I just saw a news-piece about the top passwords that people use to guard their access to their electronic accounts.
The fact that so many use PASSWORD, 123456, 654321, ABC123, not only demonstrates a disturbing lack of concern for information security, but also a frightening lack of creativity.
While some are born with the “creativity gene,” it [...]
My first grade teacher, Miss Mary Bodi, spent a lot of time bringing out the writer in her students. Regularly throughout the year, she asked us to choose a picture from a file. In it were magazine advertisements, clipped comics, and other images she’d collected.
One-by-one, were called to sit next to her at a table [...]
When I talk about reading with my kids with other parents—-that is, either me or my husband sitting down with them to read aloud or share the reading duties—-I hear these responses like these: “I wish I could find the time to do that,” or “we’re just too busy to read.”
I understand completely. Between work, [...]
While we wait for the first of the leaves to make their way to the ground, how about some seasonal reading, the kind that you can fall into to escape all the raking? Here are my autumn favorites–Each makes creative use of language and is richly illustrated.These are books you can fall into as if they were piles of [...]
The earlier your child begins writing, the earlier he or she will begin enjoying making their mark on the world. Hopefully, those marks are contained to paper, rather than spread over walls.
The doodling and drawing that toddlers and preschoolers do IS prewriting, and it does have its place in literacy learning. So, how can you [...]
When my middle child was in kindergarten, I stumbled upon an excellent and inexpensive resource for home study of reading and writing that we were able to put to work in the summer months. You may want to do the same.
Starfall Education, a home-education supplier, sells Reading and Writing Journals and a set of Cut Up and Take [...]
The Official Shel Silverstein website is a fun place for some wordplay. The kids area: Let’s Have Some Fun, offers printables, downloads, and games and puzzles.
I recommend them all, but point you to the
Practice Being A Poet Game, an interactive game where your child can choose words from Silverstein’s poetry to create their own [...]
Most every book I have on rearing babies and toddlers includes mention of making reading part of the daily play routine.
In What to Expect: The Toddler Years, there is a generous section covering reading with the pre, pre-school set, encouraging parents not to be concerned with teaching their kids to read, but with teaching them [...]