5 Tips for Raising a Reader

Raising a reader is a daunting task.As a former language arts teacher, book lover, and Usborne book lady, here are my top tips toRaising a Reader!1- Expose your child to lots of books!Children are inquisitive.  They ask a billion questions a day.  One answer I have always tried to stray from is, "Because I said."  Filling your shelves with fairy tales and classic stories is great,...

Creating a Preschool Library at Home

Books, books, books!  I absolutely LOVE books.  One of the main things I want to cultivate in Sweet Pea is a love of reading, and to do that, I started reading to her out of the womb.  However, now that she's 3, I am a thinking more about what exactly am I reading to her, which brought some big questions on my mind.How do I find good books for her right now?   How do I...

Five Ways Mother Goose Time Makes Effective Mommas

Being an effective momma is no easy task by any means.Whether you are a mom who works out of the home, stays at home, or works from the home, I am sure we can all agree that the struggle to be effective is real.Time.Time is short.Time is fleeting.Time slips away.And we all wish we just had a little moreTime.I decided to be a stay at home because of that very factor.  I wanted all the time I...

Building a Reading Nest

The month of April we are studying Birds and Eggs. I have to admit, when I first heard the name of the unit, I thought it wouldn't be that much fun, but boy was I wrong.It's only Day 1 and Sweet Pea is LOVING IT!  Maybe it's the fact that her vocabulary is blowing up, or that she's been much better playing by herself, but whatever it is, she is absolutely loving this theme!The...

Art: Process vs. Product?

I went to college to be an art teacher. In fact my degree is in Fine Arts with an emphasis in painting, and I graduated with an EC-12 Art Certification.  I was blessed to be able to teach high school Art I for 2 separate years out of my 8 years of public education (art positions are hard to find and keep with all the cuts yall). Please allow me to tell you something about my experience...

Library Labels for YOU

I finally finished all my labels!! WOOOHOOO!! They are made specifically for the books that I have in my classroom library, but PLEASE feel FREE to download and use them if you wish.  I made them using Printshop 2.0 and you can see more info in my post on library organization.  There are 8 pages with 4 labels per page. Here are pics of 2 of the pages, but you can get them all from the...

Library Organization Strikes Again!

Well... it did.  That's what I have been doing all day.  I had my books organized by genre last year, and I really liked it.  This summer my goal was to find out each book's DRA level and put it on the book.  But then I took a 6th grade position from a 4th grade.  At my new school, the ELA teachers don't organize books by DRA... they organize them by grade level...

Library Organization

This past school year I taught Science and Writing.  It was my 3rd year to teach 4th grade science---LOVE IT--- and my first year to teach Writing.  Yes I know... Science and Writing??? What a weird combo!!  But we did a LOT of journaling in Science, so when the writing position became available, I asked my principal for it and she said yes.The one thing that I was most excited...