Since 1970, Penni Rubin has taught and advised teachers, day care-providers,
nannies, and parents in creating educational activities, "hiding the learning
in the fun" for children of all ages. As a parent of two kids, Penni founded
and directed Crafty Cuties Pre-school Enrichment Centers in various Cleveland
suburbs. Thousands of lucky Cleveland children have gone through this on-going
program with their parents. In addition, Penni has created and made interactive
learning WONDERlabs that promote science, art, and math activities in elementary
schools and at the Shaker Heights Main Library. And for 14 years, as the Creative
Play instructor at the English Nannies and Governess School in Ohio, Penni taught
everything from environmental sciences and dramatic play to music, art and creative
movement. Presently, Penni is on staff at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
In terms of applying her artistic skills to education, Penni has supervised and designed exhibits for the Cleveland Children's Museum and developed computer educational software. Her dynamic enthusiasm shows through in her concerts for kids and participatory teacher's workshops. Her Crazy Daze cassette and CD contains only a few of the hundreds of original catchy songs she has written. Her children's musical "At Seven", she wrote with her sister Thea Iberall who wrote the book, was produced by the Toledo Rep Young Playgoer's Series, 2006-2008 www.toledorep.org and touring the Toledo school system at present. Recognizing her talents and her masterful teaching skills and abilities, the TRW Corporation sent her around the country to train teachers with her Project S.A.M.M. workshops. Penni was hired by the Department of Defense to evaluate the interfaces and software tools created by the CAETI project. Penni's Ergonomics Report for Kids is available.
In terms of writing and publishing, Penni's written many books containing activities and creative ideas for kids, incorporating science, art, and math. Her books focus on how to create a fun and educational environment by Providing Learning Around You. Adults who work with children will find these an endless supply of ideas. The U.S. Geological Survey hired her to develop, illustrate, and write their children's activity book "What's Under You Feet?" in collaboration with Dr. Eleanora I. Robbins. Penni also developed and designed several interactive science education software, one being Rocks N Stuff, which is an exciting exploratory geology program for the Macintosh. This was done in conjunction with her sister Dr. Thea Iberall.
One of Penni's driving forces in her life came from her dyslexia, which she has used to her advantage and to show teachers and parents so they can better understand how to help kids with reading and math comprehension. For example, her science book instills math concepts and her math book gives examples that instill math and measuring through art and science projects.
She was
an Associate Faculty member at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), working
on a special project for ARPA. She had her hands in developing, evaluating and
advising computer aided education for the military schools around the world.
Through the C.A.E.T.I. project, Penni helped and advises the technical developers
and graphic designers on how to make programs "kid friendly".
Penni Rubin adores talking to groups and is available for speaking and doing in-service workshops and training for teachers, Pre-school through Primary. She will be presenting at the Ohio Kindergarten and Primary conference at Ohio State in the Fall. Her ever-popular Project S.A.M.M. is geared to help you integrate Science, Art, and Math/Music and is a must for all teachers! Penni shares stories about some of her bad times in school, when teachers weren't always aware of learning problems. Another popular workshop is entitled, "A Different Drum," a music theory workshop for the non-musical, a magical lesson that is chock full of participatory, creative movement exercises with home-made props and many tricks that incorporate multi-level fundamentals.
Here is a special gift for teachers who visit this page, your very own copy of her frequently requested poem about how to avoid squashing creativity. "All By Myself" can be downloaded FREE so please hang in your classroom to remind all of us about the delicate souls we work with so closely today!