Summer's here and it's time to make sure your kids are set with their summer reading booklists, goals and plans. Here are some tips and resources to help you get going: Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge: Once again, children's book publisher Scholastic is offering a great summer reading program for children of all ages. After signing up on the [...]
As school winds down for the year, now is the time to focus on how you can help your sons and daughters stay on top of their academic game throughout the summer. As you probably know, when math and reading skills aren’t practiced over the summer, kids can lose 2 to 3 months of progress—that's the dreaded "Summer Slide". [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Don't you just love a good public library? Those of us born in the pre-internet world fondly remember wandering up and down the isles of the local public library, looking for the next great read or the critical info for that paper due too soon. Public libraries today have adapted to the new digital world and are still going [...]
The selection of today's Thoughtful Thursday offering, "The First Book" by the celebrated poet Rita Dove, was inspired by yesterday's post about LeBron James' wonderful new IPromise public school in Akron Ohio. The school is designed to inspire middle school students who are performing below their grade levels. Helping them with reading skills will surely be an important part [...]
GCP Parents, hope you and your families are having a great summer! Now is a good time to focus on making sure that your children start the school year right. Have you been combatting summer slide with your children? If not, there is still time. Wherever you are in this process, we've got tips to make it easier. Several [...]