Literacy and the Senses
I love using the five senses as a springboard for writing in the classroom. When a child writes a simple sentence about how much they like ice cream, the five senses are a natural way to invite the writer to tell you more. We talk about the flavors and how it feels on your tongue
Read Naturally
About eight years ago, our standards for reading fluency increased. I was teaching second grade at the time. By the end of second grade, students were expected to read 50 words correct per minute. That changed when the state of Washington decided to raise the standard to 100 words correct per minute. Wow! That’s a
Art in the Home and School
Several weeks ago I was participating in an online course, offered at Mariah’s Playful Learning Site. It was a wonderful e-course, which really inspired me bring the playful learning we do at home up to the next level. During one of the weeks, we turned our attention to the art areas of our homes (and
Planting Potatoes and Schema
Schema is one of those buzzwords you hear all the time in education right now. Schema is background knowledge. It’s all the “stuff” you have in your brain about a particular topic. For example, if I’m learning about the topic of flight, my schema on the topic will be everything I have ever read, listened
Connections
We went to Disneyland over Spring Break this year. You can read about the surprise trip by clicking here. My kids are 10 and 6 years old, which I think is the perfect age for Disneyland. My son was all about the rides. He loved California Screamin’ and Space Mountain. My daughter was excited about