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We’re back for a #whatimplanningwednesday post! Search the hashtag on Instagram to see what other teachers are planning! Our classrooms are in full fall mode these days! Our new social studies unit is all about the first Thanksgiving. We started this unit focusing on TheVoyage on the Mayflower. Then we studied the Wampanoag tribe and their influence on the pilgrims. This week we’re studying life in Plymouth Colony . Because next week is a 3-day week, we’re planning a mini first Thanksgiving research activity , using our research booklet. Our pocketbooks are clear, systematic, and follow the same routine each week which ensures success for our students! Not only are our students in routine, but so are we. The pocketbooks are easy to assemble and are able to be completely modified, if needed. Both Double Dose teachers work in self-contained classrooms and our aides are always commenting about how much they learn, too! We’ve also been planning some fun fall math craftiviti...

We never knew we would be so happy to see a Monday! We’re hitting the reset button today because last week made us thankful that Halloween happens only once a year! And it was on a Monday?! Come. On! Talk about a “thrown-off” week we had! Today we’re sharing some tips on how to refocus in the classroom after a stressful week. One Spending time with your family. Each of the Double Dose ladies love spending time with their families and love to fill the weekends with family events. Some of our favorite winter events include picking out and decorating our Christmas trees, driving around to look at holiday decorations, snuggling up with our kiddos to watch Christmas movies, and baking cookies with our moms. Teachers live, breathe, and sleep education all days of our lives so it’s necessary to spend time with your loved ones and refocus! Two Setting a goal. Us special educators are all about setting clear, achievable goals and finding ways to help our students meet them. That practice should...

As you know, the Double Dose teachers both work in special education in the same school, and have gone through many tricky situations involving behavior management. We’re here to provide you with some interesting scenarios (and very likely!) situations that you may encounter as a special educator, and tips to get through it!         1.   Humor . I always tell my paraprofessionals, that “if you don ’ t laugh about it, you’re going to cry”. Take a deep breath, try not to go into cardiac arrest.  Step out of the room for a quick second to regroup if you can.        Like the time I was notified that my student was just dropped off to school, but was outside in a tree and wouldn’t come down. Or, like the time when a student dumped my entire library of 300 leveled books upside down 5 minutes before dismissal. Don’t stress about things that you cannot control …it will burn you out and take the joy out of what you do instead of allowing you to a...

It’s Friday! Congrats to all the teachers out there who made it through another 5-day week! Our school has been having some 4-day weeks and long weekends lately so getting back into our teacher routine has filled our time. We’re linking up with Erika , Narci , and Andrea again for Friday Favorites. We just love this linky party! One Our first favorite this week is fall scarves. We just love how it dresses up our outfits, looks fashionable for daytime to going out, and just feels so cozy. This week the weather in Buffalo has been cold and rainy…luckily we each wore some big, comfy scarves this week to keep us warm! Two Gold. Glitter. Yes, just two simple words make our hearts melt. Actually those words make our hearts explode with gold glitter J Earlier this week we posted this photo to our Instagram page. The picture just sums up so much about us! Three We finally had time to put up our bulletin board for our election unit and the end result makes us so proud! Our students have been w...

Ahh, Friday. We meet again…and that’s something we’re not mad about! Recently we joined a linky party and loved it! This Friday we’re doing another linky party with Doodle Bugs Teaching . It’s Five for Friday! We’re posting five random things about our classrooms this week! This isn’t completely random but we can’t believe it’s already mid-October! The beginning of the school year is always so overwhelming, so busy, so chaotic, yet such a magical time we get to know all of our students :)  We’ve had pumpkins and Halloween on our mind lately and we’re looking forward to all the other fun events coming up this time of the year. After thinking about how fast this year is already flying by, we realized how fast time flew by since we became teacher besties! Stephanie is in the middle of her 6 th year teaching and Kelly is in the middle of her 10 th year teaching. We may feel like the days are long (sometimes) but the weeks and years just fly by!  In one of our very first posts we...