What Quick and Easy Lunch Can I Bring?

Quick and Easy Lunch Tips for Teachers

What can you do to bring healthy lunches when you're rushing in the morning.  Maybe you're trying to get kids out the door as well and making lunch is the furthest thing from your mind, but you want to eat healthy.



I very much believe in eating healthy and wanted to share a few tips and strategies to bring healthy lunches to school on a regular basis.  Skipping meals or not eating lunch is just not an option to me, so I have had to work out ways to get a decent lunch while having kids in my room, making copies, and trying to do all the other things teachers do in our 30 minute lunch (go to the bathroom??!)

What are some easy teacher lunches

Some of my favorites are the following

• Salads in a jar
• Left overs
• Little things that I can snack on during the day, for example: crackers and cheese, yogurt, granola bars, pieces of fruit, veggies and dip, hard-boiled egg. 
• Sandwiches is always a standby, or a wrap
• Pre-packaged salads are okay but reading ingredients carefully
• Soup (homemade or prepared)
• Baked potato (I can microwave it at school if I get desperate, and bring some toppings). 

What are some tips to make this more successful?

These are not new but hopefully they will help:

• Plan out your menu for the week. For me its it's often too hard or too confining to plan out each day.  I just try to make a list of at least 4 or 5 lunches (4 can be enough since sometimes there are leftovers, or something unexpected). 
• Prep on the weekend!  Sometimes if I'm feeling ambitious I'll make a few mason jar salads or make a few of something else that I can take for lunch a couple days.   I have also made pasta salad and taken it for several days. 
• Pack up leftovers after dinner right in lunch containers so I can just grab it in the morning maybe a piece of fruit 
• Intentionally cook enough leftovers at dinner to be lunch the next day (doesn't always work because my kids have been eating as much lately, but worth a try!)
• Cook ahead and freeze. This doesn't have to be a giant monthly cooking event, but make a pot of soup and freeze in lunch size portions. It helps SO much! 

For more information here some of my favorite resources for quick and easy lunches

• 100 Days of Real Food: Fast & Fabulous: The Easy and Delicious Way to Cut Out Processed Food (affiliate link)
• Pinterest - I have a board for lunches, although I don't use it extensively, but I do at least like to get my brain going.  Let's be honest, at 6am I'm not cutting my sandwich into little shapes :).  But sometimes I do get some good ideas.  
• Rubbermaid LunchBlox are my go to lunch container. Its a good size, and I have a couple so they can be washed, put in the fridge, etc. 

How to Balance Exercise with your busy teacher life

I wanted to talk to you today about how to fit in exercise when you're a busy teacher.  I don't know about you but for me it's difficult. However I've been doing a lot of goal-setting and working on balance and priorities in my own life this year.  As a result, I really am trying to put my health as a priority, and I think that you should do the same.

It's really important that we all fit in some type of exercise.  It's important that that exercise be whatever you enjoy. If it's Zumba, aerobics, yoga, walking, running, biking, whatever -- just get moving!  How do you do that when you're balancing a full-time job? When you bringing work home? Maybe you have kids, or maybe you're a first year teacher and you're very overwhelmed.  I've been there! And recently I've been working hard on that and I wanted to share some of my suggestions with you.

First of all walking is a great way to fit it in.  I would recommend that as a place to start.  A lot of people have Fitbits.  If you don't want to spend the money or don't have a Fitbit there are free apps on your phone (such as Google Fit) that can track your steps.  I also have an older version of the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, Bluetooth 4.0 Xiaomi Mi Band 2 Wristband Bracelet With OLED Display Water-resistant Smart Heart Rate Fitness Tracker (much cheaper than the Fitbit  affiliate link - more in my price range).  By really shooting for that goal of around 10,000 steps a day can make a big difference in how you feel and how your day goes.  Maybe you get to work 15 minutes early and walk on the track.  Or you could go out during a free period and walk on the track or walk around the block.  All those types of things really do add up and make a difference in you hitting that goal number of steps.

What I've been doing is a combination of a few things.  My kids go to childcare in the morning to get on the bus so sometimes I'll take them just a little bit earlier, especially on the days when I don't teach first period.  I'll go work out and then go to school.  My husband's been going after school but by the time I get to the end of the day I don't want to go!!  So that doesn't work for me!

Another option is workout videos at home there are paid options like Beachbody on demand Les Mills or many others.  There are also free options.  If you are looking for a free place to start, here are a few great YouTube channels that are free:  Fitnessblender, BeFit, PopSugar Fitness, Yoga with Tara Stiles, Yoga with Adrienne, and Doyogawithme.

There are lots of ways that you can workout even in less than 30 minutes.  I play these videos on my tablet in a spot in the basement, but you can do whatever works for you.  You don't need a lot of equipment.  You can do a yoga with a mat and maybe blocks, so we are talking under $20. Some of the other videos you could get a small set of weights or a mat but again under $20.  You can get started now!  Don't put it off. Focus on small steps and you will see a big difference.  This is my workout space. I know its ugly! But its cool when I'm working out, quiet, and was very easy and cheap to put together. The important part is that I make it a habit to keep showing up!


I was having trouble at first because my kids were constantly in my hair and wanting to be underfoot and asking me questions while I was trying to work out so I ended up setting up an area in the basement. We have an unfinished basement but I got some floor mat tiles at Aldi's like this affliliate link (around $25.00).  I had a yoga mat already, and we have an extra chair that we were getting rid of.  I just bring the tablet down there (or you can even use your phone).  The kids can not come down to the basement for those 30 minutes and bother me.  If I really commit and take that 30 minutes a day it makes a huge difference in how I feel, how my day goes, and how much energy I have.  For me, sometimes its easier to workout at home than to go somewhere. While the kids are watching a show, or while dinner is cooking I can get in a quick workout.

There's a lot of research showing that exercise is one of the most effective treatments for people with chronic pain and/or depression.  Take advantage of it! It's free and has no side effects but huge benefits, so do your best to fit it in. Start from where you are try to increase a bit.  If you're not exercising at all and you aim for two or three times a week or if you are exercising and you want to bump it up a little bit more (intensity, frequency, etc).  Make your health a priority! It has made a big difference in my life this year.

Giant Secondary Science Giveaway

Welcome!  Thanks for stopping by our Huge Secondary Science Giveaway

The secondary science teachers of TpT want to make your school year a bit easier.  We are giving away 5 $100 TpT gift certificates, as well as individual prizes.  We want to get your school year off to a smoother start.  

You can win in two different ways: 

1. Many of the sellers pictures are giving away individual resource prizes on their own blogs!  Check out the the rafflecopter to win $10 worth of resources from my TpT store!  

2. The big prizes!  We are all pooling our resources to give away for secondary science teachers 5 $100 Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards!  Each blog post has a secret code work at number.  

My word is #14. who.  Collect the words from each blog shown below, write them down in numerical order and then submit the sentence into the big giveaway for a chance at a $100 gift card.   Note: This rafflecopter only needs to be completed once. It is the same on each blog. 

The giveaway opens Monday at Noon and ends Friday at Midnight. 

Good luck!  Please feel free to comment below, or email me with any questions, and share with your science teacher friends! 

Lastly, there is one more science giveaway that is separate, but just happens to go be going on at the same time.  You can enter THAT ONE here.  

So you really have 3 chances to win something!   Good luck!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back to School Sale

If you haven't heard, I don't want you to miss out! Here are the details: 

Who: Teachers Pay Teachers

What: Back to School Sale

Where:  My store 

When: August 1 and 2

How: Use the Promo Code BTS2017 

Why: So you can get all your back to school resources at a discount.  If I were you this is a great time to do one of a few things: 

• Purchase a big bundle or a big ticket item at 25% off (maximize your savings).  This would be a great idea for my Biology Bell Ringer Bundle, or one of the "Buy My Store Biology" or "Buy My Store Earth Science" Bundles. 
• Stock up on a bunch of labs or activities that you know you will use during the year.
• Buy something small and check out how you like TeachersPayTeachers. 

Did you know??!  You can earn credit on TpT for leaving feedback!  Not everyone know that, but you can.  So any past paid purchases, make sure you leave feedback and you will get the credit to use toward your purchases during the sale, for an even better deal.  

If you aren't sure how to go about leaving feedback, check out this post

If you have any questions, please email me.  I want you to feel that all your questions are answered! 

5 Best Start-of-the-School-Year Experiments

Great Science Experiments and Demonstrations

One of the fun things about being a science teacher is being able to do hands-on activities and fun demonstrations.  These are the things kids remember when they get home, and remember years later. We've all been at some type of picnic or family function and heard someone talking about their crazy, wacky science teacher and the demonstration they did in class. Its multi-sensory, and different than other classes, and therefore more memorable! 

What are some of your favorites? 

What do you think makes a good demonstration or a good hands-on activity?

Requirements for a good demonstration

In my opinion, these are some things to consider to make a successful demonstration

• It must use readily available materials. Materials that are too hard to get are unfamiliar to students and difficult for you to set up. It's also difficult to make up for students who might be absent 
• Must work reliably! You don't want an activity that only works some of the time, or even most of the time, you need to be pretty sure that it's going to work.
• It must clearly demonstrate the principle that you were trying to show. This should not be a leap for students to understand the science after they have done the initial activity or seen the demonstration. 
• Sometimes I do an activity as a demonstration because I want to talk about it as we're working, it would be difficult for students to carry out correctly, or because I'm limited on space and materials for students to do it on their own or any variety of other reasons including safety. If it is feasible for students to carry out themselves, that is preferable.

Here is another source on what makes a good demonstration

Here's a secret for you

As a science teacher, demonstrations are fun, but I don't really like doing them! I get nervous! It's too much like a stage performance. I'd much rather have students run through stations or do activities. But some activities still lend themselves well to demonstrations. 

My Favorite Demonstrations 

(with accompanying videos; which can be a back up plan if you really don't like doing demonstrations)

• Air pressure demonstration using a soda can 
• Coke and diet coke density demonstration
• A cloud in the bottle
• And many more here... and also 100 Fun Science Experiments / Science Fair Projects for Kids from Go Science Girls

STEM Projects

What about stem projects? What are some great stem projects to get your students thinking? Building and interacting? These can be great for the beginning or end of school or even for summer school, summer camps or those off days, such as those with assemblies. 

Stem projects and stem activities are such a broad category if you look them up you will find a wide variety of things. In my mind they break into at least two categories. Those that are chance for students to develop a hypothesis and test an experiment, and those that are a chance to build a product and work with a team to problem-solve and create something.  These may overlap, for example students may test something to make their product better.  However, students aren't really demonstrating the scientific process they're focused on working towards a goal.  This is more of an engineering project. 

• One of my favorites is soda can cars. Students can even recreate this at home if they want to pretty easily.  
• Another favorite is to see who's raft or boat can support the most pennies or paper clips.  

From http://www.ramstein.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2001055392/

• There is a common experiment, which is very engaging with milk, food coloring, and dish soap.  Just be aware of the potential for a lot of cleanup, or any milk allergies. 
• Static electricity activities can be easy, fun and engaging, such as bending water, and balloon races.  These are described in details here in my FREE STATIC LAB
• A balloon car or a CD hovercraft are also a lot of fun, and can be a chance for students to experiment and improve their design.  
• A solar oven can be a longer-term project where students can really experiment with the materials and the angle, or it can be done as a one time project. 
• More ideas are available here and here.  

Some of these can be a chance for students to experiment and develop an experiment, hypothesis, and a procedure. Others can be a great chance to explore a new topic or new concept at the beginning of a unit.  They are also great as a quick station or engagement activity, as well as a jumping-off point to get further into the unit.  In my opinion, they should be something that can be carried out in a period or two, unless you really want to start a much longer project.  Otherwise you risk losing the flow of what you are trying to teach. 

Lastly, another way to go is longer-term projects such as factors that affect seed or plant growth, longer-term monitoring of weather, composting (conditions that cause garbage to break down) or even setting up ecocolumns.  

For more information on these type of projects, I would just looking into Problem based learning (more to come on that).  A couple great sources of information are available here and here.

I'd love to see pictures of your science activities!  Please share with me on facebook, instagram or by email.