Category: Book Thoughts

Summer Reading & Learning Recs for Elementary Teachers

*This post was originally published on 5/30/22. It was updated on 6/4/22 as I added even more resources to my summer learning stack! Enjoy!* Summer break is just weeks away or already here for many! It’s the perfect time to unwind, recharge, and do a little self-paced reading or learning in a book club! If…

May 30, 2022
Read Across America: If not Seuss, then who?

Read Across America is coming up this Monday, March 2nd. Originally, the National Education Association (NEA) started this nation-wide event on the birthday of political cartoonist turned children’s book author Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, to celebrate and promote reading. In 2018, the NEA dropped the celebration of Dr. Seuss in favor of…

February 29, 2020
Beyond the Textbook: Using Picture Books in Our History Learning, Part 1

Some picture books make us laugh. Others tug at our heart strings and make us cry. Many support our work in studying the craft of writing. Then, there are some that just truly stop us in our tracks. Today’s picture book read aloud, The People Shall Continue written by Simon J. Ortiz and illustrated by…

September 5, 2019
180 Days of Literacy Learning: Three Things That Mattered Most

Written off and on a week or so after the last day of school while enjoying a weekend away in the woods at Northern California’s Russian River and also in my backyard after summer school. All posts in this blog series can be found here. If you’re a classroom teacher, you can probably understand why it…

June 14, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 5 days to go, Drawing Inspiration from an Important Read Aloud

Written while enjoying a rare Bay Area rainy Sunday morning in late May with coffee. All posts in this blog series can be found here. “Wow- you’re still teaching?” These words were actually said to me last week when I was asked what my students were doing in class right before lunch on Friday. “Yes, I’m…

May 26, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 13 Days to Go, Classroom Book a Day- Pride

Post #7 in the Last 20 Days of Literacy Series… Written while scarfing down a salad during my 40 minute, oddly uninterrupted, lunch. All posts in this blog series can be found here. The absolute best thing that has happened in my classroom this school year has been our commitment to reading a picture book a…

May 14, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 16-15 Days to Go, Literacy & Math

Post #5 in the Last 20 Days of Literacy Series… Written after the teaching week on Sunday morning while savoring a cup of coffee– well, three cups of coffee. All posts in this blog series can be found here. A few years ago, I was given the best advice about teaching math that I have ever…

May 12, 2019
The Last 20 days of Literacy Learning: 20 Days to Go, The Art of Comprehension

*Disclaimer- this blog series will most likely not include poetic, profound writing. Rather, it will consist of on-the-fly quick writes after my teaching day during the last 20 days of school. Reader, you’ve been warned. Today marked day 160 of the school year. My fifth graders have 20 days left of elementary school. While we…

May 3, 2019
It’s Monday! What are you reading? 11/19/18… We Got This

Okay, okay. It’s Tuesday, not Monday. Yesterday was my travel day after an incredible four days of connecting and learning at The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention (NCTE18). After a few nights of restless sleep, a flight delay due to smoke in The Bay Area, and a much needed dinner of decompression…

November 20, 2018