Sharing ideas, resources, and teachers tips and tricks of the trade is why I created MsLendaHand.com.

Sharing Teaching Tips, Tricks, and Resources with  likeminded teachers is my passion! As my site name infers, I would like to Lend YOU a Hand! In case you are wondering, the name LENDAHAND was given to me by a former firstie who could not pronounce Mrs. Lenahan!

Initially, I shared my teacher-made supplementary resources in person with other first grade teachers. After I started offering my supplementary resources online I realized I could reach a broader audience. It is an amazing experience when you realize sharing ideas and knowledge with others is just a keyboard click away.

As my name LENDAHAND suggests, I am a helper by nature. I especially enjoy helping and sharing ideas and resources with teachers new to teaching first grade. I have been a Cooperating Teaching so I know what it means to share best practices and teaching experiences. The school year 2017-2018 marked the final year I served as a Cooperating Teacher because I intend to now shift my focus on helping newbie teachers via my teaching blog, Ms. Lendahand.

Well over three decades teaching reading to young learners has been my career calling. Likewise, I have decided it’s time to share my teaching tips and tricks of the trade. My experiences have helped me navigate the ups and downs of teaching. I want to share my enthusiasm and knowledge gleaned over the course of my teaching career with you. I hope these anecdotes will lighten you load and put a spring in your step when teaching becomes difficult. Hopefully it helps you in some small way while you too begin teaching future Beginning Readers!

With this new website, my objective is to share information, resources, and teaching tips I personally use in my own classroom.

Now, do you wonder what are my credentials? What makes me an expert in the field of teaching besides having an accredited four year degree? One word. Experience. More importantly, I have taught almost 800 students how to read and welcomed over 32 sets of students into my classroom for the past 32 years.

Do you question if my advice to you is sound? Can it be trusted? All of the teaching tips, tricks of the trade, and resources I share with you are based on my personal experiences. I share these with you in good faith. Yes, I do not have a PhD in reading nor do I claim to know everything there is about reading. I have read a great deal of pedagogue on the subject and I have a great deal of classroom experience supporting best practices I have implemented in my first grade classroom.

In conclusion, please understand, not everything I do in my classroom that has been successful for me can 100% of the time be replicated in your own classroom. There are many variables and just as I adapt each year to a new set of students so too must you adept and change things to meet their needs. Most importantly, I hope one day you too will be sharing your knowledge because sharing those wonderful ideas with new teachers is what real teaching is all about. Let’s keep paying it forward!