Dear Parents:
L to the Third Power!!!

Each year on December 21, 22, or 23, darkness envelops Earth’s Northern Hemisphere for a bit longer than normal. While what we now know to be the winter solstice has a straightforward astronomical explanation, early myths of why the solstice takes place also share insights into early civilizations’ steps into science.Science ATL Image by Tom Fisk from Pexels Why YOU Want to Know About Winter Solstice? I’m choosing to write about Winter Solstice this month because it’s important for all of us, adults and kids alike, to S…L…O…W down and pay some attention to the environment around us this…

What is GRATITUDE? Gratitude is far more than being simply ‘thankful’. According to Brian Tracy, a Canadian-American motivational speaker, these are the “4 A’s of Gratitude”: Appreciation: Expressing gratitude for people and things in your life Approval: Praising and giving approval for ideas, suggestions, and reasonable effort  Admiration: Complimenting people on their accomplishments and traits Attention: Listening to others with patience, thoughtfulness, and without interrupting Professor Andrea Hussong of The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, believes in the NOTICE-THINK-FEEL-DO method of practicing gratitude: Notice what you have in your life or has come into your life, no matter how small. Think about why you…

The new school year is now pretty well underway, so many students have been screened, tested, assessed–whatever your child(ren)’s school(s) wish to call it. Getting the results, as well as the ‘plans’ for literacy instruction can be confusing–if not a bit overwhelming. You will likely receive, or have received, paperwork with these terms, as well as numbers. And it is the time of year when many schools are holding Parent-Teacher Conferences. So, let me pave the road to make these terms easier for you to understand and help your child(ren)’s teacher(s) to navigate. Read on. Image by Adii from…

Image by Lori Josephson “Dyslexia is not contagious. I go to tutoring. I love to read, write and draw. I am a normal kid like you.” This is what one of my former students wrote and shared with me perhaps in late second grade or early third grade, but certainly once I had taught her how to write in cursive. That was likely back in the early 2000s. This statement is as true today as it was over 20 years ago. THE STORY I love telling stories. I so love telling stories that I, on more than one occasion,…

It’s All About YOUR Perspective… Image on Facebook by Thinking Art Are you the giraffe looking down on your primary age kiddos? You then might see the top of this model’s hat, although I doubt it very highly. Are you looking at your students from all dimensions? Are you looking at your child(ren) face to face, especially if you are a parent or teach middle school and/or high school students? Or…are you the child looking their parent or caregiver…or seeing a large school bus, an enormous school building, crowds in the halls, and what seems to be very tall…

What’s Important to Know Today’s students achieve the most important task of schooling, that is, developing skilled literacy (reading and spelling) over the course of several years. It is often said that grades Kindergarten through Grade 3 are the years students “learn to read”, with the years from Grades 4+ the years students “read to learn.” In fact, in several states, something exists called ‘The 3rd Grade Guarantee’. The idea is that students who cannot read proficiently need to either have intensive intervention and/or possibly be retained in Grade 3. As we all are aware, many students who are not…