Teacher’s wear many hats every day: leader, group participant, and student organizer as well as volunteer coordinator and para educator guide. They communicate daily with students, parents, staff members and fellow teachers. They grade papers, help students become independent thinkers, chair committees, and take home whatever they can’t finish during the school day. Even a… Read More »
May Dates to Celebrate 1 Mother Goose 2 Save a Rhino 3 Baby Day, Lumpy Rug, Brother and Sisters 4 Bird, Candied Orange Peel, Star Wars 5 Cinco de Mayo, Tuba, Hoagie, Oyster, Space Day 6 Beverage, Tourist Appreciation, Nurse, No Diet 7 Tourism 8 Iris, No Socks, V-E, Red Cross 9 Lost Sock Memorial,… Read More »
This is Volunteer Week across America. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank every volunteer for their time and commitment to helping others. Each task you do whether it’s a school crossing guard, Meals on Wheels driver, working in food banks, reading to shut-ins, driving a bus for the elderly or for delivering homeless… Read More »
Use these 5 techniques to help students get started on classroom work, small group work AND at home during homework hour: Active Listening Work with students at their eye level. Establish eye contact. Ask follow-up questions to indicate you know what was said. Develop a habit of valuing all questions asked. Questioning Strategies Ask “What”… Read More »
If you are planning an end of the year conference with one or more teachers, start planning now. Gather together student work that demonstrates the questions you want to ask the teacher. Bring notes and report cards you wish to discuss. Discuss your planned conference with the teacher WITH your child to allow his/her to… Read More »
Student skills develop over several years. Here is a common set of skills for each K-12 year. Kids vary in their personal abilities, but these are standard skills and standard grades where students gain specific thinking skills. Specific Skill K-3 3-6 6-9 9-12 Observation X X X X Communication X … Read More »
Now more than ever, we need STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) to become STEAM (adding the “A” for Arts). The inclusion of ARTS has been widely studied and found to be an intergral part of critical thinking. More and more businesses are including visual and writing artists as part of their innovation teams. Why? Visual… Read More »
April Fool’s Day International Children’s Book Day also, Fun at Work Day Find a Rainbow Day also, World Party Day School Librarian Day also, Walk Around Things Day National Day of Hope Tartan Day, also Sorry Charlie Day Caramel Popcorn Day, also World Health Day Take Your Parents to the Playground Day also, Draw a… Read More »
Ideas you’ve heard a million times are still important. Everyone can use them starting right now. Get plenty of quality sleep. (Kids need more than adults. Plan on 9-11 hours dependng on their ages.) Focus on eating healthy snacks and nutritiuos meals, especially breakfast. Stay active to stay healthy. That 15-minute daily walk is better… Read More »
We’re all living at a hectic pace with never enough time for the things we hope to do. I’m suggesting we make a specific place in our busy lives to stay engaged with our kids and their schools. It doesn’t have to be tons of hours of time; that would be great, but we need… Read More »