Newsletter

Read Past Newsletters Every Tuesday, Natalie answers questions from subscribers, breaks down important education news, and shares tips to help your children thrive in school. Subscribe here: https://newsletter.primaryfocus.tv/

Newsletter

I'm so mad and you should be too

Last Friday, elementary school teacher Abby Zwerner was intentionally shot by her six year old student while teaching a lesson. I can only imagine the amount of warning signs this child gave leading up to this and the amount of system failures that allowed this to happen.

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Napping in the New Year

Looking back on last year- here are by top 5 videos from 2022.

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🎁 For the Last Minute Shoppers

This month, has been a whirlwind of holiday preparations and celebrations for me.

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Remembering Sandy Hook

This week, I want to take some time to remember and mourn the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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Growth Mindset #3: The power of yet

When you have a growth mindset, you don't fixate on what you can't do. You focus on what you're working toward.

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Growth Mindset #2: What to say when...

So why is developing a growth mindset so important for kids?

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Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset #1

Over the next few weeks I will be writing about Growth Mindset and how important it is for children to develop one.

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I went to a conference in a male dominated field: here's what I learned

This was my first conference in a male dominated field and outside of education; I learned that these professionals act very differently than what I am used to.

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This will get you dancing 🕺

I've got 3 things to share with you today- let's start with the fun one

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I didn't think this would happen only 5 months out of the classroom

I've been doing some consulting lately. It's been interesting to work with a client to translate what they want into a product.

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My last week teaching after 10 years

Sharing my story has been an important part of the videos I make for Primary Focus. Today I am releasing my vlog on my last few weeks teaching.

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3 Reasons Why Teachers Don't Need Merit Pay

Merit Pay has been a looming controversy for North Carolina teachers. It's been proposed before, but now state superintendent Catherine Truitt has been pushing this as a way to overhaul the way teachers are paid in North Carolina.

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Just get to work!

One of the biggest issues families face in homework time is whining. This can turn a simple 10 minute routine into 45 minutes of fighting and 2 excedrin 😤.

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Struggling with homework? Read this!

It takes a lot of patience to sit next to a child after a long day and encourage them to independently complete something you could do in 30 seconds. I'm going to give you a few simple tips to keep your child on task and model study skills they will need for college and beyond.

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Why ban books when you could ban homework?

When I taught, I personally hated assigning homework, but I can't say all teachers feel the same. In fact, homework is a huge controversy in schools and each one I taught at had a different policy.

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What's Up?

Back to school time was a season I was dreading...

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What we should do about low test scores

Test scores for kids (specifically 9 year olds) dropped to their lowest levels in decades.

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Click here for baby animals! 🐷 🦙 🐮

I've been having some fun. In July I went to A Zoo 2 You in Monroe, NC to meet their animals.

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Published 😊

I published an article! Since I was in grad school it's been a goal to publish an article on education.

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Ain't no hollaback girl 🍌 phonics #5

Phonics is hard work to teach, but as your child's skills grow, it can actually be really fun.

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...but why is it spelled like that? phonics #4

Teaching a child to spell starts off simple (cat, dog, etc.), but quickly gets challenging

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a, e, i, o, u and sometimes... phonics #3

These five little letters a, e, i, o, u may seem straight forward, they often take the longest time to teach and learn.

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What are Letter Boxes? Phonics series #2

With a little nudge, any new speller can sound out the word pen ✍️ Elkonin Letter Boxes are a tool used to spell CVC words (consonant vowel consonant). They are a tool used to break down the sounds in a word.

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Let's talk phonics... #1

Over the next 5 weeks I'll share a series on phonics- here's the first one. Phonics simply means the method used to teach reading and writing. It's for languages with an alphabet- like English and it's not for the faint of heart.

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A new beginning

I resigned: Until recently, I thought I would teach for my entire career. I felt sad and defeated as I packed up my classroom, but I knew "it's about damn time."