Parent-Teacher Conferences Survival Kit

Maybe it's working mommy guilt.......maybe it's because I can relate to what long days my kids' teachers are going through.....maybe it's because I wanted to get crafty :)  I think it was a little bit of all those things which inspired me to give my kids' teachers a Parent-Teacher Conference Survival Kit.  Conference time is one of the hardest weeks for a teacher.  Long days and lots of talking - dealing with unhappy parents and the happy ones! So I browsed the blogging world and came up with this:

I went and bought some little items that would fit in these tin buckets I had on hand (I am known to pick up random things in the dollar section at Target convinced I will find a use for them.  And see....I did!)  Candy, bandaids, breath mints, and Kleenex.

Then I typed up a little card with some cute reasons for why those things were in there - Bandaids for hurt parents, candy for some quick energy, etc. 

Put it all together with a little cellophane and ribbon and WAAALA!  Your very own Parent-Teacher Conference Survival Kit! 

Yes I am still alive......

Teaching + family activities + raising two kids = no time for blogging.  How do all these other amazing bloggers do it?? What is your secret?? I have dropped the ball big time and hope to pick it back up and get inspired by the holidays!

Fall is one of my favorite times of year to teach! But I am finding now a days it's VERY different from when I was little.  No more costume parades, Halloween is now a bad word, pumpkins are okay, just not with faces.  SOAP BOX MOMENT ALERT!!! I just don't get why this all has gone away in schools?!  It's in the stores, movies, all around the kids.  I'm not saying we devote an entire day to eating sugar and doing nothing.  There are so many fun EDUCATIONAL activites we can do!   What happened to using candy corn for artwork?  Making a jack-o-lantern with recycled materials?  All my wonderful October Idea books will have to continue collecting dust.

Off my soap box.....I must learn to "play in the sandbox nicely" as one of my wonderful teammates reminded me.  Now I am on a mission to find all kinds of fall activities to do that have nothing to do with Halloween.  So I am looking to you my wonderful blogging friends!  Please post your favorite fall activity you do in your class!  To get you started here's some I've found: