Disney Book Group sent me a copy of The Trials of Apollo #4 to check out and is partnering with me for a giveaway It’s not hard to understand why Rick Riordan is called “storyteller of the gods” by Publishers Weekly. Successful best-selling series such as Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and the…
Education
Free Digital Resources for Teaching Fire Safety to Young Ages
This is a post sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association and Sparky.org. Did you know that in a typical home fire, you may have as little as one to two minutes to escape safely from the time the smoke alarm sounds? No one likes to think about the possibility of a fire in their…
I Didn’t Love Middle School But Now I’m Teaching Middle Schoolers!
When you ask people about their middle school experiences, no one ever seems to have happy memories. It doesn’t matter if their middle school years were just for two years (grades 7-8) or also included grade 6. There’s something about middle school (tween & teen angst, perhaps?) that makes it a place that people don’t…
How to Keep a Love of Space Science Alive After Apollo 11 Anniversary
As the sun set on another record setting day of heat in Washington, DC, I found myself searching for a spot of grass big enough for my family in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Earlier in the day I wasn’t sure that we’d venture down to the National Mall for the Apollo 50: Go…
Why HundrED Selected Pittsburgh to Share Unique STEM Learning with the World
This post is sponsored by The Grable Foundation As we start a new school year, how will your kids engage in STEM learning this year? Last week my teens received their class schedules that are filled with STEM classes. The teacher in me knows that the most way to engage students in learning skills they…
How to Teach Coding and Robotics to Middle Schoolers
This post is sponsored by Wonder Workshop In the past few years we’ve seen growing emphasis on STEM education and rightfully so. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “over 800,000 new STEM jobs were added to the U.S. economy” between May 2009 and May 2015.” “Computer occupations made up nearly 45 percent of STEM…
How to Talk to Tweens and Teens About Digital Safety and Screen Time
This post is sponsored by Google Family Link and Be Internet Awesome I remember when my kids were toddlers and keeping an eye on them meant ensuring electrical outlets were covered, visually sweeping the floor to ensure there weren’t potential choking hazards lying about, and latching baby gates so they couldn’t accidentally toddle down stairs before they were…
20 Books with LGBTQ Characters for Kids Celebrating Pride Month
By Common Sense Media Looking for a way to celebrate and honor Pride Month with your young kid? From books with main characters who are LGBTQ or still figuring out their sexual orientations to stories of straight kids or teens with gay friends or parents, these books portray many aspects of the LGBTQ experience for…
Teach Your Kids to Take Better Pictures with 4-H Digital Photography Curriculum
This post is sponsored by 4-H With improvements in smartphone technology and the cameras inside them, it’s easier than ever for tweens and teens to be photographers. However, a great image is measured by more than how many friends you can cram into the frame of your selfie. Parents with budding photographers can make screen…
Better Hearing and Speech Month Twitter Chat (5/22): Recognizing Signs of Communication Disorders in School-Age Kids
This is a sponsored post When I taught first grade, my main objective was to teach kids to read. I started each year with beginning readers who transformed into fluent readers during the course of the year. But teaching kids to read wasn’t easy. It was often hard to tell if a stumbling block was…
