Remember five-year-old Mills’ words about The Hello Goodbye Window? “That book. It just changed me.” My last post featured books that impacted my kindergartners and prompted insightful experiences. Books also changed our world outside the classroom. The fenced area...
I breathed deeply as I uttered the last words of The Hello, Goodbye Window : “When you look from the outside, Nanna and Poppy’s house has lots of windows, but there’s only one Hello, Goodbye Window and it’s right where you need it.” Turning the page, I continued:...
How can critique groups inspire us as writers? Last year, Kathy O’Neill’s blog post shared the importance of critique groups through highlighting Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings. I absorbed her article, grabbed...
When teachers want better writers, they can connect students with authors through Twitter (now called X) and other social media. In that way, author Laura Numeroff inspired and transformed the writing of my kindergartners and first graders. Little ones squealed when I...
How do authors promote their books effectively? During my thirty years of teaching, I had the privilege of hosting incredible authors in my classroom and school. I believe the ideas I’ve documented from their visits will help us as we plan our own author visits. ...
Remember The Best Christmas Pageant Ever? Author Barbara Robinson penned the antics of the Herdman kids hearing the Christmas story for the first time. One of my favorite memories was watching twenty-two first-graders squeeze closer to her for a photo. As...
Today we welcome a new blogger to our team. Jennifer M. Barnes is a retired kindergarten and first-grade teacher and will draw from those experiences in her upcoming posts. She is thrilled to be part of our blogging team and we're excited to have her! **** “So,...