Hard at Work & Self-Care

October is one of the toughest months of teaching.  March often gets the attention for being tough - and I won't lie, it is.  But October is often overlooked for how difficult it can be.  The honeymoon is over with the kids and there is a while before the well-deserved breaks start happening.  Now that we're into November, breaks occur more often. 

With Thanksgiving around the corner, there's more rest built into the weeks to come as we close out the calendar year.  These breaks are important.  Of course you love your students, but we need time apart from them too.  If you're a new teacher, late-October and early-November can surprise you with how tired you are, but it shouldn't, because you are hard at work.  

And so are we.  We are busy working to get ready for the 2019 New Teachers Retreat.  As our Board gets together, looking forward to the year ahead, I wanted to share some self-care resources that will help others as the year continues to ramp up. 

Smiling Mind - www.smilingmind.com.au - Australian guided meditation website.  There are loads of recordings that are geared for people of all ages and grouped by age groups so that their meditation for 7 year olds is different than for 17 year olds or 30 year olds.

Go Noodle - www.gonoodle.com - Great for brain breaks in class, particularly aimed at elementary school and younger middle school kids.

Headspace www.headspace.com - Guided meditation app/site that is great for kids and adults - $ app, but well worth it to hear Andy’s smooth voice.

Mind Yeti www.mindyeti.com - Another great meditation app/site  for kids.

EDIT TO ADD:
Relax Like a Boss https://relaxlikeaboss.com/the-art-of-mindfulness/ - A collection of blogs about relaxation, mindfulness, and meditation. Free!

Extra bonus - you can use these with your kids too!  Which is great, because as the holidays get closer, many of our kids get really antsy.  Between the excitement, candy, and, unfortunately, for some of them, the anxiety of the holidays, they will really benefit from some mindfulness as well. 

Enjoy!
​Ali

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