Sioux Falls Area Teacher Swap Meet

Check out the SF Area Teacher Swap Meet Facebook page for more details as they post them!

Operation Spring Cleaning

As you wrap up the year and start to clean out drawers and cupboards, please keep these two things in mind.

1. For the first time, the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation is hosting a teacher swap meet next fall on Thursday, August 11th. If you have items you no longer need but another teacher may want, consider reserving a table at the swap meet. You can choose if you want to sell your items (you set your own prices) or trade for other items. See the details in the poster below.



2. If you don't wish to participate in the swap meet but are looking for a place to dump your no-longer-needed-treasures, please consider emailing me! I will help the treasures find new homes. (Because I have 1/2 a cubicle at IPC, I am unfortunately unable to accommodate really large treasures...) On the flip side, if you are looking for an item, you may also email me to see if I have it.

Starting the New Semester...

It feels so strange to me that today officially marks the end of first semester and that we will all be off and running with second semester starting Monday. This new calendar is messing with my semester transition schema! As you look ahead to Monday and the start of the new semester, here are a few transition pieces for your perusal.


In 5 Tips for a Successful Second Semester, a teacher reflects upon a challenge he received after completing his first year of teaching: "How do you plan to improve next semester?" He shares five tips that helped him respond to that challenge.

Looking for a new way to set or review classroom expectations? Hang poster paper on the walls, each with a question important to how the classroom functions. (Examples: What does _____ look like? What rules help a classroom function more effectively?) At the start of the semester, arm students with sticky notes and have them add their responses to the poster paper. (This activity could easily be tweaked to fit other pieces throughout the semester, too! And, adding movement to the class period can positively impact student engagement and learning.)

In 7 Mid-School Year Reminders on Finishing Strong, an administrator shares (you guessed it!) seven helpful reminders for getting the second semester off to a better start and finishing the year well.

Academic Passion Planner - 1/2 Price Today!

We live in a very technology-driven world, and I will readily admit that I am a digital girl, which led me to switch exclusively to a digital calendar four or five years ago. At the time, the transition was very painful. I loved my paper high school planner so much that I searched for it online and diligently ordered it each fall to use during college, grad school, and my first few years of teaching. But I made the switch. And I was happy. Or at least, happy-ish.

Recently, however, I have begun to miss that old paper planner.

I miss using my colorful, ultra-thin pens to color-code my schedule, even though I have been able to do a variation of this with my digital calendar. It just isn't the same.

I miss being able to flip through the weeks to glance back at the events that have passed.

I miss writing down my to-do list and the satisfaction that came with physically crossing-off a task. (I have been known to add a task after it has been completed, just so I could cross it off. Paper planner people...you with me on this one?)

And my bookshelf misses those volumes that were lost to the digital world. In many regards, my old, paper planners act as a journal for my years. And I miss that.

Enter the Passion Planner!

Today, I am going back to paper, and I'm ordering a Passion Planner! Why today? Because I've been waiting for them to go on sale, and for today only, the 2015-16 academic Passion Planners are 1/2 price. (Just FYI in case you want one or you know someone who might want one.​..)

Here are a few reasons why I'm giving Passion Planner a try as I switch back to paper:

1. Size: I can get either a full size or a compact size, and while I haven't quite decided which one I want, it looks like either choice will give me the room I need to record everything that I want to write.

2. Time Slots: The days have time slots. I like to have the hourly lay-out as opposed to a blank space for the day.

3. Hours: The hours start earlier and end later than other planners I have seen.

4. Daily Focus: The top of each day has a spot specifically reserved for the day's focus.

5. Weekly Focus: Each weekly spread has a weekly focus spot, too.

6. Celebrations: There is a special block of space to record the good things that happened that week. We can never celebrate the good stuff too much.

7. To-Do Lists: Yes. Lists. There are TWO weekly to-do lists: one for work and one for personal.

8. Me space: The bottom of the right-hand page of each week is empty. I can utilize it however I want.

9. Appearance: The binding and cover are much more professional looking than my old spiral-bound planner.

10. Smashability: I don't think that is a real word, but I'm going with it. I have seen many people use these planners as smash books. Check them out on the Passion Planner blog.

Lastly, they have a referral program. If you refer three people, you get a free one. As I am already purchasing one for myself, I'm looking to earn one (or two!) to give to a new teacher! I'd love to be able to gift a planner or two to a colleague. If you happen to purchase a Passion Planner after reading this post, I would be very grateful if you would please list me as your reference at check out. Please use this email address: margaret.dalton@k12.sd.us

Many thanks!