Kathy Brown enjoys teaching our youngest learners in the wonderful world of kindergarten. Her passion for early literacy instruction was ignited in 1987 when she did her student teaching in Australia. Her action research entitled Ladders to Literacy was published in 1998 after she earned her Master's Degree from Aurora University. She is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher in the area of Early and Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading- Language Arts. She is the co-author of Kindergarten and the Common Core: It's as Easy as ABC. Kathy has been a kindergarten teacher for 26 years in West Aurora School District #129 and currently works at Fearn Elementary School. She was a nominee for the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching Award from WGN and the Disney's American Teacher Award. She is also a presenter on the state and local level at early childhood conferences. Kathy lives in Aurora, Illinois and looks forward to the time she spends with her husband Dave and their two daughters, Ashley and Becky.