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Early Learners

Why we need to pay attention to our kids’ social media

November 13, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

Just when you think you have a handle on all the social media sites your child could possibly frequent, a new one crosses your radar. Take Ask.fm, a social networking website that originated in Latvia and allows users to anonymously ask and answer questions of each other. (It’s similar to the U.S. based Formspring, and […]

Dignity Act asks you to help stop bullying

October 29, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

Imagine 4,500 people together in one place. Forty-five hundred people; quite a crowd. Picture all their faces. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), that’s approximately the number of U.S. teens who die from suicide every year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, and a Yale University study argues […]

Parent-teacher conferences important on many levels

October 29, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

Decades of research shows that students learn more, have higher grades and have better attendance when their parents are involved in school. That’s why parent-teacher conferences are so important: They help us to be involved and stay involved with our child’s education throughout the school year. We expect to hear about our child’s academic performance […]

Why does the math look different?

October 29, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

One of the biggest roadblocks to a better understanding of Common Core mathematics standards is the aversion so many people have to math. Ask around, and more adults recall their old math class with disdain or outright revulsion than those who have warm and fuzzy memories. Those same people, when asked to help their son […]

Kids love the USA, but don’t necessarily feel safe here

October 29, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

A study released by Highlights magazine this month indicates that children feel patriotic about our country, but fewer feel they are safer than their parents were growing up. It’s an interesting survey to read in light of a recent wave of violence in schools, including the school shooting in Nevada and the murder of a […]

Tomorrow is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

Tomorrow is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

October 25, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

Saturday, Oct. 26, is the 7th annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the public about the potential for abuse of medications. The free and anonymous service will be available at thousands of locations across the United States, […]

Calming ‘Core’ anxiety of stressed-out students

Calming ‘Core’ anxiety of stressed-out students

October 10, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

The release of student test scores has added fuel to the arguments of an increasing number of parents disturbed by the effects new Common Core Learning Standards and standardized tests are having on their children. Some say their children are coming home from school stressed and frustrated about difficult schoolwork and demoralized by lower-than-expected state […]

How parents can help kids shift their learning to the Common Core

October 10, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

I’ll admit that the New York State Education Department’s EngageNY website sometimes can be less than engaging. If you are a parent, or anyone not used to digging around the Internet – particularly state-sponsored websites – the abundance of material there can be overwhelming. But if you take a deep breath and patiently sift through […]

Get to know your child’s teacher(s)

October 2, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

When our children are preschoolers, we tend to have easier access to their teachers. We see them at drop-off or pickup, and there may be field trips or other activities at which parents are welcome. We can get a sense of who their teachers are and make a connection. As our children move through elementary […]

Why I want my children to fail

October 2, 2013 | Posted in: Early Learners, Elementary, High School, Middle Years

My instinct as a mom is to shield my children from disappointment. I’d like to be able to guarantee them lives free from worry and stress. That, of course, is unrealistic. Disappointment is inevitable: Things do not go the way we would like all the time. So, I’ve decided on this approach: I want my […]