Happy Almost New Year! This week we are reposting a timely blog post from last year: Forget the New Year's Resolution; Try a Teaching Intention. I believe that if you are looking to inspire your teaching practice that this is a helpful approach. This year my intention is to teach each and every second with empathy. Life is so complicated; and every interaction with kids and our community counts. I want each child to know that I see them as an individual, with their own story and their own set of circumstances.

So what will be your teaching intention for 2018? Read the post, share, and let us know what your teacher intention is. We'd love to hear from you!

.This week we are focusing on party planning, especially for elementary classrooms. Maybe that's because both of us are in the midst of planning/helping with our own children's winter parties. We know that sometimes teachers are the planners and sometimes parents are the planners; sometimes it's very much a joint effort. We wanted to give everyone a list of party ideas for different seasons in the hopes that it can be a resource for future planning or spark ideas.  We have collected these ideas from years of attending and helping with kid parties, and in conversation with other educators. We'd love to grow this list, so if you have an idea to share please post it in the comments.