Poetry Center: So much done in so little time!

Centers in my classroom are so important. They allow my students to complete meaningful work while I can meet with small groups and tailor my teaching to meet their individual needs. Over the years I have tweaked and changed my centers to make them the (mostly) well-oiled machine I know and love today. One of … Continue reading →

The Road to Student Choice

So I have heard about it and read about it for years: Student Choice. The positives are clear to everyone: Students like having choices and choice often leads to student engagement. The negatives are also clear: It’s a really hard road to get there. However, I am making a commitment to travel down that road and … Continue reading →

What’s New with Seesaw?

I hope you didn’t just say “What is Seesaw?” If so, pop over here for some basics. Well, we are getting closer and closer to back to school and there are some new features you need to know about and my take on them (in case you were looking for ideas or opinions from me)! … Continue reading →

Using Poems and Songs for Shared Reading

I am certain by now that many people know the benefits of shared reading, especially with our youngest learners. I can reach so many skills during a shared reading lesson that are imperative as students are learning to read. My favorite material to use for shared reading is poetry (often presented as songs). Why do … Continue reading →

Featured on Minds in Bloom!

I am so excited to say that I have my first guest blog on Rachel Lynette’s blog, Minds in Bloom! Please head on over and check out:   Her blog is a great resource filled with so much knowledge for teaching in the elementary! Enjoy! Continue reading →

Spring Unit in Kindergarten: Tips for a successful science unit

Don’t look outside if you are in New York because then it makes it hard to believe that spring has already begun! Snow or not, we are springing into our latest unit and have so much fun! This year my colleagues and I are test-driving our newest Science/Social Studies unit and the students are loving … Continue reading →

The Snow Fort: Learning about Learning

I built a fort and it made me think about learning. Here are my 4 take-always about learning. It may not be new, but always good to remember. Continue reading →

New Year’s Resolution

…To add more awesome technology and teaching tips to this blog of mine! Let’s start small: January Goal: 2 blog posts Fingers crossed! In the meantime a shameless plug: Check out my sale (This is what I have been doing the past two months besides teaching and being a mom…): Continue reading →

Planbook.com tip: Add links to your plans

So my new favorite Planbook.com feature is adding links right into my plans. I am a lover of YouTube playlists and I still use those. I make a playlist for the topic and then choose specific videos from that list and add to plans right when I want to use them! If you are still … Continue reading →

Google Forms for Parent Conference Sign-Ups with automatic reminders: You will never do it the old way again!

So I heard about something over the summer and then one of my teammates joined Twitter (Yay- everyone should!) and heard about it. She reminded me and long story short, I was on a mission to figure it out! The “something” was having using Google Forms to sign up for parent-teacher conferences. Well, I figured … Continue reading →