A recent NY Times column highlights an initiative from the College Board (the folks who create and produce the SATs and AP Exams) in which the Board determined that mastering two codes--computer science and the U.S. Constitution--were the most important skills (among the skills they test) for achieving success in college and in life. They explain their clunky-but-cleverly named [...]
Now that our children are back in school after the holidays and settling back into the routine, it is a great time to check in with their teachers to see how things are going. If your son is in elementary or lower school, why not send a simple email to his teacher to ask how he is adjusting to [...]
Scrambling to finish your Christmas shopping this week? Why not add some books for all the boys on your list? We need to encourage young boys to read more. In Scholastic’s 2016 survey of over 2000 U.S. children ages 6-17, boys were found to spend less time reading than girls. Forty-five percent of boys questioned (versus only 36% of [...]
Monday is Columbus Day. While many of us were taught in elementary school that "Columbus discovered America" in 1492, we now know that Christopher Columbus never set foot on what we know as the United States. Moreover, when he and his Spanish army got to the Caribbean islands in 1492 they found settlers already there-- indigenous people from the [...]
Want to know where to find great children's books featuring Black and Brown characters? Looking for new titles to add to your children's bookshelves? Want some help on how to raise an avid reader? Here Wee Read is here for you. Here Wee Read is a website (with a great Instagram account, @hereweeread) that finds and reviews children's books [...]
Now that your son has gotten his first few weeks of school under his belt, here are a few areas to check in and focus on: School Supplies, Backpack: Does your son have the proper supplies for all of his classes? Does he need extra folders for the handouts from class? Does the math teacher require graph paper notebooks? [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday pays tribute to the renowned poet Sonia Sanchez, who recently was awarded the 2018 Wallace Stevens Award by the Academy of American Poets. The award is given annually to one poet to recognize his or her outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry, and carries a stipend of $100,000. Poet, playwright, and children’s book [...]
GCP co-hosted the Back-to-School #ReadinessCheck Chat last Wednesday, along with @BeALearningHero, @GreatSchools, @NationalPTA and other education advocates. This lively session offered a lot of great suggestions as to how parents can best help their children to be ready for a strong start to the school year. Here are some of the highlights: How to Prep For the New School [...]
On June 14, 2017, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden (one of the subjects of last week's Thoughtful Thursday) appointed Tracy K. Smith as the twenty-second United States Poet Laureate. In case you were wondering, the U.S. Poet Laureate serves as the official poet of the United States, and seeks to promote a greater national appreciation of the reading and [...]
Tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM (Eastern Standard Time), please join Ground Control Parenting, Learning Heroes, GreatSchools and National PTA for a Twitter chat discussion on how parents can help children succeed in the upcoming school year. We will be sharing ideas and resources, using the hashtag #ReadinessCheck. We at GCP are so excited to join this national conversation about [...]