Jul 18 2018

Transportation and Construction Reading Activity

Transportation and Construction Reading Activities with Kids!

You can read with your children about different types of vehicles, how to construct a road, or you can help your child learn how to identify vehicles when driving on errands. When reading to your children, help them learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills by asking questions and talking about the story. Listed below are stories, discussion questions, and relevant California Common Core Standards used by teachers for early elementary students to develop effective language arts skills.

Suggested stories or books on transportation and construction may include:

There’s a Hole in the Road by Mary Ann Burke reprinted by permission on GenParenting.com
Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
Wheels at Work Construction book
Find it: Things That Go
Spot the Difference Building Site

A Hole in the Road Story

The story below was created by Grandma Mary Ann and her grandchildren after her car slipped into a sink hole at the bottom of a hill. Although there is some truth to the story, it is greatly exaggerated and can be read to your children with much imagination and humor. After reading the story, you can answer the comprehension questions and submit a comment to GenParenting.com Comments. [Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.

Jul 17 2018

Transportation and Construction Play with Kids

Bryce is passionate about visiting construction sites. When walking through the city, we will stop to watch a road being repaired and a new sky scraper being built. My grandson will carefully observe how the various types of construction equipment is used for specific construction jobs. He loves to watch the transformation of earth moving equipment that forms roads and highways.

At home and at the park, Bryce recreates construction sites with his construction vehicles. He has studied books and knows the name and purpose for each type of construction truck. Bryce likes to be the truck operator and will work cooperatively with a pretend crew when creating a road or building. When playing with others, he has learned how to share his toys and take turns when operating the different vehicles. [Read more…]

Joyce Iwasaki, Early Parenting

Joyce Iwasaki has over thirty years of educational experience working with diverse students in grades from preschool through high school. Joyce’s extensive background includes teaching elementary school, serving on early childhood advisory boards, and advocating for educational initiatives as a legislative aide. During her tenure as a legislative aide, she helped create legislation that allowed incarcerated mothers to keep their newborn babies with them while in prison. Additional legislation was enacted to allow incarcerated pregnant mothers to remain unshackled during labor and delivery. Ms. Iwasaki established and served as the president of an educational scholarship foundation for fifteen years. Her foundation awarded college scholarships to emerging student leaders who provided service to their schools and communities. Joyce is active in performing arts and cultural organizations. She also provides ongoing support to her daughter and family by raising her grandson in her home.

Jul 12 2018

Nature Exploration Play Activities for Kids

Children love to explore nature and the evolution of nature at a very early age. My toddler granddaughters and early elementary grandkids love to play in the garden and explore nature, smell various flowers, dissect plants, and observe insects and bugs per the following activities:

Materials:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar book
Bug box
Dual lenses magnifying glass
Big Bunch of Bugs kit
Mini rake and scooper
Kits for raising insects (i.e. Lore Original Butterfly Garden)

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Jul 03 2018

Welcome to the GenParenting Summer Blog Reading Series!

Welcome to our six-week summer blog reading series for parents and their children. Starting on Tuesday, July 10 through Thursday, August 16 we will provide three blogs each week using the Common Core Standards and STEAM activities per the following schedule:

July 10, 11, 12: Nature exploration blog, reading activity, and family play for preschoolers and early elementary children (Automobuild Workshop on August 2 from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.)
July 17, 18, 19: Transportation and construction blog, reading activity, and family play for preschoolers and elementary children (Automobuild Workshop on July 19 from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.)
July 24, 25, 26: Get ready for school with siblings, twins, and multiples blog, reading activity, and family play for infants and preschoolers (Automobuild workshop on August 9 from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.)
July 31, August 1, 2: Promoting family literacy blog, reading activity, and family play for elementary children
August 7, 8, 9: Career explorations blog, reading activity, and family play for middle and high school children
August 14, 15, 16: Talking about death and difficult subjects blog, reading activity, and family play for preschool and early elementary children

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

May 29 2018

What EJ Has Learned From His First Year of College!

When EJ was in high school, I pushed him to pass his AP classes so he could receive credit for his lower division college courses while in high school. By the end of his first year in college, he had just two of these courses left to complete. Typically, the advanced math and science classes are defined by the students as “weeder courses” because these courses weed out the students who question the incredible success that they achieved in high school and drop or change their college goals. The realization that a student’s hard work and success in high school can become challenging at an outstanding college is humbling.

[Read more…]

Yvette King-Berg, College Readiness

Yvette King-Berg, is the Executive Director of Youth Policy Institute’s Charter Schools. She was the former California Charter Schools Association Vice-President of School Development and Outreach-Southern California. Ms. King-Berg has over thirty years of experience working with teachers, students, parents, and organizations in a variety of positions including Director, Assistant Director, Curriculum Advisor, Bilingual, and Title 1 Coordinators, classroom teacher (K-12) in Pasadena and LAUSD. She has been married for twenty-three years, and is the proud mother of her son, EJ, who attends UC Berkeley.