Animal research projects are common in the elementary world. The second-grade teachers came to me and said they were going to an animal research project. The question became how to allow their students to have ownership of their learning… Read More ›
“Just let the kids do it,” our dance teacher often sighs at me. I’ll admit. I’m a bit of a control freak. Like to the point I will unload the dishwasher after my mother loads it, only to reload it… Read More ›
A second-grade teacher shared that she was having friend drama in her classroom, specifically the use of unkind words. She was looking for some mentor texts that she could share with her class that would allow her to address the… Read More ›
What? Recently, I offered my colleagues a professional development course called Learning to Tweet like a Rock Star! This course was modeled from the AASL course that is offered by Jane Lofton (@jane_librarian). I took her course in 2015. During… Read More ›
In the field of education there is constant change. There is always something new we should be teaching or popular trends that find their way into the classroom. For me, I have always been willing to try something new as… Read More ›
Learning practical teaching tips and tricks is one of my favorite forms of professional development. I love when others share simple things that can be applied quickly and easily to my teaching and improve learning for my students. Here… Read More ›
The great John Dewey once said, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” Reflecting is what I am doing every day this year as I move forward using a flexible schedule with first- and second-grade students…. Read More ›
Over the past two years my school has moved from having a few carts of iPads to 1:1 in kindergarten to second grade. We also use a modified version of the project approach as a part of our focus to… Read More ›
Each year I purchase great new titles to add to our library. Many of these books connect to classroom curriculum and support a variety of reading levels. After spending countless hours making these decisions, I noticed they were not being… Read More ›
In September, the second grade teachers shared their concerns about fitting in both their writing and social studies curriculum as well as preparing their students for an upcoming field trip. As a result of this conversation, a project was born!… Read More ›