Writing is a personalized and vulnerable act. Without a doubt, it takes bravery and courage to put words on paper that will be shared with others, however, by engaging in this process we feel the joy and fulfillment it brings. While students are engaging in home learning experiences, it leaves personalized space for them to look closely at their own writing identities, interests and passions. Duri...

While doing a bit of professional reading as a new second grade teacher, I came across something called a craft study. My grade level colleagues and I were so inspired by the notion that we each created an oversized laminated chart to capture the learning we were about to embark on with students. The chart covered half of my front white board and had room for three to four picture book studies tha...

Katie Egan Cunningham was one of the first people to post sample home schedules to help us maintain some semblance of structure and routine over the coming weeks. She also posted ideas for choice time, using the themes of connect, create, move, and discover. I was immediately drawn to these themes as they inherently highlight playfulness and joy. I was inspired by Katie’s brilliance and created a...

Just like many of you, I have been scrambling over the last weeks and trying to come up with meaningful at-home learning experiences for students.  I’ve spent my days gathering resources and trying to blend all of my beliefs with digital practices. This work feels (and is) important. But when I got an email from a wonderful principal who was looking for some lighthearted picture books to read alou...

"What made you happy today?” 

“What do you want to learn?” 

“Who will you reach out and connect with?”

“What do you want out of today?” 

“How do you want to feel?”

Switching our mindsets to questions that will move us in positive directions greatly impacts the outcomes of our days. We have a true opportunity during this time for transformation. It may seem challenging during the day-to-day grind of at...

How can we get through this? As a licensed clinical social worker and a parent coach I am receiving a lot of questions about what to do, how to manage and how in the world will we get through this. There is uncertainty around health, family incomes, the state of the economy, and the social-emotional impact of social distancing and the resulting social isolation. This is uncharted territory and unf...

Fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, memoir, realistic fiction, graphic novels, comic strips, cookbooks…. the types of texts are endless! During the school year, readers certainly experience many different genres, but perhaps this unexpected time at home opens the door to explore a new genre they are curious about. 

At a time when learners are truly steering their own ship, as thousands of students embark o...

I trust we all love Ferris Bueller and remember the “life moves pretty fast” advice? Well, there’s no doubt that right now, life is moving pretty fast… and stopping makes a lot of sense. Not because we don't want to miss a moment of this experience, but instead because when life feels like it’s speeding up, slowing down can relieve some of the anxiety and panic we are feeling. This brings me to th...

Gravity asked her friend and yoga teacher to share some tips with us about how to keep our bodies moving when we are now teaching from home. This is quite the change for many of us educators who are used to standing and moving around all day. Now that we are sitting in front of screens for hours at a time what can we do?

Yoga instructor Jamie Surya shows us why moving our bodies even a few minutes...

We play many different roles throughout our day - spouse, parent, employee, friend. Each of our roles are generally defined by our location - home, work, community. Yet, right now we have one place for all these roles - our home. On top of this mixing of our safest space, many of us have accepted the challenge of a new role - the face-to-face teacher for our children. While we continue to work, ca...