Join The Primary Blogging Community Now!

With the Primary Blogging Community beginning its second year, I wanted to do a little explaining on how this little project has become a bigger project.... At the end of August last year, I was partaking in my usual Sunday night ritual (participating in #1st chat on Twitter) when the conversation went to blogging.  Many teachers wanted to connect their classrooms with other classrooms from our 1st chat community. I volunteered to do some...

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What I Am Cooking Up For The First Day Of School

As July slips away quickly and August is around the corner, I start to ponder about what the first day of school will look like this year.  In past years, I have always had a similar plan for the first day of school.  We would do our usual read alouds - Chrysanthemum or No David No, depending on if we were going to co construct the classroom rules the first day or not.  We would do some community building activities and possibly do...

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My ADE Institute 2013 Reflection

It has been 2 days since I was in Austin for the Apple Distinguished Educators Institute and I am still mentally and physically tired. I was going to start my reflection on my 3 hour plane ride home but instead I sat and tried to absorb all the amazing things that I experienced in the past 6 days. We all know that Apple is a world class company and their reputation is flawless.  Apple definitely did not disappoint for the ADE Institute....

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Getting Parents On Your Side

I use to be that teacher that would phone you if your child was misbehaving in class, or go outside after school to speak to you if your child was not getting their work done.  I knew that parents would cringe when they saw the school’s phone number pop up on their caller id or they would see me walking towards them after school.  Then, 6 years ago I had a child of my own and knew that I needed to change the relationship (if you can call...

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