One thing that has always been a challenge for me in my teaching is the dreaded question, “What do I do now?” We all know that kids work at different speeds, finish things at wildly different rates, and don’t like to be bored. So of course, if they don’t have something constructive to do when […]
This year I wanted to make our work with the calendar more meaningful. I have to be honest in saying that calendar time was always a bit of a chore for me, and the first thing to get dropped from our day when we got busy. However, the routine of it is important, particularly in helping […]
I am a big fan of letting children put their stamp on their classroom. As much as I love the cute packs of printed posters and the pre-made, pre-cut room decorations, I think that child-made art is much more powerful in the classroom. I went through a transformation with this last year. One thing that […]
I took the plunge this week and joined Instagram. We all know a picture is worth a thousand words. Since teachers are short on time, what better way to gather quick tips and ideas than to check out some pictures! My Instagram account will be dedicated to sharing teaching ideas that I think can make […]
I have been adjusting to the many changes in my new country and my new school. One major difference is how school supplies are handled. In my school in Michigan, it was required that anything that the students needed be supplied by the school. This included books, paper, crayons, construction paper, instruments, etc. Of course, […]
As I mentioned in a previous post, my family has just made a MAJOR move. We moved all the way from Michigan to Gippsland, Australia! This move has been a long time coming, with lots of paperwork, searching, and work to facilitate the journey. I will be teaching a multiage classroom of prep/1 (kindergarten/first grade), […]
December 2, 2013 is Cyber Monday! Teachers Pay Teachers is having a huge sale, and MY entire inventory is discounted! I have marked ALL of my items down 20%. If you use the TPT promo code: CYBER at checkout, you will get an additional 10% off, making it up to 28% off. This is a […]
Well, I have been royally neglecting my blog as of late, but hopefully this news will help explain why. My family is making a move in the next five weeks. We are moving from the good old midwest, USA, all the way to Australia! This adventure, and all the paperwork that makes it possible, has […]
This year my district has asked every teacher to set a personal goal for their teaching, which can be measured in some way. The idea is that our performance needs to be tied to student data, and so we needed to come up with a plan to indicate that our teaching is contributing to measurable […]
I just wanted to touch base about how the birthday celebrations went! I got to celebrate my birthday last week (setting the tone for the year), and we also had out first student birthday. The “Me Box” and Birthday Gallery were a fabulous success! Here are a few photos to narrate how it went. First, […]
