Learning the Big Words Authentically

What do the following words have in common?   Providence Squalor Barter Reigned Destitute Restitution   If you said they are all slightly uncommon words that should be part of an educated person’s vocabulary, you are correct.   If you said they are all words of the ilk that might show up on an SAT […]

Back to School Supplies for Louisiana

Today is my daughter’s first day back to school. Like millions of other kids around the country, she gathered her new school supplies, stuffed them in her new backpack, crammed in her spotless lunchbox (complete with an adorable lunchbox note, natch) and staggered out the door, totally weighed down by the sheer amount of stuff […]

The Art of Listening

We all have feelings and opinions. One of the best ways we have to understand each other’s feeling and opinions is to listen, to simply stop talking, open our minds and our hearts, and listen to what the other person has to say.   Listening to people who we think are different from us can […]

Hamilton the Magazine

Like half the country, we here at Cricket Media are obsessed with Hamilton, the musical sensation that is teaching the history of the USA while it entertains with music, dance, and the catchiest lyrics ever. Lin-Manuel Miranda has done an amazing job of boiling down the key events of the American Revolution and the early […]

Allowing Allowances

I have a love-hate relationship with the concept of allowance. I love the idea of letting my kids manage their own funds: it gives them a realistic sense of the value of money and what things cost, and it teaches them how to save for things that are important. And I really love the idea […]

Would You Have Marched on Washington?

August 28th marks the 53rd anniversary of the March on Washington. This momentous event involved more than 200,000 protesters participating in a political rally that resulted in key gains in the struggle for civil rights. It is where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a Dream” speech and it is an iconic […]

Perusing the Perseid Meteor Shower With Your Kids

Every year about this time, we residents of the planet Earth get a visit from the Perseid Meteor Shower, a light up the sky event caused when the pieces of comet debris from a comet named Swift-Tuttle heat up and burn out (at a rate of 37 miles per second!) as they enter the Earth’s […]

Enter the 3rd Annual Global Folklorist Challenge

Cricket Media and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage are pleased to cosponsor the 3rd Annual Global Folklorist Challenge. This contest connects kids from 8 to 18 with tradition bearers in in their communities,  providing young people with opportunities to tap into knowledge and skills that have been passed down from generation to generation, and giving the tradition bearers themselves a chance to tell their own personal stories. […]

Being a Good Sport May Take Some Medaling

Did you know race walking is an Olympic sport? Seriously, it is. After learning that I had to ask:  Do you train for that in a mall on Black Friday? Another interesting out-of-the limelight event is Steeplechase, which basically consists of a track with a giant puddle in the middle of it. Did you realize […]

The Olympics: A Look Back

When we—the editors of DIG, COBBLESTONE, FACES, and MUSE—met to discuss a theme for a 2016 issue that would work well across all four magazines, the Olympics came to mind almost immediately. Rio de Janeiro had already been chosen as the site, and the topic was one that could be approached from many angles. I […]