Are you feeling uncomfortable? Well, that makes two of us. Hopefully, by the time you are done reading this post, the two of us will feel differently. Last weekend was the ASCD Empower18 national conference in Boston, MA. It…
A Decade of Lessons
Over the past 10 years as a classroom teacher, I have taught over 200 students, written over 600 newsletters and articles, and have received over 2,400 comments from over 250,000 visits to our 2 classroom blogs. I have shared the…
Onward and Up
“… many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.” ~Dr. Seuss My daughter Kendyl graduated from Upper Cape Tech last weekend, and is headed off to college to become an elementary teacher. My…
Summer State Plate Race
Our family is always reading license plates. We love keeping our eyes peeled for far-flung locations and have seen some unique ones over the years. We start keeping track of them on Memorial Day, and we “end” the quest on…
Growing Poets
Recently, my @FourthGraders spent time in the schoolyard, writing free-verse poetry to add to their personal anthologies. All of our poetry writing to that point had been confined to the classroom, so their writing had become confined as well. Mother…
Decisions, Decisions: Picking and Choosing
Mother’s Day is usually one Sunday I choose not to write a weekly newsletter. Not this year, though. This past weekend was a great one for me, and I’m left feeling exhausted and refreshed all at the same time. Much…
#MakeADifference Letters
My @FourthGraders are 7 weeks away from leaving Mullen-Hall! That’s crazy talk! We’ve been chatting and brainstorming ideas on how to thank the many people who have helped #MakeADifference in our elementary school experience. Students came up with incredible lists…
An Eight Week Journey
I know it seems impossible, but there are only 8 weeks left of school. Crazy, huh? I can scarcely believe we are almost finished with our first year in 4th grade. After looking at my calendar, and my plan book,…
Wings Are For Flying
We are already working hard in Term 3. Our pace is a little faster, our learning is a little deeper. Students have to be engaged in learning to keep up. They have to do more than “good enough”. No more…
Not-So-Simple Machines
We have been studying Simple Machines in our 4th grade class. Students became experts in one machine, and then taught the rest of their classmates all about the information they learned. Now that we are all in-the-know, we are applying…