Cathy Gangstad - Learning Consortium

This is greaat!

How every child can thrive by five "What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?" asks seven-year-old Molly Wright, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children's healthy brain development, Wright highlights the benefits of pla...

I just LOVE this! For all of you teaching remotely, in person and remotely, in person, and every combination in between, THANK YOU!

This is exciting! Please share it with those who can benefit from this research.

Play is important for all of us, not just kiddos! What did you play at today?

👍

What a clever idea!

Reading in our Kindergarten Book Boats...such a fun idea!

via:
https://www.facebook.com/joyce.h.acton

Kids are never to old to enjoy a book read to them.

It never gets old.

We are all super heros during this pandemic - sometimes we need someone to tell us that.

I’ve lost a year with my kids battling over school and I’m done.

My seven year old and I were in the midst of our usual asynchronous day battle. I had his writing homework in my hand from school. He’d written several full, well-thought-out sentences.

But he won’t do the same for me, at least not without a fight.

I told him he didn’t have to write about his best day like his teacher asked, he could write about his worst. He could write about whatever he wanted as long as he wrote a few sentences.

He said he’d get in trouble. He said he was doing a bad job in first grade. He was on the brink of tears but didn’t know why.

And it hit me.

Instead of getting frustrated and pushing the assignment, I sat down with him at his desk in his superhero bedroom.

I said “you won’t get in trouble and you can’t fail first grade. In fact, you’re kind of a superhero yourself.”

He sat up in his chair just a little and looked at me with disbelief.

I said, “Do you know that no kids in the history of kids have ever had to do what you’re doing right now? No kids in the history of kids have ever had to do school at home, sitting in their bedroom, watching their teacher on a computer. You and your friends are making history.”

A visible weight lifted from his seven year old shoulders, “What does that mean?”

I told him it means I haven’t given him nearly enough credit for rolling with the punches. I told him how proud I am of him and his friends. That kids this year are doing the impossible and they’re doing a really great job.

I apologized for not saying it sooner and more often. A little tear fell down his cheek.

We’ve thanked everyone from healthcare workers to grocery store employees but we haven’t thanked the kids enough for bearing the burden of what we’ve put on their shoulders this year.

We’ve said kids are resilient, and they are. But they are the real superheroes in this whole scenario for having ZERO say in their lives but doing their best to adjust every day.

We closed his school-issued laptop and spent the rest of the day playing. This was supposed to be temporary and here we are a year later still trying to hold our head above water.

This is our home and I won’t turn it into a battle ground anymore over something we can’t control. Something that no longer makes sense.

Hug your little superheroes today and don’t forget to cut them the slack we’ve given everyone else.

Join me in the trenches at Christine Derengowski, Writer !!

What a great challenge wherever you live! Let me know how it goes.

🐾 Introducing our first ever TRACKING CHALLENGE! 🐾
Snow - or at least rain and mud - is finally in the forecast this weekend and next week! This gets us excited, because both snow and mud are great for showing the tracks of wildlife in the neighborhood. So, we want to give you a challenge for the next couple weeks – go out and try to find tracks! Any tracks. Even if you don’t know who or what made them! Explore your backyard, sidewalks, and local parks, and send us photos of what you find, along with any questions you have! On February 15 we will give special kudos to the person who found the most unusual tracks and the person who found the clearest tracks!

Check out our Tracking Challenge webpage for info about where and how to look for tracks and for some examples of the kinds of tracks you can find in your neighborhood!

www.CascadiaWild.org/Tracking-Challenge

Send your photos, questions, and stories to [email protected]
Tag us on social media and use the hashtag:

BONUS: Mini Tracking Challenge: Who made the tracks in the photo? Let us know your best guesses, and we’ll reveal the answer in a couple days!