It’s back to school time, and I am super excited about today’s post! I’m teaming up with 6 other teacher fashion bloggers to share teacher inspired outfits to wear in your classroom.  We are from all over the country and teach different grades, so hopefully, you will find some teacher fashion inspiration from that fits your style and budget.

For the last 10 years, I have been working in early childhood education.  I’ve been an infant and toddler teacher in childcare centers, I’ve been an administrator at a childcare center and I’ve taught preschool at 3 different non-profit Head Start programs.  I am currently going into my 4th year teaching PreK at a Head Start program in Nevada.  I definitely have to say that 4 and 5-year old’s are my favorite age in early childhood.  I love preparing kids for Kindergarten.  When I was younger, I always knew that I wanted to work with children when I got older, but I never thought that I would be working with this group of children.  After graduating from college with my bachelor’s degree in Child Development and Family Studies, I knew that I wanted to work for Head Start.  If you’re not familiar with Head Start, it’s a federally funded preschool program for low-income families.  We work closely with children and their families to help close the achievement gap in education. 

I will be the first to admit that my job is not easy.  I work year-round, there is a lot of paperwork and many of our children come to us with special needs and behavior problems.  There are times when I question why I do this job.  This past year was my hardest year ever.  I thought about quitting every day and questioned if I really should be doing this kind of job.  But I held in there and finally made it to the end of the long year (Yup our school year ends at the end of July and starts back up in early August, so there is no summer break for me.)  This year I plan to start fresh and on a positive note.

One thing that always helps me get through my day and stay positive is a cute outfit.  I’m a firm believer that your outfit can set the tone of your day.  When I wear something that I don’t love or I don’t feel good in, then I’m not going to have a good workday.  But when I step up my outfit a bit and wear something that makes me feel good, I’m in a different mood.  I’m happier, I’m more patient with the kids and I’m more motivated to get things done in my classroom.

 My dress code at work is pretty casual.  That’s nice being a preschool teacher because we do everything with the kids… we paint, we dance, we run on the playground and eat 2 meals with the children, so as you can imagine, it can get messy.  Luckily we can wear jeans all week long, but I also try to dress up and wear a dress from time to time.  Dresses are so comfortable to wear in the classroom, especially when it’s really hot outside.

 For today’s post, I struggled with coming up with a really cute and creative look, so I decided to just stick to my basic’s and style a striped dress from my closet. (original post HERE)  I think everyone that I work with knows how much I love stripes because I wear them at least 4 times a week.  They are just so versatile.  When you work with the same people every day, you start to learn about their wardrobe.  I try to never wear the same exact look twice.  I repeat my clothes all the time, but I just wear them in different ways.  That’s why I wanted to share 9 ways that you can style a striped dress to wear in your classroom.  This way you can still repeat your clothes, without repeating your outfit.

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 Cardigan- Old Navy- thrifted at Savers (SIMILAR) || Flats- Old Navy (SIMILAR) || Earrings- Target (SIMILAR)

 Cardigan- H&M- Thrifted from Savers (SIMILAR) || Boots- Target (SIMILAR) || Necklace- Nordstrom Rack (SIMILAR)

 Cardigan- Macy’s (SIMILAR) || Booties- Burlington Coat Factory (EXACT) || Necklace- Charming Charlie (SIMILAR) Watch- Jord (EXACT)

Shirt- Unknown Brand- Thrifted from Savers (SIMILAR) || Shoes- Madden Girl- Thrifted from ThredUP (SIMILAR) || Bracelet-  Kate Spade (EXACT)

 Vest- Brand unknown- thrifted from Savers (SIMILAR) || Shoes- Walmart (SIMILAR) || Necklace- thrifted from Savers (SIMILAR)

 Jacket- Old Navy- thrifted from Savers (SIMILAR) || Shoes- Kohl’s- thrifted from ThredUP (SIMILAR) || Necklace- Kohl’s (SIMILAR)

 Sweater- Old Navy (EXACT) || Shoes- Kohl’s- thrifted from ThredUP (SIMILAR) || Bracelet- Kate Spade (EXACT) || Belt- Target (SIMILAR)

 Blazer- LC Lauren Conrad (EXACT) || Belt- hand-me-down (SIMILAR) || Shoes- Target (SIMILAR) Watch- JORD (EXACT)

T-shirt- Target (SIMILAR) || Shoes- Madden Girl- thrifted from ThredUP (SIMILAR) || Watch- Nordstrom Rack (SIMILAR) Necklace- LC Lauren Conrad (SIMILAR)

The options are really endless when it comes to styling a striped dress, but hopefully, you can use some of these outfit ideas when styling your own dresses in your wardrobe.  Don’t forget to check out the other blogger’s post below for more teacher wardrobe inspiration. Thanks for stopping by!!