I recently came across this story for the first time in many years. It had a profound impact on me when I first read it, and I believe this story can help others as well. It’s part of the introduction from The Lakota Way: Stories & Lessons for Living, by Joseph M. Marshall III, and [...]
What is social-emotional learning (SEL)? Although it may sound like bliggity-blah jargon, social-emotional learning can help you help your children (and your self) in significant ways. There’s a great deal of overlap between social-emotional learning and mindfulness: they are both about paying attention. SEL is a process of learning life skills, including: –> Emotional regulation [...]
For all of the many things I’m grateful to my parents for, kindness ranks at the top of the list. I have random memories of my mom helping an overloaded mother carrying too many groceries in the parking lot by taking a few bags off her hands; my father picking up a fallen plane ticket [...]
I was lucky. I grew up with a golden retriever named Alexandra (Alex or Bubba for short), who in many ways was the heartbeat of our family. We got her when I was 6 years old, so Alex and I grew up together. Next to my mom, I hold Alex responsible for teaching me about [...]
Effective educators respect their students. I write this (in part) as an homage to certain individuals and teachers who will forever stand out in my life as people who taught me this lesson through example. I believe showing children respect is elemental to nurturing their growth. Part of respecting another person – particularly a young [...]
What do you do when your child is scared to try something new? While at the playground yesterday with Mr 4 and Ms 2, we met a sweet girl named Jazmin (4yo) who was there with her mom. Unfortunately her mom was tied up on the phone most of the time, so Jazmin played with [...]
In my last blog post I invited parents to imagine different learning activities they could do with kids using this amazing video as a launch pad. Here I’ll share some ideas I’ve come up with for different age groups: Toddlers – Kindergarten Talk about the video with your child. What did they like about it? [...]
