Steps Tunnel Tops

Steps Brighton Pier

Visit the Classroom Creature page

A book about empathy
When sixth graders Charlie and Colleen discover that their beloved third-grade teacher, Joseph Adams, is now homeless and living on the streets, they set out to make friends with the deeply troubled man and inspire him and members of the community to support him in his time of trouble.
Author Note: When I was a teacher I’d take classes on walking trips along the sidewalks of Berkeley where I live.  If we passed a street person asking for spare change, the children would grow silent and offered kind smiles.  I wondered what the students would do if one of them ever recognized one of the homeless men—let’s say, a former teacher.

Maxwell School Elementary School is larger on the inside than the outside. The vast maze of hallways and classrooms is divided into two wings, the North Wing where students attend classes and the South Wing, the Unknown Zone, that is off limits to everyone. Rumors abound about this forbidden wing, especially about Classroom One, said to grant the one true wish, the inner most desire, of anyone who steps inside.

Visit the Classroom Creature page

Visit Covid, the Pandemic Puppy page

The Noise Expert

We each have special talents.
That is what our teachers tell.
Matthew is a whiz in math.
Sabrina does spelling well.
Drew’s the best at Double Dutch.
Sam spits farthest of the boys.
But Tammy’s skill tops them all.
She’s a pro at making noise.
She slaps her cheeks, clicks her teeth.
Her belches are seconds long.
And with hands in her armpits,
She trumpets a catchy song.
She whistles through her fingers,
Or into a blade of grass.
She can blow on her forearm,
Imitating passing gas.
Her knuckles crack like gunshots.
Her two palms squeal with a squeeze.
Fingers snap like castanets,
She plays drum rolls on her knees
My report cards show straight A’s,
I play soccer like a star.
What’s that to Tammy’s talent?
Someday that girl will go far.
🎼Hear the song The Noise Expert! (video) Listen and watch
🎼Hear The Noise Expert! music by Matt Van Brink performance by Concordia Conservatory Listen
Download pdf

Visit the Classroom Creature page

Meet Miss Biggy, the 111-foot-tall teacher!

Meet Miss Biggypedagog, the new very tall teacher for the third-grade class out in the Portable classroom.
Visit the Very Tall Teacher page
Buy the Very Tall Teacher series bundle

A financial crisis! Cut costs! With dough running low and programs costing too much at his school, Principal Ouia insists that his staff and pupils must stop using that most popular non-consonant that follows d and is prior to f. That common writing symbol was also cut from this book!

Lipogram (from Ancient Greek: λειπογράμματος, "leaving out a letter") a kind of writing in which a particular letter or group of letters is avoided—usually a common vowel, and frequently "E", the most common letter in the English
language.
Visit the Noe School page

Pleeeeeese!

Please.
I’ll do anything.
Pretty please.
Pretty please with sugar on top.
Please dipped in hot fudge, with whipped cream, and a cherry.
Oh, pleeeeeeeeeese.
I’ll never ask for anything else for the rest of the school year.
I’ll be good all day.
I promise.
I’ll be the perfect student.
Pretty, pretty please.
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese.

Then what a shocker! Who could guess?
Teacher nodded and told me, “Yes.”
I stood in my class so surprised,
Not till then did I realized,
During the time that I pleaded,
I forgot what I had needed.

ABCDEFG

Visit the Classroom Creature page

Listen to U Song - YouLyrics

Visit the 2ndGraders Comics Page

Listen to C Song- Pacific Ocean Has 3 C's