Get Outta the House!

My horoscope published in the newspaper on Christmas Day said, “A personal change will have a lasting effect. Use your skills to bring about positive changes. Keep a positive attitude.” My blog has had to take a back seat to other things in my life these past few months as I heal from major surgery. […]

Research tells us kids need movement to learn, but how often do we incorporate exercise into our academic classes? A health challenge and pure desperation this school year pushed me to try. My 2016-17 school year started out rough. By the time the first prep day was over an ambulance took me to the hospital […]

Yarn, grocery bags, and old magazines seem to be the backbone of all elementary school crafts. Project Food, Land & People (FLP), a 28-year-old educational non-profit, puts together those things and more to help teachers keep kids’ attention while learning about natural resources, agriculture, and the environment. FLP has developed 55 lesson plans for preschoolers through […]

Congratulations to the Bel Air grocery store at the corner of Waterman and Elk Grove Boulevard in Elk Grove. Making grocery shopping fun and healthy for hungry kids.

Just in time for Halloween, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District is bringing its Spooky Science workshop to area educators. Teachers will meet inside the visitor center inside the Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park, a bonus for anyone interested in how electricity works or Sacramento County history. SMUD ‘s description of the workshop: “Using a spooky, […]

The California Air Resources Board has compiled a huge list of websites for anyone interested in air pollution, air quality, smog, and just about anything to do with keeping the air clean for breathing. Ed Wong, from the board’s Office of the Ombudsman/Air Quality Education Program in Sacramento, distributed his list to participants at the […]

The other day I was looking in my closet for something and came across something else stashed back in there: my notes from a writing conference I attended this past spring. Specifically notes from a talk New York Times best-selling author Tim Myers gave at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference. He was […]

One of the funnest education conferences ever comes to Sacramento this week. The California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom’s state conference starts Thursday at the Holiday Inn in downtown Sacramento. Sacramento is the home of the Fork to Farm movement, and this conference runs concurrently with the area’s “Farm Tank Summit.” Conference participants will […]

This school year fourth graders can treat their families and friends to a national park visit for free, all year long. Through the federal initiative, Every Kid in a Park, any fourth grader can download a pass, good through Aug. 31, 2017, for free admission to federal lands and waterways. The pass will also allow […]

Years ago, during an interview for a special education position, I said I thought one of the biggest special education issues of our time was the lack of structured PE time for our students. The trend in elementary schools at that time was to do away with the professional PE teacher who had studied kinesthetics […]