Smart Parents
We spend a lot of our time creating and sharing resources for educators and parents (who are often one and the same audience). Time and time again, we observe that families are left out of the equation when it comes to determining the primary audience for education reports, papers and articles—even though they are among the hungriest for informed opinions that can help them. Smart Parents is a blog series for parents, by parents who are navigating educational opportunities + making powerful decisions for and with their students. Learn more in Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning.
Decisions, Decisions: Deciding Which School is Right for Your Child
By: Gabriella Rowe. How do you decide what school is right for your children? I tell parents that these four qualities are the most important indicators of a school that will be successful in addressing the needs of their K-12 students.
Four Ways Adults Can Support Child Literacy
By: Mitch Center. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, uncle, mentor or even an older sibling, you have the opportunity—and responsibility—to help the kids around you fall in love with books. Here's how.
How To Keep Students Engaged in STEM During The Holiday Break
By: LEAP Educators. The LEGO Education Advisory Panel shares ideas and activities that can help keep students engaged in STEM at home during their holiday breaks.
Connecting Families Traveling the World’s Classroom
By: CJ Singer. My family has been traveling full-time for three years and developed the online community Worldschooler Connect to link all traveling families throughout the world's classroom.
Getting Smart Gift Guide | 10 Gifts that Teach SEL
We know that prioritizing SEL is important, but we also recognize that it can be hard to do. Which is why we created this holiday gift guide listing of some of our favorite toys, books and apps that can help foster social and emotional learning.
Smart Review | Galactic Hot Dogs
By: Mary Ryerse and Luke Ryerse. Mary and her 9-year-old son each have their own positive reviews for Simon Schuster's Galactic Hot Dogs series of books.
Should I Grade-Skip My Gifted Child?
By: Jonathan Wai, Ann Lupkowski Shoplik and Susan Assouline. One effective way to help talented students remain intellectually challenged and engaged in school is to have them skip a grade. But how do you decide this is right for your child?
EdTech 10: Super Schools
The world is a-buzz with the news of the 10 XQ Super Schools, where our own Mary Ryerse was invited to be a judge. This week’s top ten news stories offer even more super news about teaching and learning.
EdTech 10: Practice Future Now
We're committed to exploring important education topics that aren’t yet “front of mind” and sharing what we’re learning, including these new education ideas and innovations to help us all "practice future now."
For The School Supply List: 25 Ways to Promote Effort, Attitude and Respect
Parents and teachers can do a lot of things on a daily basis to encourage positive mindsets. Here are 25 ways to help send kids back to school with positive attitudes, effort and respect.