It isn’t easy to know what to say when you young child shows you his latest writing piece. It might be a letter, a list, or a comic. Young children might show you a picture with some scribbles and an elementary aged child may have several sentences or several pages depending on herContinue reading Responding to Your Child’s Writing with Encouragement
A Kid-Friendly Home
Over the weekend we moved around the furniture in our house in an effort to connect our learning space (formerly the dining room) with the living room to create one learning space. I like to think of it as a learning studio, where I can tutor students, hold art classes, and a placeContinue reading A Kid-Friendly Home
The Value of Handwork and Handicrafts
“Busy hands, happy heart.” I enjoy creating items with my hands. I was influenced by my dad who enjoyed to making handicrafts in his free time. I grew up watching him make beautiful things with his hands. When he was very young he was ill and my grandparents wouldn’t let him go out toContinue reading The Value of Handwork and Handicrafts
Invitations to Write
“Writing is making marks that have meaning.” -Jennifer Hallissy It is an exciting time when children begin writing. Young children make marks and scribbles on paper and imitate the letter forms they see around them when they start writing. As some children move from early childhood to childhood their interest in writing wanesContinue reading Invitations to Write
Creative Thinking
When many of us think about creativity we think of the arts. I often imagine an artist painting in a studio or a musician composing music but creative thinking also exists in mathematics, science, and athletics. Children exhibit interest in different areas and we can encourage the behaviors that lead to creative thinkingContinue reading Creative Thinking
Open-Ended Play
Emergent WritersWhen children play freely they make sense of the world, they explore, experiment, and problem solve. Mr. Rogers said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” There are many different kinds of playContinue reading Open-Ended Play
Guided Learning
This week I have been reflecting on the learning and teaching process and thinking about what it means to support children as they learn. This post is about what guided learning means to me. I will also describe the influence educators and learning philosophies have on my beliefs about learning and teaching. GuidedContinue reading Guided Learning
Connecting with my Kids
I’ve written a few posts about taking time to slow down and spending quality time together with my kids. In this post I would like to share how we as a family spend time together and how we spend quality one-to-one time with each of our three kids. One of reasons,Continue reading Connecting with my Kids
Tips for Visiting Art Museums with Kids
I know it is not easy to visit art museums with kids, especially young kids. We visit natural history and science museums a lot more often than art museums but I love art and have wanted to instill an appreciation for not only making art at home but also for looking at art.Continue reading Tips for Visiting Art Museums with Kids
Building Number Sense
Hello! This is just a quick blog post about helping your child build number sense. People who have number sense can use numbers flexibly. They rely on their understanding of numbers and quantities to solve computation problems. Children can strengthen their number sense by engaging in fun games and activities that provide the opportunityContinue reading Building Number Sense
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