Summer Learning Loss

Summer Learning Loss

Summer learning loss is a well-documented phenomenon, with students losing between one and two months’ worth of academic knowledge each summer. And low-income students suffer a steeper rate of loss than their peers – half of the achievement gap seen in reading can be attributed to summer loss. About two-thirds of the ninth-grade achievement gap between […]

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The Secret to Raising Intuitive Eaters

What does your parenting approach look like? Do you do things differently from the way you were raised? Or are you emulating your own parents? One area I see parents doing things very differently is with eating. My daughter and her partner are taking a really different approach to meals with their 3 kids – […]

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We Just Play All Day

I’ve discovered an amazing website that I want to share with you! The National Institute for Play (NIT) has resources that help you understand the importance of play in children’s brain development, mental health, and learning. There’s also plenty in there about how YOUR play in everyday life supports your mental health. I hope you’ll check it out. […]

Ann McKitrick All Things Potty Training

All Things Potty Training (Like It or Not)

How do you know when your child is ready to use the potty? 🤔 How do you teach them to do it? 😝 Should you give them rewards like m&m’s when they are successful? 🥳 What’s the best way to respond when they have an accident? 🤭 So many questions surround the simple task of learning […]

How should we celebrate holidays with young children?

“We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community – and this nation.” — Cesar Chavez Our diverse world… Did you know that Houston is the most diverse city in the entire country? At a recent training with preschool teachers in the Houston […]

Let Cooking in the Classroom be a Year-Round Experience!

Cooking with kids is fun! The great thing about cooking with young children is it fosters healthy eating attitudes from an early age, while encouraging thinking about how things grow and then change in the cooking process. Don’t know where to start? Why not at the beginning! “Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, […]

“I am You and you are Me”

Boy, do I love how brains develop and the beautiful way little ones begin to make sense of their world. Meet Cadence. Twenty-two months old.  She’s got lots and lots of language; she talks all the time! Those around her can decipher about 15% of the meaning of her ongoing dialogue. One consistently distinguishable word […]