May 4, 2020
I always celebrate Star Wars Day, May the 4th, in my classroom. Since my classroom is locked up, we would have to celebrate it remotely! So I laid out my garb–my Leia hoody and the pillow case skirt I made in the 90’s when the original trilogy was released in Read more…
April 8, 2020
Though I was first feeling like this about the drastic shift in my work duties… …I’m feeling better now. Routines have been created and there’s no dress code, though I rocked the tutu yet again to make some example pictures for my students who I was assigning a homebound version Read more…
March 26, 2020
The “Z” from my classroom has hung in all my official teaching spaces. So now it is on my apartment door. I can’t wait until it is back in room 329A. That time of the month. The time when Vegancuts send me a care package. Even more welcome in a Read more…
March 17, 2020
After a very draining and emotional day in my classroom, my home away from home, I hit the kitchen. I wanted to make Bangers and Mash with the Field Roast I picked up to have ample protein sources on hand for quarantine. So I hurried over to the corner produce Read more…
March 14, 2020
With this year’s Pi π Day not falling on a school day, this middle school math teacher was not motivated to make a pie, my least favorite sweet treat to eat. It also took an alarm and early morning door bust to manage to grab one of the last things Read more…
February 14, 2020
Happy Love Day! And with it, one of my favorite forms of affection: cupcakes. Little ones for my students and a few big ones for my work loves. Here are the day’s red ❤️ highlights. Cupcakes just out of the oven are magical. Like a starry night This buttercream was Read more…
December 19, 2019
You must have not heard me the first time, World. Sweetness!! Bring it on. Especially to the children. Here my annual cupcake decorating in my classroom holiday party. I love to see their blinged out creations on my cupcakes. Chocolate only, in the vein of “you get what you get Read more…
December 12, 2019
I must admit that one of my favorite perks of being a New York City teacher is the free class trips to my fave museum, the American Museum of Natural History. It’s a long trek but always worth it… for me at least. The destination was the new exhibit on Read more…
November 25, 2019
A decade of teaching, a decade of turning the classroom pumpkin into cupcakes. These are my all-time favorite cupcakes to make. Maybe because my students are always skeptical about how the pumpkin on my desk can become a delicious cupcake. Maybe because most have learned of my being vegan by Read more…
March 14, 2019
I’m a math teacher. I’m a vegan food blogger. So, I had to make pies for π day, March 14. I made a s’more pie for each of my classes… and I tried to make them see how delicious math is. I made them help me double the recipe, too. Read more…
December 13, 2018
I finished off the last of the pumpkin puree from the classroom pumpkins with three more batches of the well-loved pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes. And the kiddos were excited to decorate their own at our Holiday Party. Though extremely stressful at times, I love that my profession allows me to Read more…
November 30, 2018
[That’s not me; that’s Henry Thoreau, one of my favorite men in history.] Either stop or slow down. But don’t go. The F train views, 87.5 feet from ground level. The highest elevated train IN THE WORLD. Sometimes the litter is a Millennium Falcon. My Bridge Take-out Thursday Top Thai Read more…
November 20, 2018
This is my 9th year teaching… and my 9th year transforming the classroom pumpkins in Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. I’m a creature of ritual. And this ritual starts with my enthusiasm for Autumn and… pumpkins. For home, for the classroom, for those worthy enough to give a pumpkin to. I’m Read more…
November 7, 2018
On my walk to work I found this between my feet. What could it mean? (Likely that I should pick my head up while I am walking…) Tucking in the dead A cute new blond at my door Morning broke the sky again You know you’re hungry when you’re ready Read more…
November 3, 2018
The first batch of cupcakes for this year’s kiddos. I start simple with a chocolate cupcake and vanilla buttercream for our Dia de Los Muertos celebration… The classroom spread. I go to Don Paco Panaderia in Sunset Park every year for the pan de muerto. And they never bat an Read more…
October 3, 2018
Why do we praise what is logical and reasonable? When have these things ignited your heart and imagination? Stepping into this elementary school library in Bushwick, Brooklyn, I was struck by the the questions posed by its students all about the walls. Within each, Hope–in the form of curiosity, innocence, Read more…
September 21, 2018
While I try to balance the new speed, intensity and anxiety level of my daily life, some artifacts of this year’s outrageous adventure thus far. His favorite subject is math; he loves me; and now I have to go to a Superintendent hearing about how he grabbed my “professional developments.” Read more…
June 16, 2018
Nothing gets me motivated to bake than a Bake Sale that benefits animals. Last time is was for The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. This time… for with Mutt-i-grees. So I just had to go all out… First, S’mores cupcakes would mean a couple of batches of marshmallow fluff. I piped Read more…
March 30, 2018
I’m a big fan of Steve Hartman‘s human interest stories that air on the end of CBS News. These days, the state of the country, the state of the world is often too scary and disturbing to listen to. But at the end of Friday’s broadcast, Steve Hartman’s “On the Read more…
March 23, 2018
Why is it that January through March passes so quickly? To follow are tidbits of time in March, starting with the lemon bundt cake I made for my mother’s birthday. You get up and work and go home. This happens most days. Hopefully you do something important and worthy enough Read more…
March 14, 2018
As a math teacher, I am obligated to make a big stink about Pi Day (3/14). I made two pies from scratch last night after work while eating a PB&J sammy for dinner. Today, I incorporated them into the day’s activities. (For more, see my work blog here.) Now, I’m Read more…
March 2, 2018
My hot glue gun, the only gun I will ever carry as an educator. I pass this church on the way to work and it always amuses me. Amen to reflection and contemplative purposes. Ok, so this teacher carries power tools too. Though this paddle bit did not manage to Read more…
September 28, 2017
The Farmers Markets end. I eat dinner in my classroom on Back to School night. (Kiku Sushi) Things get organized into colorful bins… …and I spray paint other things. The sunset grows more potent, weeping for the fall of its crown. (Long Beach, New York) And a small, sliver of Read more…
June 11, 2017
My bag packed for the 5th Grade overnight trip, I had my sweet tooth covered. But that’s about it… It would be our last year at Club Getaway, so we’d have to make it count. This included sneaking off from my group to take scenic pictures. Things to climb. Dandies Read more…
August 26, 2011
Yes, it is back to school time! Last year I shared my D.I.Y. inspirational posters for my classroom. This year I am adding a few more. For the library: Vocabulary enrichment: This poster format was inspired by a crafter who was selling it in woodcut form for top dollar (see Read more…
