Essentials

Summer camp is one week away and Mrs. Larson and Mrs. Spencer are excited to spend two weeks guiding kids through the writing process. This week, they are discussing what to write about and some practical activities for parents to help their children build new ideas for writing. Listen in for easy and practical ways to incorporate writing into your daily lives.

After spending a week in Kentucky grading papers from all over the country, Mrs. Larson and Mrs. Spencer are back! And excited about a new adventure for parents to advocate at their schools in the Fall. Spending a week talking with college professors, high school teachers and others in the profession of writing instruction, the two came back with new ideas to facilitate more writing instruction and practice for the classroom. Listen in to hear more about the benefits of starting a writing center at your child's school.

In the studio this week, we have Melissa Galvan sitting in for Mrs. Larson. Mrs. Galvan comes to us from Oxford Academy, Cypress. She has experience teaching 7th grade through 12th grade and has a love for teaching like no other. Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Galvan share stories of reading and experiences with kids to encourage more reading this summer. If you are looking for ways to help the kids get reading, listen in and share your family adventures in reading. We can't wait to hear from you!

With Common Core quickly approaching, you may see changes in your child's assignments and the expectations from the classroom. Kids will be working on writing that combine multiple genres and assignments will be addressing real audiences. Listen in as Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Larson discuss how to engage and encourage your child in their writing.

As parents and teachers, Mrs. Larson and Mrs. Spencer agree that homework can become burdensome and frustrating for families. After reading a few articles this week on this very topic, the girls talk about how they view homework as teachers and how they have handled some of the challenges of homework with their own children through the years. If you struggle or your child struggles with homework, listen in to some simple ideas on how to make doing homework a little less stressful. If you have strategies that have worked in your home, we would love to hear them as would our listeners. Post here for more dialogue on homework strategies.