Life Long Learner

Elementary Schools are magical places. I have the wonderful opportunity to work in a very special elementary school with spectacular students. As a specialist, I pull out groups of students, and I push in to the classrooms to support student reading growth. On any given day, I am in/out of 5 or more classrooms. School is a happy place because of the students and people who fill the classrooms and hallways. Even if I am having a bad morning, the minute I begin teaching, I forget about my own life and focus on having fun with my students. I believe all teachers feel this way, which is why we choose to be in such a great profession. I thought by this point I would have processed the horrible events that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But, the truth is, every time I begin to think about it, I am filled with deep sadness and heartache for the members of that school community. I don't think I will ever fully comprehend what happened that day. Schools are safe places. Whene...

Santa brought my daughter (1.5) a play kitchen for Christmas. I looked at so many kitchens before deciding on the one I purchased her. When I saw this little kitchen, I knew it would be perfect for her and me! This kitchen has so much STORAGE! One of my biggest issues in keeping a clean house is toys. I can never seem to have them all away and organized. So, this kitchen offers ample storage, and, it just so happens all the storage containers I put in it were ones laying around the house. I am thrilled with this kitchen and really hope that it continues to store all the kitchen and food items for us! Check it out... Lesson learned - When buying toys always pick the ones that offer storage opportunities!

It's bad enough that Christmas decorations come out before Thanksgiving dinner is served, but what's worse is the growing popularity of The Elf on the Shelf. I don't own an elf on the shelf and I hope I never do. I don't want to scare my kids into behaving by saying constantly, "The elf is watching and he will go report back to Santa tonight." Also, I am not a good liar. I remember the day I found out that Santa was not real. I was in first grade and my older brother bet me $1 about it. I ran up to ask my mom, and she told me Santa was not real. My brother never made me pay him the dollar, he was satisfied just ruining the secret for his little sister. I remember my parents and aunts would see elves and tell us the elves were watching to make sure we were being good, but we did not own a scary, small elf who could not be touched and who caused mischief while we slept. The 2 links below support my idea to NEVER have an elf on the shelf...   http://www.people...

I grew up with only brothers, and I was always happy about that. My brothers taught me how to play sports, watch sports, and how to have fun. My brothers kept a watchful eye on me, yet let me make my own decisions and be my own person. Even though I was involved in a variety of activities (some they didn't think were cool) they still supported me. I wouldn't change anything about my brothers... We are fortunate enough to have 2 children. My son is 14 months older than my daughter. They love each other so much, and I pray they are always close. In the morning, Shannon usually wakes up first. She screams Pat's name over and over again. When we bring her downstairs she runs to the foot of the steps and screams his name again and again. She gives Patrick her blanket, and her other treasures. Patrick loves his sister. Tonight he heard her crying, so he went upstairs, opened her door, and said, "It's ok, Shannon. I'm here. I brought you a train." Shannon imm...

Shannon takes books off the bookshelf in the family room every night, travels over to the couch and says, "Book, book, book, book, book," until I pick her up nestle her in my lap, then read 3-4 pages of the book. Then, she wriggles out of the grip back to the bookshelf, grabs a book says, "book, book, book until I pick her up to read yet another book. Right now she loves the "My First" books. These books have pictures and labels underneath them. And, I believe these books encourage vocabulary development. Shannon is learning animals, food, numbers, even family members! We read these books a few different ways. One way is I point to a picture, and try to get Shannon to say the word. "Look, Shannon, there's a cow!" (and I point as I say it.) Then, I ask her to point to the cow too. We build on this with animals because then we discuss animal sounds. "Shannon a cow says Moo." Then Shannon says, "Mooo."  Then, I might point to...