In thinking about how we can “build our brand” as a vital member of a child’s education team, I thought about parents and how we can better connect with them. My hope is that if we give them simple ideas to try at home with their kids, they will not only have fun and bond […]

If you haven’t had a chance to read The True Story of The Little Pigs As told by Jon Scieszka , here is your chance! It is hilarious!! It is the story of the three little pigs from the point of view of the wolf…..he claims he was framed and that it was a simple […]

Where the Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak Objective: Create a short composition to fill in picture only portion of book with no words~ what does a wild rumpus sound like? Ask the kids “what sounds would you hear at a wild rumpus?” Growling Sneering Howling etc…. How long would each sound last and would […]

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” – Mindful.org Last Saturday I attended a workshop by Brenda Barr on this topic. It was perfect timing as the holiday season is upon […]

In second grade we figured out the rhythm to Shoo Fly. We clapped it both with saying the words and without. We then used NK Magnets to show our rhythm! When we did this, we had to talk about syllables and that for every syllable, there needs to be a note ~ of course we […]

  The first graders have been working on long and short, so this week I wanted to offer an activity that they could not only have some fun with, but could also apply what we have been talking about. The 2 goals I had in mind were to first, identify the long sounds in the […]

This activity you can do as a center, in small groups or as a whole class. For the center activity, you will need listening center equipment, which can be expensive, so opting to do this as a whole class or in small groups makes sense! The goal here is to take the skill of identifying […]

After your kids have had some fun with the Name Game Extended Lesson, now we can take it even a step further!!! In this lesson, students will be on the hunt for long and short objects that they can find around the room. Not only will they have a blast doing this, they will be […]

Well, apparently , I got ahead of myself. I was all set for today’s center lesson ~ fired up about what materials I needed and how I was going to set it up. The activity was so cool that of course the kids were going to love it!! ….then a question came to mind ~ […]

As the new year gets under way, names can be an issue, especially for those of you working with transient populations. As I have stated in the past, I love doing name games in the beginning of year…and throughout the year for the little ones. Kids love the sound of their name and it helps […]