Sitting around the table at a small Bistro Saturday night I enjoyed much-needed girl time with friends. Three of us are teachers, all of us are mothers, and nothing is off-limits in the conversation. We drifted among topics of kids and relationships. Someone shared a story they had read about marriage. The idea of the […]
Lori H Rice
Lori Rice is a fourth-grade teacher at West Elementary in Wamego, Kansas, who has taught K-2 reading as well as kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade since 1996. She has a passion for creativity, learning, questioning and the whole child. Her classroom is a place of acceptance and celebrating differences.
Posted inCharter Schools, Current Events in Education, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Middle School
Step Up and Teach – Part 2: ELA Writing Standards
Read Part 1 of this series about Reading Standards here. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] Princess, my first grader, writes all of the time. One day in kindergarten, after getting into trouble at home, I […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Step Up and Teach – Part 1: ELA Reading Standards
The year is 1996. I take a huge shaky breath and walk into the classroom. Smiling a welcome, the experienced teacher directs me to a small table. Ten small pairs of eyes gather around me, anxious and just as unsure as I am. I open up the teacher manual and read from the script. We […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Teaching and Modeling Persistence: Setting Goals
Goal: noun; the object of a person’s ambition or effort. Aim: verb; having the intention of achieving. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] If we don’t aim for goals, we may end up where we don’t want […]
Posted inClassroom Management
Parent Teacher Conferences in an Elementary Classroom
Each new school year I start with lists. I have lists of school supplies I buy and hunt down at sales. I have a list of things to do to prepare and organize my classroom for a new set of students and families. Then there is the class list. When I receive my class list […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Technology
Mobile Devices in the Hands of our Children Part 4: Creativity
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] With the start of the school year we have been using our new iPad cart in my fourth grade classroom. I am inspired and amazed by how quickly my students pick […]
Posted inEducational Apps, Instruction & Curriculum, Social Studies, Technology
Mobile Devices in the Hands of our Children Part 3: More Apps
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] There are so many great apps available and realistically there are quite a few bad apps too. So how is a teacher to filter through and find engaging fun for the […]
Posted inEducational Apps, Instruction & Curriculum, Technology
Mobile Devices in the Hands of Our Children Part 2: The Apps
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] Imagine your classroom with students creating, learning, the world at their fingertips. Mobile devices are opening the doors of classrooms across the United States to possibilities we have never seen before. […]