Who’s in YOUR Village?

I don’t even remember when I first heard that saying “It takes a village…,” but goodness knows I live it and breathe it in so many ways at this point in my life. Whether that means my personal life at home with kids or my professional life at school with my other kids (which is what this post is about), I could definitely not do it all alone.

So when I read someone else’s post a few months ago, it got me asking and answering that question “Who’s in YOUR village?” for myself. And this is my answer. At least for this season of life. 🙂

And so a few words for the few that help make my school life bearable and even fun!

1.) My hubby

Ok, so there’s about a thousand things I could say about why I love this guy and how he helps make my life possible, but two of the biggest reasons are that he gets me and he gets my job. We’ve been together (between dating and being married) for 23 years and it’s been super amazing how we’ve both grown over the years into new and different people, but have grown in the same direction. I love that he gets my weird moods and what that “thinking face” I make means, and how he knows just when I need him to bring me a Diet Dr. Pepper (and he does this without being asked–love it!). Also, he’s a teacher, so while there’s WAY too much shop talk at our house, he can TOTALLY relate to lesson plans, report cards, parent conferences (from both sides now!), how the school week really starts (and the weekend really ends! :() on Sunday about 5 when we have to start getting ready for school again, and that some times I just need to either 1) talk to NO ONE for a while when I get home or 2) talk to an ADULT and have a conversation with someone other than an 8YO. Anyhow, he’s kind of a catch and I’m really lucky that he’s on my team. 🙂 Love you, Grant!

2.) My friends

It’s always to hard when you start to write a list, because two things usually happen: you leave someone/something off because you mean to, or you leave someone/something off inadvertently. I’m not really sure which is worse, because especially when you’re listing friends (which, ok, doesn’t usually happen after high school) it seems harsh. And now I’m going to write a list. And hope that it doesn’t make anybody upset. Oh, and it’s in no specific order. 🙂

IMG_0143 2.JPG Shannon–What can I say except God put her in my life at just the right time and the friendship that has blossomed in the last two years has been nothing short of amazing. Besides being an amazing teacher, she’s kind, loving, understanding, funny and challenges me in a respectful way. Shannon cares about me as a person as much as an educator and takes such interest in my life, regardless of the topic. What’s important to me is important to her, too. She understands that I might do things in a different way than everyone else (and she would sometimes, too!), that I have to think (often for a llloooonnnggg time) before I can answer with my opinion or ideas, and she accepts and love me for those things. She has the most intense belief in her students as learners and works to make them better people when they leave her classroom (and I know this firsthand–she was my son’s teacher and he blossomed in her care!). She inspires me to be a better teacher just by doing what she naturally does. It makes TOTAL sense that her last name is Appelbaum, because she truly does plant seeds and grow children.

Rachael–Yeah, I know that’s a picture of a dog. It’s Rosie, actually, but it’s the only picture Rae would let me post of her. Aside from that silliness, Rachael is a pretty fabulous person. 🙂 She also came into my life at a perfect time; after being an acquaintance for a very long time, our paths finally crossed on a teaching team. We quickly found out we have much in common (and much that we don’t because she’s so much nicer, calmer, and more considerate than me, LOL), and that we get along really well. One of my favorite things about her is how she loves on my kids; Allie and Riley love her bunches and love to spend time with her as much as I do. She asks thoughtful questions, encourages at just the right time in the right way, and has probably the biggest heart of anyone I know. She has a way of seeing such good and potential in people (little people, too!) and inspires me to be a better version of me. It’s true when she says she’s for students.

3.) My team

1443305819373 I still laugh about the story behind this picture. It literally happened because as we were starting the day one morning someone said, “Hey, this is the first time we’ve all been in the same place together in a long time!” (Guess it had been a busy week!). I said, “Well then grab a camera!” and of course, a selfie followed. No, it’s not the best picture of any of us, but it speaks to a moment in time and for sure shows the joy that’s on our faces each day when we’re at school. No, every day is not perfect, but for sure we work through those rocky parts together. This is my first year on this team, and it was well established before I came into it. In many ways this scared me, as I am probably not what you’d call an “established” person; I tend to fly by the seat of my pants, make plans and change them, respond to the moment and see what happens–well at least at school I do. LOL Instead of being scary, though, the organization, structure and flow of the way our team works has added so much to the way I teach and learn. We each bring something different to the table (including unit plans for each subject that each one of us is responsible for creating and then sharing with everyone else), and there is always laughter when we’re together. We’re different in many ways and that works so well. I love Team Tuesday lunches, even though it took me until January to remember to have lunch there that day so I could join in; I love that someone else sends copies for me to the copy center because I don’t usually think that far ahead; I love that these ladies think so fondly of everyone at our school and send holiday cards to ALL of the support staff (I never knew 2nd grade did this!); I love that they understand and respect how I might not always be the first to follow the crowd. I will get there eventually–usually–but might also put my own twist or spin on something and that is ok. We care about each other, talk about many things other than school, and have each others’ backs. That’s good for the soul. 🙂

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4.) My kiddos (and their families!)

These are the friends I’m here for, after all, right? These kiddos are perhaps some of the best little people I’ve met in a long time! This is my first (well, and second since we’ve been together for 2 years) class of primary students for almost 10 years and they’ve been a breath of fresh air. I had forgotten how eager young minds can be to learn new things, how they come into pretty much everything with zest and anticipation and I love how these learners are willing to try each new and kooky thing I suggest we do. Even better than that, they have some super ideas of their own that I think they know and trust that I will in turn be willing to let them try. We are truly a big, happy family (who sometimes bicker like siblings LOL), and we’re in this together. And I can’t mention these amazing students without of course mentioning their families. The support and love I get from them is unmatchable, and the way they help and support their kiddos is inspiring. I am lucky.

5.) Robinson

As much as I have these few close people on my team to hold me up, I can truly do what I do because of WHERE I do it. My school (because of our principal and the rest of the staff) is truly a magical place to work and play everyday. It’s been my home for the last 16 years, and I can’t imagine being anywhere else. While the teachers have changed over the time I’ve been teaching there, the culture and “feel” of our school remains the same because our mission remains constant: we’re here for our kids and we are willing to do whatever it takes to help each and every one learn. We care about kids–all of them and the whole child–and it shows. There is always mention of how welcoming and warm our building is, and it’s definitely not because of the 1930s era heating system (I kid). You can feel the warmth and love that resonates from all the people who work and learn inside the walls of 803 S. Couch.

So…who’s in YOUR village?

Arrrgh! The Pirates of Rm. 202

Arrgh! How rrrrrr you? Well…in Rm. 202 we rrrrrr great, but we have been taken over by pirates! No worries, though, it’s a good thing. Let me tell you about it. 🙂

A couple of weeks ago, about the same time that we started our Little Red study, I also brought in a big pile of books about pirates and just left them laying around. Kids noticed them and started reading them but didn’t really say anything. Then, as my next pick for read aloud, I chose Pirates Past Noon (a Magic Tree House book) and the questions started flying. “Is this that pirate thing you were talking about?” “Are we going to start talking like pirates?” “Arrghh?” “What are all these pirate books about, Mrs. Bearden?”

Gotcha. That’s exactly what I wanted. 🙂

It goes back to a little after Thanksgiving when I finally got my hands on the book Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess.

The book has been around for a few years now, and wasn’t new to me (I mean, come on, I am on Twitter after all LOL), I just hadn’t had a chance to read it yet. I liked the whole premise of the book, and much of it resounded with me. I also was exited because I felt like I do much of it already (and no, I don’t mean I have it all figured out–that will NEVER happen!).

Around the same time I learned about this pirate book, I saw that there was also a student version, likely named Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz.

This one was more up my alley. It’s the piece I have wanted to tackle but hadn’t yet figured out to do. Reading it was so fun and really got my juices flowing about how to take the structures and ideas he used in his class (which was 5th grade) and adapt them for our community of 2nd grade learners. The suggestions he gives in his book are centered around the acronym PIRATE like this:

He told amazing stories about how self-sufficient his class is with the day-to-day running of the room. His students are in charge of EVERYTHING, including transitions, lunch count, attendance, signing up and bringing down the laptop cart, even teaching mini-lessons! They work towards a Silent Day in the Spring when Mr. Solarz isn’t allowed to speak for the entire day. What a testament to the way the class works together that that is possible! Obviously, this scenario is not exactly replicable in our room (for many reasons), but we are surely capable of implementing many of the big ideas to help encourage and engage us as a learning community.

As with many other things, we based our conversations around books, have discussions along with our read aloud.

We started with our schema about pirates. Not surprisingly, kiddos had many ideas to share about what they already knew:

It was a pretty good list, I’d say. We agreed, though, that many of the things on the list could be seen as negative traits/descriptors and perhaps not things we wanted to model ourselves after (which was something I had explained at this point we were going to do–be like pirates!).

I asked them another question: If the things we know about pirates are mostly negative, then what might it mean to LEARN LIKE A PIRATE? They talked with their partners first (which is typical in our class), and then shared out their first thoughts. We agreed that this “chewy” question was one that we’d come back to again and again, as we learned and discovered more:

It was really great to hear the explanations behind how they had spun the bad into some good, something admirable that we would want to emulate. I’m excited to share this list once it’s finally finished (whatever “finished” means!?).

As I reflected on the book and considered our first steps, I quickly knew what we’d try first: an attention-getting protocol Mr. Solarz’s class calls “Give Me 5.” In 5th grade, students have learned (by trial and error, as well as encouragement and modeling) how to stop the class, get their attention by saying, “Give Me 5!” and then asking or telling what they need. We already have a universal attention signal at Robinson that our kiddos know (“May I have your attention, please?”), so it made sense to use this one instead of creating something new.

I introduced the idea slowly, more individually than corporately. When a situation came up where a kiddo was asking a question that perhaps would be answered more quickly or more easily if it was asked to everyone rather than one person at a time, I’d encourage that friend to use our classroom mike to ask it out loud. Sometimes kiddos figure things out while we’re working (on our iPads, a writing piece, in a game, etc.) and it seems like something that could benefit everyone–I encourage them to share their new discovery with the classroom by getting everyone’s attention. It’s been really great to watch how kiddos have stepped up and started to use this new structure to solve problems, figure things out and help each other. I haven’t really had to do much coaching past the initial suggestions, as they’ve figured out how to use this protocol for really meaningful reasons. My favorite thing, I’d say, is that they’ve started using the attention signal to request that the class work more quietly when our voices get too loud during partner or group work. It’s amazing how much more meaningful and effective this is when it comes from a classmate instead of me! I think the kiddos have truly internalized many of our expectations and rules, too, as they can better monitor their following of them on their own, without input from me. This is a life skill. Started here in 2nd grade.

Even small things have been “taken over” by kiddos recently, too. For instance, I don’t have to change the calendar anymore. When we came back in January, our calendar (which has Velcro numbers that we add the new day to each morning) still said December. Very early on, someone pointed it out to me and said, “We need to change the calendar. It’s still last year!” Instead of giving that friend the job, or doing it myself, I simply asked, “What do you think we should do about that?” I think I remember this friend just shrugging and going on with his morning, not really addressing the issue at that moment. But eventually, when 3 or 4 days had passed and I had asked the same question, or on very much like it, I noticed that that same kiddo was changing the calendar! I guess he figured out it was a task that he could take care of, and that it wasn’t my job to do it. Since then (which I think has been at least 2 1/2 weeks) our calendar has been correct–with no input from me. 🙂 Lunch count happened that way, too. I think I did originally ask a friend if he could take care of it for me, but then he automatically came in the next day and recorded everyone’s orders again. Voila! It’s no longer up to me to do it. Beautiful. It’s funny how much time that frees up for me in the morning to spend with students instead!

Ok, loyal blog readers, I know you know how hard it is for me to step away from this story and leave it unfinished, but I look forward to updating you on another pirate celebration soon. Thanks for continuing to embrace the messy with me!

By the way, if you read this and you’ve tried to Learn Like a Pirate with your kiddos, could you leave me a note and tell me how it’s going for you? What had you tried? How have your kiddos amazed you? What suggestions do you have for us on our own journey of learning? 🙂

Over the River and Through the Woods

Little Red, Pretty Salma, Petite Rouge, Little Roja, Lon Po Po. The list goes on and on. And it’s a pretty good list, eh? Rm. 202 thinks so! (Do you know what it’s a list of?) We have just begun a study much like one (only better!) that we did last year. And you know how I told you about this thing I have the other day? Yeah…well I am afraid that because of that thing I didn’t tell you about that awesome study last year. UGH! Luckily things have changed, though, and I’m starting this story much earlier. 🙂

This quarter we’re studying culture, and because of the unit I found last year (I used a variation of this Cinderella unit from First Grade Wow. It went SMASHINGLY and was a great combination of literature, non-fiction text, culture AND geography. It was also tons of fun to boot, which increased the engagement with a topic that is already generally interesting for first graders. Win, win, win all around!

So this year when we came to this culture/geography time of year again (which in our curriculum usually happens in January), I knew I wanted to try something similar to what we had done last year. The big idea of the unit is that folktales and fairytale can tell you something about culture. When talking about culture, it is also important to understand the geography related to that culture; where the people live and why they might do the things they do there is essential to the puzzle. Makes sense then, that all of those things would be connected–integrating subjects gives students multiple ways to make new information fit in with old knowledge and therefore make for stronger pathways to memory and understanding. And honestly, making the unit include multiple subjects and topics helps time-wise. Fitting it all in is always a concern for teachers, and this helps me get it all in.

Starting with framework from last year, I collected books. The Cinderella theme worked so well and I knew I had to find another fairy tale or folktale that both had multiple versions, as well as a story that would interest my students. There were obviously many choices, but I went with Little Red Riding Hood. This story was familiar enough (like Cinderella), but also had many variations, and had interesting characters we could study, as well.

Our focus is to be using the fairy tales and folktales to analyze story structure, characters and main idea, as well as compare and contrast different versions. Eventually we’ll probably write about our favorite version, trying to convince our readers why it’s the best with strong evidence from the text. We will also study geographical concepts like continents, countries (and how they’re different from states and cities, as well as what our country is), bodies of water and regions–this one is new this year. Besides just studying cultures of other places (which was our main focus last year), we’re incorporating the idea of regions of our own country this time; there are stories from both different countries and US regions in this unit. We’ll analyze maps, talk about how they work and what information they give us, put stars on the places from where our stories come, color and label maps and talk about the places we know about (as well as places we wonder about). Eventually then, students will choose one culture to learn more about, and research it. This will incorporate with our next writing unit, and then will still touch reading and social studies skills and concepts, too.

And here’s the part where the “messy” of writing about this starts. Previously, I would have waited until the very end of the study, hoping to include all the details and pictures, including fabulous videos of us presenting our final products. Like I mentioned earlier, that often meant that I then didn’t even get around to writing about ANY of it–usually because I either forgot the details, ran out of steam or just didn’t have time. And yeah, it makes me sad that it’s missing on the blog. So here we go. You might want to wear gloves. Or a poncho. Maybe goggles or a raincoat?

First let me share our booklist. I compiled it from a variety of places online, as well as just by standing forever in front of the fairytale section of my library with a crooked neck reading books spines. I know–I’m a glutton for punishment. It’s really not so easy, either, by the way, because they’re organized not just by story, but by author and by country. Oh, and then they’re the ones that aren’t so obvious because they don’t have ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ in the title. Anyhow…

We are using stories from Germany (the original), China (we have two from this culture, actually), Ghana, Spain, as well as from at least 4 regions in the US (and maybe another one that I’ve forgotten. Told you this was messy!!!).

Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm and Little Red Riding Hood by Sam McBratney
Lon PoPo by Ed Young and Auntie Tiger by Laurence Yep
Pretty Salma by Niki Daly
Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya
Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood by Mike Artell
Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie Tale by Lisa Campbell Ernst
Little Red Cowboy Hat by Susan Lowell

While those are the “official” titles, we are also going to enjoy some others that will be specifically for the reading part of the study, where we can study version, point-of-view and character. Those include (at least for now!):

Ninja Red Riding Hood by Corey Rosen Schwartz
The Wolf’s Story: What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood by Toby Forward
Very Little Red Riding Hood by Teresa Heapy
Red Riding and the Sweet Little Wolf by Rachael Mortimer
Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten!: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf (The Other Side of the Story) by Trisha Speed Shaskan
Super Red Riding Hood by Claudia Da′vila

I’m excited to share more pages to our story as we go along! 🙂

Everybody Now

It’s been happening in little bursts this year:

And EVERYBODY has a notebook! It’s been a long time coming, and every writer in our class has done an amazing job of working hard to prove they are ready. I am super excited at how excited they are about learning to be better writers by WRITING EVERY DAY!! If you know a friend from Rm. 202, please tell them how proud you are of their hard work and grit!!

Library Redo

Remember last year when we worked on organizing our classroom library? You might not, because I couldn’t find it on the blog….:( Maybe the post I thought I wrote got lost in the “it-has-to-be-finished-and-perfect” list I told you about yesterday. Well, since my pledge is to tell all the stories, not just the finished ones, I’ll share the parts of this story that we have finished (and that I have pictures of!).

We left at the end of 1st grade with a (mostly) organized library, which we had worked on together little-by-little last year. We packed it away in that same way, which always helps when I put the classroom back together the next fall. We figured out, though, that we had never gotten the boxes fully labeled, and so as we started using the books again this year, they got all mixed up. We decided we should probably just start over; I was the only one who knew what most of the categories were supposed to be.

We started by pairing up, and first going through the boxes we already had established. I gave each pair a box, and their job was 1) to figure out what their books had in common, 2) decide if they had any that didn’t match that category, 3) and then make a label that matched their newly decided-upon category. All of the extras got piled up in the middle of the room for later.

The second year together has been a great learning process in many ways. Of course, for many reasons, we’re doing many things differently, but there are also some things that are the same that they are doing differently. This is a perfect example. The understanding they have of genre and the difference between fiction/non-fiction, as well as the ability to see similarities and differences is deeper than when they did the library sort as first graders, so the same activity is even more meaningful than the first time. Even the way they “get” why we did it, why we did it together (as opposed to just having ME take care of it), and why we should keep it organized is different than last year.

Do Parents Make Better Teachers? (Part 2)

Wow–I didn’t initially intend for this to be a two-parter, but I got to the end of #3 and figured it made more sense than continuing towards that 15-year-to-read post I mentioned. Ok, here we go again. And here’s Part 1 if you missed it.

4. In 2012, our family made another step in the stages of growth when my first baby went to kindergarten. Um…in case you didn’t know, the first day of kindergarten (i.e. real school) is VERY different than the first days of preschool. At least for me. Oh, the tears! Plus there was an added level of ~~fun~~ ~~stress~~ responsibility because I was sending him to my same school. That meant I had to quickly dry the tears and get back to my big kids for our first day of school. Needless to say, being a parent of a school-aged child was a learning experience. I think I’d say the hardest (and more surprising) part was parent-teacher conferences. As a mama of a kindergartener I learned that parent-teacher conferences are nerve-wracking from the other side of the table. No matter what. And wow–that was a big deal for me. After over a decade of going through that routine as a teacher, I finally “got it” as a parent. I knew that from then on I would do everything in my power to ease any nerves that came in with parents to my own conferences. And even though I’ve now done 5 of my own conferences, I still cry. I’ve learned to let Mr. Bearden be in charge in this realm. 🙂

5. As I mentioned before, I went back to primary last year, after 9 years with “big” kids. At first I was super scared. Ok, I was nervously excited. I knew it would all come back, but here’s perhaps the biggest way in which I know I am a better teacher a parent. I was not a mom the last time I taught 1st and 2nd grade, but now I have an 8 1/2 and a 5 YO. That definitely has added to my arsenal of strategies and tricks that I can use in countless situations. Remember how I mentioned that classroom management that first year was so hard to learn and how I thought I might die? Ok, I didn’t say that, but it’s funny to see the difference with managing things in a primary grade the second time around. Yes, part of the ease is that I have now been teaching for so many more years; this has been an education in itself. But being a mom has also given me another set of eyes in the back of my head. I know better what to anticipate (and then hopefully prevent) with 7-8 YOs, because I have one at home. I can speak to little ones in a better and more meaningful way since I’ve had so much more practice since the last time around. I can better predict what will be the right words to motivate, the right words to encourage, or stop or which words might send a little one into tears (and yes, I try to avoid those!). The extra treat that I didn’t anticipate was being able to understand the “culture” of this age; I totally understand their games, books, TV shows, etc., because they’re the same as what I have at home!!

Ok, so back to the initial question. Do parents make better teachers? For me, that’s definitely true. However, there are many ways to define “better,” and there are of course AMAZING teachers who are not parents. I have, however, learned many lessons and can better understand many of the ins-and-outs since I am on both sides of the equation. That education has been such a gift.

What I’ve known–and truly believed–all along though, is that regardless of their career, the job that parents do as their child’s first teachers is priceless. It is therefore not my job to replace them as the teacher, but to work together on a new team of teachers and parents to help mold our students into the best versions of themselves they can be. The work that mamas and daddies do before I even get their kiddos is so important to the work that I will then do with each student once they enter my classroom. What fun to join the family of learners to work together towards a common goal!

Getting on the Bus by Donalyn Miller

Sometimes when you read someone else’s blog post you just wish you would have said those same words. This was one of those times. Instead of writing my response, I’ll just reblog the original ones. Donalyn Miller said them better than I could have anyway. I COMPLETELY agree with the huge responsibility we have as teachers to share our reading lives with kiddos and help them become life-long readers and thinkers themselves.

Nerdy Book Club

Last Monday, a tiny corner of the world celebrated the announcements of the American Library Association’s 2016 Youth Media Awards. Watching the announcements via live streaming, I switched between jotting book titles in my notebook, Voxing my excitement to my #bookaday group, clapping and hooting, and texting friends who were attending the announcements in person. The celebration continued online all week as authors and illustrators shared their gratitude on social media, and in-the-know librarians and teachers commented on the books we enjoyed, the books we missed (and immediately ordered), and the books we wanted to share with our students and children.

There was also a bit of armchair quarterbacking about who won and who didn’t win. I am surprised when some of the people who question a book’s merit admit they haven’t read it. Judging a book by its cover? It seems some feel confident judging a book by…

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So I Have This Thing…

So I have this thing where I can’t write about something on the blog until after it’s finished. Like the whole thing. Even if it’s a Writing unit, a Social Studies project that takes 6 weeks or a Math investigation that is 10 days long. I guess part of the reason is I want to make sure I have all of the parts to tell the full story–the beginning, middle and end–as well as to make sure that I’ve figured out the angle, the focus or the Big Idea I want to make sure to highlight. I want to have identified the problem and then share the solution. I want to have taken all the right pictures (which I have now learned the hard way have to be compressed before I upload them!) and figured out just the right words to write so that the most people want to read–and then comment on!–the post. You get it the idea. I want it to be perfect.

But unfortunately what happens when I work like that is that often time gets away from me. I wait too long and a whole list of things occur: a teachable moment goes uncelebrated and the story goes untold, I forget the best parts of the story because too much time passes, I lose momentum, or even worse I end up with SO MUCH to write that then I can’t do it. And then my blog sits untouched since mid-December, with many amazing learning experiences not shared. And the funny thing is it’s taken me what seems like FOREVER to figure out that maybe that’s not working. Yeah, I guess I’m kind of a slow learner.

So I’m not sure where that leaves me then. I could go back and (with the help of the pictures I’ve taken) catch up on the 1,000 things that have happened since a month ago (ouch!); I could just shared the “finished” things that have occurred this week and celebrate the amazing things my students are learning–as well as what they are teaching; or I could just start writing about things in a new way and not worry so much about making sure that every post, every “story” is complete before I tell it. Often, it’s the middle, the messy parts, the while-it’s-happening stuff that is the most interesting anyway. It’s the things I learn when I’m not expecting them that are the most enlightening. It’s the lessons that don’t go the way their supposed to that often have the most impact, and it’s when I stretch myself out of my comfort zone and try things a new way that often I find I wonder why I didn’t do that a long time before.

I guess I just made the decision then. I am resolving to try something new this year (but I still say I don’t make New Years’ Resolutions), and tell stories at whatever stage of completion that they are in. I pledge to share the ugly parts of learning as well as the well-planned, perfectly-executed, went-just-the-way-I-wanted-them-to parts (yeah…there’s much more of the previous than the latter anyway, so it’ll give me lots more to write about!). I guess I already try to share the whole story anyway, but I’ll try to make sure I am ok with just little bits at a time instead of just the final product. It’s the process not the product anyway, right?

Thanks for listening to my rambling, especially if this is the first time you’ve been back to our blog in a while and were expecting something different (which makes me wonder–what do you expect when you come here? I’d love to know! Leave me a comment. 🙂 ). I hope to make this a time to turn over a little bit of a new leaf and start the year with a fresh commitment to share the amazingness that happens in Rm. 202 every day. I hope you stay around to join us for the ride. It will definitely be fun, and probably pretty messy. Great combination, I’d say! 🙂

20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher

Starting a 3rd Grade Journey

Monthly Archives: January 2016