Archive for the "Parent Tips" Category

For many, fall means it’s time for the first report card of the school year. Whether it’s recently come home or expected soon, chances are the milestone is accompanied by a fair amount of expectation and emotion for all parties involved. As a child, I remember the anticipation and wanting to rush home and share the information with my parents afterwards. It didn’t occur to me to consider h…

Melissa is a married mother of three. She worked as a long-term substitute for a resource teacher and the Director of Education for a learning center in New York before joining Gemm Learning. Her middle child, Tommy, is nonverbal and was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at age 2 and ½. I recently spoke with Melissa about the joys, challenges, and lessons learned. She spoke candidly…

The learning environment plays a critical role in student success. Classroom teachers do their best to control the physical aspects, like accessibility of materials, desk arrangements, and seat assignments. They also establish rules and expectations, setting a general tone intended to make all students feel welcome and supported. However, the way in which students interact with one another, in a…

Over the past few months I have prepared food, wrapped it, and mistakenly deposited it right in the trash can instead of the refrigerator. I have set aside cash in an envelope only to scour the house a few minutes later looking for it and find I’d placed it in the recycle bin. And I’ve rushed to the store for a key ingredient in a recipe, only to forget to include the item a short time later…

Although, many of us are only a few weeks into summer vacation, for others the countdown to the new school year has already begun. Anticipation and anxiety often intermingle as thoughts turn to the year ahead and coming milestones. For many returning high school students, college admissions tests are the main cause of apprehension.

We frequently hear from parents who are looking one or more yea…

Reading is not just a nice thing to do. It’s how we help give our children the best possible start in life. This quote by Hillary Clinton during a recent speech at the American Libraries Conference got me thinking.

Laura Bush once referred to libraries as “community treasure chests, loaded with a wealth of information available to everyone equally”. While this remains true today, technolo…