professional resources
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Man, I really wanted to publish Volume 100 by the end of this school year. Turns out being a full-time, *first-time* kindergarten teacher and full-time coach was too much even for an overachiever like me. I don’t feel too bad though. I taught kids how to *read* this year (and even got them all to…
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One of my favorite parts of teaching in The Now is the art that we’ve created. From plays for our theatre to this stained glass window display, we’ve been creators. Creating has been a great form of expression and even leads to more writing and reading. What a colorful year! Here is this week’s roundup…
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One of the main tenets of my teaching philosophy is that learning should be joyful. Not only do I want students to enjoy themselves, but I’ve seen how much deeper learning can be if it’s a joyful experience. But when I learned I’d be pivoting to the role of kindergarten teacher, I had some serious…
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Our beloved post office transformed into a theatre recently! To help build students’ background knowledge, we watched a video of a backstage tour of a theatre and I’ve been reading at least one picture book a week about theatre. We’ve been so inspired we even wrote our very first play about our shared reading text,…
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This past week I finally feel like I hit my stride in kindergarten. Stations were running, books at independent reading levels were being read, we celebrated the end of a unit that we completed *together in person*. The only bummer? It’s *March*. In the Before, I’d be feeling this way in October. I know I’m…
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One of the many (endless?) struggles of remote teaching has been how much of my students’ days do I fill with learning? I, of course, want to grow their brains, but I also don’t want them to be in front of a screen *all* day. Another aspect to consider is their families: Some families want…
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Now that teachers are wrapping up their Writer’s Workshop launches, they are gearing up for their first standards-based units on personal narratives. This is exactly why next week’s theme is SPECIAL PEOPLE. I especially love the background knowledge resources: a special StoryCorps video and some of my favorite picture books. In fact, one of the…
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Since it is the most gorgeous time of year in New England right now, I decided that next week’s theme will be AUTUMN! To get students in the writing mood, I *highly* recommend taking them OUTSIDE for a nature observation walk. Check out the poems I selected and my resources and ideas for teaching them…
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This year, I’m pumped to support the second grade team! I spend my days helping students at home with their remote learning, so I created digital conferring sheets to record their strengths and goals. After filling one out, I share it with the teacher for their records. I’m hoping it will provide some consistency and…
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I just posted a new poetry collection on my door! This week’s theme is IDENTITY. I’d originally thought the next theme would be feelings, but I realized kids should share their selves before their feelings. 🙂 I’m hoping to change my poems every week this year. The single week of remote learning threw off my…
A SEA OF TALK 