The Schoolyard Podcast S2, E1: Back to School Magic

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Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Hello friends! Welcome back to the Schoolyard Podcast brought to you by School Specialty. This is our Episode 1 of Season 2.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
I’m your host, Nancy Chung, a fun-loving teacher and content creator also known as @fancynancyin5th on social media, and I’m thrilled that you’re here. A special shout-out to School Specialty, who offers essential educational supplies and complete learning environment solutions to help you transform more than classrooms. This is the Schoolyard Podcast, a podcast by educators, for educators, where the magic of learning unfolds. Today, our wonderful guests, Stephanie Osmondson and Loreal Hemenway of @happilyeverelementary have back to school in mind. Like many teachers right now, we will be discussing what we love so much, which is sharing classroom setup tips and practical ideas on creating functional and inviting spaces. These two teachers are not only colorful and creative, they’re so fun and dynamic. Stephanie and Loreal bring a wealth of experience to the table. Stephanie has a background in early childhood education with over a decade of experience specializing in creating engaging and interactive learning environments. Loreal comes from a background in elementary education, focusing on integrating technology and creative teaching strategies to enhance student learning. Together, they founded @happilyeverelementary on Instagram and TikTok, where they share their innovative ideas, classroom setups, and teaching tips with the vibrant community over 279,000 followers. Their mission is to inspire and support fellow educators by providing practical advice, uplifting stories, cute outfit ideas, and a whole lot of positivity. Welcome back to the schoolyard, Stephanie and Loreal. It’s so good to have you back.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Thank you. What a warm welcome, Nancy. Good to virtually see you.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
I know, it’s been too long. I know how busy you guys are. So thank you so much for carving out your time to be here today. Last time you were on our podcast, you share some amazing tips on creating an inclusive classroom environment that can spark creativity. We received an incredible amount of positive feedback on your episode. And I’m not shocked by this, but it was our most popular, most streamed episode.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
So thank you. Thank you for listening, guys.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
You guys are awesome. You’re clearly loved by everybody. So I know we’re recording this mid July. But I can see that you’re in your classroom and you have been going in. How excited are you for a fresh new school year?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
We are always excited to kind of jump back in. There’s just something about the energy you get on a school campus that unfortunately, even though we’re like filling our own cup during the summer, it’s not necessarily the same energy, especially as two moms. We’re home and we really aren’t resting that much right now with our littles. And there is something about checking in with your school community that does give you this like lift and this jolt of energy that we’re really excited to tap back into seeing our staff members and our students again.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Oh, I love that. And I know you’re you’ve been redoing bulletin boards for a lot of teachers on your campus, right? Yes.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
How’s that going? Yeah, this summer, we’re not doing a classroom makeover. And so we decided how can we serve teachers still doing the things we love. And we looked in our lockers that are sitting behind us right now. And we have two panels that are full of bulletin board kits that we’ve created for our Teachers Pay Teacher Store. We’ve had them on display, and then we always save the pieces in a nice Ziploc bag, and they’re just sitting there. So we thought, what better way to help our own teachers in our building by offering to do their bulletin boards? So we are working on 12 to 15 bulletin boards that we are delivering across our school, across grade levels, and we know how much it’s helping our teachers right now, and they are just so thankful to take something off of their plate.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Oh, my gosh, I bet. I bet if you took signups online, you would get like 1000s and 1000s of people saying come to our school and do a board for us.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
We often get people in the comments like come see me and do my board. And we were that most of our staff did fill out the Google form and was interested and it made us feel very flattered. But also we were like, man, I wish we could do literally everyone’s fight huge. And we’ll do this again. Because it’s been such an experience. I don’t think we couldn’t. starting it and it feels good to take one thing, just one tiny thing off of a gen ed teacher’s plate because we know how quickly things pile up at the back to school season and having peace of mind that they can come in and their board is done was something we were really excited to give to them.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
That is amazing. You guys are just giving back to your school and just always looking to help others. I love that. So when you’re planning your classroom organization and decor for the following school year, where do you start? Well, I always have to start out like when I get back to school, I just walk around in circles for the whole day. I’m like, literally, literally walking around in circles. Where do you start?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
I’ve noticed that as well with other people is like, when they’re like day one classroom set up the first day staring at everything like yeah. We will see as art teachers, our dynamic and list of responsibilities is so incredibly different. We are not having to prep our Meet the Teacher letters in the same way. We have opportunities like that as specialists, but it’s not the same way you’re responsible for your class. We’re not having to laminate homework folders or things like that. However, we do tend to start with function. And for us as art teachers, and we did this in the Gen Ed classroom as well, we try and think about, well, what could improve from last year and make sure that we’re like kind of reflecting on the fact of like, oh, that that was a struggle for me like time and time again. And honestly, we would probably be thinking about that the previous school year and then start working towards implementing something better in the summer. But going back to school, it’s like the excitement, but like behind trying something new that could work and I think that’s why on our social media we’re so passionate about saying like we’re trying this new thing and you know we want to share it with you guys and see if it could work for you is because like we’ve just learned time and time again that you know as you learn and grow you know your students have more opportunity as well um but yeah I think for our teachers specifically there were things like um that we wanted to improve One of those things for us in particular was like calm down kits to make sure that we’re accommodating the needs of all of our students. And so I know we put a big focus on that this summer. But if we were in the classroom, that could be a variety of things, whether it’s like, you know, adapting to new curriculum or wanting better student organization. But I think those are things that we and the school you’re looking forward to improving going into a new one.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
I love that a lot of times experienced teachers kind of get in the rut of doing the same thing year after year. And I think that’s that could cause burnout, too, in my my opinion, like our personalities, we will get so bored. Right. So yeah. Yeah. So it’s not I mean, it’s of course, it’s for the kids, too. But for our sake, too, when we are trying new things, we feel you know, we feel more refreshed and we feel more inspired for the school year. Absolutely. In your experience, what classroom design elements have the most positive impact on student engagement and learning outcomes?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
There’s a lot of classrooms that Stephanie and I have designed in our teaching careers from our own classrooms to summer makeovers. And then our own art room. And when it comes down to it, creating an aesthetic of a welcoming environment with colors and vibrancy and things that engage students really does make a big change in the student culture and having the kids feel welcome into your room. There’s nothing better than looking at the face of a student walking into a classroom the first time. It is hands down one of our favorite experiences. When we do makeovers, we love seeing the teacher’s reaction. That’s pretty rad. But when the students come in, it brings us to tears. because you can see it on their face. They light up and see the little touches that you think no one’s going to notice. And kids will walk right up to them and want to touch them or look at them. And it is truly magical creating those environments for students. And it just sets the tone for the entire school year. So I just think the overall aesthetic of a room and the vibrancy and the ability to make it welcoming for students is super important. And it is definitely one of our favorite parts.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Oh, and I’m sure that fuels you even more, right? Because you don’t want to get that reaction again. I love that.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
And that’s how it is with all of our events. Again, as specialists, we are putting on a lot of event based things with our students. And that’s how we meet our community. Since we don’t have like a class with parents, they’ll come up our events, and then they’ll see what we’re about. And a lot of the times there is this initial shock factor with the spaces we create. And like Laura said, it is usually the kids, but there’s been a couple parents that pull us aside and they’re like, if I was coming to this school as a student, I’d be so excited to come back. And they’ve said things like, obviously, like, I wish our school had this kind of thing growing up. And like, I can totally relate to that. And so like Loreal said, it’s it’s there’s like this Feeling that environment can give and that’s what we stand behind is a sense of safety security Excitement and then when kids are like bought in in that way, they’re ready to learn

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Oh, I know. Oh my gosh. Like every time you share stories and show us like your classroom and what you guys are doing in there. I’m like, I wish I could just go live in there. Like, not only do I want to teach with you at your school. Yeah, I’ll take the I’ll take the lower one. The biggest one you have. Okay, so what is what is the most transformative low budget change you’ve seen in a classroom makeover? I know you guys are really good with budget too.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Okay, so we talked about this because there’s different ways to go about it. And people’s budgets are different and sometimes you have more support financially from your school. Then others when it comes to like our big classroom makeovers and things that like we have been known for on social media, we’re obviously able to do a lot more because we do have a budget. And we have gotten a lot of permission from the school from the district from the teacher. And so paint can go a long way if you’re able to. However, Loreal and I are thinking back to like, the days when we were not a business. And we were doing makeovers for friends and for schools with zero budget and so we would only use what the school had like in their lounge or in their teacher room and that meant paper. And so there’s a couple makeovers that come to mind right away where we only use butcher paper and large construction paper and then like had like maybe a $50 budget and we’re buying things like burlap or like cricut mats and using like our cricut machines that we both got gifted for graduation presents so that wasn’t even something we paid for but the difference that it can make if you are willing to like kind of think creatively and think outside of the box like we had one of the makeovers was for a parent volunteer room or a parent work room and we want the the principal had asked for it to be like really inviting and at the time like farmhouse and burlap and like Buffalo check were popping off and we made the most we loved it stunning paper flowers that were like three feet in diameter I remember I remember this I’ve been following you for a long time you would paint the paper. We did all kinds of things, and we printed some buffalo check with black ink on white paper. I remember this, yeah. And that was free because we were printing at school on white paper, but the flowers were massive because we used the 18 by 9 inch paper. And then we also folded a long piece of butcher paper and cut out a little, what is that called? like a picket fence that went across the whole room and it was so stinking cute. And then we made a giant buffalo check wall just by stapling up squares of paper that we had black, white, and then had drawn on to create that buffalo check overlap look. But the impact that it made, and I’m sure the volunteers, because that was not our school at the time, the volunteers that went in there, we could only imagine, were like feeling warm and cozy and cute. And that was the goal. And we only used paper and some burlap for that whole makeover. And I think the impact was still there, you know? So don’t limit yourself to your budget. You know, think outside the box and run with your creativity because a lot can be accomplished.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Mm hmm. I think that’s right when I was starting to follow you guys. And we’re doing all these murals. And you were doing like, I love the fact that you guys are just using paper and creating these amazing, not just a focus wall, I just felt like just a magical environment that you know, that is like, like a transformation of just a simple classroom. You guys have a magical touch.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
We never want teachers to feel like in order to have a classroom of your dreams or a classroom space that is beautiful and inviting that you have to pour money into it because you really. shouldn’t and don’t have to and mind you we have tips and tricks on how you can get money if you want and free things for your classroom but the bottom line is you can do a lot just being creative with the things that are either provided to you or things you have around the house and we always like to take household items and other things around that we could show that like this could be something that’s beautiful and you could transform it into something beautiful and it doesn’t have to break the bank.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Right. A lot of the questions that I get online is how much money did you spend on the classroom? And I have to tell them, see this item, I upcycled, I took an old shelf repainted it or like this, you know, I got like my I don’t know if you guys have seen my candy machines. I call them my knowledge dispensers. That was a garage sale find that I repainted and just added little cute cricut letters onto. And so it was really low budget but people are like that’s so much money and I’m like no you just have to get creative and spend the time.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Yeah, thinking outside the box is how you ask for things. I think some people are comfortable just asking, but like we used to put in our like open house slideshow, your trash could be our classroom’s treasure. So old toys or old books or old furniture, just maybe send an email to your teacher because they could use that bookshelf or they could use that ottoman or whatever. And like you said, upcycle it for sure.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
So that can kind of naturally lead to a different question, which is, what is the most unusual or creative upcycled item you’ve ever incorporated into a class trip design?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Um, I think we’re most known for our lockers. I think that right behind you, a lot of our content because they are beautiful. And to be honest, when we originally created this space, um, we flipped this classroom in 48 hours for a TV show. And in that time, we were just trying to bring magic to every corner, but we’re missing the function and what we had their function. Well, but once we actually had kids in the room, we’re like, it could just function so much better. And so Stephanie on Facebook marketplace found a gentleman who is selling these old, old, they’re gray, dusty, beat up lockers. And the process was actually awful to paint them. We just had someone ask us like, what special paint did you use? And my girlfriend, we use leftover paint, spray paint. I mean, in order to paint colors, I mean, we don’t know what we’re doing half the time, but we’re not afraid to do it. but we took something that truly was someone’s trash and made it into one of our most functional. One of those is jam-packed. We use it daily and it is beautiful. It just fits their space so much better and it just took a bit of a risk to buy them and to give it a try.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
I’m just curious where he even got a set of lockers.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
He told us, right? He got them from a high school and had them in his garage and he had like a work setup. It was for odds and ends, but he was moving and they were pretty dusty. He left, remember? Yeah, he left like a backpack and some tools. We are like the male. Yeah. Oh, wow. But it is gorgeous.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
It’s beautiful.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
If you ever see something on the side of the road of a table, we’ll talk about like our reading corner tables or small group tables or any tables we had a littles in our classroom were most the time something we found on the side of the road, a small picnic table, painted it, made it new and getting that new life in our classroom. And so it did not have to take us going to the store and buying a $200, $300 table.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Right. And what I love is you’re not just bringing these items into your classroom because they’re pretty or because they’re cute, but you find functional items. Like, I think you have a vision. You see something you’re like, I can use this for this. And it’s not just to decorate, but it’s creating a functional space. So how do you balance creating an aesthetically pleasing room which there’s nothing wrong with. We spend so much of our school day in the classroom. So of course, I want it to be very aesthetically pleasing too. But how do you find the balance between just having a beautiful classroom versus maintaining a functional learning environment?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
So we love this question. And Nancy, we got to know you first at a conference where we were both presenting, and we actually presented on this. And we’re so quick to say, we are function first. We’re aesthetic girlies, but also aesthetic is subjective. And if you’re not there with the function first, the space isn’t going to serve you. And ultimately, that is our bottom line, is the space is there to serve both the teacher and the students for the maximum effective engagement and instruction. We are really passionate about like when we, we do classroom makers for others we like have this whole interview process where it’s like what’s working what’s not working what do you absolutely need to see again that you’ve had in your. And what would you like to improve upon like we talked to having this really reflective process and for us. uh function and aesthetics go hand in hand and like we said aesthetics are subjective and and honestly trends and things are kind of fleeting so if you are have like a solid organization system if you have student organization if you have your materials organized and things and then you can just kind of change and tweak the things that bring you joy because that will change also throughout time um you’re going to be solid so we would advise people to start by looking at what their classroom needs to function, whether that’s like, okay, my carpet time needs to operate this way, or I want my reading corner to invite students in with this kind of book organization. Start with those things and then find like the cute aesthetic labels and find the area rug that you’re like, oh, this is how I want to invite them to the carpet, you know, but Once you feel like you understand like your own needs as a teacher instructionally, then it’s it adds the extra fun to say like, okay, I’d really like this kind of a reading chair with like maybe like a pom pom in this throw pillow. But trying to fit your classroom into an aesthetic is something we would not advise. Because trends kind of come and go. And we when we started teaching was it rainbow with chalkboard? Yeah, it was like really aesthetic. uh-huh you remember that it was like oh yeah rock board and i remember chevron was like popping off oh yeah uh-huh chevron everything we’re both in our classroom for sure and obviously that time has passed um but we stand by the things that we are able to do functionally in our classroom so we would say start there make a list of all of your major instructional needs and then kind of fill in the gaps with the things that are beautiful and that bring you joy

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Now, our listeners can’t see, but I have this like, dorky smirk on my face right now. You know, as you guys are talking, I was just smirking away because, you know, when I was younger, my motto was like fashion before function, right? It’s like, you know, whether it’s whatever it was fashion before function, so I could be wearing like the most uncomfortable shoes and people are like, how do you walk in those and I would say like fashion before function, but

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Now that I’m old, it’s like function, function, function, function, no, no, actually, I think with our clothes, we could relate to you on that. I’m wearing a wedge that like, honestly, is not realistic for a teacher to be wearing. But when it comes to the pregnant teacher to be wearing literally but like as a person who um started teaching and was thrown into a classroom like like a couple months into the year and was extremely unorganized my first year it devastated me i felt like i was constantly like trying to like keep my head above water and now knowing the systems that like we have in place together in our art room it brings us so much peace of mind um knowing that like even if stuff comes up in a day like our classroom is serving us so like we’re good we can figure anything out because there’s so many other things that have been done so intentionally and still beautiful of course but um yeah so we could have fashion and function Yes.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
So change the model. Yeah, we’ll change the model to fashion function function.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
All the same fashion function fun.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Oh, oh, I love that. Go up on my wall. Yeah, I know we talked about budget before. So if you had an unlimited budget for just one area, not for the whole, like for the whole classroom, but maybe just for one area of the classroom, which would you choose? And how would you make it absolutely extraordinary?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Oh, wow, this question got us thinking. So thank you. bringing that to light because we don’t ever think about a world where we have an unlimited budget. It’s never crossed our mind. So to dream a little bit was really fun. And when we think to our makeover winners, A lot of times, a lot of our budget does go to other seating options in their classroom. Because a lot of the times in your classroom, what you’re given by your school is a set of furniture that may not serve your students. And so flexible seating is something that We love to gift teachers in the times where we do have a budget and a lot of our budget does go to whatever their needs are and if that’s what their needs are and they want to see flexible seating for their students, we love to do that. So I think in the art room, We were thinking about our tables don’t serve us the way we would like to see it in an art room either. They’re very large tables. We often have little students reaching across which you know can be disastrous. Paint cups and waters and paintbrush. So I think that we would probably do a little upgrade on our table situation. We would get rid of the classroom tables that were just handed to us that we just make work in our environment and maybe get some functions better for our art room. But I think a lot of teachers would agree that When you’re handed the desks that you, and sometimes teachers do not have a choice at our school, they’d walk into their room and they had tables when they wanted desks, or they had desks when they wanted tables, and you just have to make those things work. And we’ve done a pretty good job making it work. But in that situation, we had an unlimited budget. I think we would adjust our furniture situation in here, as we are oftentimes welcoming 50 students at one time, 8 students around one table and they’re sharing a small amount of supplies and you can imagine it. It’s not always clean and it’s not always functioning the best to its ability. You know, budget, we’d make smaller class sizes.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Yeah. Oh, is that even an option?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
You said one area. Maybe we’d add chandeliers and disco balls. Yeah, I don’t know. If it was unlimited, we’d probably go, I know.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Right. In January, I was fortunate enough to go with School Specialty as they did a classroom makeover for a teacher. They surprised this teacher in Houston. And guess what kind of room it was? It was an art room. So the furniture, the tables, just the organization systems, not just the supplies, but the whole room was just transformed. And I was like, drooling. I was like, I didn’t even know they made things like this. So it was amazing to see School Specialty coming in and like just transforming this whole space. And it was incredible. So you could check out some of those tables and desks too. Yeah. And there could be like Barry that will be like, here you go.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Here are the tables. Yeah. Someone out there.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Wink wink. Wink wink. I know. Okay. Imagine you could travel back in time to your first year of teaching. What is the single most impactful classroom organization hack you’d share with your younger self and why?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
It’s funny because we actually think so fondly of our first classrooms because obviously it was like our first impression of teaching and we cared so much about our classrooms that we dreamed of for years. And I learned a lot from Loreal in college because she graduated two years before me and had had a classroom for two years. So I’d like go in and like volunteer for her just to like, you know, get a little taste of like teaching while I was still in college. But I remember both of our first classrooms and one thing that we both valued a ton was obviously storage. We have a much larger room now as art teachers, but at the time there were so many things in kinder and first grade that you could hold on to as like manipulatives or as like, you know, with certain thematic read alouds that you’re like, oh, I have to keep this stuffy for that one lesson. Like, there’s just so many things. And then when it comes to storage in the rooms that we had, it was, there was, Either you needed to go a little bit high and have things anchored high above your wardrobes or have things low. Loreal was really good. Her whole back wall was bulletin boards, but she had tables in front of them. And so then underneath every table, she had totes or storage bins that were really big that held a ton of stuff, but you wouldn’t see any of it because she had this like beautiful curtain that was like a theme. color scheme that covered everything that was along the edge of her table. And so like things like that, where you have to like, not just take the storage. We were given those apothecary wardrobes where there’s a million drawers. And things like that don’t fit in those drawers. At least ours were very narrow and long and deep. And so there were things that like a garage tote is what you would need. And so things like that, we’d get creative with and you can cover it up if you’re able to stack things high. I know there’s some times where you have to make sure safety is, considered. But there’s lots of things like that where it’s like if you need to store stuff, like get creative about it, cover it up. It’s all good. But I’ll hide them all. Personally, for first year teachers and for second year teachers or whatever. If you’re not using it, I would say don’t feel the teacher guilt of like, but it was free or someone left it for me. Get rid of stuff if you’re not using it. Or if it’s not actually purposeful in your room, because that was something I struggled with for probably four years, at least was like, holding on to a ton of stuff. And it like kind of frazzled my brain, but I constantly felt like there was potential to use certain things instructionally. And mind you, again, garden I had centers circulating and changing every single week. So anything could have been used for a center, but don’t be scared to kind of edit your stuff every year. Edit it down. Is this working for me? Is it not? Could another teacher use it more than I could? I could gift it to someone else or just donate or trash it depending on what it is. But I think that was something that like took me a long time to learn personally because Loreal has been always really good at editing her stuff. I feel that I truly had to work on because for the longest time I hoarded stuff in my wardrobes and stuff. And until I got rid of it, did I really see organization, like true organization where I’m like, everything here has a home, has a purpose.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Yeah. And I know we’ve had previous conversations about that being like organized hoarders or like having like, oh gosh, my house right now, my summer vacation goal was to get rid of a lot of my stuff. And it’s

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
all here still. Every summer baby, every summer.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
On your own time. Maybe spring break, winter break, yeah.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Well I think it’s hard for people like you and I too because when you’re a creative person you see potential that you could change this or that or have this special function and so I think that doesn’t help. I know. And I’ll just paint it or I’ll just keep on it.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Uh-huh. Well, we just need somebody to come and say, I really need this. Can I have it? And we’ll be like, here you go. So you feel like there’s a purpose, that would be a dream. I just can’t get rid of it.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
But I know, but or you need a Loreal because she’s like pro.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Yes, yes, I know. Loreal, what are you doing tomorrow?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
She wasn’t teaching. I feel like she could easily be like a home organizer.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Yeah, you’re like, say goodbye. Say thank you for the joy that it brought you. Marie Kondo it. Yep. I love that. Yeah. No, but thank you so much for being here. Now. We have a segment on our podcast called Tag You’re It, where the listeners write in with a question. And today’s question is not teaching related. It comes from Jordan P. And the question is, if you could switch places with someone, anyone for a day, who would it be? And why?

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Oh my gosh. Okay. I have my answer.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
I have mine too.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Oh, I wouldn’t have said it on the camera. Oh, yeah.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Okay, here’s Stephanie Taylor Swift, Taylor.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
You will change your answer because we talked about this all the time. We live the same life, but so no different. And it would be so helpful, insightful, and so insightful. And just both of us to truly which is funny because like, I would be home and she would be here and it would be I want a day in the life with her on her days. And as much as like, I feel like we do live a mirrored life, it would be very insightful to just spend a day in her shoes. Now, you’re right. I was not thinking big.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Okay, no, I know.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
He’s right, though. I will say I think as moms too the fact that we’re extremely transparent with each other it really helps how honest we are because it gives us a lot of insight when like a lot of things as parents you feel like oh am I doing the right thing or what are my choices like there are things Loreal has brought into a conversation I’m like I have never thought of that and our children are so different too that it brings different strategies up obviously my son’s on the spectrum so there’s a lot of things that come up that she’s like I I didn’t know that you know and vice versa

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
But I want to know why you chose Taylor Swift.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Let me tell you. And it’s not necessarily because people at Travis can see anything. No, I just feel like this is so selfish now. I feel terrible. Don’t feel bad. Growing up, I had this, and I have to thank my mom for this, I had this unreal, like I just accepted the fact that one day I was going to be a famous pop star. And I probably believed that with complete certainty until I was like 15 years old. And then reality started hitting when I got my first job and I’m like, what’s a W-2? Like, I was like, oh, this is not on the table for you and that’s okay. But I was like a theater and choir kid and I truly believed that. And so I think one day just like knowing what it’s truly like to be like a pop star and like, she’s obviously a mega icon. and businesswoman and just like everything, I just think it would be fun. Like, you know, and to be on a stage and all that. That is so selfish compared to where Loreal is. I just think about it every day because I would love to just walk a day in her life. And I would love for her to walk a day in my life. And I just think that would be so cool just to, yeah, just experience.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
And I just Stephanie that you could walk around, you could walk around and say, Loreal wants to be me.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
She wants to be me. No, there’s things though, if I was in Loreal’s like life that I feel like I’d be like, okay, let me try this on for size. Because like she said, it’s funny how mirrored are like, yeah, there’s like very specific things that like could never even be close to the same. Yeah, it would be interesting. But that’s fun.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Oh, you guys are so lucky to have each other and working together so well. Yeah. I wish every teacher had a work buddy, like work sister work buddy like that, you know, in their schools, a lot of people reaching out, they’re like, I wish I had that.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
And we wish so deeply that everyone brings the comfort and care of like a good friend, especially profession. Yeah.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Well, it really you guys really shine through in the short little reels and the tick tocks that you guys share it really your positivity and love for each other and love for the kids really shine through. So thank you for making that contagious love, you know, just, you know, spread to everyone who follows you.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
We’ve had a privilege to see you, Nancy, and it has been such a privilege because we’ve learned so much.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
So thank you for sharing your time with us. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, it was wonderful having you back. Well, I hope to have you guys back again for for other more episodes. But thank you. Thank you for being here. We love you.

Guests: Stephanie Osmundson & Loreal Hemenway @happilyeverelementary:
Love you. Thanks, guys.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Bye. Thank you for joining us for the seventh episode of The Schoolyard Podcast.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Remember to pack your curiosity and meet us back in the schoolyard for our next episode.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
But before you go, tag you’re it! Now it’s your turn to write in with a question which we will answer here on The Schoolyard Podcast for our segment called Tag You’re It.

Host: Nancy Chung @fancynancyin5th:
Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter, at SchoolSpecialty, and hashtag SchoolyardTagYourIt, with a question that you want answered. One question will be selected per episode to be answered by our featured guest and myself, and if your question is chosen to be answered on the podcast, we’ll send you a very special Schoolyard Podcast t-shirt. Class dismissed!