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Celebrating African American Inventors

For the past 6 weeks we’ve been discussing the Invent It Challenge in which we ask kids ages 5 to 21 to think about a real-world health problem and come up with a solution. Individuals or teams of students become inventors, follow the Smithsonian Spark Lab Steps of Invention, and submit their invention idea as a […]

Ice Cream with Einstein

“What would you say to Einstein if you could sit and have a cup of tea with him?” MIT physicist Max Tegmark answered that question in the November/December 2015 issue of Muse magazine. Tegmark studies the structure of the universe, which means that he really gets Einstein’s theory of general relativity. “General relativity makes reality […]

Meet Grandfather Gandhi

By Elizabeth Huyuk “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader who worked to free India from British rule in the 1930s. Gandhi taught a new way of fighting— without violence. He and his followers simply refused to […]

For the Love of Sport: The 10 Commandments of Coaching

Children love to play! They are often happiest when they are moving. From the time they take their first steps, their love of walking, running, jumping, and dancing begins — and grows! As their love of movement grows, they soon discover the joy of group sports, of throwing, catching and kicking balls, and playing together […]

Presidential Pardons

The third Monday in February is when we typically celebrate President’s Day. In my experience, this holiday has been reduced to the following: An excuse for retail locations to have a sale, An opportunity for teachers to force kids to write an essay on George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, and Yet another Monday everyone […]

Invent It Week 5: Try It!

The 2016 Spark!Lab Invent It Challenge is finally off and running. This year, kids ages 5 to 21 need to identify a real-world health problem and come up with a solution to the problem. Each entry must follow the seven step invention process spelled out by our partner, the Smithsonian’s Spark!Lab. For the next 7 weeks or so, we […]

Find a New Love this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is almost here. My mom always gave me Valentine’s Day cards and a small box of candy, so we give our kids cards and candy as well. However, it occurred to me that with classroom Valentine Day parties and the like, this starts to translate into a lot of candy. So this […]

“Pen Pals” Takes On a Whole New Meaning with our “Global Community”

Exposing kids to the wider world has become more than just a cute exercise informally taken on via a pen pal. These days, it’s an opportunity that every child needs to experience if they are to succeed in our increasingly global economy. If you are a teacher at a public, private, or home school […]

Reducing the Word Gap

Did you know that “the single-best predictor of a child’s academic success is not parental education or socioeconomic status, but rather the quality and quantity of the words that a baby hears during his or her first three years?” According to Why Boosting Poor Children’s Vocabulary Is Important for Public Health, by age three, “85 percent […]

Chinese New Year: Time to Monkey Around

February is a busy time of year for my family. With a majority of the household involved in Kung Fu, and our Kung Fu school seemingly unable to turn down any request, we spend most of the month shuttling to and from Chinese New Year celebrations. The school (and thus my family) participates in lion […]