Spring is for Gardening May has sprung, along with the crocuses that we thought would never appear. Longer days and warmer weather get us thinking about gardening. I can’t think of any better activity to do with children than gardening. Along with the seeds sprouting through the soil, children grow in leaps and bounds in […]
Time for Gardening with Children Read More »
How should we celebrate, in year of a global pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis? Thousands are homeless due to economic crisis; thousands have lost their lives to a pandemic that has broken apart families. The need for anti-racist education is essential in the midst of Black Lives Matter, and after a tense election. The
Rethinking Thanksgiving Read More »
Self-care Wafting from the kitchen, the smell of cinnamon sticks in cider warming on the stove makes your house feel cozy. Holiday lights twinkle around the edges of the room and candles are burning. With ever-shortening days, we try to make our houses as comfortable as possible. These holiday traditions create a sense of community
Compassion fatigue? Follow your own recipe for self-care Read More »
November is Native American Heritage Month As a Native American educator, I feel it is deeply important to teach children about Native American history and culture throughout the year. Congress declared November as National American Indian Heritage Month back in 1990, to encourage all people “to learn about the contributions and cultures of the Indigenous
November is Native American Heritage Month Read More »
In my work as an educational consultant, I travel to many new places and meet educators from all over the world—teachers, administrators, specialists and staff. Once, while presenting to a group of new teachers, I focused on self-care for teachers and social emotional learning. The administrators said, “Nice, but let’s get on to the real
Social Emotional Learning Begins with Self-Care Read More »
Fluency Development Lesson In all my years of experience, I have witnessed the importance of development of sentence structure in teaching reading and writing. Students will learn to write sentences in a systematic process. As part of our responses to poetry, I have students draw a picture and write a sentence about their picture, including
FDL: Poetry Lessons for Vocabulary, Comprehension and … Fluency! Read More »
Maui: Hawaiian Superman Now students are all excited about the Disney movie “Moana.” Moana means ocean in the Hawaiian language. I do not think there was ever a girl named Moana, not in historical times, nor in legends. The Disney depiction of the character of Maui, a demi-god of the Pacific Islanders, is one I would have never recognized, after
Maui, Hawaiian Super Man Read More »
Joy. The first word that comes to my mind when I think of teaching reading. Especially to struggling readers. Over the years, many parents have come to me, asking for help for their child who could not read. They have tried everything. They asked the school for resources and extra help found they had driven down a
Reading Strategies from a Reading Specialist Read More »
I love to play. I am a child at heart. Most of us can think of some kind of activity where we feel like a kid again. There are many moments in the school day when I feel the joy of being a kid again. My favorite activity, which brings out the kid in me is having
Reader’s Theater: having fun while re-creating stories! Read More »
