What’s your all-time favorite children’s book? Mine? The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. The Best Author Visit Ever in 2002 How thrilled I was in 2002 when author Barbara Robinson visited my Kindergarten/1st grade classroom. Giddy with excitement, I scribbled pages of notes as she shared with my young readers and writers. […]
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Children want to – and can – help the survivors of Hurricane Helene. Don’t you just love this quote? Fred Rogers gave valuable insights to a generation of children (and their parents) as they faced hard times. For all children today who are trying to make sense of disasters and contribute in a meaningful way,
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“I’m trying to teach through Writing Workshop, but all they’re doing is DRAWING!” How often I’ve heard that comment over the years from parents and teachers who lament over children’s sketches and illustrations… when they’re “supposed to be writing.” But we can learn much from children’s drawings. Consider this drawing. Chat with the young artist.
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Have you seen those Pop Tabs Collection Boxes for Ronald McDonald Houses? I used to wonder, “How can those little pop tabs actually help children with cancer?” …until I watched my inspiring colleague, Dori Gilbert, collect the tabs with her students. Dori happened to be my daughter, Tiffany’s kindergarten and first grade teacher. When Tiffany
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What’s the deal with Father’s Day? I believe I’ve struggled more over this blog post than any other. Not because I didn’t have an amazing father though. Read on… Daddy Thankfully, I was blessed with an incredible dad who taught me the value of a penny, created a train visual for me to learn those
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My mom was the kind of parent who packed four lunches, wrapped them in red bandanas, and tied them to the end of poles she’d hunted for. Just so her four kids could saunter out into the woods and picnic there. Mom made everything magical! During my first few years of teaching kindergarten, I lived
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What a Discovery I Made! Illustrator Violet Lemay simply had to do something after the Uvalde school shooting. So, she began drawing pictures of the victims and sharing them through Instagram. (Image is from Violet LeMay’s Instagram account.) There, Alithia Ramirez’s father discovered her tribute and reached out. He felt connected to this artist named
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Within a week, people throughout America will be enthralled by a solar eclipse. This celestial event will force the world to slow down and gaze into the Heavens. As an inquiry-based teacher for over 25 years, I would have researched and provided insightful experiences on how to learn about anything for my kindergarten and first
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High heels—really? How could high heels help my kindergartners learn? Quiet Brooke knew her love for shoes would change us all. Because her mom strongly supported her, they found facts galore. Brooke used her knowledge of letters and sounds to write these facts in her own way on her display board. Did you know men
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Service Learning Projects… at School? Don’t you just love a good story about children changing the world? What more impactful time than the days following 9/11? You probably have a dramatic 9/11 story of your own. So many beautiful stories surfaced in all the pain and shock. First I’d like to start this series with
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