Literature-Based Theme Unit. This item is unavailable.Literature-Based Theme Unit

Mary Lou Datema began her teaching career at age 16, working in a local child care center after school.....for a dollar an hour. She now holds a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education (early childhood) and a Master's degree in reading as well as early childhood special education certification. Mary Lou has taught at the preschool, kindergarten and college levels in a variety of settings for 34 years. She is currently an adjunct instructor in early childhood at Ozarks Technical Community College as well as an early childhood special education teacher for Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, MO. She is trained in Project Construct and is a certified CLASS observer. She has served in a variety of advisory capacities at the local and state level. Mary Lou was awarded the Every Kid Counts Award for the Positive Development of Youth and was named Teacher of the Year for the Springfield MO school district in 2003. She has been named a Phi Theta Kappa mentor teacher three times by her community college students. Mary Lou raised three boys on a steady diet of books, and now, in her spare time, she loves being a grandma and sharing her love of reading with her grandchildren.

Dr. Brenda Bradshaw earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education, a master's degree in special reading, and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in education and urban leadership and policy studies in education. She is the co-founder and executive director of Infinity Academy, a school servicing students who need an alternative to traditional schooling, including students on the autism spectrum. A former elementary and middle school teacher, special reading teacher, assistant professor of elementary education, award-winning researcher, author and publisher, "Dr. B" has a passion for kids, literacy and making learning engaging. She is also certified in gifted education and has had extensive training in helping children with underlying cognitive barriers to learning. She has served on the boards of Reading Is Fundamental and the Missouri Institute of Natural Science and is an Emeritus Chairman of the Board of STARS for Autism.In recent years, her daughters have given her the inspiration to create the resilient female characters, Crystal Brave and Super Jewels. BK has appeared on the podcasts, The Autism Show, Talkin Live with Eli, Care Activities with Neil Hogbin. She has made appearances on Ozarks Live! news show in Springfield, Missouri, volunteered with the Horse Tales Literacy project and met with hundreds of children and teachers across the Ozarks in school and barn visits. Her five-time award-winning book and musical, The Alien Logs of Super Jewels, is a zany first-person account of a young girl with Asperger's based on the childhood experiences of her daughter and herself in a world of sensory overwhelm and functioning "outside the box."