How Is It The Weekend Already?!

Remember last week when I said I’d share a new free resource a week? I blinked and like magic, it’s Saturday. This week really snuck up on me.

Just as it has for a lot of people.

Everywhere, people are waking up to a new reality, a new normal. It’s not just our house, our city, our state, or even our country. It’s happening globally.

The world has shifted.

And so have our priorities (like the panic need to hoard TP), our schedules (like suddenly juggling working from home with life as an at-home parent), and our social lives (did I really just make a double date to play charades over video conference?!).

So before I get to my free resource (because yes, I still feel it’s important to pass those along), I wanted to let you in on a little secret. Not just about me, and my school, but with schools and teachers globally.

I saw a meme years ago, but it has since surfaced again with an eerie truth to it. And while I can’t remember the exact words, the phrase goes something like this. “Do you know the occupation best suited for surviving the apocalypse? Teachers. Because they can survive with little to no supplies.”

How true is that??

Principals and teachers globally were thrown the biggest curve when schools closed, cities and countries went on lockdown, and still… education happened.

You see, these tired, already-at-their-limit teachers and principals, aides and guidance counselors, cafeteria workers and janitors, stormed onto online learning platforms in force. They organized lessons online and meal distributions for children in need, and sanitized schools so when children returned they would once again find a safe environment to learn and grow.

But here’s the secret… it’s not just teachers and schools.

It’s everyone.

It’s doctors and nurses, grocery store cashiers and stock clerks, truck drivers and farmers. It’s the single mom, now working from home, teaching her child fractions in between conference calls. It’s the family of five sharing one computer to work and to learn and to communicate. It’s the restaurant workers, and those working in the entertainment industry who have been laid off or furloughed.

We are all making sacrifices. We are all working a little harder. And hopefully, we are all washing our hands a little more.

So, as I’m sitting here, sipping my (still hot!) cup of coffee, trying not to make eye contact with the mountain of work leering at me from over the top of my laptop screen, I’m happy to ignore it a little longer in favor of contributing to that sense of community.

And while, no, I don’t think my free resources will save lives, but perhaps they will buy a teacher a moment of peace, or a working dad fifteen minutes of silence during his next video chat. They will not move mountains, but for someone, I hope they will make the journey uphill a step lighter.

Parts of the Flower Flip Book

I designed this project years ago during the first few months of my online business. I had my Baby Girl in mind. While she was only a tiny bundle of giggles at that time, I found myself thinking about her future teachers a lot.

And so, this project was born.

I wanted something quick and easy, a project teachers could print and copy and not worry about extra setup or buying more crafting supplies for their class (they already spend enough of their own money on that).

As I was modifying and modernizing it this weekend, I printed out the final copy to photograph. The project was in pieces on my dining room table/new office when Baby Girl came running inside. She stopped in her tracks as she saw it…

…and began to work on it.

So I’m calling this a success. 😂

This flip book has 9 cut out pages, and each page has a picture and a short sentence about the function of the part of the flower. Students can cut apart the pages (Yay for fine motor skills and scissor practice!), or teachers can do it for them (but let’s be honest… for a large class, that can be time consuming). As a teacher, I’ve done it both ways and the students were equally pleased with their final production.

This project works well with students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade, but can be adapted for older or younger kids with a little help from the teacher.

Download your free copy here!