Happy 2016! 2015 was my best year yet and I am grateful to look back at it and smile at the amazing accomplishments that were completed and the goals that were achieved. I got married, graduated with my Masters in Administration, went to Italy, made new friends, changed grade levels, visited the Ron Clark Academy with some of my most favorite people, started Periscoping with the ITeachTVNetwork and began to really create my teaching/business brand. It really really was a wonderful ride, and I cannot WAIT to see what 2016 has in store for all of us. I am joining Ashley and Angie for this month's #2getherwearebetter series to share with you my plans and goals for 2016! My one little word that really embraces all of my goals, dreams, and plans for 2016 is ADVENTUROUS. I picked this word because it is a reminder to keep doing what I have been doing for the last year. Life is meant to be one crazy adventure! My personal and professional plans for 2016 are some ...
Blog Post
ITeachTVNetwork Episode-How to Build Your Classroom Library
I LOVE walking into book stores. The feel, smell, and sight of new books and unknown stories makes me HAPPY! That feeling that I get when I walk into a Barnes and Nobles is the SAME feeling that I want my kiddos to feel when they walk into our classroom library. Here are some quick tips and thoughts to help you spice up your classroom library and make it a magical, calming, and happy place from my show on the ITeachTVNetwork. ...
Make Social Studies Fun Part 1
Social Studies can be a hard subject to teach. Not many kiddos just LOVE learning about history, and our new TN standards are HARD...good but HARD! :) So, I have been adding as many simulations as possible to our learning curriculum. A huge shout out goes to the TPT seller The Sweetest Thing for her massive unit on Westward Expansion. This activity came from a part of her unit. If you teach 4th/5th grade SS then you want to own this bundle! The students had spent a lot of time before this unit discussing the WHY of Westward Expansion. Why did we move west? What were some causes for our expansion? And so on. After they had a good understanding of the "why", we moved on to the "how". There is an amazing History Channel documentary out there that discusses the Transcontinental Railroad beautifully. I highly recommend purchasing this DVD to go with it. It really helped my students with comprehending just how big of a deal this railroad was and how difficult it was to build ...
