Category Archives: Uncategorized

New Product Announcement

Today I’m looking ahead to the fall and a new school year, I’ve created a new product for educators and assistants. It’s my flipbook, deconstructed! My web person has taken 18 student pages of the flipbook and made each into 8.5 x 11 mini-posters. Each can be used as reminders on our student expectations in… Read More »

Encouraging Concepts

When it comes to helping kids get moving, educationally, these concepts are key: 1. Brainstorm. Spend time picking each other’s brains about possibilities or ideas related to a topic. Dont’ limit yourself to practical ideas; go for creative, out-of-the box thinking. 2. Take a stand. Don’t be afraid to have an opinion different from others… Read More »

Ed Week Blog: Learning Deeply

Opinion EdWeek.com/blogs by Jal Mehta and Robert Rothman In this blog, organized by Harvard education professor Jal Mehta and Washington-based education writer Robert Rothman, students, teachers, administrators, researchers, and policymakers explore the practice and policy issues around expanding deeper learning. « Leaders as Learners: Exploring Equity | Main Five Secrets to Operationalize Deeper Learning By… Read More »

February Days to Celebrate

Looking for a reason to celebrate something? Here’s a list to start your thinking and planning. Have fun! Brighten someone’s life. Go a little crazy. 1  Freedom Day 2  Ground Hog Day 3  15th amendment – Racial Equality Day 4  Rosa Parks Birthday 5  Western Monarch Day 6  Take Your Child to the Library/Girl Scout… Read More »

Thank You Ideas from Y-O-U

While the list of ways to say thank you to volunteers are near endless, the following inexpensive ideas stood out for my followers:  Write a note sharing specific acts a voluinteer has done and thank them for their contribution.  Ask your class to write short thank yous.  Present the volunteer with a small house plant… Read More »

Math Via The Costco Connection

As the school year begins for many families, the Costco Connection magazine is filled with back-to-school items. One article that caught my eye was entitled Math + fun = success. Laura Overdeck, a mother of three from New Jersey, has created a non-profit “that delivers nightly math stories to tens of thousands of parents.” (p.… Read More »

National Park Service – Amazing Offer for Families

National Park Service to give fourth-graders free admission 02/19/15 02:48 PM—Updated 02/20/15 11:14 AM By Michele Richinick Fourth-grade students and their families will get free admission to national parks, forests and wildlife refuges for a year, thanks to a new White House initiative set for this fall ahead of the National Park Service’s 100th birthday.… Read More »

Review of Article on STEM

One of the newest educational acronym is STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The premise of STEM is that education needs to address these 4 topics with deeper understanding to gain employment and to compete in world markets. In an Education Week Teacher online article dated June 17, 2014, Anne Jolly, a former middle school science teacher and current… Read More »

I'm Back!!!

My excuse reads: Working on a website with multiple books, 2 blogs, marketing my first YA novel (84 Ribbons) and writing my next 2 novels and a new teacher workbook. I haven’t forgotten my obligation to you, I just got side-tracked for a bit. We’re reorganizing my website to be more ‘follower friendly’  (I get… Read More »

It's Drafty in Here!

Details can sometimes foul up plans by the fact that we become so overwhelmed by what we are doing that we lose sight of our objective. Guilty. I decided to scan my blogs and found that  in my hurry to share ideas, I created drafts instead of posts for over half of my weekly Word… Read More »