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.

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!

Perk Alert! Free Soup at Zoup!

If you teach in Sioux Falls, I hope you saw the email from our local Zoup! that they want to provide you a little "comfort in a bowl" to say Thank You for all you do! All you need to do for this perk is show your teacher ID at the 41st and Kiwanis location, and they will treat you to an 8 oz serving of soup and a hunk of bread.

Zoup!'s menu of soups changes daily; click on their logo above to view their website and online menu. They tend to offer some of the staple soups you would expect, plus a few more adventurous recipes. Whether you tend to eat low-fat, dairy-free, gluten-free, or vegetarian, my guess is that you will be able to find at least one soup that you could at least try for free. I checked today, and here is what I found on the menu:

• Beef Barley
• Chicken Wild Rice Medley
• Fire Roasted Tomato Bisque
• Frontier 7 Bean
• Italian Pasta and Vegetable
• Overstuffed Bell Pepper
• Pumpkin Pie Bisque
• Shrimp, Asparagus, and Dill
• North Indian Lentil
• Whole Grain Chicken and Dill
• Chicken Potpie
• Lobster Bisque

If I were going today, I think I'd be trying the Pumpkin Pie Bisque!

If you go, please remember to thank them for thanking us for doing what we love to do!