I’m a national-parks-obsessed 4th-grade teacher! I love building literacy through meaningful engagement.
Find me in the middle of a room transformation, a small group with my junior ranger learners, or digging deep in my favorite subject, writing!
05/19/2026
Such a fun day in Room 501 today! One of my sweet students bought a “Laney Takeover” day with 500 classroom points! So showed up with a griddle and all the fixings for some Room 501 Flapjacks! Pretty sweet memory making with these beloved students! 🥞
Our classroom mailbox was barely hanging on 😅. I bought a new one to replace it with the last of my classroom grant money before the deadline. (A new home for our Ranger booklets and National Park passports💚)
And the new mailbox feels a little symbolic for this time of year.
By May, teachers are tired.
The systems are messy.
The folders are overflowing.
We’re holding things together the best we can.
But we keep building anyway.
One lesson.
One system.
One student at a time.
Still trying to create memories, meaning, and moments that matter during these final weeks of school. 💚
Hang in there, friends! All of your moments matter!
Today was “dress like your favorite David” in honor of our principal for Principals’ Week. Naturally, I chose David Attenborough and attempted a British accent while narrating my students’ behaviors all day 🌿😆
Ridiculous… but it lined up perfectly with our culminating end of the year project! Designing our own National Parks!
The students of Room 501 are learning to understand the world around them…
and I have no doubt they’ll be the ones to protect and preserve it.💚
Because if they don’t… who will?
04/28/2026
We are in the middle of Hatchet, and I tried something new with Chapter 9 this week! My students LOVED it.🔥
They had to eliminate incorrect events, sequence the steps Brian used to build fire, and prove their thinking with the text. Once they got it right… they lit the campfire 🔥
Then, students chose from four prompts and wrote their responses by the light of the campfire! 🔥
🔗The link to this free resource is in my bio or comment and I can send it to you!🧡