a wife. a mom. an educator. a marketer. a resource.
Having worked in the public school trenches, I get it. I get how the supply closet is grossly under-stocked and how a $50 stipend, per classroom teacher, is never enough to meet the needs of a successful classroom. I look at teachers' classroom needs (tissue boxes, paints, a carpet for first grade circle time, a pencil sharpener, portfolio and file folders, writing paper, journals...) and sigh. Loudly. Because all of these things should already be in a classroom. Tomorrow, in … [Read more...]
Like most teachers, I had lots of favorite teachers growing up who touched and inspired me. I remember Mrs. Fitzpatrick (third grade) who always had peanut butter and Ritz crackers for snack, but started getting crunchy peanut butter for Dawn and me because we always requested it. In third grade, I learned to read poetry with friends and participated in my first spelling bee. That was also the year that we learned about brain teasers and stories with holes from our math teacher, Mrs. Justice. … [Read more...]
I didn't start learning the concept of pi until about seventh grade. Sure, we learned about circles and the basics of diameter, radius and circumference. But the concept of pi is one that's usually much more complex and held off in teaching until later. Oh, but there are such fun ways to teach pi to youngsters, and, as tomorrow is International Pi Day (aka 3.14 aka 3/14 aka March 14, get it?) why not jump in and teach pi? Of course, there's no fun in pi without some pie, right? So, … [Read more...]
At the end of a chapter book that Big recently picked up, he shared the excitement of the story: the happenings during an aquarium field trip. While talking with him, I recalled an easy activity to do with children: a Jello fishbowl, that would encourage us to discuss the book further. I rushed off to get the supplies, excited to extend reading through cooking and kitchen time. While Big and I quickly prepared the Jello for this recipe (after all, Jello's a pretty easy thing to make) we took … [Read more...]
It's really hard to be a teacher and a parent. It's like a curse because it's so easy to judge and think "I could do this so much better." I struggled with this all last year, when Big was in first grade. I posted very little of my frustrations. And I plan to post very little this year as well. But there's one thing I can't not post: the value of communication. From the first day of my teacher training, we learned about the importance of working with the parents. We learned that … [Read more...]
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