Textbooks Are an Option

From the desk of Carol C. . . Over the course of the last decade or so, textbooks have gotten a bad rap.  Many teachers have been convinced, persuaded, or told to put their textbooks on the shelf.  It’s true there is a disconnect when what you are to teach is not what the book…

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Daydream with a Purpose

From the desk of Leigh Ann . . . “Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose.” – Bo Bennett I am the poster child of a visual learner.  I remember faces – not names.  I write things down to help me process and remember.  I talk with my hands to illustrate a point. (My husband says if…

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Effective Reading Indicators

From the desk of Alice… People often ask me if their child is on track with reading and confess in a whisper, “I don’t know what to look for.”  It can be overwhelming for a parent who now has access to more “data” about their child than ever, but really are not sure if the…

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Indulging in Reading

From the desk of Alice… I recently trimmed back my social media time in the evenings to make more room for reading for pleasure.  I have a bookshelf full of books that have been on my list for a while and I decided it was time to read them or get rid of them. Last…

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Bored into Wisdom?

From the desk of Leigh Ann . . . “Those books that I have learned most from have been those which have entertained me.  No one as yet …has been bored into wisdom.”  -Erik Haugaard – author and illustrator As an early childhood teacher one of my utmost goals is to get children excited about…

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Igniting the Reader Inside You

From the desk of Keela… Everyone’s book is out there somewhere. You know, the book that ignites the reader inside of you. Some discover it at a young age, others later in life, while others may never discover it. I feel one of my responsibilities, as a teacher, is to help create life-long readers by…

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Improving the Quality of Literature Circles

From the desk of Carol C. . . Do you ever feel the literature circles in your classroom could work better?  A higher level of learning taking place?  Responses from more students?  Sometimes we don’t notice the positives that are taking place in lit circles, so we aren’t able to take advantage of those aspects. …

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Start a Reading Movement

From the desk of Alice… I recently went to my child’s bookfair and came across the book Igniting a Passion for Reading by Steven Layne.  I read this book several years ago and loved it so I picked it up for one of my ERG principals because I thought she would really appreciate it.  We recently…

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Touching the Soul of a Child

From the desk of Carol C. . . My friend is a voracious reader.  She reads, remembers, and seems to understand everything in print she comes across.  Her vocabulary is amazing.  Reading is her passion. Now go back 30 years and look at my friend.  She would have been in first grade.  It would be…

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Changing My Mindset

From the desk of Carol C . . . A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a colleague, Katy, about what she did to make math so interesting for her students.  “Oh, I just let them play games,”  she replied tongue in cheek.  Well, I knew better than that. Katy is an excellent math teacher…

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