Author: McKenzie Ross

I'm just a mom with a teaching license, raising my kids, and writing for this blog! Someday I hope to be back teaching when they are older, but for now, I'm here and loving it!
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Questions To Ask At Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-teacher conferences can be an overwhelming time for parents. What do I need to be prepared for? What will my child’s teacher say about them? And one of the most daunting questions- what questions do I ask? Here is a list of thought-provoking questions you can bring to parent-teacher conferences with you to get the most out of your experience. 

How is his/her/their social development? 

Are there any concerns I should have? 

What can I do to support my child’s academics at home? 

What can I do to support you as my child’s teacher? 

Is your classroom in need of any school supplies? 

What is something my child did really well this week/month? 

What type of workload can we expect from this class moving forward? 

What strengths and weaknesses does my child have in your classroom? 

And then of course questions specifically for you:

What is the best way to get in contact with you if I need anything? 

Can I talk to you about this concern I have? 

Do you know about this situation my son/daughter has going on at home?  

Is there anything else going on in the classroom that I need to know about?

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Fall and Halloween Themed Crafts and Activities For All Ages

fall school activities for all ages

Being a teacher during Halloween is a whole new ball game, especially if you’re teaching in an elementary setting. If you’re needing crafts and activities to get you through these next few weeks before the big day, here’s a quick list of some, with all different age ranges, difficulties, and times. 

Our personal favorite, but one that can take a lot of time and work, is a giant tape-resistant spider web art. It can be a great individual activity on a smaller scale or a few bigger, collaborative pieces for the whole class. This activity originates from Busy Toddler. 

There’s always your classic bowling with pumpkins activity. The pins can be anything from plastic pins found online or two-liter recycled bottles. As long as a small pumpkin is being used to knock them over, that’s all that matters! 

Investigating pumpkins is always a great activity as well. This can be as open-ended or guided as needed for your class, but opening, discovering, touching, squishing, sorting, and smelling each part of a pumpkin can be such a great hands-on activity. 

A good old-fashioned vinegar and baking soda reaction with a touch of green or purple food coloring can make a great witches brew. 

A great Halloween craft to talk about and learn more about anatomy is making a skeleton out of q-tips. 

photo from mombrite.com

Simple seek n find or color pages are easy to download (legally!) and use this time of the year. 

For the younger kids, washing pumpkins is a great sensory activity. 

To see a great list of Halloween/Fall-themed books, head here. 

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A Peek Into The Alpha Phi Scholarship Foundation

alpha phi scholarship program spotlight

Not only is Alpha Phi an incredible organization for the service and leadership they provide, but they also offer scholarships for academics. The stories that come from the students receiving the scholarships are incredibly moving and absolutely worth noting. They have been offering them since 1959 and continue to do so today. 

Alpha Phi is aware of the rising costs of higher education and wants to assist its members with funding it as much as possible. 

“Samantha Bliss Mullin (Theta Tau–Rensselaer) shared that although she “knew it was a good decision to get a graduate degree, the reality of the cost of education was pretty daunting.” Now able to focus on her graduate research and worry less about her financial obligations with the help of a Alpha Phi Foundation scholarship in 2017, Samantha went on to finish graduate degree on an accelerated track.”

-Alex Goodman alphaphifoundation.org

They are able to fund these scholarships through generous donations, mostly from the alumni of Alpha Phi. You can read more of Alex’s story highlighting their scholarship program on their website.

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An Update on Our 2019 Scholarship Winner: Anthony Neil Tan

We reached out to Anthony Neil Tan this spring for an update on his Maker Hub Club and where they are today. He did such a great job highlighting their accomplishments that I will let you read it directly from him, instead of paraphrasing it for you! You can see the post on him as a scholarship winner here.

From Anthony:

💸Our student maker funding program called Instructor Awards, where students write an Instructable teaching others how to make something and receive reimbursement for material expenses.

  • Custom Gaming Keypad With RGB 
  • How to Refurbish an Old Skateboard

💻We taught an 8-week virtual Arduino Programming Workshop to 10 students hailing from across the nation

⚙️We held monthly Makers Meetings to foster community and held engaging activities

  • We held an April Fools Prank challenge where two winners were awarded with a $25 Amazon gift card each.
  • Check out a video on one of the winning projects here.

🎉We got t-shirts and keychains to spread our spirit and pride in what we do!

  • We got 26 t-shirts (16 for volunteers and 10 as prizes for our student maker spotlights and for our special awards recipients in the 2021 InventorsFair, which we participated in as judges.) 

🎤We participated in Makers + Mentors’ Make For All Commitments in support of maker-centered learning!

  • I’ll be a guest speaker at the Make For All Commitments Celebration event, representing Maker Hub Club and speaking about the wonderful experiences of being a student maker.

✔️We are rebranding to Student Makers because we feel this organization name truly resonates with our commitment to serving the student makers community!

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Spotlight on Alpha Phi

spotlight on alpha phi

Alpha Phi’s history began in 1872 when ten women came together because they too wanted to be involved with something on campus of their university, but were denied access to their school’s fraternities. From this, they started their own women’s fraternity, which became the Alpha Phi sorority.

Their philanthropy is based deeply on service. “How can we serve and help?” is always the question on their mind, along with their motto, “Union Hand in Hand.” 

“You will find a group of women passionate about making the world a better place. Whether it’s initiating community service efforts, raising awareness for heart health, or navigating the unique and challenging issues facing women on today’s college campuses, we stand together boldly to make a difference on our campuses and in our communities.”

-alphaphiorg

They also pride themselves in the inclusive community they create at their sororities. They create an environment where you can feel at home away from home, get involved in your community, create lasting friendships, and grow as a leader. 

“Every year, nearly 9,000 new members find a home in Alpha Phi. Like you, they too were looking for a place where they could confide in others, share new experiences, conquer difficult challenges, and achieve things they never thought possible.”

“More than 270,000 members found a community of friends who impacted their collegiate adventure for the better… and so will you. In Alpha Phi, you’ll have sisters standing shoulder to shoulder with you through the ups and downs of your college years. And perhaps the most surprising gift of all is that this Alpha Phi family extends well beyond your college years… Alpha Phi sisterhood means friendship for life.” -alphaphi.org

Joining Alpha Phi is participating in a lifelong sisterhood!

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A New Page Just for Personality Typing in the Classroom

Over the last few years of writing for this blog, I’ve featured a variety of different personality typing and how to use the knowledge of these in your classrooms. They’ve become more and more popular posts over time. Today I wanted to share it with you, my new page chucked full of this information for you! 

On the page, you will see buttons with links to each different personality series. Clicking these links will bring you to a new page where you have easy access to the different personality types in that category and the articles on using the knowledge of this in your classroom. 

You can find the new page here. 

Have you started using personality typing in your classroom? Which test do you prefer, and how has it helped you as a teacher? 

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Greek Week Activities: A List of Ideas for Your Organization

greek week activities and ideas

It’s Greek Week season! This means planning, planning, planning! Greek week is fun and exciting for everyone involved. One of the best parts of Greek Week is that there is always an activity to attend somewhere. BUT. For those on the planning committee, it is a lot of work. So here is a list of some Greek Week activities for you to consider. 

Have a guest speaker

Chalk competitions outside of your organization’s house 

Canned food drives

Sporting events- softball, kickball, pickleball, mud volleyball, etc! The opportunities with this are endless, there are so many sporting events you can put on! 

Nail painting night

Obstacle “American Ninja Warrior” courses 

Lip sync battles

Minute to Win It games

Talent show

Pie eating contests

Greek week is an important week where Greek organizations can come together and get to know one another. It’s celebrating brotherhood and sisterhood and everything each organization represents. Though Greek week is a lot of work for many individuals, everyone will always agree that it pays off and is incredibly fun to spend the week doing these various activities and getting to know one another. 

Do you have any other activities you do during Greek Week that you would add to this list?