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190. Do These 5 Easy Things in April to Make Back to School Easier! · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:01
  Heidi: This is episode 190 of Teacher Approved.
• 0:06
  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:09
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:12
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
• 0:16
  Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
• 0:19
  strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
• 0:22
  effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
• 0:25
  each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
• 0:28
  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
• 0:31
  the show.
• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're giving you five easy tasks that you can do in
• 0:42
  April to get ready for back to school, and we're sharing a
• 0:46
  teacher approved tip for giving a spring refresh to your
• 0:49
  classroom procedures.
• 0:51
  Heidi: Let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we share a quick
• 0:54
  win that you can try in your classroom right away. Emily,
• 0:57
  what is our prompt this week?
• 0:58
  Emily: This week, give the mystery compliment game a try.
• 1:03
  You write each student's name on a small slip of paper and put
• 1:06
  them in a jar, then have each student secretly draw a name and
• 1:09
  write down a specific compliment about that person. Then in the
• 1:13
  afternoon, you can read the compliments out loud and let the
• 1:15
  students guess who it's about.
• 1:17
  Heidi: I love this so much. It is a quick and easy way to boost
• 1:21
  classroom kindness and connection, which is so
• 1:24
  important this time of year, and it is a perfect way to add some
• 1:27
  surprise and delight.
• 1:28
  Emily: If you like this idea or anything else we share here on
• 1:31
  the podcast, would you take a second and give us a five star
• 1:34
  rating? Ratings and reviews are one way new listeners find us.
• 1:38
  So every rating and review is a huge help to us.
• 1:42
  Heidi: So be honest, did you have a little bit of a heart
• 1:45
  attack when you saw the words back to school in this episode
• 1:48
  title?
• 1:50
  Emily: Don't worry if you did. That is completely normal, but
• 1:54
  no need to panic. We promise you will leave this episode feeling
• 1:58
  inspired, not terrified.
• 2:01
  Heidi: Not only inspired, but also empowered, I think.
• 2:03
  Emily: Yes.
• 2:04
  Heidi: Now I know what you might be thinking. April seems a
• 2:06
  little bit early to be thinking about back to school, especially
• 2:10
  when you might still be counting down the days to spring break,
• 2:13
  or maybe you are just trying to make it through the chaos of
• 2:16
  testing season. But hear us out.
• 2:19
  Emily: Yeah, thinking about back to school in April actually
• 2:22
  gives you a nice advantage. You're still in the classroom
• 2:25
  routine, so all those systems and challenges are fresh in your
• 2:29
  mind. You don't have to think too hard to know what worked
• 2:32
  well and what you are never, ever doing again. That kind of
• 2:37
  clarity is hard to come by in the middle of summer break, when
• 2:40
  last year feels like a cloudy memory.
• 2:43
  Heidi: So we are going to jump on that April advantage. And
• 2:47
  don't worry, we're not about to suggest things that are going to
• 2:50
  take you hours to do after school. We have got five simple
• 2:54
  things you can do in short bursts, like independent work
• 2:57
  time or planning time, to set yourself up for back to school
• 3:00
  success without adding to your already full plate.
• 3:04
  Emily: We want you to start next year feeling rested, refreshed
• 3:07
  and ready to go, and one step in that direction is by starting
• 3:11
  your prep early. So let's dive into the five tasks you can do
• 3:14
  in April for back to school.
• 3:17
  Okay, task number one to get ready for back to school in
• 3:20
  April is start your lists. We're starting with something simple,
• 3:25
  but seriously powerful. And we don't mean just make a to do
• 3:29
  list. We're talking about three specific lists that will save
• 3:33
  the day when you sit down to plan over the summer.
• 3:36
  Heidi: Our first list is a Ta-Da list. This is where you
• 3:40
  celebrate everything you did well this year. What did you try
• 3:43
  that worked? What routines or systems felt smooth and
• 3:46
  sustainable? Write it down so that you remember to bring it
• 3:50
  back next year.
• 3:51
  Emily: If you're like us, it's so much easier to think of all
• 3:54
  the things going wrong than to recognize all the amazing things
• 3:58
  that are going great. But that's the reason why you need to start
• 4:01
  working on it right away. Once you get a few things written on
• 4:04
  your ta-da list, more things will come to mind. You'll start
• 4:07
  noticing how smoothly your morning routine runs, or how you
• 4:10
  maximize your transition after lunch for a quick review time.
• 4:14
  Make that list so you have a place to write these
• 4:16
  observations down.
• 4:18
  Heidi: It is so important to celebrate your wins. Not only is
• 4:21
  that a great mood boost, but it will help you identify what you
• 4:24
  want to make sure to continue in the future. And getting started
• 4:27
  on it now, while you're still in the thick of the school year,
• 4:30
  will help you pinpoint the little details that might slip
• 4:33
  your mind in a few months.
• 4:35
  Emily: Okay, next is the obvious list, your to do list. These are
• 4:38
  the tasks you already know you'll need to handle before
• 4:41
  school starts. Think about things like what you need to
• 4:43
  copy, what you'll need to label, or any supplies you'll want to
• 4:47
  have ready.
• 4:48
  Heidi: If you made a to do list last year and you still have it
• 4:50
  handy, definitely check that list. It's so much easier when
• 4:55
  you do not have to recreate the wheel every year.
• 4:57
  Emily: And if you don't have one from last year, be sure to save
• 5:00
  this year's list. Keep listening for a free resource we have for
• 5:04
  you to help you keep track of these lists from year to year.
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  Heidi: And the third list you need is your fix it list. This
• 5:10
  is the place to capture all those little annoyances that you
• 5:13
  meant to fix but maybe never quite got to. Maybe it's a
• 5:17
  system that didn't flow, or a classroom layout that didn't
• 5:20
  work. Now it's the time to jot it all down before you forget.
• 5:24
  Emily: This is, for sure, one of the easiest lists for me to
• 5:26
  make. I am always so aware of every little pain point in our
• 5:30
  routine and all the ways I want to improve my instruction.
• 5:34
  Heidi: Just because we're into term four doesn't mean that it's
• 5:36
  too late to fix these things now. In fact, solving a headache
• 5:39
  now can be a smart way to make next year a little smoother,
• 5:42
  which is a huge bonus at the craziness of back to school
• 5:45
  time.
• 5:46
  Emily: But we've been there. We know how exhausting this time of
• 5:49
  year is. If you don't have the bandwidth to tackle a problem
• 5:52
  now, or if it's genuinely something that's too late to fix
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  at this point, the next best solution is to get it written
• 5:58
  down so you don't forget.
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  Heidi: Just get all of those thoughts out of your head and
• 6:02
  onto the paper. It will free up your mental load just having it
• 6:06
  written down. And then when you're ready to set goals and
• 6:09
  make plans for next year, that list is just gonna be ready and
• 6:12
  waiting for you.
• 6:13
  Emily: And we've made these three lists easy for you with
• 6:15
  our free end of year roadmap resource. This is a digital
• 6:19
  planner that will help you wrap up the school year and start the
• 6:22
  summer with intention.
• 6:23
  Heidi: The roadmap is in Google Sheets, which is nice because
• 6:26
  that means you can access it anywhere, and it's already
• 6:29
  formatted with a ta-da list, a to do list and a fix it list,
• 6:32
  just waiting for your great ideas.
• 6:34
  Okay Em, what is task number two that we can do in April for a
• 6:38
  better back to school?
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  Emily: Task number two is reflect on which procedures to
• 6:43
  repeat and which to rethink. You know we love talking about
• 6:47
  routines and procedures around here. We really believe that
• 6:50
  good procedures and routines will save you so much time and
• 6:53
  stress each year.
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  Heidi: So take a good look at how procedures and routines have
• 6:57
  run in your classroom this year. Maybe try taking a day or even a
• 7:00
  week to make notes of how the procedures are going in your
• 7:03
  classroom right now. Sometimes, just paying close attention to
• 7:06
  your day to day for a little while will make it obvious
• 7:09
  exactly which procedures are working and which ones you might
• 7:13
  want to change in the future.
• 7:14
  Emily: And if this is an area you want to deep dive into,
• 7:17
  we've got some episodes to help you with this.
• 7:20
  Heidi: Yeah, you know just a few episodes. If you need a deep
• 7:23
  dive into procedures and how to plan and teach them, start with
• 7:25
  episodes 150 and 154 where we guide you through discovering
• 7:29
  which procedures your classroom may need, and we share our four
• 7:32
  step method for teaching them.
• 7:34
  Emily: If you want to figure out why a certain procedure isn't
• 7:36
  working, check out episode 32 where we shared five questions
• 7:40
  you can ask yourself to get to the root of the problem and make
• 7:43
  changes. If you have time, you can even revamp that procedure
• 7:47
  this year to test it out.
• 7:49
  Heidi: You know, you may as well troubleshoot things now and save
• 7:51
  yourself the headache of course correcting in the fall.
• 7:54
  Emily: Your classroom transitions are probably the
• 7:56
  procedure you use most often in your day. If you want to improve
• 7:59
  your classroom transitions, we have a three part series all
• 8:02
  about making them efficient to save you time and stress.
• 8:05
  Heidi: Who knew there was so much to say about classroom
• 8:07
  transitions? Turns out that there is.
• 8:10
  Emily: Yep. That series starts in Episode 48. You could try out
• 8:14
  some of our strategies before this year ends, but at the very
• 8:17
  least, adding all of your notes to your fix it list can give you
• 8:20
  a big head start later. When you're setting up next year, you
• 8:23
  won't have to rely on fuzzy memories. You'll have actual
• 8:26
  notes from your teacher self who was in it.
• 8:29
  Heidi: Okay. Task number three that you can do in April for
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  back to school is one of my favorites. Such a handy tip.
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  Take photos of your students doing their everyday procedures.
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  Emily: This is such a good one, and one that's really easy to
• 8:42
  overlook.
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  Heidi: But the nice thing is, this is so easy to do. Just
• 8:46
  start snapping photos of your students doing classroom
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  procedures the right way. You know the way that you want them
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  to be doing them.
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  Emily: Get specific and take pictures of all the little steps
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  of the procedure. These photos will be much more helpful in
• 9:00
  your teaching next year, if they get into the nitty gritty of the
• 9:03
  steps students need to take.
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  Heidi: So for example, think of your morning routine. You can
• 9:07
  take a picture of the students entering the room, hanging up
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  their backpacks, turning in the home folders, getting a pencil
• 9:12
  and all of that fun stuff.
• 9:14
  Emily: Think about things like lining up, turning in work,
• 9:17
  transitioning between centers, or using supplies. Any procedure
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  you know you want to teach next year, capture it now. I prefer
• 9:25
  using pictures, but you might want to take some videos too. It
• 9:27
  wouldn't hurt, and you may find you want to use them.
• 9:30
  Heidi: These pictures or videos make awesome visual anchors when
• 9:33
  you're modeling expectations for your new class. It's so helpful
• 9:37
  to have photos of kids completing the steps in your
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  room with your materials. And bonus, your new students will
• 9:45
  love seeing the kids that they think are big kids showing how
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  it's done. Kids are way more engaged in learning about
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  something from another kid than, you know, from a boring old
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  grown up.
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  Emily: Plus, this is kind of a sneaky spring classroom
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  management hack too, because when your kids know you're
• 10:01
  taking pictures of them doing procedures to teach next year's
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  class, they will be much more likely to do those procedures
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  really well. So if your procedures are getting a bit
• 10:10
  sloppy, definitely give this a try to get your students to
• 10:13
  clean things up.
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  Heidi: That is so smart.
• 10:17
  Alright, Emily, what is the fourth task that teachers could
• 10:19
  do in April to get ready for back to school?
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  Emily: Do you have a new idea you've been curious about, but
• 10:24
  you weren't sure when to try it? April is your moment. Task
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  number four is to do a trial run on something new.
• 10:31
  Heidi: Trying something new with your students in the spring is
• 10:34
  the perfect timing. You've built relationships with your current
• 10:37
  students, so it's a low pressure way to experiment.
• 10:40
  Emily: Plus this is a great way to increase engagement by adding
• 10:43
  in something new, and to fill time after testing season, when
• 10:47
  you're just trying to get through those final weeks of
• 10:49
  school. So start by taking a minute to dream a bit about your
• 10:53
  ideal classroom. What's something you've been wanting to
• 10:55
  try that you haven't had the time or energy to do before now?
• 10:59
  The end of the year is a great time to do this, because you can
• 11:01
  see firsthand what it will be like before you commit to a
• 11:04
  whole new routine or teaching method next year. And if it goes
• 11:08
  well, then you know you definitely want to include it in
• 11:10
  your next year plans.
• 11:12
  Heidi: Maybe it's a new classroom routine or a behavior
• 11:14
  system that you've had your eye on. It could be some new
• 11:17
  technology that you want to try out, or maybe it's a fresh way
• 11:21
  to do morning work or end of day cleanup. Once you decide what
• 11:24
  you want to try, do it now, while you still have time to
• 11:27
  adjust and troubleshoot. This is so handy. You know, that could
• 11:30
  be trying out morning meeting or spending a couple of weeks
• 11:33
  really trying out a new daily vocabulary routine.
• 11:36
  Emily: By the time back to school season rolls around,
• 11:38
  you'll already know if it's worth using, and you'll feel way
• 11:40
  more confident introducing it to a brand new group of kids.
• 11:44
  Okay, Heidi, what is task number five?
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  Heidi: Well, our final April task to help you prepare for
• 11:50
  back to school is to decide what order to teach your procedures
• 11:53
  next year.
• 11:54
  Emily: Now, clearly, at this point in the episode, you
• 11:56
  already know that teaching procedures is essential, but
• 11:59
  obviously it's impossible and unnecessary to try and teach
• 12:03
  everything on day one.
• 12:05
  Heidi: Oh no, you would lose your mind, and so would your
• 12:07
  kids. So you need to decide which procedures to teach first,
• 12:12
  and April really is the perfect time to figure that out. Yes,
• 12:16
  yes, we're serious.
• 12:17
  Emily: While you're still living your daily classroom routines,
• 12:20
  ask yourself, which procedures keep my day running? What's
• 12:23
  really essential for those first few days, and what can wait?
• 12:28
  Heidi: By thinking through this now you're going to avoid that
• 12:30
  August panic when everything feels important. Narrowing down
• 12:34
  your top three to five procedures to teach right away
• 12:37
  will help you start the year with calm and confidence.
• 12:40
  Emily: And you'll be ready to plug those procedure lessons
• 12:43
  into your first day and first week plans when you start
• 12:46
  working on them.
• 12:47
  And that's it. Those are our five things. So let's do a quick
• 12:50
  recap of the five things you can do in April to get ahead for
• 12:53
  back to school.
• 12:54
  Heidi: Number one, start your list. Specifically you want a
• 12:58
  ta-da list, a to do list, and a fix it list to really capture
• 13:01
  what worked, what needs to get done and what could use a tweak.
• 13:05
  Emily: Number two, reflect on what procedures to repeat and
• 13:08
  what to rethink, so you're not trying to remember in August
• 13:11
  what drove you crazy in April.
• 13:13
  Heidi: Number three is to take photos of students doing your
• 13:16
  procedures to create easy, real life visuals for modeling
• 13:19
  expectations for next year'sstudents.
• 13:22
  Emily: Number four do a trial run for something new. Test out
• 13:25
  a new routine or system now so you can see what works with a
• 13:28
  group you already know.
• 13:30
  Heidi: And our last one is number five, decide which order
• 13:33
  to teach your procedures so that you are ready to start the year
• 13:36
  with a clear plan, instead of trying to teach all of the
• 13:48
  things all at once on day one.
• 13:50
  Emily: Even just picking one of these tasks to try can make a
• 13:53
  big difference, and your future teacher self will definitely
• 13:56
  thank you.
• 13:58
  Heidi: And don't forget to head to the show notes, where you can
• 14:00
  find a link for our free end of year roadmap digital planner.
• 14:05
  This will help you figure out your schedule for the next few
• 14:07
  months, reflect on what you want to maintain and change in the
• 14:10
  coming weeks, and break down tasks so you can get things done
• 14:13
  without stress.
• 14:15
  Emily: We'd love to hear what you do in April to get ready for
• 14:18
  back to school. Come join the conversation in the Teacher
• 14:20
  Approved Facebook group.
• 14:22
  Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip. Each week
• 14:26
  we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can
• 14:28
  apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher approved tip
• 14:32
  is do a quick refresh on a troublesome procedure. So tell
• 14:36
  us about this, Heidi.
• 14:37
  Heidi: Well, as you may have noticed, teachers, spring fever
• 14:40
  is real, and classroom routines can get a little wobbly this
• 14:44
  time of year. So one way to combat that is to try a quick
• 14:48
  win refresh. So start by picking one routine that's maybe gotten
• 14:52
  a little sloppy, you know, lining up, cleaning up or
• 14:55
  transitioning between subjects, and reteach it like you did at
• 14:58
  the beginning of the year. So we want to model it, practice it,
• 15:03
  and praise it like it's brand new.
• 15:05
  Emily: And then discuss how students can continue to meet
• 15:08
  your expectations going forward. Just because summer vacation is
• 15:11
  peaking around the corner doesn't mean we give up on our
• 15:14
  standards of behavior.
• 15:15
  Heidi: Now to help you out, we have a set of Google slides that
• 15:18
  you can use to revisit any procedure. So how it works is,
• 15:22
  for each procedure that you want to refresh, you can have these
• 15:25
  students rate themselves on how well they are currently meeting
• 15:28
  your expectations from one to five. The kids know. The kids
• 15:31
  know they're pushing the boundaries. And then you can use
• 15:35
  that information to guide your discussion, and you can find a
• 15:38
  link to the slides in the show notes, or you could visit our
• 15:40
  shop.
• 15:41
  Emily: Refreshing a routine takes less than 10 minutes, and
• 15:43
  the payoff is huge. Students get a clear reminder of
• 15:47
  expectations, and you get back a bit of the calm structure your
• 15:50
  classroom needs in the spring chaos.
• 15:53
  Heidi: All right, to wrap up the show, we are showing what we're
• 15:55
  giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your
• 15:57
  extra credit?
• 15:59
  Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the book, First Lie Wins by
• 16:02
  Ashley Elston. So generally, I stick to romance books or maybe
• 16:07
  historical fiction, but I have been dipping my toe into the
• 16:11
  thriller waters. I'm not into violence or anything too scary,
• 16:15
  so First Lie Wins fits the bill.
• 16:17
  Heidi: It sounds a little intense.
• 16:19
  Emily: No, trust me, you can do this. You can do this one. So
• 16:22
  here's the blurb. Evie Porter has everything a nice southern
• 16:26
  girl could want, a perfect doting boyfriend, a house with a
• 16:29
  white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The
• 16:32
  only catch? Evie Porter doesn't exist. So it was a fun, quick
• 16:37
  read. If you have some other non scary thriller recommendations
• 16:41
  to share, I'd love to hear them. I found that what I'm enjoying
• 16:44
  about starting to read some thriller books that aren't too
• 16:47
  scary is that it just makes me look for reasons to read them
• 16:51
  during the day, like it's getting me reading even more
• 16:53
  than I already was, because I just want to know what's going
• 16:55
  to happen, and so it's kind of fun to have a different read.
• 16:58
  I'm mixing it in now, still getting in plenty of romance.
• 17:00
  Don't worry.
• 17:02
  Heidi: That is a nice change of pace. And it's nice when you
• 17:04
  have something compelling that's drawing you back to the book.
• 17:07
  It's always a fun feeling. This could be a fun one if people
• 17:10
  have spring break still to look forward to, that could be a fun
• 17:13
  pring break read.
• 17:14
  Emily: Yes, definitely. Okay, what are you giving extra credit
• 17:17
  to Heidi?
• 17:18
  Heidi: Well, this is much less exciting, but my extra credit
• 17:21
  goes to La Roche Posay Effaclar Gel Cleanser. How do they name
• 17:26
  these things, right? With salicylic acid. So I saw a hack
• 17:30
  on Instagram for using it to prevent ingrown hairs, sorry,
• 17:34
  TMI, and I thought I would give it a shot. And I have to say,
• 17:37
  I've been very happily surprised. The trick is to use
• 17:41
  this gel as like a shaving gel, and then follow it up by
• 17:44
  applying hydrocortisone cream. It has made a huge difference
• 17:49
  for my skin. I don't think I've had any problems since I started
• 17:51
  trying this. Now I will say I think the magic ingredient is
• 17:54
  the salicylic acid, and not necessarily that specific
• 17:58
  cleanser, because I know I did try using a shampoo with
• 18:01
  salicylic acid instead, and I liked shaving with that better
• 18:05
  because it's a little thicker than the cleanser.
• 18:07
  Emily: Okay.
• 18:08
  Heidi: Definitely worth trying out, especially as temps get a
• 18:10
  little warmer and sleeves maybe get a little shorter.
• 18:14
  Emily: All right, I'm gonna check it out.
• 18:16
  Heidi: That is it for today's episode. Try out some of our
• 18:19
  five easy things that you can do in April for back to school, and
• 18:23
  make sure to grab our end of year roadmap freebie from the
• 18:25
  link in the show notes to help you finish the year strong.
• 18:30
  We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
• 18:34
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 18:37
  or subscribe in your podcast apps that you never miss an
• 18:40
  episode.
• 18:41
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 18:43
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 18:46
  Bye, for now.
• 18:47
  Emily: Bye.