As a child, I was not a star student, and I struggled through most of school. My educational career did not "click" until college where I began to love learning. I graduated from the College of Saint Elizabeth in 2004, where I received my B.A. in Philosophy. After teaching gymnastic for several years, I decided to continue my education and receive my teaching certificate in Elementary Education. I never expected be a teacher, but somehow I was lead right into the classroom.
I have been teaching in Morris Plains, New Jersey for ten years. I have a Masters Degree in Elementary Reading. I have a passion for elementary literacy and innovation in the classroom. I'm obsessed with picture books, and I currently teach a class called Creative Literacy to PreK- second grade students.
When I’m not teaching, I stay active through obstacle course racing, GORUCK, triathlons. I also have a passion for animal rescue, and that has lead to a house full of critters great and small. I have a lab mix named Finn, an orange cat named Elliot, a princess named Benson Nugget, and a three footed cay named Munch. We also have a revolving door of foster kittens. Along with those fur babies, I'm also a momma to a rescued hamster, turtles, leopard gecko, and crested geckos. One of the crested geckos, Timber, calls the Library at Mountain Way School his home. Timber often makes for an interesting day.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
An Author Study: Yuyi Morales
First I want to start by saying I haven't blogged nearly enough. Last year, I began my first year as a Creative Literacy teacher, and I just didn't make blogging a priority. Now that I'm into my second year as a Creative Literacy teacher, I'm hoping to blog a lot more. I feel that my experiences and ideas could be helpful.
I've been participating in the Global Read Aloud for about 5 years now. Last year, was my first year participating as a Creative Literacy Teacher, who sees all the students (preK-2nd) in the school. Last year, I attempted to read the chapter book selection with my second grade classes. It proved to be too cumbersome. I was reading the same book four times, and we didn't get a chance to finish the book. This year I decided that the pictures books for all grades would be much more manageable.
Yuyi Morales was a great pick for the author study. I started with background on Mexico, immigration, and Spanish as a language. We read One is a Pinata by Roseanne Thong. This was a nice introduction to some Spanish words and Mexican customs. We also read I Pledge Allegiance by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez. This was an age appropriate way to introduce becoming a citizen.
Included in the author study were the books:
Dreamer
Just a Minute
Nino Wrestles the World
Viva Frida
Little Night
I thoroughly enjoyed reading these books with my students. I especially enjoy listening to the videos of Yuyi reading her own books. In each video Yuyi provided background and meaning to each book. We used flipgrid to connect with a couple other schools. As with past years, the connects start off strong but as the month goes one the connection usually fades. We had a pretty successful connection throughout with a School from Indiana.
I had the brilliant idea to make pinatas with kindergarten and first grade. Then I decided to make masks with the second grade. I had committed to paper mache with the entire school.
A couple lessons I learned from my adventure with paper mache.
1. Way more kids than I expected DID NOT want to touch the gooey mixture.
2. I went through a lot more flour than I anticipated.
3. Make extras because some not going come right, and quite honestly they won't know the difference between the pinatas.
Looking forward to next year!
I've been participating in the Global Read Aloud for about 5 years now. Last year, was my first year participating as a Creative Literacy Teacher, who sees all the students (preK-2nd) in the school. Last year, I attempted to read the chapter book selection with my second grade classes. It proved to be too cumbersome. I was reading the same book four times, and we didn't get a chance to finish the book. This year I decided that the pictures books for all grades would be much more manageable.
Yuyi Morales was a great pick for the author study. I started with background on Mexico, immigration, and Spanish as a language. We read One is a Pinata by Roseanne Thong. This was a nice introduction to some Spanish words and Mexican customs. We also read I Pledge Allegiance by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez. This was an age appropriate way to introduce becoming a citizen.
Included in the author study were the books:
Dreamer
Just a Minute
Nino Wrestles the World
Viva Frida
Little Night
I thoroughly enjoyed reading these books with my students. I especially enjoy listening to the videos of Yuyi reading her own books. In each video Yuyi provided background and meaning to each book. We used flipgrid to connect with a couple other schools. As with past years, the connects start off strong but as the month goes one the connection usually fades. We had a pretty successful connection throughout with a School from Indiana.
I had the brilliant idea to make pinatas with kindergarten and first grade. Then I decided to make masks with the second grade. I had committed to paper mache with the entire school.
A couple lessons I learned from my adventure with paper mache.
1. Way more kids than I expected DID NOT want to touch the gooey mixture.
2. I went through a lot more flour than I anticipated.
3. Make extras because some not going come right, and quite honestly they won't know the difference between the pinatas.
Looking forward to next year!
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