Tales of Patty Pepper
I help upper elementary teachers build deeper comprehension using powerful picture books. Through my A Book & A Look™ method, I show teachers how to turn mentor texts into meaningful literacy lessons that develop theme, perspective, discussion, and written response. My work focuses on helping Grades 3–5 teachers use stories to spark big thinking while maintaining a clear weekly literacy structure. You’ll find picture book companions, literacy systems, and culturally responsive read-aloud lessons designed to strengthen comprehension and classroom discussion.
My Birthday Gift to You
Welcome to Sunday Reset Happy Sunday Reader, October started this week, and it's also my birthday month, October 2nd to be exact, so instead of handing you one book at a time, I'm handing you the whole calendar as my gift to you. This Week's Classroom Reset Question: If you had one read aloud ready for every single day in October, would you actually use it, or would it sit in a folder like the rest? This Week's Lesson Plan:A day by day picture book pairing for every day in October, tied to...
Two Weeks, Same Real Lesson
Welcome to Sunday Reset Happy Sunday Reader, Two things are popping in your room this week, and once you see them side by side, they're saying almost the same thing. This week's classroom reset question: When a student makes their first messy attempt at something, whether it's a drawing, an answer, or just showing up as themselves, does your room treat that attempt as the point, or as a step toward something better? What most of us were never taught: We're trained to praise the polished...
I Heard You Wanted A Digital Kit
Unsubscribe | Update Your Profile | 600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA, 98104-2246 Hello There Reader, You know that scramble. The book is in your hands, but the bulletin board is from one shop, the affirmation posters are from another, the name tags are a separate hunt entirely, and by the time you've stitched it all together, none of it matches. Well, I worked hard over the weekend to ensure that ends. I created a A Place for Me Bundle for you and it is live, it's the thing I wish...
A Place For Me Launches Tomorrow!
Tomorrow’s The Day Reader, None of that happened because I pushed for it. It happened because the story found the people it was written for, and honestly, watching that blossom has been the best part of this whole month. I wrote A Place For Me, because I wanted to write the book I wish had existed for the student who walks in already overwhelmed before the day even starts, and for the teacher trying to figure out how to make room for that kid without making a big deal out of it. If this book...
You Belong Here This September
Welcome to August Sunday Reset Happy Sunday Reader, September always starts before the calendar says it does. You feel it in your read-aloud pile, in the way your class has finally settled into a rhythm, in the fact that you're already thinking about the next book before this one's even finished. This week I want to hand you something small that does more than it looks like it should. Whoo Hoo! THIS WEEK'S SKILL: One Page, Eight Questions, Zero Prep Most reflection activities need a...
One Page That Replaces Your First Week Binder
Welcome to August Sunday Reset Happy Sunday Reader, Week one is either behind some of you or about to start for the rest. Either way, this is the email where I hand you the same one-page plan I've been building all summer, updated with one real change. THIS WEEK'S SKILL: Anchor Before You Plan Before you touch a single lesson, decide what you want kids to believe about themselves as readers and as people in your room by Friday. Everything else is decoration. That's the whole skill, and it's...
My New Children’s Book
My Book Is LIVE! Popping In Reader, I have been sitting on this news for a while, and I finally get to share it with you. A Place for Me, my first children’s book, is officially real. My author copies arrived on my doorstep this week, and I am still not over holding something I wrote in my own two hands. Here’s the story. It follows a little girl named Jordan on the hardest kind of morning, the first one, in a new classroom, feeling too loud, too bright, too much. Her teacher, Miss Reese,...
Put The Planner Down First
Welcome to the Weekly Summer Reset Hello and Happy New Month Reader, Welcome back to the most relaxed version of this newsletter you are going to get all year. Happy Sunday. This is the lightest this newsletter gets all year, and that is on purpose. It is early July. The classroom is behind you for a minute. If you already went back to planning, close the tab. If you have been avoiding it, good. You are right on time. Here is the truth before anyone hands you a to-do list. You do not have to...
Summer reading starts right now
Hello Reader, Happy last Sunday of May. I do not know about you, but something shifts for me at the end of May. The school year is either wrapping up or already done, the energy changes, and I always feel this pull toward something quieter and more intentional. Not less productive just more purposeful. That is what this newsletter is this week. A wrap up before June starts. It's all about one skill, book and one move you can use right now. Let's go! Here is everything you need right now:...
I Thought End Of Year Was Survival
Reader, I have to be honest with you. There were years I made it to the last two weeks of school and had absolutely nothing planned. Not because I did not care. Because I was exhausted. I was counting down the days just like my students were and hoping nobody noticed that I had stopped trying. Sound familiar? If you are reading this on Sunday night with zero plan for Monday morning, this email is for you. Here is everything I have ready for you right now. For your literacy block this week:...
I help upper elementary teachers build deeper comprehension using powerful picture books. Through my A Book & A Look™ method, I show teachers how to turn mentor texts into meaningful literacy lessons that develop theme, perspective, discussion, and written response. My work focuses on helping Grades 3–5 teachers use stories to spark big thinking while maintaining a clear weekly literacy structure. You’ll find picture book companions, literacy systems, and culturally responsive read-aloud lessons designed to strengthen comprehension and classroom discussion.