I know, I know…it’s July. And the unwritten rule among teachers is that there is absolutely NO school talk during the month of July. And yet, even with a curious and rambunctious 4-year-old and a 1-year-old who recently learned the power of a stool (Wait – I can pick this thing up and move it to climb onto anything I want?!), I find school thoughts creeping into my mind.

Part of this reminds me of the shower effect. This phenomenon suggests that some of our best ideas come when we’re in the shower. Why? Because we are prohibited from taking notes and thus censoring our thoughts in any way, and we have nothing else to do but think and let our mind wander. In July, while the sun is blazing down and drying up spilled bubbles in a matter of seconds, I find school thoughts floating through my mind like a lazy river. Without the pressure of report cards or parents or administrators or curriculum benchmarks, the thoughts are free to meander and bob up and down. Therefore, while I hate the thought of giving up my one free month to school, I secretly relish the creativity that is sparked during this downtime.

One thought that came to mind was how far behind I got on this blog. Last year was my first year back after the birth of my second son, and my district’s final year in four different buildings before merging into one elementary building. Therefore, the year was filled with pumping, meetings, weaning, meetings, tears, meetings, and just getting by.

But now, I feel confident, rejuvenated and ready to share all of the fun and creative ideas that I tried this past year. My hope is that you can use these as inspiration to jumpstart your own creativity! So thank you for being a follower of this blog, and get ready for more out-of-the-box ideas for inside your classroom.

Happy Summer!