Every parent can use some helpful advice from time to time. The Annie E. Casey Foundation offers timely support to help families thrive.
Archive | Digital Media
Learning Self-Expression is a Life Skill
Learning self-expression is, for many, a lifelong process of growing to be a presence for others. It can be an elusive goal, even for adults, but when nurtured early on in life, a foundation for sincere sharing of oneself in writing can become a magical ingredient to powerful interactions. I was reminded of this when I […]
Expanding Expressions of Literacy
Sometimes we educators get focused on literacy development in young children exclusively in the form of reading, as if print is the only kind of communication between humans. Granted, print is the most venerated form of literacy in our culture. Mastering this literacy skill leads to becoming avid, self-determined, lifelong print readers, writers and learners, and […]
Should You Change Your Hat During the Pandemic?
Okay, so we find ourselves at home with one or more squirming, tussling, arguing, irritated kid who wants to go and do anything but stay at home, but can’t. To provide more educational structure to each day, should you put on a homeschool hat and give it a try? Nah. I suggest that you keep your […]
Pandemic Possibilities for Quarantiners
Are your kids home for spring break or an extended break due to COVID-19? Are you working from home or perhaps not working, but quarantining at home? If you’re finding yourself with a lot of time in close quarters with your kids, you’re not alone. Experts recommend that to keep everybody from getting antsy and feeling […]
A Literal World of Hippo Possibilities
Carrying home from the library a tote full of books for children is a singularly powerful demonstration for small ones how this reading thing is really important. It also can be just another pile of unrelated books about random topics for bedtime wind-down. Given the vast range of book topics for small children that invite […]
Need a life transition resource? Book it to a library.
When the kids graduate high school or just leave formal schooling, what is the most important resource that they will leverage to continue learning about…well, anything? Beyond their peers who also are searching for answers, what is the first go-to resource for young adults to begin the lifelong journey of shaping their very own, wonderful and […]
Yes! They Need to Talk About It.
The ultimate goal of literacy education is developing children’s love of books and reading. That’s because such love will manifest in patterns of lifelong learning via daily joyful reading of self-selected books and other media. But it’s not just having the books and media that will make a child a lifelong reader and learner. It’s […]
Support Reading. It’s Right.
Last September the International Literacy Association (ILA is the largest professional literacy educator organization in the world) released the Children’s Rights to Read, a set of 10 rights associated with ensuring all children around the globe learn to read books and grow to be joyful readers throughout their lives. This is not the first time that a “bill of rights” […]
Babysitter for Sale!
They invited their babysitter to join them for dinner. While the parents were chatting away about this and that, their young son passed time quietly with his sitter. Don’t get me wrong! The babysitter had much to offer. Vivid colors. Constant motion. A world of entertaining information. But the child never spoke a word, knowing it seemed that the […]