George Washington Teacher Institute

One of the coolest parts about being a teacher is seizing professional development opportunities.  Conference, edcamp, lecture, institute, what have you:  these PD opportunities are crucial for our students.

I have learned so much about the way that I teach by fully immersing myself in as many opportunities as possible.  I have so much fun when I learn new ways to approach various subjects and also get a chance to meet like-minded educators across the country.


My heart hasn't stopped racing since the early morning, when I received word that I was accepted into the George Washington Teacher Institute.  This July, I will spend a full week living at Mount Vernon as I explore the legacy of Mr. President himself.


I believe that this opportunity will change the way that I approach my entire social studies instruction.  I'm so excited to promote the Woods and also expand my own professional learning network.


I can't wait to bring this back to the kids.

Teacher in Residence: National Aquarium

Summer, to me, is the ultimate time for active learning and discovery.  Vacations of all sorts are great, particularly for the mental re-charge.  Still, to me, something about summer screams think, do, learn to me.

I am incredibly excited and honored to announce that I will be National Aquarium's Teacher in Residence this summer.  I will work alongside non-formal educators at the aquarium to develop new ways in which to use their exhibits as teaching tools.

I'm primarily excited about this opportunity because I know that I will return to school in the fall armed with a plethora of new ideas and activities for my students.  Our very first intensive science unit is centered upon oceans.  This residency is a match made in heaven for me - and for my students!

Resident Expert Techies

Learning binary.  Writing scripts.  Launching a class blog.  Programming robots to perform simple (and fun!) tasks.

We have immersed ourselves in technology as of late.  With global demand for computer scientists on the rise, what better way for second graders to learn technology than by active inquiry?

We are fine tuning our research skills and honing our writer's voice as we contribute to our class blog.  We'd love it if you'd check our posts out!  A link to our blog can be found HERE

Along with learning to program with Scratch, our class will participate in frequent Hour of Code sessions.  You can learn more about Hour of Code by clicking HERE

Second graders have hit the ground running with our robotics unit!  This unit is particularly fun because of the way in which it involves following complex directions, working in partnerships, understanding simple machines, predicting ultimate results, and measuring class data.

Lastly, here is a photo collage of the previous few weeks of learning in second grade.  The second graders helped to curate this in iMovie.  We look forward to making more of these in the future!

STEAM Event for Girls

This little old blog may have been quiet as of late, but the happenings within our classroom are lively as ever.


I had the pleasure of working with the phenomenal Mrs. Pilong and Mrs. Taverner to create Woods Academy's first ever STEAM event for girls.  We hosted approximately 40 young ladies aged 4 through 8.  Mrs. Taverner did her magic with art, Mrs. Pilong instructed the girls in robotics, and I got to play around with some very fun engineering concepts.


It was hands-on.  And exhausting.  And one of my favorite Saturday mornings ever spent teaching.


And exhausting.


But a tired teacher is a happy one.  Seeing these young engineers build, trial, modify, and achieve was immensely inspiring.


I can't wait to do it all again next year.  Or perhaps sooner?  The boys here at school were mighty jealous about the event.  It would be great fun to organize one for them, too!

Carly builds an awesome car.

First graders Sibel and Marissa work hard on their designs.

A finished product, with some Scribble Bot markings beneath.

Valeria, age 5, shows off an awesome Marshmallow Shooter

Second grader Stephanie is impressed with her hard design work

Having lots of fun watching the Scribble Bots on the go

Testing out a car - how far from the ramp will it travel?

Go, Bot, Go