Small Business Saturday

I’m ALL about “Small Business Saturday”! As a teacher with a “side hustle” that is also my passion, I see the importance of supporting others that have similar interests as me. 

I see my journey as an aspiring teacher blogger as a “small business” that offers lessons, resources, and motivation. I also see it as my contribution to a huge teaching community that has opened so many doors for me in my career. Since I’ve started blogging and selling products, I’ve met some amazing Insta friends and encouragers that I HIGHLY recommend you follow. They have helped me reflect on my practices, improve my lessons, manage my classroom more efficiently, and motivate my students to LOVE school. 

I’m no particular order, here are my top favorite 7 small businesses (some, of which, have grown and can hardly be called small anymore). They helped me do all of those things that I believe are worth supporting. 

1. Hope King (@elementaryshenanigans)

I can’t even put into words how phenomenal this woman is. To fully grasp everything she has to offer the teaching community, please go order her book The Wild Card right now. Her and her husband (Wade King) teach at The Ron Clark Academy together and their whole message is about motivating students. The concept of their book is that every student  is dealt a hand of cards that is unpredictable. When we have students that get a crappy hand, we need to act as a Wild Card to improve their situation. Powerful, right? While you are at it, follow Ron Clark and some other teachers that teach there to watch the magic that happens everyday. In addition to Hope's professional outlook, I appreciate how strong her religious conviction is. Watching someone be so firm in their faith is always inspiring to me.

See her website HERE! and Buy the book HERE!

2. Wright Stuff Chics (@thewrightstuffchics)

This Shop has a HUGE selection of cute, funny, and POSITIVE teacher tees along with some adorable boutique items. These comfy shirts have become a staple in my closet and they are positively my favorite thing to wear to school. I always get compliments from other staff members asking where I got them, and my students think they are so awesome. I have to believe that showing kids that I’m excited about teaching will get them excited to learn. If a T-shirt helps do that, then TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Order shirts HERE!

3. Steph’s Scentsy (Stephanie's Scentsy VIP group!)

Close your eyes and try to match the following smells of your classroom: Your students coming into the classroom right after PE 😓 Someone left their lunchbox in the classroom over winter break 🤦🏻‍♀️Another kid took their shoes off because it was “comfy” 😨 It was burrito day in the lunchroom 😳 Some kids got a little too into your Go Noodle 💦 

My guess is that if you’re a teacher, you know exactly what smells I’m talking about. Gross, I know. But it’s reality! Solution: SCENTSY!!! My friend, Stephanie, is like a drug dealer around my school helping everyone’s classroom smell less like a workout facility and more like a cozy workspace. Check out her site to stock up on some AMAZING smells to help out your classroom. My favorites???? Obviously all of the Christmas scents during the holidays, and Lavender to help on those “full moon” days!

FIND YOUR SCENT HERE!

4. Brooke Brawn (@teachoutsidethebox)

Let me introduce you to the "Queen of Stem". Brooke has dramatically changed how I implement STEM activities into my classroom this year. Before following her, I tried my best to find fun STEM activities during our science lessons, but ended up spending WAY too much time planning and prepping, and I spent WAY too much money using extra materials. If you do that, STOP NOW! These pre-made bins and task cards give students the tools to think outside the box and create things that I never would have thought to do. I was incredibly hesitant when starting this because I was worried my students would mess around and not follow the task cards, steal/ruin the materials, not see the educational value of the bins and not complete the writing assignments, or find another creative way to make me regret doing this. WRONG. None of these things have even come close to happening. In fact, I rarely even give directions for these anymore. I might assign a writing assignment to go with it, or even come up with a "theme" of something they have to build that supports a cross-curricular subject we are learning about. But let me tell you, whenever I bust these bad boys out, my kids are on task and attentive. They LOVE the hands-on aspect and being creative! I am truly amazed at what they can accomplish and create. Do yourself a favor and follow her and community to see all the things teachers are doing with their STEM bins, it's so inspiring!

DOWNLOAD YOUR STEM BINS HERE!

4. Jill's Language Wall (@hello_fifth)

What do you call a teacher who has to meet the needs of the curriculum, state standards, and teacher evaluation standards in a limited amount of time?? NORMAL. You call her normal. Our superintendent once told us as a Back to School training to “teach with urgency”. I have no problem doing this because I constantly feel like I don’t have enough time to teach what I need to. This Language Wall by Hello Fifth has been a wonderful way for me to teach writing targets indirectly. Each week I post a new paragraph and have students work during one of their stations to identify sentence types, parts of speech, punctuation, etc. I also have them edit sentences and practice using revising marks to fix misspellings and other mistakes. I'm currently working on providing my kiddos with more resources for students to access when trying to remember a target (STAY TUNED) because I'd love to see how independent my students can be when doing this. My kids also love seeing what the new paragraph is doing to be about. I try to make them silly or include their names in it, and they just think it's hilarious!

DOWNLOAD LANGUAGE WALL HERE!

6. Bethany Humphrey (@teachingandsofourth)

Ok I don't' want to sound like a broken record as I talk up the Ron Clark Academy, but this teacher does a TOP NOTCH job of being the Wild Card for her students. She is so stinking cute, and is clearly adored by her students. I would love to be a student in her classroom! A part of me wants to teach 4th grade standards just so all of her TPT products would be relevant to me, but I've still used a lot of it! Her class songs are so hilarious and creative, and watching her kids get engaged puts a smile on my face every time. I started using her morning song during my morning meeting and my kids LOVE starting the day off that positive. I'm trying to tap into my own creative mindset to make a song relevant to my class and our community inspired by this gal. 

VISIT HER TPT STORE HERE!

VISIT HER BLOG HERE!

7. Knotties Headbands (@knotties)

This Etsy store is ADORABLE. Alyssa Pierce works with another one of my favorite teachers to make these cute headbands. She has a selection of school-themed headbands, but also just some other ones that anyone would love. I am anxiously awaiting her next stock so I can order up as many as I can! These headbands are a lifesaver on days when my hair is "eh" and just needs something to distract from all the dry shampoo I've used. 

SHOP KNOTTIES HERE!

Do yourself a favor, and go follow all of these wonderful businesses that I love dearly. And please, help me find MORE small businesses to support! Please share some other stores and products!

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When a student says, "I love you."

I’ve recently been faced with a decision on what to do when a student says “I love you.” Now, let me clarify, I actually have students tell me that they love me all the time. Almost as often as students call me “mom” or say “Amen” on accident after the Pledge. But this time was different. This time came after a meeting where I learned that this student has faced some extreme hardships in her past. Suddenly her “I Love You” came with an incredible amount of pressure.

I remember learning in classes in college that it’s too confusing to tell students you love them back. We are supposed to respond with something like “Thank you!” or “Save that love for your mamma!” Apparently research shows that it’s damaging to students and gives them a sense of “false hope” when someone temporary reciprocates that love. 

Hold the phone. Could you imagine if you told your spouse, sibling, parent, child that you loved them and they didn’t say it back it? Not only NOT return the love, but actively dodge it? Ouch. What’s more damaging here? We, as teachers, often spend as much time with these students as their parents do. 

Why are we so temporary? Why is our love so disposable? 

I started telling this student that I love her too, in fact, I’ve gotten in the habit of saying it back to all my kiddos when they tell me. 

I want to take a quick minute to recognize that there is a time and place for this to occur. I teach third grade students, and very rarely do I find myself in a situation when I am ever in a room with a student alone. I do not feel like my situation is a delicate one, but some of you teachers who teach middle/high school should probably consider the appropriateness of this message. 

But I digress...

Anyway. This student of mine is an absolute doll. She has experienced a great deal of trauma and is sometimes triggered by things that set her off, rightfully so! This girl, this little 8 year old baby, is so fragile yet so strong. She has so much courage and devotion to her experience at school to be a good student, make friends, please the teacher, and at the same time she is carrying the weight of huge burden. I admire this girl for SO many reasons and often wish I could be as strong as she is. How could a teacher or adult ever be mad or frustrated if she gets triggered and starts throwing desks around and screaming? I haven’t had to deal with half of what she has and I’m tempted to do that every day! But I’ll save that for another post....

My job is to help my students learn. Yes, I help them learn the ever changing state standards, but more importantly, I help them learn how to be a human. I’ve learned that if my kiddos are having these melt downs and turning into “behavior kids” then it’s for a REASON. I teach at a low income school where many of our students are experiencing hardships on a day to day basis. Our kids are exposed to drugs, abuse, neglect, etc. Most of them are lacking the love at home that they need and deserve. Some of them have the love, but often need more because of their experiences that might make them distrusting of others. Because of this, my job is to provide them with my love. 

I’ll go on the record saying that I’m happy to duel anyone who tells me a teacher needs to focus on standards above relationships. When I am the constant for students, and the one that they see daily for all their needs, you better believe I am going to reciprocate the love that they need so badly. Because truly, I’m not lying when I tell my kids I love them too. In fact, I don’t think they quite know how much I love them and how much they mean to me. They don’t know that I think about them and pray for them every day. They don’t know that I often reflect that I often reflect on what I can do to help them more than I already am. Heck, they don’t know that I sit around and blog about them!!! 

I love my kids dearly, thus me calling them MY kids. At the end of the day, I am HERE FOR THE KIDS. And if telling them I love them is the most damaging thing that teachers do, then we got some real problems ahead of us. 

I’m curious to know if others teachers have had the same thought about this. Please reach out, I’d love to hear more thoughts and/stories on the topic! 

Teacher tee by The Wright Stuff Chics 💖

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The "Back to School Feels"

There’s nothing quite like the look of clean desks before school starts. You know the look— smudge free and clear of eraser crumbs. Or even the smell of freshly sharpened Ticonderoga pencils (no, NOT the crappy Dixon pencils that we’re forced to use at the end of the school year when we’re running out of the good ones.) And nothing beats the feeling of having an organized desk, and possibly even the false sense of hope that it will stay that way. 

I just started my 6th year as an educator, and I can’t help but feel more excited this year than any year I’ve taught. I’ve loved every group of kids I’ve had (even though Lord knows some years have been tougher than others), but this year something is just different and I can’t quite pin point it. Maybe it’s because I’m a new mom now and I see my students through a different lens. Or maybe it’s because I’m feeling more established as a teacher. I’d like to think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I’ve spent a lot of time recently doing a lot of reflection and personal development and setting a lot of goals. I can also speak to the fact that the my first time starting third grade was exactly 20 years ago.... talk about nostalgia!!

Regardless of my WHY, I’m just grateful that I have a job that I can call my passion. With that said, I want to take a few minutes to share with you all the “feels” I’m having this back to school season.

I’m feeling...

GRATEFUL

...for the opportunity that I have to teach at my school. I have the best teacher tribe a girl can ask for, and I definitely couldn’t do my job without everyone I work with. I’m also grateful for the support system I have at home to help me with this career choice. All you teachers know that this is NOT a “9-5 job”. Anyone else lay awake thinking about how to get your kids motivated? Or maybe you get distracted when out at dinner because you’re wondering if some of your students were able to have their own dinner that night? These are the thoughts us teachers have. And it takes a special kind of support system at home to help us with that. My dear husband, Adam, is such a trooper. He has spent countless hours helping me set up my classroom, grade papers, bring me lunch on his days off, and listen to me brainstorm new ideas. Does he just smile and nod? Probably. But he has the cutest smile, so I can’t complain :) 

HOPEFUL

...in my students ability to reach their full potential. I’m hopeful that my students can show a tremendous amount of growth (notice I focus on GROWTH, here. Very important different between that and expecting everyone to be at the same place). Care to discuss? Comment below. I’m curious your thoughts on this!

EXCITED

...to spend my days with the greatest kids in the world. This is not just a job for me. It’s my passion. I am excited to hear my students’ silly stories and learn about what they are interested. These kiddos will never know how much they teach me too. I’m excited to implement some new, fun lessons that I have planned to supplement the curriculum I’m using. All my excitement and motivation for these plans I have come from Wade and Hope King, who co-wrote a book called The Wild Card. If you haven’t read it yet, do it now!!!! Seriously. It’ll change your life. 

DETERMINED

...to engage my students and help them LOVE coming to school. I’m determined to teach them so much more than just the Reading, Writing, and Communicating state standards. By the wise words of the Top Dog Teacher: “Relationships over Everything Else”! 

I’ve talked before about goals that I have for this year, as I have many, and but if I had to summarize them all into one, I’d say is to live every day with a positive attitude. Like mamma always taught me, “ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING”. I just can’t wait to see what this school year brings! I hope you all are experiencing some kind of "feels" this back-to-school season, because these "feels" are what keeps our teaching magic alive. They help us continue to grow and learn, and our kids deserve that!

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My WHY...

Hi all!


Here I am, making my appearance on my blog again! I started this year making big goals for this blog, and slowed down BIG time once I had my son in April. I am incredibly blessed that I have been able to stay home with him for 4 months before going back to work! However, now that school is starting I am itching for a routine to get back to feeling like myself (because SPOILER ALERT maternity leave consists of feeling like a zombie 90% of the time). I am determined to stick to my original goals for my blog and building my TPT store because I absolutely LOVE my teacher network. In addition to my professional goals as a teacher, I am also creating some personal goals that I want to mesh together.

I am so excited to announce that to do that, I have signed on as a Beachbody coach! To be honest, I've always been super apprehensive about these "side hustles", but I'm taking a leap of vulnerability to put myself out there and do something I thought I'd never do. With that said, I'd like to share WHY I've decided to take on this new adventure:

Like I mentioned, I delivered my sweet baby boy, Travis, on April 10th of this year. For anyone who was *lucky* enough to stick by me through my pregnancy, you know that I had a pretty terrible experience. I absolutely will not complain about my pregnancy, because I am so blessed that me and my son were healthy throughout the entire time. However, I was absolutely not one of those women who loved pregnancy. I was sick LITerally the entire time. I was losing a significant amount of weight for the first 22 weeks I was pregnant because I was so sick. My all-day sickness and heartburn lasted till my delivery day, and it was truly debilitating. I missed a LOT of work, and my students knew not to follow Mrs. Cronquist if she had to run into the hallway. I was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum and was even in the hospital at one point to get fluids for my dehydration. For anyone who knows someone who has experienced this, PLEASE do not ask them if they've ever tried ginger or saltines...you might get punched. ANYWAY, once I got to the point that I finally had an appetite, I was only able to eat certain foods. And I gained weight very fast. I honestly didn't think it was possible for someone to gain as much weight as I did as quick as I did. My loving husband has been such a rock for me (and truly deserves an award for putting up with me throughout my pregnancy) and always gave me pep talks about how the weight was healthy for our baby. But now that he is here, I am ready to lose this weight! I've been eating healthy and working out, but it's just not enough. I am craving MORE! I need motivation. I need accountability. I need resources. I need so much to help me through this, and I'm so excited to say that I've found it through Beachbody.

So...to sum up...WHY am I doing this? Because I want to feel good in my skin. Because I want to feel strong. Because I want to be healthy for my family. Because I want to be a good role model for my son and my students. Because I want to continue to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. Because I want to help others.

I can't wait to get started with this program and have the energy and motivation to be the best wife, mom, and teacher I can be!

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Calling all teachers!

Ok you should probably have a little backstory before I ask something of you...

For the past two years I've participated in "The Great Mail Race", and I have to say this is probably one of my FAVORITE projects of the school year! My teammate started it before I started teaching with her and raved about how cool it is, and she was right! I'll be honest, it's a lot of front-loading, but it's so worth it. For those of you who don't know, it's a pen-pal activity where students write letters to different schools in all 50 states (and Washington D.C.) inquiring about their lives as students. The goal is to receive a letter back from each state and learn more about how they live. Like I said, I've only done this a couple of times, but my kids have so much fun writing the letters and even more fun receiving letters back. I'm not kidding, it's like Christmas morning when we get a letter back in the mail. It's such a fun way to take a short break from the curriculum routine to build some classroom community and have some much-needed FUN!

Ok here's where I need your help (and how I can help you):

If you would like to participate in The Great Mail Race with me, PLEASE contact me with your name and school address to I can keep in my own personal database. I will promptly respond with mine, as well, for you to keep in yours for years to come! 

EMAIL: teachercronq@gmail.com

OR

Instagram @teachercronq

More information about The Great Mail Race can be found HERE!!

I hope to hear from you soon!

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Teacher Cronq comin' in hot!

I'm usually not one to make a New Year's Resolution. Mainly because I feel like if someone wants to change someone, they should just DO IT, and not wait until a new year. However, the last couple of years I have been pretty "gung-ho" about making yearly goals that I want to reach. My dear cousin, Tiffany (who I will be mentioning in a blog post to come) told me once that if I want to do something I need to write it down. So at the beginning of 2017 I wrote down all the goals I wanted to reach. And you know what? I REACHED THEM ALL! Here are just a few I'd like to share...

1. Run a half-marathon....CHECK! I started training for the Horsetooth Half Marathon at the beginning of 2017 and completed it in April. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but also one of the most rewarding. Training for this pushed me physically and emotionally, but it taught me so much about I can do. This will NOT be my last race!

2. Rescue another dog...CHECK! We have had our dog, Champ (left), for about 6 years and decided it was time to get him a friend. We have been hesitating doing this for a while because we were worried about the extra commitment and how Champ would be with another dog. We rescued Layla (right) from Ho-Bo Care Boxer Rescue in Denver, and to say that she rescued us is an understatement. Sure, she likes to jump on the counters and get stuff off the top of our refrigerator, but she is the sweetest most loving dog and has so much fun playing with Champ all day long. We are just smitten for our little wiggle-butts!

3. Take a beach vacation... CHECK! We took a pretty spontaneous all-inclusive trip this summer to the Dominican Republic and LOVED it! What better way to spend time off work than doing absolutely nothing on the beach under the sun? Although this was totally a "treat-yo-self" goal, I'm so glad we worked hard to save for this trip because it was the best way to recharge and reconnect. My husband and I work opposite schedules and rarely see each other through the school year, so we try to do special things when we do have time together. Setting aside this time for us to vacation was just perfect for us!

4. My personal favorite, make a baby...CHECK! Surprise! We're having a baby! It's no secret this was a little bit of a challenge for us for a little over a year, but we put all of our trust and faith in God and now "Baby Cronq" will be joining us in April of 2018!

And my last one I can finally check off... 5. Make a teacher blog..BIG FAT CHECK! With the help of a few of my friends, I decided at the beginning of 2017 that this was my journey. I've spent this year researching what it takes to start a blog, how create one and market it, how to use TPT and create products, licensing laws, etc. With the help from Kristen from Chalk and Apples, I now have this beautiful platform to share everything I have to offer as well!

The purpose of me starting a "teacher blog" has a few purposes:

• I so often find myself making lessons, that I figured, why not sell them on TPT? I'd ultimately love to use my blog as a platform to help me do just that. Maybe that's a little Type A of me to do, but I think most teachers are just that!
• I'd love to start networking with more teachers out there that share the same passion that I have for this wonderful profession.
• I want to do something that continues my growth as an educator. My biggest fear as a teacher is getting to stand-still point where I fear change. I often feel sad and sorry for teachers that treat each school year as the same as the past years. I want to strive to get better each year and keep up with technology, research, and best practices.
• To be honest, I often find myself bored when Adam has to work. Like I said earlier we have opposite schedules and I spend most evenings at home alone. Obviously things are going to change once Baby Cronq gets here, but I'd also like to keep up with a hobby that is just for ME. Call it selfish, but I think it's important everyone has a little "me time". Am I right? Or am I right?

As I reflect on some of these goals I was able to achieve in 2017, I feel proud for adding so many good things into my life. I am so excited to see where this blog will take me and what I will learn from it (if it isn't obvious by now, I'm very into personal reflection.) And in case you're wondering what's next, I'm currently working on my 2018 goals. I definitely have some personal goals I'd like to accomplish, like maybe run another half marathon after baby is born, or maybe learn some new cooking skills. But one goal you can count on is that "Teacher Cronq" is going to be completely up and running and offering a lot of new TPT products that reflect who I am as a teacher. Not only that, but I'd love to share with you motivation and other resources that really excite me and my students. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not usually vocal on social media, and putting myself out there as a blogger is completely foreign to me (see my last blog post), but I'm hoping all of that will change in 2018. I hope Teacher Cronq is something that will help you and that you find useful to share with others.

Watch out, 2018, Teacher Cronq is comin' in hot!

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I'm a blogger?

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Well here goes nothing…I’m a blogger now! The thought of that actually terrifies me. It’s a weird feeling of vulnerability that is WAY out of my comfort zone. However, I am so excited to break that barrier and get started on something I feel really passionate about. I’m going into my 5th year of teaching elementary school, and I have so many thoughts and emotions running through my head about this. I feel grateful that I have found my calling and my passion in life. On the flip side of that, I’ve also spent the past 4 years thinking, “Will I ever feel like I know what I’m doing?” Teaching is such a weird profession, because I don't feel like I ever should be "established". I would like to feel more confident, for sure! However, I hope I don't ever feel like I'm done learning and growing as an educator. 

I find myself so often questioning my lessons and questioning my teaching practices. Some days this makes me feel like a failure, but then other days it makes me empowered. I feel empowered to look at what I can do better next time. With that said, the goal of this blog is to share with you some things that I do feel confident in. I am also seeking some feedback and advice from YOU to help make my ideas even stronger, because teachers supporting teachers is a wonderful thing :) 

Don't forget to take a look at my TPT store, or even my Instagram or Twitter (because I think I'm funny...) Also, please feel free to contact me anytime. I look forward to working with you!

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