the 13th Debate {Writing Lesson}

Writing teachers!

I love using debates to create stronger writers.

My hope is that all students (and teachers!) will find debates a great way to practice speaking their mind. By figuring out how to express opinions out loud, students will become better opinion and argument writers! (The amazing Lucy taught me all about it... she's seriously the writing God.)

Writing time should always be fun and manageable. Nobody enjoys taking a writing test, but being able to write “on demand” is a skill that serves a viable purpose. I firmly believe that a strong writing curriculum and systematic on demand writing environment will vastly improve student’s writing skills and writing enjoyment – and debates are a huge part of that!

In this lesson, you will find a lesson plan for you, materials to support your students and an article for your students to read. And it's FREE!

$60 to TpT Giveaway!

Want to win $60 to TpT!? I won a $10 gift card on TpT to share... and I thought to myself, $10 is never enough.  So I added $50 of my own just to make it an extra delicious offer. Want to enter? Go for it, below!

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So Fresh and So Clean, Clean Free Printable

Super random, BUT, I've wanted something small to hang in my laundry room forever. I saw a few images similar to this but nothing I really loved so I created this fun little guy! I can't wait to hang him up on the wall! Since I spent the time creating him, I figured I had to share him with y'all! So grab it for free --> HERE! 

Summer Phone Background

Most of us are still enjoying the summer fun! No need to count down how many days remain... enjoy the summer sun, go for a swim, and hang out in the sunshine.

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Motherly Inspiration

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommas out there! I hope you're enjoying your day. Moms are just the BEST :)

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Teacher Gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week and that means it's the perfect time for some bragging and loving on one another, right? #amen

One of my favorite gifts to receive (and give!) is a bottle of wine. One- I love wine! Red, white, I'll drink it! Two- It has so many purposes and can typically be used immediately! Wine will never go bad (or missing) in my house!!

That being said, I decided to create some wine labels for all the amazing teachers out there! Who doesn't love wine that says "You're just awesome" on it? Or "Thank You!" It makes the wine that much sweeter.

Be sure to check them out. Once you purchase them, you have them forever and can share them with all your teacher friends. And if you buy them today or tomorrow, you can grab them for 28% off! Just be sure to use the code CELEBRATE!

Cheers!

FINAL Currently!

I cannot believe this is Farley's LAST Currently! I obvi had to participate... so here we go!

 Thanks so much for stopping by! I am so sad to see this "teacher blogging staple" go... but cheers to an exciting future for Farley and her sweet little blog!

Weekly Inspiration // FREE iPhone Wallpaper

Happy May! We know how the end of year can be crazy! Don't give up on your kiddos. Just like us, they're still learning!

Save this image to your phone and set it as your phone wallpaper!

How to Completely Transform Your Teaching

The other day I was speaking with a teacher friend and she shared some amazing advice with me. I knew this was way too important to keep to myself... so I decided to share!

She was talking with a professor who asked her, "Would a surgeon continue the same practices year after year, even if a new technique or strategy was discovered?" Then she turned it to us. "Should teachers continue the same practices year after year, even if a new technique or strategy is discovered?" I think the answer is obvious. We don't want teachers that never change how they teach! But many argue {including me!} it's impossible to be an effective teacher when you're also changing your teaching practice every year. Getting into the "groove" and perfecting your organizational system takes time and is an important part of being a productive teacher. After your first 3-5 years, teachers tend to get into a routine and many refuse to change their practice. Or some change it every year. Neither option is going to bode well when it comes to long term teaching.

But then, an interesting idea was brought up. We teachers can't do everything every year. But we CAN make small changes. What if teachers chose one topic to focus on every year. One subject to overhaul through research and application in their classroom? It may not make much difference at first, but can you imagine 10 years later? Your teaching would never grow stale or boring because it would be changing 10% every year. In 10 years, 100% of your teaching style will have changed. And with very little stress or effort on your part.

Obviously each class will be different, so you'll have to make adjustments for that, and you'll have your school wide studies that will change and impact your teaching. But I really believe that by choosing a focus each year - you will be able to simply and continually be an effective educator.

Have you done anything like this before? Do you believe this could make a difference? Please share your thoughts in the comments! I would love to know what you think!

Life with a Co Teacher // GIVEAWAY!

Martina Cahill, from The Hungry Teacher, and I met nearly four years ago... but I feel as if we've known each other for a life time! The first day we met, she stopped by the school so we could meet each other. My principal was like, "Hey! You're getting a student teacher next year." And my jaw dropped because this was the first I had heard of it. But a teacher does whatever their principal tells them to, so I introduced her to our class (I was looping up with them) and she sat with our sweet Stewart and listened to him read to her for like an hour. It was really only 5 minutes in all actuality. But Stewart was not an easy student and so when she survived 5 minutes,  I knew she was a keeper.

Little did I know how life changing having her as a student teacher would be. First of all - I had only been in the classroom for 2 years before she came and taught with me. Ummmmm - do you know any 2nd year teacher that has their shit together? I'm sure there are some... but I was far from one of them. But having Martina in my classroom made me explain and justify every little thing we did. Why do I do word study like that? Welllllll.... {and into my hour long explanation I would go}. Working with Martina challenged me to think and explain more than I ever had as a teacher and I became a much stronger teacher because of it.

Typical day

I am also one of the most unorganized teachers known to mankind. Piles ontop of piles. Always. Martina changed this. She is uber organized and when she wasn't sure what to do, she would start going through my piles, my binders, and our books, and organize the crud out of our classroom. It was magical. {ANY FUTURE STUDENT TEACHERS, TAKE NOTE!} And I don't think I've ever felt so calm in the classroom {Acts of Service is totally my Love Language}.

Martina isn't just amazing for her organizational skills though. She also is a bombdiggity teacher. Seriously. Just take a look at her blog, or Instagram, and you'll know this in a heart beat. Her love for teaching is contagious... and I think my favorite thing about her is that she's not afraid to laugh at herself, or her students, when something is really funny. I think that her ability to be human while teaching is one of the reasons students and I love her so dang much. She is never once in a bad mood {it's impressive} and she loves and works harder than so many teachers. She's one of the good ones.

So please take a second to stop by her blog and enter her amaaaazing giveaway! Seriously. It's ridiculously bombdiggity and includes ALLLLLL of my favorite items!!

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me brag about one of my faves!
What experiences have you all had with co teachers and student teachers? Please share in the comments!

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