About Me

Hello world. I am an educational consultant, teacher and a homeschooling mom. I love to help others find materials for teaching. Check out my lenses and leave me a comment.  :)

Frog Unit Study: Hopping to Learn

The spring continues to warm the earth and frogs are laying eggs in the vernal pools. As the tadpoles begin to hatch, what will they be learning? Pull up a lily pad and listen to the story of Grandfather Frog, hop around the hundreds board, and leav...

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

How do you feel about Gray Wolves? What do you know about wolves in general? Do wolves really dress in Grandma's clothes and eat little girls? Learn about the anatomy of these fascinating canines, where they live, their distinctive features and how...

Do You Know a Fancy Nancy?

Do you have a Fancy Nancy in your house? A Fancy Nancy likes sparkles and glitter, lace and tulle. No amount of jewelry is too much. Tutus, boas, and satin are the latest fashion and she will wear them anywhere. Fancy Nancy is not just for little gi...

What happened to RECESS?

Do you remember the games you played during recess as a child? Think about all the physical activity that involved and what you learned from those recess games. Did you know that more and more recess is being replaced by testing and homework? While...

Hands-on Math

Children learn and truly understand mathematical concepts best when engaged in hands-on activities and games. By manipulating everyday objects, playing games and finding out ways of solving everyday problems children gain a true understanding of the...

Bluebirds: Classroom Meadow Theme

Summer nears and the bluebirds start nesting along the fenceline. The children are fascinated with the way they fly back and forth to build their nests. They become the focus of our next Unit Study, Bluebirds of the Meadow. As your little bluebirds...

Tiger Island: The Awesome Pawsome

 Tiger Island Zoo is raising tigers in order to save the gene pool of these endangered big cats. Sign a Petition to Save Tigers and learn tiger facts. And the Awesome Pawsome are born! Taj, Sultan, Rama and Sita come into the world, and Taj is th...

Beginning to Read

Mrs. Wishy Washy and The Big Bad Pig are inviting you all beginning readers to join them in the adventure of learning to read. Learn how to make Word Walls, Literacy Bags, activities for Center Time and lots, lots, more. You will find suggested begi...

Garner Rix and the Royalton Raid

Garner Rix was just 12 when he moved with his father, pregnant mother, two sisters and three brothers from a farm in Connecticut to a log cabin on the banks of the White River, a place that would one day be called Royalton, Vermont. He helped h...

Take Home Literacy Bags

TAKE HOME LITERACY BAGS are a fun way to help children share what they are learning with their families. Children take these literacy bags home, read the stories, do the activities with their families and then write about their experiences in the jou...

Lemmings: Arctic Classroom Theme

When the winds start to howl and the snow begins to blow you can capture your student's attention with this innovative Arctic Unit Study focusing on lemmings. Your little lemmings will be excited to learn with a theme that includes little furry crea...

Printing With Coffee

 Cafegrafia, or Coffee Art, the unique process of developing photographs using coffee as a pigment was invented by Saul Bolanos. His photos are of Costa Rican Coffee processing from a century ago. In this lens you will also learn how coffee is no...

Natural Bathroom Decor

Do you wish to change your bathroom? Does your bathroom feel old, outdated, or just not your style? You can add a sense of elegance to any bathroom with accessories made from natural materials. In this lens you will find bathroom accessories made fr...

Hamtaro

Hamtaro is an adventurous and curious hamster who belongs to a girl named Laura (named Amy in the original books), and who secretly leads a society of hamsters called the Ham-hams. While he rescues hamsters in trouble and goes on huge adventures, he...

Purple Gallinules of the Everglades

Gallinules are spectacular creatures. The can be found walking on water lilies in the canals throughout the Everglades. One day we took a trip to the Everglades and saw a Purple Gallinule for the first time. It's vibrant colors are unbelievable. We...

Riverdance: Traditional Step Dancing

Riverdance intrigues me. The rapid leg movements of the traditional Irish Step Dancing are a form of dance that I had never known or experienced until I saw Riverdance. How can they move their feet so rapidly without moving the rest of their bodies?...

Common Rodents: Rats and Mice

After reading this sentence, close your eyes and think of the word "rodent", then think of the first rodent that comes to mind. It's a mouse or rat, right? Of course it is! Rats and mice are perhaps the most common rodents other than lemmi...

River Otters: Playful Friends of our society!

Learn about River Otters through games and hands-on learning centers. Decorate you classroom with a Woodlands Riverbank Theme. Learn the habits of River Otters, the food they eat and how they raise their young. You will find suggestions for both fic...

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse: A Mouse Unit Study

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse welcomes everyone to his nest where learning never ends. He has dozens of mouse related activities to teach young children across the curriculum. Whitefoot welcomes homeschoolers, teachers, parents and children to turn into...

Teaching from the Heart

This lens will tell you about some famous and not so famous teachers, methods of teaching and ways to engage children in learning. Think about the great teachers you have known who truly care about children. They inspire children to do their best an...

It's Raining! It's Pouring!

Water, rain, puddles, wetness... This lens will give you dozens of ideas, resources, hints and tricks to create water-themed rainy activities for both homeschool families and classrooms. There are endless possibilities to spark the interest of your...

Creatures of the Woodlands

It is Springtime! The little Woodland Creatures are building nests, peaking their heads out of their dens and preparing to bring new life to the forest. The Thornton Burgess Books, such as Old Mother Westwind, are just full of charming woodland creatu...

Games: A Fun Way to Learn

What do kids do best? Play of course. Why not encourage this natural tendency by providing your children with great entertaining games that just happen to be educational as well.  Educational Games such as Mancala and Set teach math concep...

Alligator Pie, Alligator Pie...

Alligator Pie is a great poem for introducing the alligator theme. Use it in a reading chart and then go on to learn about the alligators. Alligators bring us eye to eye with the watery, muddy world of the swamp. Write a poem or explore an alligato...

Love Actually

Love Actually is a romantic comedy film that looks at love in all it's various guises. With comedy, tragedy, love and hope it helps to counteract the feeling of hopelessness caused by 911 and the Wars being waged around the world. It is one of the b...

Astronomy Activities: It's a Starry Starry Classroom

 From Astronomy to Art this lens will give you dozens of ideas, resources, hints and tricks to create starry-themed activities for both homeschool families and classrooms. Learn about Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night painting technique. Lis...

Adjectives: A Unit Study for Valentine's Day

Fill the day with arts, crafts, science experiments and ways to say I Love You. Pour out your feelings of love throughout the day. But it's not Valentine's Day you say? No Problem, these activities adapt to any other day or holiday. You will find b...

Animal Tracks Unit Study

When you study nature it is often hard to get close to the animals you are studying but often they leave their tracks. Learning to recognize the tracks of the animals that live near you will let your know which ones are visiting you. Animal tracks a...

Flip the Pancake and Sing about Waffles

You can make the best waffles and pancakes with the cast iron griddles and pure Vermont Maple Syrup. To get you in the mood you gotta check out the video "Do you like pancakes?" My daughter drew the cats that keep popping up around the Waffles. So...

John Holt: Unschooling

After teaching for several years John Holt realized that children learn best when the are learning what they want to learn. He then went on to write many books about Homeschooling, started the magazine Growing Without Schooling and coined the term &...

Woodchucks: How much learning could a Woodchuck teach if a Woodchuck could teach school?

Woodchucks chuck wood and Groundhogs determine the coming of spring. They eat your garden, dig holes under the porch but look adorable when they are first born and start to venture out of their dens. Watching the woodchuck babies venturing out from...

Wardsboro 4th of July Street Fair

This small Vermont town fair began back in 1949 when community members were brainstorming ideas to raise money and has turned into a celebration that brings people back year after year. Some people look forward to building floats and others watchi...

Animals that Lay Eggs

Everyone knows that chickens lay eggs. Most people know that all other birds do as well but have you ever thought about all the other animals that lay eggs? This unit explores eggs and egg layers. You will find dozens of ideas for teaching about Ovi...

The Redwall Series!

Brian Jacques definitely started an exciting series when he published his first book, "Redwall". The book was a great tale of a horde of rats attacking a large abbey for animals, and a young mouse's rise to Warrior of Redwall Abbey (see bel...

The Three Bears

There are the three bears that Goldilocks encountered but in Alaska there are also three types of real bears. (Ok, Four if you count the Kodiak but it fits the tale better to combine the Kodiak with the Brown or Grizzly Bears.) The three best known...

Word Walls and Pointers

Word walls are a collection of words for beginning readers to use to promote learning in reading and writing. WordWalls are most effective when the children help to generate them. This lens will point out various types of WordWalls used in classroom...