| By: Committee for Children Remember the Read Aloud… One of the first activities I do with my classroom in the beginning of the year is to brainstorm reasons of why we read. Always, the list we create is full of the great benefits of reading and the list hangs on our wall all year long as we continue to revisit WHY we read.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Importance of Celebrations… We must celebrate in our classrooms. We must teach that learning is about fun, excitement, and joy! Celebrations are the perfect opportunity! What do I mean by celebrations? They can take on many forms. Here is a list of ways you can bring celebrations into your classroom and teach our children that in life and learning, happiness and pride are great feelings to acknowledge, feel, and celebrate.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Fostering School and Family Partnerships Schools and families both play critical roles in students’ social-emotional and academic success. To meaningfully strengthen these important partnerships, we must first abandon the notion that family engagement is about whether family members attend school events or volunteer in the school buildings. It also includes the things that families do at home with their children (Wilson, 2013). It encompasses both parent voice and presence.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Teaching Kids About Sexual Assault http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/teaching-sexual-assault-prevention-in-kindergarten/360485/Read More
| By: Committee for Children Responding to Situations That Could Involve Bullying A few days ago, I was walking into an elementary school building as students were preparing to start the day by lining up on the playground with their classrooms. Immediately after getting out of my car, I noticed a little girl sitting on the ground, crying hysterically. She was sitting next to another student, and her head was lying on this student’s shoulder. There were at least 10 other students standing there, watching the crying girl. Two of the boys who were watching kept pointing their fingers at each other, saying “He did it!”Read More
| By: Committee for Children Top 10 Testing Tips The testing era is upon us whether we like it or not. It is our job as teachers to make this experience as less stressful as possible. Here are a few tips.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Book Review: Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents) by Eline Snel. Includes a 60-minute audio CD of guided exercises read by Myla Kabat-Zinn. Reading level: adult (audio CD with guided meditations for kindergarten and older) Read More
| By: Committee for Children The Good Kind of Student Assessment Research is showing more and more positive effects of social-emotional learning (SEL), making it an essential part of school curriculum. But just as with math and reading programs, it’s important to assess whether students are truly learning what they’re being taught. That’s why we’ve teamed up with two great…Read More
| By: Emilie Coulter Pencils Down: Helping Kids Overcome Test Anxiety by Emilie Coulter Stomachaches, headaches, reluctance to go to school, outbursts of tears or anger, sweaty palms… Big worries, little people Children, some as young as kindergarten-age, suffer from a particular kind of anxiety, the source of which is not going away any time soon. According to Teachers College at Columbia University, American kids take more than 100 million…Read More
| By: Committee for Children Macklemore and Felix Hernandez Surprise Kids During Anti-Bullying PSA http://www.seattlemag.com/macklemore-and-felix-hernandez-surprise-kids-during-anti-bullying-psaRead More