Groovy Educator

Join me in an effort to spread literacy by posting pictures of your pets, cute animals, or natural backgrounds with the word “Read” written on it.  Let’s make this go viral. Let’s encourage reading!

Check out my board Anything and Everything First Grade on Pinterest.  I also started an Anything and Everything Science of Reading Board.  I’m debating on starting a board for pictures of animals somehow associated with literacy. Right now I have been searching my camera roll for adorable pictures of my pets and writing “read” across them.  What catches your interest when you are doing searches?  Groovy Educator on Pinterest:  https://pin.it/7ztfBcJ

I have been selected as one of twelve teachers across the nation to participate in Saavas’ Inaugural Literacy Fellowship.   They are flying me to Chicago at the end of the month.  I’m so honored and excited to discuss literacy with researchers and product managers.  It will be an experience!

https://www.disneyclips.com/images5/frozen2.html Frozen Fridays are a fun family tradition in our house.  When my daughter was itty bitty she loved watching Frozen, dressing up like Anna or Elsa, and eating ice cream.  That's how Frozen Fridays began.  We set up a pillow and blanket fort in the living room.  We plan our Frozen snack.  Most of the time it is a "frozen" ice cream treat.  Sometimes we find actual "Frozen" products like a gingerbread house of Elsa's castle.  My daughter either dresses in a themed Frozen outfit or Frozen jammies and then we settle in to watch the movie.   Sometimes we invite friends or cousins for Frozen Friday Festivities.  It is always a blast.  We do not do this every Friday because we want to keep it special.  Now that the new Frozen II movie is about to come out, it's a perfect time for your family to start a Frozen Friday family tradition.  Memories to cherish forever! Check out t...

This summer, I am taking all kinds of new risks.  I just started my first Facebook Group called Groovy Teaching Ideas.  Any advice is welcome.  It is a place to share, learn, and grow.  You can find the link on my Groovy Educator Facebook Page.  Please feel free to share with friends and family. https://www.facebook.com/GroovyEducatorFL/

YouTube Video Teaching Writing Skills and Vocabulary Through Conversation In this relatively short video, I model how you can use conversations to build your child's vocabulary.  Through questioning and rephrasing, you are modeling appropriate language skills.  This in turn improves your child's ability to write because usually if a child can say it, he/she can write it (even if words are sounded out). In the video, I begin by asking what my daughter wants to talk about and she replies "fans."  Then she goes on to say "So today we will be talking about fans."  She automatically went into an introduction without even realizing she was stating the topic (probably because her mom's a teacher).  By giving her a choice on the topic, she is more interested in the conversation.  This builds engagement. A little while later in the video, I state "Apparently my daughter is a fan of fans."  I am intentionally modeling another way to use ...