Just open the door and step outside. A fun, hands on approach to getting involved in nature, The Kids' Outdoor Adventure Book is a year-round how-to activity guidebook for getting kids outdoors and exploring nature, be it catching fireflies in the cool summer evenings; making birdfeeders in the fall from peanut butter, pine cones, and seed; building a snowman in 3 feet of fresh winter snow; or playing duck, duck, goose with friends in a meadow on a warm spring day. The Kids' Outdoor Adventure Book includes 448 things to do in nature for kids of all ages--more than one activity for every single day of the year. Each of the year's four seasons includes fifty checklist items, fifty challenge items, three each of projects, destinations, garden recipes, and outdoor games. Throughout the book, you'll also find fascinating facts, useful tips and tricks, and plenty of additional resources to turn to. Complete with whimsical, vibrant illustrations, this book is a must for parents and their kids.

    Award-winning author Jim Knight provides tangible tools for translating staff members' joy of learning into high-leverage practices that achieve dramatic results. Characteristics of Impact Schools include: A focused, clearly defined improvement plan that takes into account the complexity of teaching and learning relationships A school culture that encourages enrollment in ongoing professional development Alignment of purpose and actions among all staff members

    The perfect grades, the perfect scores, and the perfect extracurriculars. Valedictorians were knocking at the gate, but Becky realized that in their quest for admission many of these students were missing something. Their transcripts were golden, their interviews polished, but they weren’t applying for college, they were competing for it—and in the end they didn’t know what prize they were really striving for.In Valedictorians at the Gate, Sabky looks beyond the smoke and mirrors of the intimidating admissions gauntlet and places the power firmly where it should be: in the hands of the students themselves. Offering prescriptive, actionable advice for students and their (hopefully not helicoptering) parents, Sabky illuminates the pathway to finding the school that is the ideal match.Witty and warm, informative and inspiring, Valedictorians at the Gate is the needed tonic for overstressed, overworked, and overwhelmed students on their way to the perfect college for them.

    Minimalism can be a beautiful, enriching and life-transforming practice that, at its core, is all about re-establishing what holds value in your life and letting go of what does not. It's not about having your groceries displayed in glass jars or having chic, Scandinavian furniture - it's a way of life that allows us to strip away the clutter that stands in the way of us achieving our goals. Simplify Your Life is about exactly that: bringing simplicity back into your life, and with it, joy in the everyday. Dispelling the myths that minimalism is for either hardcore environmentalists or the privileged few, this book shows how minimalism is more relevant and necessary than ever, not least because it's the most accessible way to achieve a state of contentment in all aspects of life. Minimalism is for you if you want to:  •  stop mindlessly scrolling and start living with intention and purpose  •  spend more time on the things and people you love and less on what you "have to be/do"  •  take control of your finances and stop mindless spending  •  learn more about conscious consumption and reducing your waste  •  experience freedom and pride in your home instead of feeling trapped by your stuffAlthough minimalism is ostensibly about taking things away from our cluttered lives, it is really about adding richness, color, and meaning to our lives. It's about identifying the aspects of our life that we truly love and that nourish us. It's about trusting ourselves and leading the life we always wanted.

    Helpful drawings and diagrams illustrate this practical book. It contains a wealth of experience that can help families find their own way around the year.

    Ask your eleven-year-old's beloved third grade teacher to comment on his poetry. Invite a massage therapist to dinner because your daughter wants to go to massage school instead of college. Give your child the freedom to pursue his interests, develop her strengths, cultivate self-discipline, and discover the joy of learning throughout life.If you've ever felt that your child wasn't flourishing in school or simply needs something the professionals aren't supplying, you're ready to become a "guerrilla educator." Revolutionary and inspiring, Guerrilla Learning explains what's wrong (and what's useful) about our traditional schools and shows you how to take charge of your family's education to raise thinking, creative young people despite the constraints of traditional schooling.Filled with fun and exciting exercises and projects to do with children of all ages, this remarkable approach to childhood, education, and life will help you release your child's innate abilities and empower him or her in the wider world that awaits beyond the school walls.

    It is the dramatic story of Jason-the loner and outsider-and of his ultimate triumph and homecoming into the society of his classmates. As we follow Jason's struggle, we see that the classroom is indeed the crucible within which the young discover themselves and learn to confront new problems in their daily experience.Vivian Paley recreates the stage upon which children emerge as natural and ingenious storytellers. She supplements these real-life vignettes with brilliant insights into the teaching process, offering detailed discussions about control, authority, and the misuse of punishment in the preschool classroom. She shows a more effective and natural dynamic of limit-setting that emerges in the control children exert over their own fantasies. And here for the first time the author introduces a triumvirate of teachers (Paley herself and two apprentices) who reflect on the meaning of events unfolding before them.

    Penrose, a cat with a knack for math, takes children on an adventurous tour of mathematical concepts from fractals to infinity.

    

    I don't want him to be ostracized for not having one, but I worry that it's addictive. What do you think?Our two sons are eleven and fourteen, and they are fiercely competitive. The tension around our house is awful. How can we help them get along better?We've worked very hard to keep our ten-year-old son in touch with his feelings. Sometimes it seems as if we've put him at a disadvantage, surrounded by tougher boys who can be pretty cruel with teasing. How can we help him protect himself when other boys start to tease?With his bestselling book Raising Cain, Michael Thompson, Ph.D., at last broke the silence surrounding the emotional life of boys and spearheaded an important national debate. His warmth and humor quickly made him a popular and respected international speaker and consultant. Now he directs his authority, insight, and eloquence to answering your questions about raising a son. With candid questions and thoughtful, detailed responses, Speaking of Boys covers hot-button topics such as peer pressure, ADHD/ADD, and body image as well as traditional issues such as friendship, divorce, and college and career development. This perceptive, informative, and passionate book will leave you not only with useful, practical advice but also with the comforting knowledge that other parents share the same concerns you do when it comes to raising our boys into well-adjusted, responsible men.

    In it, Jennifer Serravallo narrows the distance between assessment and instruction. She maps the four fiction and four nonfiction comprehension goals she presented in The Reading Strategies Book to fourteen text levels and shares sample responses that show what to expect from readers at each.Jen simplifies text complexity and clarifies comprehension instruction. She begins by untangling the many threads of comprehension: Levels, engagement, stamina, the relevance of texts, and much more. Then level by level she:calls out with precision how plot and setting, character, vocabulary and figurative language, and themes and ideas change as fiction across levels specifies how the complexity of main idea, key details, vocabulary, and text features increases in nonfiction texts points out what to expect from a reader as text characteristics change provides samples of student responses to texts at each level shares progressions across levels to support instructional planning. Even if you haven't read the book your reader is responding to, you'll have the background necessary to make great teaching decisions for all your readers. Understanding subtle shifts and increases in demands from level to level, writes Jennifer Serravallo, can guide what a teacher asks a student, what the teacher expects of the student, and what the teacher, therefore, teaches the student.Want to become a master of matching kids to books? Looking to take the difficult out of differentiation? Or do you want to dramatically increase the power and responsiveness of Jen's Reading Strategies Book? Understanding Texts & Readers shows you how to move forward when students need to make progress.

    The content is well sourced and there are plenty of references in the appendices.

    With 1,000 pages and more than 20 chapters, it has everything you need to prepare for the SAT.The best-selling Official SAT Study Guide is now available with a companion DVD featuring:o Additional Bonus official SAT test with exclusive online access to answer explanations..o SAT Test Timer – virtual proctor and timed SAT test taking experience that allows students to hear actual instructions and take timed full length practice tests.o Exclusive video content featuring: • Math Concepts review video, educator-led step-by-step sample problem solving, with review and explanation of useful math concepts across the 4 main math topic areas covered in the test • Skills Insight Overview Video will help students learn more about the benefits of this free College Board tool o Additional practice tools and test day resources such us Math Concept Reference Guide and Test Day ChecklistIncluded in the book:o 10 official SAT practice tests with exclusive access to online answer explanationso Detailed descriptions of math, critical reading, and writing sections of the SAT o Targeted practice questions for each SAT question type o Practice essay questions, along with sample essays and annotations o Free online score reports

    Key changes to this edition include a new chapter on dynamic assessment, separate and expanded chapters on developmental accomplishments of infants and toddlers, preschool/kindergarten, and primary grades and on supporting those accomplishments, and elaborations of Vygotsky's ideas from neo-Vygotskians from Russia. FEATURES Written for the beginning student, the book provides a clear discussion of Vygotskian principles including...a historical overview and a complete chapter on the "Zone of Proximal Development," (ZPD). Each section of the book builds on the other...framework, strategies, and applications of the Vygotskian approach. The work of Vygotsky is compared in a fair and balanced way with the work of Piaget. Examples and activities have been class-tested in a variety of classroom environments including a Head Start program, private preschool, and in the Denver Public Schools.

    Bianca spent twelve years in prison for forgery, embezzlement, drug dealing, and theft. But now she has gone far beyond the expectations for recovery to a life of service fueled by an unrelenting determination to make a difference.  Bianca was once a gang member; now she puts her life on the line to interrupt gang violence. For thirty-six years she was a heroin addict; now she mentors people in recovery. She was homeless; now she appears as an invited guest to speak at events across the country and around the world. Bianca crawled out of the deepest hole imaginable; now through her work with the renowned violence prevention group Cure Violence, she climbs back down to change lives.In Deep is a blunt, honest look at Bianca's life. Her mind-blowing stories take readers deep into a world of grit and gang violence that seems inescapable. Her story is at once fascinating, terrifying, and ultimately full of hope. Readers will be inspired by Bianca's escape from the depths of depravity, and by her commitment to those facing the worst that the city of Chicago has to offer.