Family – Write Away

November 24, 2015

Family Storytelling at Thanksgiving

After the pumpkin pie is put away, take your phone and sit with a loved one in a corner. Ask some thoughtful questions. Listen and record (video or audio) their responses. Why? You’re participating in StoryCorps’ Great Thanksgiving Listen, by asking meaningful questions of someone close to you. Storytelling is an art form that links us humans Continue reading

Family, Speaking and listening, Storytelling, Teaching and Learning

family stories, listening to others, StoryCorps

October 28, 2015

Listen and Learn with Spooky Stories

When you teach children to listen and learn with spooky stories, consider using my favorite, a performance by the Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air. Listen to a sample here. You remember the tale about a schoolmaster with a strange name…a ghostly night…and a frightening, headless horseman. Accompanied by evocative music, it’s The Legend of Sleepy Continue reading

Family, Speaking and listening, Teaching and Learning

Legend of Sleepy Hollow, radio theater, scary stories

October 12, 2015

Cool Science: Why Are Trees So Pushy?

Enjoy this updated post from October, 2012. Elementary science projects are not just for kids. Good ones have something for everyone aged infant to one hundred! In autumn, your nearest deciduous tree has a lot to teach. Make that tree into a cool science project. In fall, it’s experiencing the “Get-Off-Me Season.” That’s what botanist Peter Raven calls Continue reading

Family, Science

autumn, fall, leaves, science project ideas

September 22, 2015

The Best Way to Teach Your Child to Read

Let’s imagine that you studied the clarinet as a child. You attended a weekly lesson, thirty minutes long. In between lessons, you practiced at home to make progress before the next lesson. Your amount of home practice determined what kind of progress you made after each clarinet lesson. This is the best way to teach Continue reading

Family, Reading

learning environment, library books, Reading at home, reading instruction, teach child

August 26, 2015

Military Family Stories

Veterans of World War II rarely speak of their service. In the case of my father, humility is part of the reason. “Everybody did it,” he shrugged, referring to his peers in the 1940s. He is one of a handful of remaining WWII veterans in his town. Read his story, published this week in the Continue reading

Family, History and Social Science, Social and emotional development, Speaking and listening, Storytelling, Teaching and Learning

B25, Greatest Generation, Rhode Island Red, veterans, World War II