MSI Press Blog

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.   #75 Every Day’s a Holiday!   To show a child what once delighted you, to find the child’s delight added to your own, this is happiness.  ~J.B. Priestley   Holidays offer many ways to practice various reading skills in fun, motivating (and sometimes yummy!) ways. Try some of these ideas for some (or all!) holidays:   ●       Check out a book or two at the library about the holiday, then write out words associated with that holiday and play a special game of “Hidden Treasure!” with your child (Idea #20); ●       use those words to sort by features or put in alphabetical order; ●       write out the name of the holiday (or choose a large word associated with the holiday and see how many smaller words your family can come up with using...

  Many thanks to Cindy McKinley Alder, co-author with Patti Trombly  of 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents and 10 Quick Homework Tips ,  for this guest post Preventing Summer Slide Cindy McKinley Alder     Summer Break is long and, often, when kids go back to school in the fall, they have lost a bit of learning.   This is called “Summer Slide”.   While the amount of time out of school is not likely to change, you can absolutely cut down the amount of learning loss over the summer months.   The key is to make things fun and authentic.   Handing out workbooks might be fun for some kids.   But if you think your kids would just roll their eyes and protest, try to find some real-life (and fun!) ways to get them practicing their skills.   For most kids, having some READING time every day during the summer is an excellent way to keep skills current over the months without school.   You can read to them if they are young or the...

  The Teaching and Learning Podcast Hosts write that: Educators are natural nurturers, but taking care of themselves often falls to the bottom of the list...if it even makes the list at all. In this conversation with self-care advocate Julie Gentile, we learn how educators can actually have more of themselves to give to their students when they stop to take care of themselves. MSI Press author, Julie Gentile, discusses this topic on their podcast .  Read more about Julie and her award-winning books HERE .

Exceptional teachers Cindy McKinley and Patti Trombly have put together a book that can help any parent through this extended period of sheltering in place during the current covid 19 pandemic. Packed with home activities for learning, readers can pick any number that appeal to them or fit their personal family circumstances. Here is one example: #203  Bug Off!  (Game for +, −, ×, ÷) Materials: a new fly swatter; flashcards, or note cards. 1. Hand your child the fly swatter and tell her she’s going to practice math. Already she’s interested and ready to enjoy this game to help improve basic math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. 2. Place cards with the answers to math facts she is working on in school or struggling with, face up, spreading them fairly far apart. Then, simply ask a question such as, “What is 3x4?” and have her slap the fly swatter on the index card with the correct answer. Variations: • Use another fly swatter and...

Cindy McKinley ( 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents , coauthored with Patti Trombly) shared some of her secrets for avoiding summer learning loss with reporter Kerry Griffiths.