24 years teaching: 6 years in kindergarten; currently starting my 18th year in first grade with the 2016-2017 school year
hands-on, developmentally appropriate, child-centered, children have choices and ownership, creative, "outside-the-box" (not scripted programs!)
National Board Certified Teacher, Early Childhood 2000 - 2020; Teacher of the Year Seaside Elementary School 2015 - 2016; Horry County Schools Top 10 Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist 2015 - 2016; Alpha Delta Kappa, Alpha Chi Chapter member since March 1997
USC - Coastal Carolina College, 1991 B.A. Early Childhood Education; The Citadel, 1993 M. Ed. in Reading; Walden University, Ed. S. 2014, Leadership for Social Change in Education
Life is too short not to have fun at school! I'm finding the pressure to conform to a "cookie-cutter" classroom quite frustrating and I have professionally promised myself to keep creativity alive - for myself and my students! If it has loads of color, is full of cute, eye-catching characters, and makes learning more fun...I want to use it in my classroom!
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
English Language Arts, Balanced Literacy, Creative Writing, Reading, Spelling, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Applied Math, Arithmetic, Basic Operations, Measurement, Numbers, Other (Math), Science, Arts & Music, Graphic Arts, Other (Specialty), For All Subjects, Classroom Management, Word Problems, Study Skills, Instructional Technology, General Science, Problem Solving, Short Stories, Writing, Reading Strategies, Holidays/Seasonal, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Christmas-Chanukah-Kwanzaa, Autumn, Mental Math, Halloween, Winter, Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, St. Patrick's Day, Spring, For All Subjects