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…
tweens
2018 Gift Guide: Best STEM Gifts for Kids of All Ages
Since starting this blog almost 11 years ago, there’s been an influx of STEM focused toys on the market. There’s no shortage of products designed to foster curiosity and get our kids interested in these subjects but the teacher in me can distinguish between items that provide worthwhile STEM learning experiences versus those that masquerade…
2018 Gift Guide: Best Gifts for Tweens (ages 8-12)
Tweens have one foot firmly still planted in childhood and the other inching towards the teen years so they often feel stuck between the cute stuff of kid years and wanting to be grown up. This age group possesses growing self-confidence, independence, and academic skills that need to be nurtured. The best gifts for tweens encourage…
How Kids Can Play Their Way Through Interland to Learn Digital Citizenship
This post is sponsored by Be Internet Awesome When I was a technology magnet coordinator, one of my beginning of the year tasks was to acquaint kids with our school system’s User Responsibilities for Computer Systems, Electronic Information, and Network Security during their first visit to the computer lab. This nine page PDF was filled…
How to Talk to Kids When They See Adults Being Unkind
This post is sponsored by Be Internet Awesome “Ugh,” my husband typed when I texted him to ask how the team meeting went before our son’s weekly baseball practice. The three letter response left me with more questions than answers about the mandatory pre-practice meeting that I thought the coach was holding to address bullying…
3 Simple, Positive Actions to Teach Tweens to Combat Bullying
This post is sponsored by Be Internet Awesome “Hi, how was your game?” I shouted to my tween son as I walked in the door from my daughter’s soccer game. For years, Saturdays in our house have been for soccer while Sundays are reserved for baseball which means I rarely miss a game. I love…
5 Mysterious and Spooky Reads for Tweens
This post is sponsored by Disney Book Group and contains affiliate links Sometimes the change of seasons here in the Washington, D.C. area is gentle but overnight we went from summer to fall though I’m not complaining! It finally feels like it’s time for cozy sweatshirts, warm mugs of favorite beverages, decorative gourds and pumpkins,…
How I Taught My Tween to Be an Upstander After Bullying in the Baseball Dugout
This post is sponsored by Be Internet Awesome After two hours of playing baseball in the midday sun, I watched my son and his teammates emerge from the dugout with smiles on their faces from their win as sweat beads dripped from underneath the brims of their ball caps. I was folding my chair when…
How Google Be Internet Awesome Teaches Kids It’s Cool to be Kind
This post is sponsored by Be Internet Awesome When my kids were preschoolers, many of our conversations centered around kindness and friendship. We read books about friendship, talked about what it meant to be kind, modeled how to be a good friend to others, and seized teachable moments to turn teary playground playdates into positive…
How to Talk to Tweens and Teens About Sexual Consent
From headlines in the daily paper, morning radio talk show hosts discussing it on the air, and news outlets sharing breaking news through Snapchat, it’s hard for our kids to avoid words and current events that are associated with sex. It may be tempting to change the radio station, turn off the nightly news, flip…
