Mrs. Lyons Teaches K

  I joined Twitter August 2021. I have never wanted a Twitter account nor have I been a fan of sharing random thoughts and reposting other people's ideas. However, using it primarily for educational purposes, has been eye opening for me. Under the handle @LyonsTeachesK, I marked all 120 tweets with the hashtag #EDUC502, posted a link to my educational blog in my profile, followed 25+ people in a comparable teaching position, followed 25+ people in an educational leadership position, followed 5+ professional educational organizations, and actively participated in two education/leadership based Twitter chats.  Here is a link to my video reflection focused on my experience: https://youtu.be/72qDudzgDmk 

Picture books are one of my favorite tools to use the in Elementary classroom! They can be used for all kinds of purposes; reading for pleasure, reinforcing academic skills or introducing a new topic. People tend to think that picture books are only appropriate for lower grades but I believe picture books can be used in all Elementary grades and even beyond!  One way picture books can be used in the post-virtual instruction classroom is to teach and reinforce social skills. We all know that the pandemic and learning virtually hindered our children's social skills; they were not able to communicate and collaborate in the same way as before. If they had the opportunity to meet or play together in person, social rules changed how they interacted (based on COVID - don't touch each other, don't share items, etc.) WeAreTeachers author, Kimberley Moran, took note of the 50 best children's books for teaching social skills. After listing all the wonderful picture books that will...