Chalk and Apples

Hey, y’all! I’m Kristen, and I’m here to help you engage students with innovative and rigorous learning experiences without sacrificing your personal & family time. I know what it’s like to want to create engaging curriculum, but not have enough time in your day. I truly believe it’s possible to engage students with innovative and rigorous learning experiences without sacrificing your personal & family time. This is why I create ready to go lessons and activities rooted in best practices plus organizational tools to help you keep it all together.

I’m passionate about teaching upper elementary students and helping their teachers be the best you can be. I have ten years of teaching experience, almost exclusively in fourth and fifth grades. I absolutely love teaching “big kids,” and I feel so blessed to have spent most of my teaching career with my favorite people.

In 2012, I was in a new city, out on maternity leave, and I wanted a creative outlet and a place to share my teaching ideas, tips, and activities with other teachers like me. Teachers who wanted to collaborate and grow as educators. I started blogging and sharing teaching resources in my curriculum shop on TeachersPayTeachers that summer, and it has been a growing passion of mine ever since.

My philosophy is that school should be fun for both the students and the teacher. I love incorporating technology and hands-on activities to keep students engaged and excited about learning!

Teaching is filled with so many wonderful moments, but there is one that stands out as the first time I felt that "yes! this is why I do this job!" feeling. It was my second year, and I was teaching 5th grade. I was heading down the stairs to go home after the last parent conference of the day.

The boy I'd had the last conference with came running up the stairs. He had the biggest smile on his face, and gave me a big hug as he said, "I've never had a good parent conference before." It simultaneously broke my heart and made me so grateful for the opportunity we all have as teachers to be the person who believes in that child no one else believed in and make a difference in their life.

• Trevecca Nazarene University - B.S. in Child Development & Learning
• American College of Education - Curriculum & Instruction: Digital Learning & Teaching

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