Shhh, be very, very quiet. I'm posting here again though it has been y-e-a-r-s, and you really don't want to make any sudden movements or startle me in some other way. You see, I was a kindergarten whisperer for twenty-five years, and I blogged here regularly for about a decade... or decade-ish. After finally discovering the perfect master's program for myself, I decided it was time to not just teach kindergarten but a-l-l of the kindergarteners (and first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders) as my school's librarian.  My third year as a librarian (why-bearian, lye-bearian) b ..read more

 As we head into winter and look forward to the holiday season, the need to layer clothes comes into play for many of us!  Students, teachers and librarians can wear cute t-shirts with a cardigan or zip-up hoodie, and there are so many fun designs offered on Etsy, including in MY shop! You can tell I'm a crocheter, too, but take a closer look at the t-shirt designs I just added this weekend: Perfect for teachers, parents, grandparents, and librarians, don't you think?  You can find this shirt in pink and other colors here. Toddlers and kids will love wearing their own swee ..read more

My littles have asked for autumn/Halloween coloring pages as one of their library centers for next week, so here's what I came up with for them. Many of them enjoy "rainbow coloring," so I know the white ghosts aren't going to end up being a waste of paper, hee hee! The images are large, cute, and easy-to-color pages for October! Some have writing prompts to help emergent writers as they sound out a response while others have text that supports the image. These are a fun way to develop fine motor coordination and get into the autumn spirit as we head toward Halloween! Perfect for pre-k ..read more

 It's been quite some time since I've been inspired to create activities for emergent writers and readers to offer to educators over at Teachers Pay Teachers, but this weekend's cooler weather and changing leaves did the trick, providing me with inspiration while Mr. Coffee kept me fueled, warm and cozy with my autumn beverage of choice. Students can write on pages featuring individual or combined images, and can utilize a word bank while labeling parts of the same clip art! Head over to see the pack and make sure to check out my other autumn/October activities featured this mon ..read more

 There's a barrage of summer classroom setup posts, photos, and videos to sift and scroll through when I check in on my social media, which is very much aligned with my own work calendar as I officially return to my library this upcoming week.  I'm discovering new-to-me posts with educators and friends of education reminding colleagues and others that none of us should be giving our employers our work "for free" by returning to classrooms and libraries and labs and school buildings any earlier than our official report date. Which I totally get. At the beginning of my teaching career ..read more

You can now find me blogging at "From LMNOP to LMS," a site I began as a requirement for a graduate course.  I've shaken off the dust and added two posts so far that chronicle the beginning of my new adventure as a school librarian! I've not yet decided whether or not to shutter Kindergarten's 3 R's, as I'll likely be inspired to cross-post whenever I encounter books and activities that kindergarteners will enjoy, so feel free to stick around. Or follow me over to the newish blog. Or hang out with me at both places ..read more

  ... and that's a wrap.  My 2020-2021 school year is over.  My annual tradition of decompressing at the end of the year as summer begins by reflecting upon and blogging the lessons I've learned is still exerting some pull over me because, well, habits are habits, but goodness... this year has been a doozie.  I started with twelve "all mine" remote-learning kindergarteners at the beginning of the year, and by the end, finished with seven original Dream Teamers and two mid-year transfers.  In total, I taught forty-eight students, several of them repeat visitors du ..read more

Thanks to Mother Nature, today was a *snow day*! I took advantage of the extra time to create some Google Slides for Groundhog Day.  They include links to explanatory videos about groundhogs, shadows and Groundhog Day itself, as well as a story library and some song selections.  One of my ~favorites~ is this one!   The super-cute groundhog clipart is from Teaching in the Tongass.  Visit her TPT Store by tapping on her logo:   These slides and content are appropriate for pre-k, kindergarten, and first-grade students. You can grab a copy of the slides by clicking he ..read more

Last summer I took a wonderful series of courses addressing effective digital instruction through Kansas State University. I was able to put to immediate use my ability to create Bitmoji classrooms (which are really just very busy Google Slides) to collect resources that my students and I could use to access curricular, thematic, and frankly FUN content. With Kansas Day just around the corner, I decided to create a set of slides for The Wizard of Oz and versions of Over the Rainbow/Somewhere Over the Rainbow for my Super Stars to compare and contrast. I included presentation notes and details ..read more

I'm a member of several teacher groups on social media, many of them created last spring when so many of us were sent home to teach on-screen. I regularly skim posts from these groups because, for the most part, members are there to share and to learn from each other.  Monday evening, one member of a group asked how other teachers planned to spend today, Inauguration Day, and what, if anything, they'd teach their students about the event.  "Praying for our country now that the socialists are taking over," "Nothing- I won't show my students a fake inauguration because that's what it w ..read more