How I Like To Dress For Work
Lyndsey here, posting for my Mom today and talking about clothes! Mainly because I'm drooling over the idea of new fall clothes--because is there anything better than fall layers when it comes to clothes? One of the great things about teaching young children is that there is a lot of room to express yourself and create your own personal style in how you dress for work. It's fun to see how everyone interprets "professional dress" in their own classroom. If you are just getting started teaching, here are some general guidelines to help you get started in putting your wardrobe together:
- When you're shopping, look for sales and teacher discounts, most stores offer them.
- Buy stuff off season. I fill my online shopping cart and then bide my time until the end of the season when everything is on sale.
- Lately I've been trying an online thrift store called Thred Up to find inexpensive clothing. They'll send you a bag that you can fill with the clothes you don't wear anymore and send them in for store credit. Then you can search the online store for used clothing at a huge discount (my last order was 86% off retail). I've been happy with this store so far, the only downside was it took a loooong time for them to apply the store credit after I sent my bag in. If you want to try Thred Up, you can use this referral link for $10 off.
- Invest in the stuff that matters to you. I've found that my slacks are usually the part of my wardrobe that ends up with tempura paint and glue on it, but my tops stay fairly untouched. So I usually buy cheap pants that I know will probably fall apart at the end of the year, and spend my money on blouses or dresses that I can use from year to year.
- When you try things on bend down, kneel, and lean over. Try to think of all the odd positions you'll be in while teaching and try them out. Make sure you're still comfortable in those positions.
- Think about your shoes. Some of my friends have taught in heels with a cushion insert and been just fine, but that would kill my feet since teachers don't tend to sit down a lot. You should also take into consideration that many schools require closed toed shoes.
- Try to be professional, whatever your personal definition of that is. Dressing professionally presents you as such to those around you.
You can always go the Ms. Frizzle route.
This is totally my style. These dresses are all from ModCloth, which is my favorite store at the moment. This January, I taught in a dress covered in snowflakes, white tights, and boots, that I purchased from them, because you can totally wear your theme without looking like a bed sheet! I would love to enter the classroom at the beginning of each thematic unit with a Ms. Frizzle style clue on my clothing! The following fun pictures are affiliate links.
Teaching about the skeletal system?
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
This Thematic Unit stars skeletons!
The Skeletal System is intriguing to learners of all ages, and Halloween is a great time to strengthen science knowledge of the human skeleton with a little bit of haunted fun! However, this unit is intended to be used anytime during the year to teach about human skeletons.
All activities have clearly defined objectives and are strategically linked to core standards.
Activities include:
Literacy Activities
Six Swinging Skeletons: Naming and Generating Beginning Sounds
Black and White Party: Naming Opposites
Skeleton Dance: Matching Letters
Skeleton Town: Uppercase Alphabetical Order
Skeleton March: Identifying and Writing Alphabet Letters
Math Activities:
Skeleton Match-Up: Matching Quantity With Numbers
The Bone Yard: Counting Backwards
Skeleton Squeeze: Greater Than/Less Than
Collecting Bones: Counting and Cardinality
Skeleton Family: Writing Numbers
Songs
The Skeleton March
The Ghost of John
Bones: Metacognition Activity
Art Projects
Skeleton Construct
Science
Q-Tip Skeletons: Following directions to make a skeleton.
The Human Skeleton
Guided Reading Books
Skeleton
The Skeleton
Writing Prompts
What I Know About Skeletons
Skeleton Word Wall Words (Realistic Photos)
Label-It Skeleton
Haunting: A Free Alphabet Game
Maybe you have a fun fall unit planned?
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
This Harvest unit; pumpkins, potatoes, corn, apples and more is classroom tested. The Harvest Unit is divided into areas of literature, media, music, art, literacy activities, math activities, worksheets, science activities, creative writing, word wall words, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Literacy Activities:
Pumpkin Rhymes: Producing Rhyming Words
Harvesting Spuds: Identifying Uppercase Letters
Harvest ABC Train: Letter Identification
The Country Store: Clapping Syllables
Pumpkin Letters: Writing Alphabet Letters
Math Activities:
Ordering Baskets: Ordering objects from least to greatest.
Harvest Sorting: Sorting potatoes or apples into groups
Harvest Balancing: Experimenting with a balance
Number Bingo: Identifying the numbers 0-12
Patterns Worksheet
Writing Prompts/Word Wall
Label-It: Pumpkin
Pumpkins
Photo Harvest Word Wall Words
Guided Reading Books
The Pumpkin
Science
Pumpkin Report: Recording Observations
Art Projects
Potato People
Potato Truck Portfolio Page
Construct Pumpkin
Pumpkin Puppet
Songs
One Potato
I Like Potatoes
The Pumpkin Patch
Poof
Related Products
Apple and Pumpkin Themed Guided Readers
Apple Experiment Science Guided Reader
Eating Apples Free Beginning Sound Game
Maybe you'll be learning about the solar system.
Product Description
This Space unit is strategically linked to academic core standards. And will take your students on an adventure, Out in Space! This Space unit is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, worksheets, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Table of Contents
Literacy Lessons
Moon Walk: Blending and Segmenting Words
Moon Walk: Reading and Segmenting CVC Words
Zoom to the Moon: Alphabet Fluency (Or Sight Word Fluency)
Star Light Star Bright: Reading Sight Words (Or Identifying Alphabet Letters)
Asteroid Belt: Fluently Naming Alphabet Letter Sounds
Planet Race: Fluently Naming Alphabet Letters
The Milky Way: Blending Phonemes
Shared Reading Whole Group Activities:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: Sorting Words by Initial Sound
Independent Activities
A Trip to the Planets: Writing CVC Words
Math Lessons With Independent Options:
A Trip to the Stars: Adding to and Taking Away
Deep Space Ten: Counting by Tens
Blast Off: Addition
Energize: Solving Word Problems
Space Rocks: Matching Quantity to Number
Independent Activities
Planet Discovery: Writing Numbers
Space Addition
Star Math
Star Dot to Dot: Ordering Numbers 1-36
Guided Reading Books
To Space
Science
Creating a Space Science Center
Writing
Word Wall
My Rocket Ship
Out in Space
Art Projects
The Solar System: Construct Project
Tangram Rockets: Using Geometric Shapes
Make a Planet: Coffee Filter Art
Comet, Moon, & Sun: Mixing Paint
Songs/Fingerplays
I'm a Little Astronaut
The Planets
Blast off to Mars
Ten Astronauts
Or maybe you would like to discuss the ocean?
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
This Ocean Thematic unit is clearly linked to common core standards.
The Ocean Unit, is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, worksheets, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Table of Contents:
Literacy Activities
The Hungry Sharks: Decoding Words
Ocean Sounds: Blending and Segmenting Words
The Fishing Race: Naming Alphabet Letters Fluently
Diving For Digraphs: Matching Beginning Sounds to Digraphs
Fish Bowl: Reading Sight Words
It Sounds Like: Reading Like Words
Color the Ocean: Reading Color Words
Oceans of Letters: Tracing Upper and Lowercase Letters A-Z
Math Activities
The Diver: Counting Forward From a Given Number
Ocean Graphing: Graphing Objects
Sinking Ships: Counting and Matching Quantity
Fish Numbers: Writing Sequential Numbers
Number Trace: Tracing Numbers 1-50
Fishing For Numbers: Identify and Writing Numbers 0-20
Catch & Release: Identifying and Writing Teen Numbers
Songs/Fingerplays
My Bonnie
The Octopus
Five Little Fishes
Art Projects
A School of Fish
Rainbow Fish: Portfolio Sample
Jellyfish
Science
Wave Bottle: Mixing Ingredients
Guided Reading Books
At the Bottom of the Ocean
Writing
Ocean Word Wall
The Deep Blue Sea
If I Met a Shark
Ocean Independent Writing Activities
Perhaps you'll be teaching about the distant past.
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
This Thematic Unit Dinosaurs, is strategically linked to academic Core Standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, worksheets, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Your classroom or homeschool students will love to learn more about Dinosaurs using this play-based cross-curricular ideas.
Songs/Fingerplays
Stegosaurus
A Paleontologist
ROAR
Five Enormous Dinosaurs
Art Projects
Dinosaur Mosaic: A Cooperative Activity
Paleontologist: Using Geometric Shapes
Dinosaur Hat
Dino Rider
Writing
Dinosaur Word Wall
Writing Prompts:About Dinosaurs, If I Were a Paleontologist
Writing Activities: List, How To, Label It
Science
Dinosaur Facts & Information
Stegosaurus Skeleton: Tactile Science
Dinosaur Dig
Guided Reading Books
When Dinosaurs Lived
Class Made Books
Our Dinosaurs
Math Lessons
Dino Diner: Composing Numbers 10-20
Dino Land: Identifying Numbers
Dinosaur Addition: Solving Addition Problems
Dinosaur Park: Counting Objects & Recording Numbers
Independent Activities
Dinosaur 10's
Dinosaur Hunter
Literacy Lessons
Dinosaur Desert: Fluently Naming Alphabet Letter Sounds
Dino Detour: Fluently Naming Letter Sounds (Or Sight Words)
Dinosaur Lunch: Reading Simple Sentences
Dinosaur Sounds: Writing Alphabet Representation of Sounds
Dinosaur Takeover: Decoding Words
Independent Activities
Dinosaur Eggs: Writing Simple Words
Dinosaur ABC: Alphabetical Order
Dino Blends: Identifying Graphophonemic Representation of Blends
You might be thinking that skirts/dresses in an early childhood classroom aren't a good idea--and I've had coworkers that definitely agree with you and steer clear. However, I've found that skirts/dresses can be extremely comfortable as a teacher and if you're worried about modesty and mobility around little ones you can always throw on some leggings, tights, or an extender slip underneath. Of course, the Miss Frizzle look might not be your style, in that case, maybe you'd like to try something else...
Maybe You'd Like To Show Off Your Bookwormish Nature?
If you teach elementary school then you love picture books. We teachers may be a diverse group, but a love of children's literature is an undeniable constant. So why not proclaim your love of literature to the world? Out of Print Clothing sells T shirts with classic book covers on the front. They sent me a few of my favorite children's books to try and I LOVE them! Side note, if you decide to get a tee, order up! I'm wearing a women's Large.
"But I can't wear a T shirt to work and still look professional!" you say. Ah hah! I wouldn't suggest wearing a T shirt with an old pair of jeans, but what about a nice looking literacy tee accompanied by the awesome power of a cardigan, blazer, skirt, and/or slacks? Tah dah! Professional (and fun) T shirt!
I'd love to know how you express yourself in your clothing choices and if you have any great secrets for putting together your wardrobe (I've heard that Old Navy has the perfect teaching pants, but I haven't figured out which ones they are yet). If you have any great suggestions, please share on Facebook!