KJS Creative Curriculum

I love creating materials to make learning fun, meaningful, and interactive for my students. Although I absolutely loved teaching, I happily retired from the classroom in 2017 after teaching for 33 years. The first ten years of my teaching experiences were spent teaching Jr. High math. Looking for new challenges and the ability to teach a broad array of real-world content led me to accept a position as a middle school gifted teacher. So, for the last 23 years of my teaching career, I had the pleasure of working with middle school talented and gifted students. It was during this time that I began my journey of developing my own curriculum.

Making learning relevant, challenging, and fun for my students was always my passion while creating an environment where every child felt safe and loved. In particular, while teaching gifted education I wanted to challenge my students to do their best, to take risks, and to go above and beyond what they imagined themselves being able to do. I always wanted my students to see a purpose in what they were doing and my teaching style reflected that.

During my teaching tenure, I was named Wildwood Middle School Teacher of the Year and was also recognized as the Rockwood School District Middle School Teacher of the Year. Before opening my store on TpT, I became a published author writing five books on teaching forensic science in the classroom. (This was before I realized I could be offering these to the public without the aid of a big publishing company!) Four of the books are available from Prufrock Press, a leading publisher of gifted education materials and are as follows: Crime Scene Detective Crime Scene Detective: Arson Crime Scene Detective: Theft CSI Expert! Forensic Science for Kids In addition, my 5th forensic science book, “Something’s Fishy at Lake Iwannafisha”, is available through The Critical Learning Company.

I have a BS in Elementary Education and a Math 7-9 Certification (SIU-Carbondale), as well as a MA in Teaching, and Gifted Education K-12 Certification (Webster University).

I live in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri with my husband Jim. We have two adult children, Taylor and Matthew, who I’m happy to say also live in the St. Louis area.