The links in this post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link. Ready to move on from elementary to middle school, tweens have one foot firmly still planted in childhood while the other inches towards the teen years. This age group often…
tweens
How to Teach Coding at Home with Game Changers Kits
This 4-H National Youth Science Day post is sponsored by HughesNet “I don’t understand why we’re not using the computer if this is a computer science class,” one of my 8th grade students groans as he sits down at his computer while I pass out papers. Despite being tech savvy online, the teacher in me…
Rick Riordan’s Trials of Apollo Continues with The Tyrant’s Tomb
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…
10 Tools That Will Help You Take Charge of Your Digital Life
This post is sponsored by Google Have you ever thought about the role technology plays in your life? Living a digital life is exciting but also complicated. Digital devices make us more productive, help us stay connected, allow us to keep learning, and provide a much-needed break from reality. Our phones are the first things…
How to Teach Your Kids to Unplug in Favor of Digital Wellbeing
This post is sponsored by Google Every family struggles with screen time. You’re not alone in telling your kids to put down their phones, issuing reminders about dwindling minutes when gaming, and feeling frustrated when requests to get off the computer fall on deaf ears. Some of us have tried to limit minutes using devices…
These Free Resources Will Help You Raise Confident Digital Citizens
This post is sponsored by Google As parents, we’re constantly reinforcing the importance of being smart, alert, strong, kind, and brave to our kids. The conversations about kindness and friendship we have with them extend beyond the real-life face to face interactions in school hallways, classrooms, and during extra-curricular activities to virtual ones that occur…
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…
Why The Misadventures of Max Crumbly is a Great Book Trilogy for Boys
Simon & Schuster is partnering with me for this giveaway As middle school students, our kids spend so much time reading books that aren’t of their choosing. English teachers hand them books that are part of required reading and we know that not all of what they’re assigned resonates with them. But now that it’s…
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…
Dear Future Coders: 4 Pieces of Advice for Tween & Teen Technologists
Thank you to Capital One for sponsoring this post As a former classroom teacher, I can distinguish between social chatter and productive chatter. Social chatter was typical in my first-grade classroom as kids were transitioning between parts of the day or weren’t engaged in classroom tasks and had the power to create a ripple effect of off-task…
