The The MindUP Curriculum: Grades PreK–2: Brain-Focused Strategies for Learning—and Living


Hawn Foundation - 2011
    Each lesson offers easy strategies for helping students focus their attention, improve their self-regulation skills, build resilience to stress, and develop a positive mind-set in both school and life. The lessons fit easily into any schedule and require minimal preparation. Classroom management tips and content-area activities help you extend the benefits of MindUP throughout your day, week, and year!Includes a full-color, innovative teaching poster with fascinating facts about the brain!

The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being


Simone Davies - 2018
    Toddlers can be tricky. On one hand they can be lovely. On the other hand they can be really hard work. They'll make you laugh. And they will probably bring you to tears. Or at least a high level of frustration.I felt the same way when my children were small and I was struggling to get them to do things. I felt enormous empathy for them, but wasn’t sure what the alternative was to threatening, bribing or putting them into time out.It’s been my mission since then to find another way. I’ve now been working in Montessori education for nearly 15 years and love to learn from the 100 toddlers and parents I see every week in my classroom. I am so happy to share with you what I have learned and help you understand your toddler better too.This book is the result. Your comprehensive guide to raising toddlers in a Montessori way.A quick aside for those of you that don't know Montessori. It is an alternative education system where, instead of the teacher standing at the front of the classroom telling the kids what they need to know, the children are free to explore a classroom of well-designed materials covering language, mathematics, daily life skills and more. The result is that the children are able to follow their unique natural rhythm and development as well as learn with concrete learning materials to make discoveries for themselves. But that's it. It's not just for school aged children - you can apply exactly the same ideas in your home and with your toddler.And when I say toddler, I'm talking about children around 1 to 3 years, give or take a few months.Each section of the book is super practical and it is beautifully designed to make it even easier to read. It’s perfect if you are a busy parent, carer or even grandparent. And it doesn't matter if you are brand new to Montessori or have been using Montessori for a while - or even if you aren't planning to send your children to Montessori school. You can read it from cover to cover. Or just open up the book at a page that interests you and you will find something practical you can try today.You’ll learn how to set up your home to get rid of the chaos and bring back some calm into your lives. You will get the tools to work together with your child. How you can lead, guide and support them, especially when they are having a hard time (and throwing themselves on the ground in the most inconvenient of places). You’ll also get ideas to create Montessori activities at home that are just right for your toddler. You will find answers to your questions. To see there is another more peaceful way to be with your toddler. To help you plant the seeds to raise a respectful and responsible human being. To work on a relationship with your toddler which you will be building on for years.So are you ready to say goodbye to frustration and hello to peace and calm? It’s time for us to learn to see through our toddler’s eyes - The Montessori Toddler.

Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry


Lenore Skenazy - 2009
    Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lot of parents today, Skenazy says, see no difference between letting their kids walk to school and letting them walk through a firing range. Any risk is seen as too much risk. But if you try to prevent every possible danger or difficult in your child's everyday life, that child never gets a chance to grow up. We parents have to realize that the greatest risk of all just might be trying to raise a child who never encounters choice or independence.

My Reading Life


Pat Conroy - 2010
    Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy’s portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South. He has for years kept notebooks in which he records words and expressions, over time creating a vast reservoir of playful turns of phrase, dazzling flashes of description, and snippets of delightful sound, all just for his love of language. But for Conroy reading is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity.  In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful and often surprising anecdotes: sharing the pleasures of the local library’s vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period he spent  in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, girded by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but also believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of that credo.BONUS: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Pat Conroy's The Death of Santini.

The Toddler Brain: Nurture the Skills Today that Will Shape Your Child's Tomorrow


Laura A. Jana - 2017
    Dr. Laura A. Jana draws on studies and stories from pediatrics, neuroscience, social science, and childcare, as well as the world of business and innovation to show parents how to equip their children with seven key skills. Dr. Jana explores the importance of play and curiosity, imagination and empathy, and strategically strengthening children's neural connections in their first five years.

Hacking Classroom Management: 10 Ideas To Help You Become the Type of Teacher They Make Movies About (Hack Learning Series Book 15)


Mike Roberts - 2017
    He shows you how to create an amazing learning environment that actually makes discipline, rules and consequences obsolete, no matter if you're a new teacher or a 30-year veteran teacher. Teachers they make movies about are innovative, engaging, and beloved Hacking Classroom Management is about putting the F word--FUN--into your teaching, and Mike Roberts shows you how to do this, while meeting your standards and teaching your curriculum.  Hacking Classroom Management shows you how to Build lasting relationships with your students Maximize teaching time Reduce behavior issues Enhance student ownership Improve parental involvement Experts love the Movie Teacher philosophy "No matter what grade you teach, there’s something of great value inside. Two Big Thumbs UP!" -Alan Sitomer, CA Teacher of the Year and Author of Short Writes"Immensely fun and illuminating to read!" -Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State University"Hollywood might not make a movie about you, even if you read and apply every suggestion in this book, but you and your students are much more likely to feel like classroom stars because of it." -Chris Crowe, English Professor at BYU, Past President of ALAN, author of Death Coming Up the Hill, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case; Mississippi Trial, 1955; and many other YA booksWave Goodbye to classroom management issuesGrab Hacking Classroom Management today, become a movie teacher tomorrow, and forget about classroom management FOREVER!

Growing Up Brave: Expert Strategies for Helping Your Child Overcome Fear, Stress, and Anxiety


Donna B. Pincus - 2012
    We read to them, play with them, and comfort them when they cry. But despite all this, one in five children today suffers from a diagnosed anxiety disorder, and countless others suffer from anxiety that interferes with critical social, academic, and physical development. Dr. Donna Pincus, nationally recognized childhood anxiety expert, is here to help. In Growing Up Brave, Dr. Pincus helps parents identify and understand anxiety in their children, outlines effective and convenient parenting techniques for reducing anxiety, and shows parents how to promote bravery for long-term confidence. Perhaps your young child has trouble sleeping or separation anxiety, or your teen suffers from social anxiety or panic attacks--whatever the issue, Growing Up Brave can help. Using methods based on cognitive behavioral therapy, you will learn to identify your child's fear and anxiety on the spectrum from normal and predictable to what might be cause for concern, to promote a secure attachment with your child in only five minutes a day, tools to foster coping skills in the face of anxiety-producing situations, strategies for reinforcing problem-solving behavior, adaptive parenting styles, and much more. Dr. Pincus includes stories from her practice of children--from preschoolers to teens--who have overcome their fear and anxiety through her step-by-step approach, as well as information on therapy and medication. Whether your child has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or simply needs help navigating this increasingly stressful world, Growing Up Brave provides an essential toolkit for instilling happiness and confidence for childhood and beyond.

Your Ten to Fourteen Year Old


Louise Bates Ames - 1988
    Adolescents develop by leaps and bounds during these years, and often find themselves uncomfortable with who they are and what they’re feeling. Parents, too, don’t know what to expect from the adolescent child who is at one moment hostile and glum, at the next carefree and happy. Your Ten- to Fourteen-Year-Old was written by renowned child-care experts Louise Bates Ames, Frances Ilg, and Sidney Baker to help prepare parents for the incredible changes their children will be going through.  Included in this book: • Boy-girl relationships and sexual curiosity • Clubs, hobbies, activities, sports • Trouble at school • Family life and relationships with siblings • Physical development—the awkward adolescent • Summer jobs and independence • Money matters • Personal hygiene • Moodiness, loneliness • Smoking, drinking, drug use  “Louise Bates Ames and her colleagues synthesize a lifetime of observation of children, consultation, and discussion with parents. These books will help parents to better understand their children and will guide them through the fascinating and sometimes trying experiences of modern parenthood.”—Donald J. Cohen, M.D., Director, Yale Child Study Center, Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology, Yale School of Medicine

Shelf Life: Stories by the Book


Gary PaulsenEllen Conford - 2003
    Anderson in this middle grade anthology.From Jennifer L. Holm’s story of a girl on Mars trying desperately to return to Earth to Gregory Maguire’s domestic intrigue; from Kathleen Karr’s story of a thief in turn-of-the-century Chicago to M.T. Anderson’s mysterious shipboard adventure; from A. LaFaye’s tale of magical wonderment to Marion Dane Bauer’s story of doing good, this volume provides a full range of reading for every taste. Also featured are Joan Bauer, Ellen Conford, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Ellen Wittlinger. Sales of this book benefit ProLiteracy Worldwide, an international network with programs in the United States and partner programs abroad, whose mission is to change lives through literacy.

Unicorns Are Real: A Right-Brained Approach to Learning


Barbara Meister Vitale - 1982
    These simple yet dramatically effective ideas and activities have helped thousands with learning difficulties. Includes an easy-to-administer screening checklist for parents and teachers which enables them identify individual learning preferences and determine hemisphere dominance. Learn how to utilize colors, shapes, movement, visualizations, touch and sound to help students of all ages learn to read, tell time, add, subtract, and even spell correctly. Included are engaging instructional activities that draw on the intuitive, nonverbal abilities of the right brain, a list of skills associated with each brain hemisphere, and much more.

No More Teaching a Letter a Week


Rebecca McKay - 2015
    In No More Teaching a Letter a Week, early literacy researcher Dr. William Teale helps us understand that alphabet knowledge is more than letter recognition, and identifies research-based principles of effective alphabet instruction, which constitutes the foundation for phonics teaching and learning. Literacy coach Rebecca McKay shows us how to bring those principles to life through purposeful practices that invite children to create an identity through print.Children can and should do more than glue beans into the shape of a B; they need to learn how letters create words that carry meaning, so that they can, and do, use print to expand their understanding of the world and themselves.

Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage


Bryan A. Garner - 1987
    With great detail and care, Garner explains what legalese is, how it can be simplified, and how far legal writers can go in simplifying it. The topics are alphabetically arranged for ease of reference: simply look up any phrase or grammatical category you're interested in, and you're likely to find the final word on the subject. Shortly after the completion of this massively expanded second edition, the late Charles Alan Wright said: The first edition of this book has been praised around the world as both the most reliable guide to legal usage and the most fascinating to read. The second edition outdoes even its predecessor.

150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids: The Very Best and Easiest Playtime Activities from FunAtHomeWithKids.com!


Asia Citro - 2014
    Drum on an Outdoor Sound Wall. Explore the gooeyness of Glowing Slime. With the one-of-a-kind projects in 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids, your family will rediscover the spirit of imaginative play! These fun activities help develop your child's creativity and skills--all without a screen in sight. Featuring step-by-step instructions and beautiful photographs, each budget-friendly project will keep your child entertained, engaged, and learning all day long. Best of all, no one will complain about turning off the TV or computer with such entertaining activities as: –Natural Dye Fingerpaints –Taste-Safe, Gluten-Free Playdough –Erupting Volcano Dinosaur World –Fizzy Rainbow Slush –Taste-Safe Glow Water Complete with dozens of exercises for babies, toddlers, and school-aged children, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids will help your family step away from your devices and step into endless afternoons of playtime fun!

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction


Alan Jacobs - 2011
    Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.

Educating the Wholehearted Child


Clay Clarkson - 1996
    A commonsense, disciple-based biblical approach to home schooling using real books and real life. Filled with Scriptures, anecdotes, insights, ideas, methods, lists and charts to make living and learning at home natural and enjoyable.