Hear me out…
Every professional development event ever, for the rest of time, should have a DIY Trailmix station.
Ever. For the rest of time. Every one.
#CodeBreaker
🥜🍫🥨🍬
I’ve come to learn that when students cheat on assignments it’s because they have been taught that the importance of grades outweighs knowing or learning things. We need to fix this.
It’s official! A decision 3yrs in the making, this Fri. I’ll be stepping out of my classroom & onto the stage sharing my passion for innovative teaching & learning w/ educators & district leaders around the 🌎 as Managing Dir. of
@codebreakeredu
1st stop, NOLA✈️
#CodeBreaker
💙
I’ve been a teacher in a global pandemic for three days and I’ve learned that you can be problem-focused or solution-oriented.
You will get results either way.
The piece to reflect on is which of those results you want.
#CodeBreaker
💙
#MondayMotivaton
💪
#MondayMorning
🌤
Dear Big Kid at the Skatepark,
Thanks for making my little girl feel like her & her Ninja Turtle skateboard belonged there. Thanks for helping & teaching her & being an incredible role model! The world will be alright with kids like you in it!
Sincerely,
Mama Bear
Besides teaching problem solving, computational thinking, and risk taking, learning to code builds creativity, confidence, and perseverance.
Here’s all that in 30 seconds. The best 30 seconds of your day.
(Watch until the end…you won’t be disappointed.)
#CodeBreaker
❤️
I’ve watched countless keynotes in rooms like this, on stages like that.
For years, I quietly wished I had the courage and skill to command the room like that.
This week I stood in this room, on that stage, and did exactly that.
It’s all happening.
#CodeBreaker
There are many accomplishments in life we are proud of, and for me, this is definitely one of them. I was humbled to be nominated by a colleague but I cannot believe I won the 🇨🇦Prime Minister’s Award For Teaching Excellence in STEM!
#CodeBreaker
❤️
This came in the 📬 today…
I don’t have the words to explain what this means.
I don’t have the words to express the gratitude I have for those who believed in me.
I only know that this means so much more than most could ever understand.
❤️
When I started calling parents to tell them what their kids did well, rather than always what they did wrong, my entire classroom dynamic changed for the better - and parents were happy to hear from me.
This morning I overhead a dad dropping off his daughter shout,
“Have a great day! Remember! Be kind. Be brave. Be your best.”
And that’s the kind of Monday I’m going to choose to have ❤️
#MondayMotivation
A 2nd 🐝 has upped the game 🔥
This final code took multiple attempts before we discovered the codes could not be identical 🤯
“The code typically doesn’t work the first time...and that’s okay, because that’s when the learning happens.”
@mraspinall
#CodeBreaker
#KinderCoders
🧰 Make a community of haunted houses for your robots to travel though.
🍭 Take them trick-or-treating by building algorithms to move through the community grid!
#CodeBreaker
👻🎃
7 months ago I took the biggest risk of my life and stepped away from my classroom.
I didn’t leave the classroom because I didn’t love teaching. I left because I loved it so much I needed more.
In the last 7 months I’ve taught preschoolers in tiny towns and educators from
If you’re a teacher on Christmas Break and...
...you don’t know what day it is
...you don’t know what time it is
..chocolate and cheese are their own food groups
...you’ve run out of things to watch on Netflix
...You’re doing it right!! 🏆
🗓🕐🧀🍫🎥
The principle goal of education is to create people who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done. • Jean Piaget
✂️ 📦✈️
This little engineer is going places…likely in the plane he’s going to build & fly someday.
#CodeBreaker
🧠
I found
@McLennan1977
when I started teaching K & thank goodness for that, or I’d still be hiding under the cubbies crying! I continue to look to her for brilliance and inspiration!
#BetterTogether
#iTeachK
Last night this email came through my inbox.
I remember him, 17 yrs ago, in the very first class I ever walked in to.
I didn’t know much. But I cared. I was learning the content as I went. So, I taught the kids.
That matters.
17 yrs later, it mattered.
#CodeBreaker
💙
Engaged, not busy. That has been something I have been talking about since our classrooms went virtual.
🛠🥜🐿
One of our students made a squirrel table. The learning opportunities with this task are endless!
#DistanceLearning
#iTeachK
#EngagedNotBusy
One of the highlights of remote learning is being able to bring your pet tortoise, in his dino sweater, to class.
He’s become an honorary first grader.
🐢 💻 🏫 🚌
#remotelearning
#remoteteaching
It used to be, "My mom's a Kindergarten teacher!" to everyone she met, now it's "My mom writes books and she edits other people's books and she teaches kids to code!"
She left the house today with these today!
#CodeBreaker
When you learn through coding, you're coding to learn. You're learning it in a meaningful context, and that's the best way of learning things. • Mitchel Resnick
@mres
🔠🐝🤖
#CodeBreaker
⬇️⬅️⬆️➡️
Coder Duck is magnetic. Some students can visually follow the algorithm from start to finish, others may need something tactile to move through the grid step by step.
A magnetic 🦆 made this activity accessible for all learners.
#CodeBreaker
#KidsCanCode
#OntEd
#CoderDuck
🦆
For 17yrs today has been the day after the last day of school. I would spend it beyond exhausted, being proud of our year and all we accomplished.
Today I spend it proud of every risk I took to be here as I plan for my Iowa keynote in a few weeks.
Take the risk.
Dream big. ♥️
Last Spring I sat in a packed auditorium listening to an amazing keynote who completely captivated her audience.
In that moment I turned to my friend and said, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to be on that stage next year. I'm going to tell my story."
#CodeBreaker
🗣 to every:
•T who worked their butt off for every kid they met this 1st wk
•Parent who anxiously dropped their baby off hoping someone would keep their ❤️s, heads & bodies safe
•Kid who sat in rows, wore a mask, sanitized & did school in this whole new way
We got this 💪
“Until you spread your wings, you’ll have no idea how far you can fly.”
Once upon a time I feared the stage. Today I feel just as at home there as I did in my classroom.
This week I crushed a bucket list item. I was the opening keynote for 250 educators in beautiful Iowa—the
‘Twas the night before the first day of school…
Outfit picked. Lunch made. Coffee ready. Bag packed.
The only thing left to do is toss and turn for 8 hours while counting down how many of hours of sleep I’ll get if I just fall asleep “right now”.
#firstdayofschool
For 2yrs we’ve shared a classroom, a family of littles, tears, laughs, and so much love. 2 strangers became a team like no other.
Numbers dictate that our journey together ends today. I am forever grateful for my beautiful Rosie. I am better because of her.
#OneOfaKind
💕
A conversation turned into an idea. That idea turned into this! 💕🦸♀️
I am so excited to have collaborated with my friend,
@mraspinall
, to bring you the 2nd book in the
@DiscoverGracie
series, What Happens When I Learn to Code!
Coming soon!
#CodeBreaker
#DiscoverGracie
On the surface: Block
#Coding
in
#Kindergarten
w/
#Dash
What’s really going on: A wk’s worth of building a solar system comes to life
Using linear measurement to create multistep codes
Collaboration
Perseverance
RiskTaking
Ownership of their learning
#KinderCoders
#CodeBreaker
This is THE first time I have actually held this book. It’s real. I can’t even believe it! 🤯
For every Gracie, big or small, find your passion, be true to you, and just go for it. How? You just start.
❤️
#CodeBreaker
#DiscoverGracie
He didn't get it wrong, he just didn't get it right the first time. If we want students to take calculated risks, we must redefine what it means to fail at school.
#CodeBreaker
It’s Twitter contest time! Simply retweet & follow
@DiscoverGracie
for your chance to win a mini Gracie, a signed copy of the book & who doesn’t want a handful of stickers?!
#DiscoverGracie
#CodeBreaker
#RubeGoldberg
Machine Day2! What an incredible learning experience, for them & me!
They problem solved, tested & retested. I watched & learned things about these little brains I didn’t know before. Oh, & I held the glue gun.
This is what teaching is all about.
#CodeBreaker
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment...not the flower.”
As educators, our students are the flowers. WE are the environment. Watch and listen to understand. And for those who haven’t yet found their voice, listen to what they’re not saying. 💙
#CodeBreaker
My last day in the classroom wouldn’t be complete without spending the lunch hour with one of the coolest kids I’ve been privileged to learn from.
She’s going to change the 🌎.
She’s already changed mine. ❤️
Whoa...5 months ago someone asked me if I wanted to write a book...and here we are. No.1 Hot New Release & No.3 Best Seller in Comp. Algorithms. Insanely grateful for all the love you've given Gracie since it's release just 48hrs ago! ❤️📚🤖
#CodeBreaker
#DiscoverGracie
I used to think I needed to wait to dive into coding and robotics.
You don’t. You just start.
First day of grade 1...we’re problem-solvers, we’re innovators, we’re risk-takers, we’re coders.
#KidsCanCode
#CodeBreaker
#SundayMorning
shoutout to every educator who clawed their way to Christmas Break - from home, from a classroom, from their computer screen. We did it!
Who held your hand, made you laugh or dragged you across the finish line?
Give them some 💙 today!
If you'd ever told me I'd spend mornings in June (the month filled with so much anxiety and stress, second only to September) with a cup of coffee, creating, reading, writing, I'd have never believed you.
Dream big.
Take the risk.
#CodeBreaker
💙
#fridaymorning
☕️
14 years in & the first week of kindergarten continues to be the most draining and rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Couldn’t have made it through without my Rosie. There’s no one I’d rather share a classroom with than this beautiful soul right here 👇
#BetterTogether
Anyone know what it sounds like to have twenty 6&7 year olds shout,“MRS. MCMENEMY! I CAN’T HEAR YOU! I LOST MY TOOTH! CAN I GO TO THE BATHROOM? I NEED HELP, MY MOM ISN’T HERE! MRS. MCMENEMY! I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!”
All. At. The. Same. Time.
I do. It’s as fun as you think 🧘
(Almost) wheels up for Iowa (with a quick layover in Chicago)! ✈️
Headed to Cedar Rapids to keynote
@Marion_ISD
’s Summer Institute!
I. Can’t. Wait.
#CodeBreaker
🧳
Kids don't plan to come to school to get into trouble. Behaviour is a form of communication and quite often - the reason for it will make you sad, not angry.
Someone in my neighbourhood is placing painted stones all throughout our forest paths. Each day they add a few more.
Finding them has become a highlight of my day.
🎨🌳💕
#FridayThoughts
#SpreadCalmNotFear
Spent 2.5hrs this afternoon calling every parent in our class of 28...even got to talk to a few kids☎️🥰
All are home, safe & healthy.
My ❤️ is full.
#ThisTooShallPass
#iTeachK
He walked into our room barely 4yrs old. Today he stood in our doorway, waved & said, “I just love you.”
Tears from all ❤️
They have no idea how much they teach us in their 2yrs in K, how much of an impact they have on who we become.
I am better because of them.
#iTeachK
“...now everyone in my class knows they’re a coder... “
A completely unprompted conversation happened last night...this book is a game changer🔥
#CodeBreaker
#DragonOnesieForTheWin
🐲
I’m so excited to have collaborated with
@mraspinall
to bring Gracie to life yet again!
The 2nd in the series highlights exactly what happens when kids learn to code!
💙💻🤖🧠
Grab your copy today!
#DiscoverGracie
#CodeBreaker
I used to think they couldn’t do things like this b/c they were too young. But it wasn’t b/c they were too young, it was b/c I used to think they couldn’t do things like this.
They can. What they need is opportunity.
#CodeBreaker
@scratch
@makeymakey
@codebreaker
@mraspinall
Spending some time this summer working on the second book in the Gracie series.
Meet Edie. Gracie’s newest friend. These two innovators are ready to bring their ideas to life!
🐢✏️✂️🖍🛠
#CodeBreaker
💙
He asked: “Have you ever considered writing a children’s book?”
Then I said: “I have, but I’ve never really known how to start.”
So he said: “You just start.”
So. I started. And didn’t stop. And today people stand in line to ask me to sign their copies of the books I wrote.
I’ve been working my way up the speaking circuit for a few years. I started with talking to colleagues on lunch hours, then at meetings, then district events. I kept at it.
Today, I can’t believe I get to say that I am a part of the
@PremiereSpeaker
lineup.
#CodeBreaker
🎤
He was 6. Not a fan of school or teachers. Impulsive. Frustrated. “No one listens to me”. Permanent spot outside the principal’s office. He taught me patience, how to listen without speaking & the importance of relationships. He needed a champion ❤️💪
#AStoryIn280characters
Coding naturally lends itself to story telling. There is a beginning, middle, and end. And best of all, there’s imagination and ownership.
This story will continue…
#CodeBreaker
🏡🏫🎈🌳🏡
I was challenged to post a video reflection...Play is crucial to learning for all ages. When you tell me we just play all day in K, I say to you, you’re right! And you can’t even imagine what we’re learning as a result!
Do you “just play” too? I wanna hear about it.
#CodeBreaker
I grew up in the 80s when newspapers connected us to the world beyond our living room. They were a big deal in my house. A story & photo of us was once cut out of a paper, framed, & hung on our wall for as long as we lived there.
That’s why this means so much.
#CodeBreaker
📰♥️
It’s been a summer of learning, rediscovery, and growth.
I spend most mornings lost in a book with a cup of coffee, floating in and out of moments of reflection. I have learned to slow down. I have learned to listen to what matters. I am embracing all of who I am. Some of that