Carol's Garden

I have been teaching since 1998. I have taught first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students in a self-contained classrooms, as well as K-6 students as a pull-out teacher. Whenever somebody asks me about my favorite grade level or subject, I have to say it's whatever I'm teaching right then. All ages and backgrounds of students have different unique and wonderful attributes! Being in the company of children every day stimulates and enlivens my brain, so I try to share that gift with my students.

Wow! How things have changed! With all this emphasis on testing and Common Core, learning should still be fun. I try to incorporate various learning styles into my teaching style. Most of my students are very visual, so I hope to incorporate visually interesting ideas into my teaching materials.

I have served on science textbook adoption committees, as well as district Math and Reading Assessment committees (designing tests). Many of my students have won site and district science fair competitions the same year they were in my self-contained classroom. I TEACH Science Fair, especially since I was the site Science Fair Coordinator for many years at my schools. When I taught sixth grade science my students won first place as a team in our area's Science Olympiad over many other elementary school teams. Kids can do some amazing things when teachers lead the way! :)

MS in Education w/Reading Emphasis, English Language Learner Specialist, Reading Specialist, GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) Specialist

I have two children of my own. In January of 2017 my daughter required emergency brain surgery and temporarily reverted to being a four-year-old child. I am grateful to God that He guided me to become a trained Reading Specialist, and provided me with recent classroom experience using these tools with small groups of students on a daily basis. I had to reteach my daughter her letters, shapes, numbers, colors, etc. I used phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension tasks to help her break through the blockades in her brain and rebuild the pathways that lead to reading success. I am happy to say that she is back in her Honors classes today. My son has been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. He told me when he was little that he "didn't need to read, so would never learn how." That answer was unacceptable to me. I wouldn't let him give up. I fought to get him the early help that he needed, while providing plenty of rich reading experiences at home. Today he loves to read, and to share his latest discoveries with others. Between my two children, and others like them, I have learned how to help a wide range of children in my classes over the years. Through my TpT store, Carol's Garden, I hope to share that knowledge with you. Please follow me at my Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/carolsteachinggarden Blog at http://carolsteachinggarden.blogspot.com Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarolsGardenonTpT Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/cborough14/ Do you like my store logo and banners? They were created by the wonderful and talented Laine Sutherland from A Little Peace of Africa. You can find her other work here on TpT at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/A-Little-Peace-Of-Africa or on her blog at www.peaceofafrica.com She does blog designs, business cards, and FB headers, as well as logos and banners. She is AWESOME! :)