Connie's Classroom Connie McCarthy is passionate about her work as a teacher of young children. She has devoted her entire career to making sure that her students do well at school, right from the start. Connie has an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education, and a Master’s Degree in Special Education. She has been teaching first grade in East Providence, R.I. for 23 years, where she received the distinction of “Highly Qualified Teacher” by the Rhode Island State Board of Regents. Connie also taught nursery school for four years, and published numerous articles on early education in East Bay Newspapers in Bristol, R.I. She’s also been published in PTO Today Magazine. She lives with her husband, Brian, and has a daughter and a son, both young adults. Connie enjoys reading, writing about elementary education, and taking long walks with friends. During summer vacations, she likes to travel with her husband. She also loves reading readers’ comments on her weekly blog posts.
An interesting yet easy game to enrich “mental math” subtraction skills is “Penny Hide and Seek.” It uses visual and hands-on practice to help young children quickly and easily remember simple subtract... Read more
Summer is a great time to practice improving “mental math” skills through games. The "Counting On" game is a great activity that uses visual, auditory, and hands-on techniques to help your child instantly solve ad... Read more
End-of-the-year progress reports usually come home on the last day of school This often leaves parents with unanswered questions about what the report really means. Parents may wonder just how well prepared their young child ... Read more
Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, and a time when many families start traveling. Although there are plenty of electronic devices and mobile movies to keep young ones occupied while traveling, try alternating som... Read more
Parents are well aware of the importance of reading fluency. However, early math fluency is equally crucial. Simply put, math fluency means fast and automatic retrieval of math facts from memory.
For young students it should ... Read more
When teaching the value of double-digit numbers in my classroom, I noticed that my students often became confused with 11, 12, and the rest of the -teen numbers. This was a puzzle to me, and I was determined to solve it. Afte... Read more
This month’s words for your child’s word bank involve consonant blends and consonant digraphs. Simply put, consonant blends consist of two or three consonants used together in words, where each letter sound is d... Read more
There is a strategy that teachers use in classrooms to identify various interests in student reading. It’s a concept that parents can easily incorporate at home called a “Reading Survey.”
Teachers use a Read... Read more
In “Help Good Readers Become Good Writers, Part 1,” I explained the “six traits of writing” that many school districts use to teach young authors. This week’s focus is on the three types of writi... Read more
Being a good reader does not automatically make your young child a good writer. Like reading, writing is a learned skill, and there are simple ways to help her learn to write well.
Many school districts across the country bas... Read more
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