How We “Outsource” Packing School Lunches

How We “Outsource” Packing School Lunches

At the beginning of this school year, I mentioned on Instagram that we had decided to have both girls make their own school lunches this year, and received many, many requests for more details on what this REALLY looks like day-to-day. So, here we are, a few months later (but, still with a few months more of school for most of you, so definitely not too late!), with all of the details about how we outsource the packing of school lunches to the two people in the house who actually benefit from these lunches! Continue reading “How We “Outsource” Packing School Lunches”

The Buddy Bench by Patty Brozo

The Buddy Bench by Patty Brozo

A few months ago, when I first planned to post about The Buddy Bench this week, I hoped more kids would be in school in person… and that those who were going to school in person would have close-to-normal recesses, playing with lots of kids and able to come within 6 feet of each other. Alas, that’s not the case. But, The Buddy Bench is still an important and thought-provoking read, and I believe that even if your children aren’t at school or don’t have normal free time at school, it can have a lasting impact, ensuring that more students feel they belong and are included in the future.

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The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi

The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi

It’s not the start of a new year, but it is the start of a new school year — so let’s talk growth mindset! Last January, I made a huge list of picture books to promote growth mindset, and you all LOVED that list (it’s still one of my most visited posts on my website!). Today, I’ve got a wonderful (relatively) new release to add to that list: The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Lorena Alvarez. 

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The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein

With back-to-school season upon us, though it may look different than ever before, many of us are reading all the school stories with our children and students. We’re reading stories about the first day of school and navigating relationships with other children at school, but how about navigating children’s relationships with themselves? Today, I bring you The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein, illustrated by Pett. Whether you’ve got a true perfectionist in your life or not, I encourage you to get your hands on this important book and share it with the children in your life!

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My Family Builders Product Reviews

My Family Builders Product Reviews

Earlier this summer, Vera, also known as The Tutu Teacher, briefly mentioned that she loves My Family Builders blocks. If you don’t follow Vera, her recommendations tend to be exceptional, so I of course immediately went to the My Family Builders website to see what these blocks were… And, they looked so wonderful that I bought the small set immediately! And, while on the website, I also decided to splurge for their Happy Family Card Game. Now, I’m here to tell you in an unbiased, unsponsored review that our whole family is absolutely thrilled that we now own these two products!

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The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Let’s talk about The Hundred Dresses. As a teacher, this was the first chapter book that I read aloud to my students each year. We’d talk about kindness, being an upstander, being a bystander, standing up for ourselves, forgiveness, empathy, socio-economic diversity, preconceived notions, and so much more. As a parent, I vowed to read The Hundred Dresses aloud to our girls before school started each year, once they were old enough to sustain attention for a chapter book read aloud. I read The Hundred Dresses with our older daughter last summer, before she started first grade, and we started to reread it with both girls just this week, to gear them up for their upcoming school years. So why do I love this chapter book enough to reread it yearly with my students and now my girls?

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The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko

The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko

Did you know that a mere 53 years ago, interracial marriage was still illegal in 5 states? Not only was interracial marriage illegal, but if an interracial couple married somewhere legally (say Washington, D.C.), and then moved somewhere where it was illegal (say Virginia), then they faced the very real possibility of being arrested. The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage, by Selina Alko, illustrated by Alko and Sean Qualls, tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving’s fight for legal marriage and the ensuing Supreme Court Case Loving v. Virginia (1967) which legalized interracial marriage.

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The Herstory and Wildlives Collections — Two Must-Buys for Supporting COVID Learning

The Herstory and Wildlives Collections —  Two Must-Buys for Supporting COVID Learning

Are your kids homeschooling or distance learning this fall? If you’d allow me to recommend just one thing to buy to support learning, take my word and buy these two books! Herstory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World and Wildlives: 50 Extraordinary Animals That Made History have been favorites in our house for the last 6 months!

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Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

How do you feel about novels written in free verse? I have to admit that they’re not really my thing… But, in an effort to model open-minded reading for my girls, I have tried to read two this summer. And while I abandoned one of them, I absolutely loved Jacqueline Woodson’s middle-grade stunner Brown Girl Dreaming!

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Adventures in Kindness: 52 Awesome Kid Adventures for Building a Better World by Sophia and Carrie Fox

Adventures in Kindness: 52 Awesome Kid Adventures for Building a Better World by Sophia and Carrie Fox

By now, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that we believe our most important job as parents is to help our children grow into kind, positive, and strong members of our community, and one of our favorite tools in this endeavor is children’s literature. So, when the team behind Adventures in Kindness: 52 Awesome Kid Adventures for Building a Better World reached out to see if I’d like to take a look at their book, I gave my standard, “I’ll happily take a look, though I can’t promise to feature it until we’ve received it and read it…” But this time, I figured this would be a book our family would love. And sure enough, we do! Read on to see what Adventures in Kindness, by mother-daughter duo Sophia and Carrie Fox, illustrated by Nichole Wong Forti, is all about!

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