I know it’s only July but back to school is right around the corner! I am particularly excited about going back to teaching this fall because I took the last year off. I LOVED my time away from the classroom but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it. Taking the year off has made me realize how much I really do love it. However, like any job there are thing I don’t love about teaching… and that is packing my lunch! I try my best to pack a nourishing lunch the night before to ensure I am not rushing around in the morning in a panic to put something together. But, it never fails at least once a month I’m either too lazy, too busy, too tired, or I just forget and then I’m at school without a lunch. Because I typically do lunchroom supervision, I don’t have the option of going out to grab something so that is why I always have Pacific Foods Light Sodium Creamy Tomato Soup in my desk drawer. It is so delicious, nourishing and organic unlike a lot of pre packaged lunch options it isn’t loaded with sodium and additives. Even when you’re in a pinch you can feel good about your food when you choose Pacific Foods. They use time honoured recipes and simple ingredients, they’re certified organic and have no preservatives. Not only does Pacific Foods make nourishing your body top priority, they feel the same way about the environment implementing sustainable practices which you all know is important to me!

I will be the first to admit that in the past when I would get busy, especially at school, lunch would be the first thing that would be scratched off my list. Since last year I have taken a whole new look at my body and how important it is to make sure I am taking care of myself. Maintaining a balance in my work / personal life, eating foods that are packed with ingredients to fuel my body, and committing to self care are set in my goals as I enter back into teaching full time. Setting these goals means I need to have a plan for when life gets busy- here are some tips I am going to use to try and hold myself accountable:
• book my workouts for the week on Sunday evening. That way they are in my schedule and I am held accountable.
• Set aside 1 hour on Saturdays to meal prep for the week. Cooking big batches of my favourite recipes and then portioning them into lunch portions. My favourite is the Vegan Mediterranean Bowl. It’s even better the next day so it’s perfect for lunches!
• Spend Sundays doing the things that fill my heart and allows me to relax: spend time with family and friends, take a  yoga class, go for a walk or bike ride, bake, take a long bath, cook a healthy dinner, etc.
• Make sure my locker is filled with nutritious snacks and foods like Pacific Foods soups to keep my body fuelled even on the days I forget my lunch.
• Get to bed before 11pm on school nights.

 I’m curious, even when you’re busy, what do you do to make sure you are taking the time to nourish your mind, body, and soul?

Special thanks to Pacific Foods for sponsoring this post!

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Educational Activities That Require NO Tech

Start plants from seed. Observe, document and then enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Make cards for nurses, doctor, grocery store workers or anyone who can’t stay home.

Interview a family member.

Measure the area and perimeter of each room in your home.

Graph the types of birds that frequent your yard or windows.

Plan out a dream vacation.  Set a budget and have your kids plan it out all while sticking to the budget.

Be completely silent for 60 minutes, then write, paint, or talk about the experience.

Write and mail a [real] letter to your teacher or principal or classroom penpal.  Have your child address the letter themselves then walk and mail it.

Build a “fable fort” out of blankets and chairs. Camp in it all day while you create stories to tell your family over dinner.

Learn morse code and use it to communicate with your siblings through walls and floors.

Have them alphabetize the spices in your kitchen.

Stay up late and stargaze then write about what it would be like to live in space.

Call a grandparent or older relative. Ask them to teach your child the words to a song from their childhood days.

Using household materials, help your child build a working rain gauge, barometer, and wind vane.

Determine and chart the times that different liquids require to turn solid in the freezer.

Design and build puppets that perform a show about multiplication.

Teach them to crochet, knit, or even just sew on a button.

Play cards.

Construct a family tree.

Learn ten new big words. Write them in marker on your bathroom mirror. Once they’ve done that have them write a story on the mirror using ALL the new words.

Draw a map of your home.

Sit silently for 15 minutes while you write down every sound you hear. When you are done, classify the sounds (high/low pitch, high/low volume, manmade v. naturally occurring, etc.).

Create a Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts two people in your family, your neighbourhood, or your church, mosque, or temple.

Learn, practice, and perform a magic trick.

Learn, practice, and tell three new jokes.

Use household materials to make and play stringed, percussion, and wind instruments.

Learn to shine a pair of shoes.

Collect leaves from ten different (non-harmful) plants. Sort them by size, color, and texture.

Put your favourite book, toy, and keepsake on a small table in sunlight. Draw or paint a full colour still life.

Find, pick, and dissect a flower.

If you have stairs, walk up and count them. Walk down and count by twos. Walk up and count by threes. Continue through tens.

Determine the volumes of ten containers, them display them in order on your porch.

Write a poem on your sidewalk using chalk.

Classify twenty everyday objects by shape, size, colour, height, mass, and material.

Measure the length of your bed using five different nonstandard units.

Call a person who speaks a language you do not. Ask them to teach you five common words or phrases.

Create and use a secret code.

Using one type of paper (constant), build three different paper airplanes (independent variable) and test to see how far they fly (dependent variable).

Set a clock three hours and seven minutes ahead. Whenever someone needs to know the time, help them figure it out by subtracting.

Write down every adjective you say for one full day.

Learn three new jokes. Tell them to an aunt or uncle.

Design a map of every state ever visited by people in your family.

Write or tell a story titled “What if humans had to leave the Earth and no one remembered to turn off the last robot?”

Find ten rocks smaller than a dime.

Using paper, tape, and string, design, build, and test a device that warns you when someone opens the kitchen cabinet.

Imagine, create, and fly a full size flag that tells the world about you.

Build a castle out of items from your pantry.  Deconstruct and sort the shapes. Have them explain their sorting rule.

Build a ramp and send hot wheel cars down it.  Measure which car goes the farthest using string to compare.

Create patterns using Fruit Loops. Turn them into candy necklaces!

Practice Dolch Sight Words by building them out of play dough.

I hope this helps! I will continue to put together list, share ideas, and just try to support you all in any way possible! I hope you’re staying home if you can, staying healthy, and enjoying this extra time with those closest to you!

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Materials:

-watercolour paper – this is super important otherwise the art will just curl up.  You don’t need to buy expensive stuff.  I always buy the stuff from the kids section at Michaels and then use my 40% off coupon! I think I paid $12 for a package of 50 sheets the last time.
-paint – I just use the disk paints from our school
-brushes
-newspaper or any scrap paper to keep your surface clean
– painters tape
– a white crayon

PREP:
Tape the paper.  If you teach primary grades like I do, this is something you will need to do yourself before the students come.  If you teach older grades, I think they should be able to handle this step!

Step 1:

*optional but such a good way to start the lesson: Read the story Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

Step 2:

Students will take the white crayon and make the raindrops.  I encouraged my students to make their raindrops go all the same way as if the wind is blowing the raindrops.  I’m not going to lie, this was very hard for some of them because you can’t see the white crayons until after you start to paint.  Regardless, they all turned out beautiful!

Step 3:

Tell the students to try to stick to one or two colours for the sky.  I found if I let them get too crazy with the sky colours they just turned brown.  Also, remind them you want the rainbow to stand out so they will get to use ALL the colours then!  I gave them some colour combination ideas: blue & purple, yellow & orange, pink & purple, etc.

Next, students wet the paintbrush and mix it in the puck paint.  Remind students that they will need lots of water.  Typically, we tell them the opposite because we are usually using regular paper which will wreck if it gets too wet, but not today! Lots of water… this is watercolour painting!  I had to continually go around and remind them to keep their brush nice and wet.

It is important that students know to treat the paper as one piece.  I had many students wanting to paint each individual square.  I eventually told them to just ignore the green tape and to pretend that it wasn’t there encouraging them to make big long strokes horizontally / diagonally on the paper.

Step 4:
Let the pieces dry slightly. They don’t need to be 100% dry but just enough so that the colours from the background don’t mix with the rainbow colours. Have students paint the rainbows. Remind them to rinse their brush between each colour. This part is pretty straight forward. Just remind them that they are ignoring the taped lines and painting the rainbow right over top!


Step 5:
Let the pieces dry completely then slowly peel off the tape to reveal the masterpieces!!

*If you’re wanting to take this project a step further and add some literacy in, have you students write about their favourite rainy day activity!

VOILA!
Super easy and so pretty! I am constantly getting compliments on my bulletin board of them!
If you decide to try this with your class/ kiddos, please tag me so I can see their masterpieces

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