Today's Thoughtful Thursday pays homage to the thousands of students across the nation who are making their voices heard in their fight against gun violence in schools and on our streets. May we all be inspired by these wonderful poets--Haki R. Madhubuti, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay--and their poems which have energized activists everywhere over the years. Share these [...]
GCP parents, did your children participate in the walkout today? Students across the country walked out of their schools today in a well-coordinated national protest against gun violence and to mark one month since a mass shooting left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Many of the student demonstrations were designed to last for [...]
So you've noticed that your teenager has been more moody than usual. Do you dismiss it as normal teen behavior, or should you be more concerned? Read on for help with figuring this out. As noted in a recent Wall Street Journal article found here, depression in teens is on the rise. With all the pressures of increased academic [...]
Today begins Black History Month! Actually, we like to think of every month as Black History Month here at GCP, as we want our children to learn about their history all year long. Today is also Langston Hughes' birthday, so on this Thoughtful Thursday we honor him by featuring a few of this great poet's works. We begin with [...]
For today's Thoughtful Thursday we celebrate the lives of three men who passed away this week: artist Jack Whitten, pastor and civil rights leader Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, and musician Hugh Masekela. Great men with noble spirits all. Jack Whitten, born in 1939, was a pioneering abstract artist. Born in Bessemer, Alabama, he attended Tuskegee Institute and Southern University [...]
How much time do your children spend on their smartphones? How is it affecting their attention spans, their interaction with friends and family, their mental health? Two large Apple shareholders--an activist hedge fund and the California State Teachers Retirement System-- have written a letter to Apple asking it to focus on this important issue by developing software that would [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday features a delightful video from PBS News Hour in which author Jason Reynolds explains how poetry can help reluctant readers learn to love literature. Reynolds notes, "The separate stanzas aid and perpetuate a kind of incremental reading one small chunk at a time" which makes it much more approachable and enjoyable. Definitely worth viewing--it will inspire [...]
Monday is Dr. King's birthday, and in celebration this Thoughtful Thursday brings you lots of suggestions for books about Dr. King to read with your children. Enjoy. Children's Books About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. < strong> My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris My First Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Marion Dane Bauer March On! The [...]
As we hope everyone knows, last night the state of Alabama elected Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate. Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama who prosecuted the Klan, beat Judge Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, who was twice elected to and then ousted from that position for refusing to [...]
Since we will be taking a break from posting on Thanksgiving day itself, today's Thoughtful Thursday offers up some Thanksgiving poetry for you and your family to enjoy. We begin with two poems from Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906), who was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition. You will note the distinctively different voices in [...]