Teacher Appreciation Week is usually a week filled with cards, flowers, candy, and lots of good food. Although it may not always show, we really love our teachers. Teachers help parents guide their children through the ups and downs of
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High Stakes Testing: Friend? Foe? Neither?
I use to say April belongs to testing as this was the month my district began high-stakes state testing. Now, they start in March and end in May. That means high-stakes testing consistently touches the climate in my class for
Read MoreLiteracy and STEM
A few weeks ago, I was blessed to attend a wonderful Professional Development at the Arizona Science Center called “Integrating STEM Through Literature”. It did exactly that! Hosted in the CREATE Makerspace, I joined ten other teachers in linking the
Read MoreBRICS Are For Kids!
Let me begin with an apology. This spat will not include a lot of formal research or quotes. Well, not as much as I want to give. This is a topic that each person will need to do their own
Read MoreSocial Development is More Important Than Ever (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this article, we discussed Dr. Montessori’s theory on the First Plane of Development. In that, we explored the social development of the child between the ages of 0-6 and introduced you to The Casa. The Montessori
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Social Development is More Important Than Ever (Part 1)
In a time of redefining normal, I believe we have simultaneously developed a deeper appreciation for the reality-based social development within the child. As a Montessorian, we hold that social development is the adaptive work of the child. It is
Read MoreSpanish in the Classroom…Update
In a previous blog, I shared that I have several students with Spanish as their first language in my class. I have also been taking Spanish conversation classes to help better support them. I thought I would provide an update
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Unintended Positive Consequences of Being an ASU ASAP Fellow
I was so excited to learn that I was accepted into ASU’s ASAP Fellowship. I would finally receive the support and resources I needed to help deliver more meaningful STEM opportunities in my class. I was expecting for this to
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Free School Breakfast? Thank a Panther!
The Black Panthers, in my opinion, represent Black independence and autonomy. They impacted my life growing up through education and real-life examples of African Americans who positively impact their communities. In fact, their contributions have positively impacted millions of Americans,
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Yay for Climate Change?
I have to start this with a disclaimer. I have been wanting to write about this topic for a while, but did not want to talk about how horrible the effects have been. I finally found a way to discuss
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