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b4 Hand Sanitizers Are a Teacher’s Best Friend!

September 6, 2014 / Lifestyle, The Teacher in Me, Uncategorized

Disclosure: I received b4 products to write a review about. No other compensation was received. All opinion are my own.

Back to school time is very exciting for me as a teacher! I get to decorate my classroom and plan another exciting school year of learning activities, but the best part is meeting my new students on the first day of class!

After teaching for so many years and having my share of illnesses, I’ve learned the importance of making extra efforts to sanitize my classroom and my own hands, especially while I’m around the kids. I love each and every one of them and give out lots of hugs on a daily basis, I just don’t love what different germs get brought to school with them.

The playground is so much fun but such a breeding ground for germs!

When the people over at b4 asked if I’d like to try some of their hand sanitizer products, I was quick to respond with a “yes!“. After having an awful flu last year, I’m taking back-to-school seriously this year, including being more pro-active about sanitizing! This year, I actually wrote b4 products into my lesson plans! Ok, that was a joke, but seriously, my b4 packets sit right on top of my desk!

b4 is a hand sanitizer that refreshes and cleans all while giving back to the community. b4’s purpose is to change lives through charitable giving. Yes, that’s right — b4 gives back, which is what I love most about them! b4 gives 50 percent of all profits from sales to children-focused causes. The profits are donated through The Midway Foundation and more than $1.3 million has already been donated to 150 organizations.

I received an envelope filled with several packets of individual hand sanitizer packets, as well as some big boxes of them. The fact that the individual packets came in several different colors was just an added bonus. Everyone loves a rainbow!

Here are some highlights about b4 Products:

The b4 hand sanitizer is specially formulated to kill 99.9% of germs and bacteria
Each single-use gel hand sanitizer is packaged in eye-popping, bold colors
Hand sanitizer packets can be co-branded – b4 works with companies to customize colors, logos, etc.
b4 hand sanitizer moisturizes hands with Vitamin E and aloe
All b4 products are made in the USA
b4 is a triclosan-free hand sanitizer

Not only did I use several of these during my first week back teaching, but I also packed a box of b4 in Emi’s backpack on her first day of school. I’m sure she’ll be excited to share with all of her friends!

Check out all of the b4 products on their site. They are so convenient and can just be thrown into your purse or a backpack. Right now you can receive 15% off your order when you place your order online, using. the code “b4health” Orders over $35 receive free shipping. Also, starting September 20, you’ll be able to purchase b4 products at Staples.

I love supporting companies like b4 that give back to others!

I’ve now added b4 to my teacher necessities list!

The Sweatshirt

October 12, 2013 / Lifestyle, The Teacher in Me

I think my heart broke for a little girl today. Not my little girl, it was a little girl in my 1st grade class. What’s odd about the whole situation is that today I did something good to help her, but just doing it actually made me MORE emotional than before I did anything. I brought her a sweatshirt. It was a gently used, hot pink sweatshirt that Emi had outgrown. The sweatshirt said “GYMNAST” across the front, had some bling on the letters and a tiny heart as a zipper pull. I remember when Emi got the sweatshirt…one of her grandmas had taken her shopping at Justice. We love Justice. I’m sure my little student probably doesn’t even know what Justice is?!! She probably doesn’t know what a “gymnast” is either, nor will she ever have a chance to be one. (Do you see why my heart breaks?)

I’ve been teaching 1st grade for 18 years. My students are very needy, most are poor, and many are neglected. Before I was a mommy, I used to spend TONS of money on my classroom and on my students. Now I just can’t do that. After I became a mommy, I had to learn how to disconnect when I left work, because if I thought about how these children were living and compared it to how my own daughter lives, it was too painful. I know I can’t save the world, so I do my best when I’m there and even though I don’t shower them with gifts and treats, they are really appreciative of what I do for them. I sometimes think they even enjoy getting disciplined because after I’ve spent a day disciplining them they’ll still hug me and tell me they love me as they leave out the door. Maybe it’s just the fact that SOMEONE is paying enough attention to them and disciplining them at all? I don’t know?
So back to the little girl….She’s adorable (I think all of my students are adorable though). She’s adorable, as in a cute little face and a head of light brown wavy hair with bangs. She’s pretty quiet but when she talks to me, I cannot understand her because her speech impediment is so bad. (don’t get me started that no one has done anything to get her referred for speech because it’s BAD). She comes to school in her WAY TOO BIG uniform everyday. When I watch her walk out to recess, I can see the shoes slipping on and off because they are about 4 sizes too big. (I’m not exaggerating about this either). I recently noticed that she’s been wearing this GIANT women’s size jacket over her uniform. It’s something with pink and white and the arms are WAY long. Well, as the days passed this week, I noticed that the jacket would appear to be dirtier and dirtier each day. Like FILTHY. Most likely I noticed this because the sleeves were white but it hurt my tummy to see it, because in my mind, little all girls should be happy and cute and clean. (I worry about Emi’s finger nails and ALWAYS make her wash them before going somewhere) I just kept feeling ill that this little girl was sitting here, dirty at school, just trying to get by. I’ve had students in my classroom before who were labeled as “homeless”, I just don’t know enough about this particular class yet, since it’s still the beginning of the school year. So today, I finally did it, I remembered to bring in the sweatshirt for her! I couldn’t directly give it to her, so I put it in the office and had them call her up. She came back with the sweatshirt in her hands and within 3 minutes, she was wearing it…..AND SHE HAD THIS LITTLE SMILE ON HER FACE AS SHE WAS DOING HER WORK!

No one in the class knew, but I knew, and I almost started crying! I had to sneak a picture of her as she was proudly working on her Math, but I had a giant lump in my throat for the rest of the day and even as I blog this, I feel like I could start bawling my head off! My daughter is sitting in the other room, Face Timing her cousin and playing with toys while they chat…and I think about my little student and know that she’s sharing some tiny space with 5 other siblings and probably isn’t doing what my daughter is doing. I know she doesn’t have a soccer game tomorrow or have any sleepovers to attend. It hurts my heart to think about it, but I have to smile and know that I did something good for someone in need today. I have to remember that sometimes it’s the little things and in this case, the sweatshirt is the little thing.

1st Grade is Where It’s At!

August 28, 2013 / Lifestyle, The Teacher in Me

Today was the 1st day of school for me as a teacher, the start of my 18th year! When I was first hired, I had JUST graduated with my BA in Liberal Studies, with a concentration in English-Spanish bilingual teacher. It was the year that California passed the 20:1 law and needed a MASS quantity of new teachers hired. For the first 8 years of my career, I taught bilingual first grade. This meant that all of the reading and writing and ‘rithmetic were all in Spanish. I actually really liked it and I LOVED all of my students so much. (I still do). Eventually, politics got kind of ugly about the whole “teaching in Spanish thing” and we became an all English school.
I still have the same type of students, I just have to push them even harder now. I sometimes think the general public only see my students as statistics….most of them are English Learners, all of them are impoverish, and perhaps many of them are in The U.S. illegally? I don’t know, it’s not my job to worry about that, because they are just kids and none of that is their fault or their doing. What I DO know is that my students are often doing TWICE the work of typical students who live in “regular areas”. Not only do they have to learn to read, write and do Math like all first graders are expected to do, but they also have to learn English too! Many of them succeed, some continue to struggle and, of course, some fail, most are doing it with very little or no parent support. I have hope for them though. This is why I keep going back to work there. I don’t live anywhere near where I teach. I pay $12.50 a day to take a toll road to get to work on time each morning and back in time to pick up my own daughter from school. Some days are harder than others, some years are too, but it can also be very rewarding. These students are so sweet and appreciative and make the job worth it!

Today I got a whole new group of kids. I can already tell it’s going to be great year.

Here’s some of what I see in my new students: