My love of clay began as a child in a kindergarten class in Brooklyn, New York. Many years later, I worked to help establish a school for neurodiverse learners which utilized multisensory teaching techniques. I also enjoyed working at an independent school for girls for over twenty years. When I was a child my family had a Sunday ritual. After brunch we settled in with the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. Everyone contributed, sometimes throwing in made up words. Over the years puzzle solving has become a hobby. I love words and all kinds of word games including jumbles, scrabble and anagrams. Some of my other interests include cooking, reading, tai chi, being with family and friends, making new friends, and kitchen gadgets. I discovered that my kitchen gadgets come in very handy when shaping clay images. At the end of the day, if I have clay under my fingernails I know it's been a good day!
Donna and Lois are a mother -daughter team devoted to helping children of all learning styles become
confident, joyful readers.
I have enjoyed teaching children for over twenty five years as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and mom. The best part of my job is sharing the exhilaration of a child who has learned to read. In my experience, there are significant numbers of children who struggle with the traditional teaching materials in the classroom. When sight words are not mastered in the early years, even the brightest students can fall behind and experience anxiety in reading and writing. I have found that creative, playful materials and multisensory methods lower anxiety and work for different types of learners. I searched for large, colorful picture flashcards with embedded sight words but did not find any that matched my vision. So I teamed up with my artistic mom to create the clay image sight word cards of my dreams! In addition to teaching, I love chocolate chip ice cream, robotics, meditation, Harry Potter, and dogs. My dog Bo is the inspiration for the "Have" card!