Last Wednesday, I spent 8 hours ruminating over whether I wanted to support an outside, non-profit gardening group get involved in “assisting” my efforts at the school where I currently work as Garden Club Advisor. Eight hours. It was too much. A proposal was brought forward to the principal and PTO about bringing in this…
Staff Meetings While presenting at a staff meeting the other day, I explained that in the after school club I led I used an interdisciplinary approach to my teaching. Going on to explain, I told how one unit in garden club will have all subjects interwoven into it – Science, ELA, Social Studies, and yes,…
As I gave up my long-term volunteer positions at one of our local elementary schools this year, one of the things I have missed most is having Third Grade Writer’s Circle. Once a week for the last six years, I was fortunate enough to teach a group of third grade students, two from each of…
Last month I prepared my first Kahoot for a presentation on Carnivorous plants. As a newly hired garden club advisor for a near-by school district, I agreed to do a limited amount of in-classroom presentations for teachers on topics related to the environment and/or gardening. So as not to create a great deal of extra…
Just over a year ago, my husband bought a 3D printer for our house. Really, it was bought for my 18-year-old who will graduate from HS in a few months. He’s our inventor, our experimenter, our dreamer. Over the course of the last year, he’s put the 3D printer to good use. He played with…
Recently I was called on twice in as many weeks to serve as an educational consultant. The topics in question were in separate disciplines but both have ties to my boys and their capacities as learners and individuals. Both instances made me feel good and reinforced what I believe is my true calling – teaching…
Between yesterday and today I taught five classrooms of students about poinsettias. They ranged from second to fifth grade. What follows is some of what I shared with them. The poinsettia is named after Dr. Joel Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico. Dr. Poinsett, whose hobby was botany, saw the plant while on a…
Although I have recently received what I would call flack for writing about local educational issues, I know it is important to continue to raise community awareness about both the things we can work on and the things that are working well for our students. So, today, I offer an encouraging, down right positive, story. …
Fall is in the air! Can you feel it? I can. The fall soccer season has started with two games this past week, one against a nearby rival last night, ending in a tie. The afternoon was warm but by 7 p.m., when the varsity team started to play, it was rapidly getting cooler. We…
There is no doubt that I am a life long learner! In the midst of obtaining a second master’s degree, twenty-five years after my first in an arguably different discipline, very few could accuse me of not being committed to learning and growing through my life thus far. Taking graduate courses during the school year,…