What is it that teachers need more of? Time and money! There’s never enough time in a day to teach everything we need to teach nor is there sufficient time in the day to prepare…
I have to admit that changing my grade level as the school year began was nerve-racking and very stressful. Although I’m starting my 31st year of teaching, change is always hard. I’ve taught mostly third…
One of the newest duties teachers have to do to set up a new classroom is setting up Google Classroom® to accommodate the new students for the new school year. When I set up my…
There are thousands of Apps available for the Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, and Windows. How does a teacher narrow the field for the most essential Apps to use? Apps that are no-nonsense and useful? Thankfully,…
Looking for Chrome extension? If you’re new to using the Chrome web browser or a veteran user, here’s a round-up of 25 Chrome extensions that will help teachers save time and their sanity. Rather than…
Do your students use Google Docs® for writing and publishing? That’s great! But now let’s make them a Power User or Pro when working with Google Docs. Here are five Pro tools to teach your…
California history is amazing! Could Southern California have been split off to join the Confederacy during the early part of California’s history? Almost! That’s just one surprising fact I learned on my recent road trip…
Did you just end your school year? I recently ended another school year. It’s now time to have a year end reflection and relax. But wait, let’s make one thing clear. Districts DO NOT pay…
The end of the year at school is here so it’s now time to celebrate and have fun! State testing on the Smarter Balanced Assessment is complete. Grading work is complete. I’ve finished the report…
The students at my school spotted a Great White Shark recently! We recently had a science assembly at my school sponsored by our PTO. The Aquarium of the Pacific, located in Long Beach, California, brought…
As we approach Mother’s Day, I wanted to share some books that showcase not just one inspiring woman, but many in our history. These inspiring women that lead the way or pioneered the way for…
I hadn’t bought any new children’s literature books in quite a while until I discovered these beautiful and new children’s literature books. I’m using these amazing books with different units in my class as well…
As my school has acquired more and more guided reading materials (little books in sets of 6), I had more resources from which to choose from for each group. But we now live in the…
In this two-part post, I will demonstrate how using iPads (both mini-iPads and an iPad Pro) can bring guided reading into the digital age. I was fortunate that over the years I have been able…
My class has been learning to find the area of shapes for a few weeks now. But now it was time to move on to find the area of irregular shapes. So far, my students…
