Educating children Archives - Page 27 of 38

Aug 20 2019

Welcome to Another New School Year!

This week, thousands of California students will return to their classrooms. Parents are busily preparing for the final days of summer and getting ready for the new school year by:

Completing dental, doctor, and immunizations documentation for school registrations
Helping their children transition into a new classroom by organizing clothes, school supplies, and space for homework completion
Making final plans for before and after-school childcare and play activities
Helping their children prepare for the first day of school by getting an alarm clock, going to bed earlier, and understanding any school transportation and classroom assignments

[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 30 2019

Grandparenting a Seven-Year-Old Grandchild

As my life becomes more balanced, I have gained added time to enjoy my grandson as he turns seven years old. I am excited to watch his incredible growth developmentally and academically. I find seven- year-olds are very thoughtful and creative in their responses to life. I am also impressed with his increasing reasoning abilities and effective problem-solving strategies.

Becoming More Responsible

Some of the questions and discussion topics that we and other friends are discussing include: [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 02 2019

Nurturing Our Children’s Independence

Summer break is here and the kids are excited to explore and achieve new levels of independence. The grandkids will be staying with us for extended days of play and travels. We struggle each year in deciding how to provide each child with new milestone achievements and freedoms. Here are some of our proposed solutions for this summer of adventures: [Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Jun 25 2019

Fun Elementary Language Arts Activities

We are now enjoying hot summer days! And our children are already wondering how to fill their days with lots of fun-filled adventures. Many parents are worried how to keep their children from backsliding on their learning skills during these few summer weeks. Here are five interactive reading activities that we can share with our kids: [Read more…]

Danielle Gentry

Danielle’s first step in education did not begin with education at all. It began with her first love for science. She received a B.S. in Biological Science, with a concentration in Molecular Biology. Her five years of experience as a chemist in the biotech industry at SYVA and Dade Behring Diagnostics include both areas of quality control and research and development. Her contributions were qualifying products for release to sell to the diagnostic market as well as developing new diagnostic technology for immunoassay detection. Danielle’s subtle transition to discovering her passion for education was through the birth of her daughter. She became a stay at home mom. Her uber volunteerism at her daughter’s elementary school gained her access to her path of education. She now holds a multiple subject teaching credential and M.A. in Education from National University. She has over ten years of experience at Sakamoto Elementary School as an educator in kindergarten, sixth grade, second grade, and a 2/3 combination class. Her teaching is rooted in a constructivist model while fostering independence and accountability in the classroom.

May 14 2019

How to Combat Spring Fever at Home

Well, you survived spring break with vacations, play dates, and some much-needed down time. Now, how will the family cope with the end of the year in sight but feeling further away these days than it did in January? The adult version is similar to running a half marathon and making it through mile 9, 10, and 11. You see the end but those last 2.1 miles feel like forever. [Read more…]

Danielle Gentry