Last year I published a unit on the fantastic novel, Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes. September 11th is a monumental piece of modern history, one I think is important to teach. In this post I wanted to share a few more books that you can use in your classroom or at home to touch on the subject of 9/11 with your kiddos. Though many are picture books, don't let that deter you from checking them out. Some of these picture books will captivate your youngest readers all the way up to your … [Read more...]
Scavenger Hunts: How to Take Your Nature Walk to a Whole New Level
This is it y'all! The last and final post for the Nature Walk Series. In this post, I wanted to talk about the benefits of using Scavenger Hunts while you walk. I briefly talked about Nature Scavenger Hunts last year, but in this post I really wanted to show the MANY, MANY different ways they can be used. So far in this series, we talked about ways to incorporate letters and numbers into your nature walks, how to explore your senses, and ways to get more out of your nature walks. I hope that … [Read more...]
Exploring Your Senses while Enjoying Your Nature Walk: Nature Walk Series
If you've read lately you know that we are most of the way through our Nature Walk Series. So far we have discussed tools that can help keep kids engaged, finding shapes and letters, and how to get more from your walks. In this post I want to share ways that you can explore your senses while walking. The purpose of this series is to encourage you to not only take walks with your kids, but to also interact with nature and use it to learn many different things. My hope is that you will find … [Read more...]
Inner Struggle Mom versus Teacher: Ways to Combat Spring Fever
OK so here's my problem... I am two completely different and separate people. Part of me is mom, mom who has three kids, a dog, house and no life. The other half of me is a teacher, a teacher who taught middle school for 6 years and likes things very structured. It's a constant inner struggle and sometimes those two don't mesh well (see my personal growth mission about Perfectionism1 and 2). Inner Struggle As a mom when it's rainy, cold, and yucky I want to play games, watch movies, and … [Read more...]
