Hi there teacher friends! My name is Jill Bell and I was a classroom teacher for 20 years.
I have taught every grade K-4 but spent most of my years teaching Kindergarten and First Grade. I taught all 20 years at the same school in Northern Canada. My teaching career included alot of indoor recesses (-40 for weeks really does exist!) and time bundling up kiddos when we did get to go outside. If you have ever read the Robert Munsch book Thomas’ Snowsuit you know that isn’t always as easy as it sounds!
My daughters are teenagers now but just bundling these two up every time we went outside was hard enough work. Try a class of 25 kindergarteners!
Unfortunately for me all those hours being inside a classroom filled with small people who don’t always sneeze into their elbows (as much as I tried to remind them!) was not working for my health. Did you ever have a year where you seemed to catch every bug that went around the school and ended up with pneumonia? Well, that was my last 5 years of teaching…. I took antibiotics, saw specialists, took a year off, taught half-time, did ALL THE THINGS to try to stay in the classroom but I always ended up sick. It ends up I have a lung condition called bronchiectasis and every little cold (which are almost IMPOSSIBLE to avoid as teacher of little people) can easily turn into a lung infection.
Lucky for me there was something I enjoyed doing almost as much as being in the classroom. Creating resources! Even before TPT was a thing I was always making my own resources for my class. So I have traded the classroom for my home office where I spend my days making resources and sharing teaching ideas on my blog. My family has also made the move from the coldest city in Canada (yikes it officially was!) to one of the warmest areas in Canada, the sunny Okanagan in BC.
If I know anything after teaching for 20 years is that teachers are the BUSIEST people ever! I hope to share simple quick ideas that you can implement in your own classroom that make your teaching life a little easier.
