You are growing in a thumbs-up/thumbs-down world. Everywhere you look, someone is telling you whether something is “good” or not. And it’s not just movies and books—people have opinions about socks! cat breeds! earlobe shapes! pineapple on pizza! haircuts! superpowers! OK, you get the idea. The thing is, the world wasn’t always like this. Before the Internet, people spent more time talking face-to-face, and conversations would have been pretty darn short if people just talked in thumbs-up/thumbs-down language. What can … Read the rest! The post Avoid Value Judgments! first appeared on KidsLearn.
Have you noticed that people around you are having some BIG feelings these days? Have you been having some yourself? Here’s the first and most important thing I want to say about feelings: Feelings—even uncomfortable ones—are good. Feelings are part of being human and part of how we humans learn. Feelings can feel fabulous or they can feel awful, but they are all natural and not something you should try to avoid. But there’s another side to feelings: Sometimes feelings, … Read the rest! The post Dealing with feelings first appeared on KidsLearn.
You got feedback on your writing. Now what? Good writing creates a complete little world on the page. Whether it’s a story, a poem, or an essay, you want your readers to be engaged throughout and leave satisfied. The best way to get your writing to that point is to give it to others to read. But what do you do with comments that you get from teachers or other students? Good writing creates a complete little world on the … Read the rest! The post Revision = seeing again first appeared on KidsLearn.
Most kids in the US now have access to an Internet-connected device—a phone, a tablet, or a laptop. And they are really amazing! Your device allows you to do things your parents wouldn’t have dreamed of: You can find out the answer to pretty much any question you can think of You can create music, videos, and art easily You can talk to any of your friends anywhere in the world You have access to powerful tools, all contained in … Read the rest! The post Use your tools—don’t let them use you! first appeared on KidsLearn.
Maybe your parent or a teacher has said this to you: “You need to have a positive attitude!” And maybe that seemed wrong to you. If it did, here’s some food for thought: Yes, life can be difficult. I agree with you that there are lots of things to be negative about. This may be a small comfort, but there have always been a lot of things you could be negative about! Imagine being a kid during medieval times when … Read the rest! The post Why is ‘stay positive’ good advice? first appeared on KidsLearn.
I teach writing classes to kids, so it’s not surprising that I like kids’ writing. But what do I like about it? Why should you compose your own writing when an AI tool can do it in seconds? What makes kid writing beautiful? Here are my thoughts: Your writing expresses your youness Yup, “youness” is not a word. Ask me if I care….. I don’t! I don’t care because when people say that people express themselves in writing, they really … Read the rest! The post Kid writing is beautiful—don’t use AI! first appeared on KidsLearn.
Recently I read a Young Adult novel that one of my students recommended. There were many good aspects of the story, but one thing bothered me: The end of the story led me to feel like the future was hopeless. In the far past, kids’ books could sometimes be too happy, so happy that they seem ridiculous to us now. But for many years, although kids’ books took on challenging problems, they were almost required by publishers to have a … Read the rest! The post Are your books bumming you out? first appeared on KidsLearn.
Do you have writer’s block? Do you know what writer’s block is? Well, first I want to say that I don’t really believe in it, then I’ll tell you what it is, then I’ll tell you why I’ve chosen not to believe in it! What is writer’s block? Writer’s block is simply when a writer sits down and realizes they can’t write. Maybe they feel like there’s just a big blank in their head. Maybe they feel like everything they … Read the rest! The post Break the block! first appeared on KidsLearn.
A common problem I hear from students is that they’re too busy to be organized. They know that being organized can help them do their work more efficiently and give them more free time, but they feel too busy even to start! Being too busy means we often leave things in various states of chaos, never having enough time to organize, think ahead, or finish things. So here is a tip: Consider setting a “reflection and planning” time each week.… Read the rest! The post How to organize your busy life first appeared on KidsLearn.
In our world, there’s a lot of emphasis on the end goal: We have to take tests We have to turn in projects and present them We have to show that we’ve read a certain number of pages, written a certain number of words, or memorized a certain amount of information All of these are examples of “products” of our learning, and they can be important. But even more important is your learning “process.” Process is the actual experience … Read the rest! The post Process, not product first appeared on KidsLearn.
Have you ever heard the phrase “snake oil salesman”? Maybe not—no one has sold “snake oil” since before your grandparents’ time. But snake oil is sold in many forms on the Internet, and it’s your job to recognize it and reject it. What?? I hope I don’t get oil on my keyboard! A “snake oil salesman” is someone who is selling you a fake product. These days, that product could be a thing… cure your acne in 24 hours with this … Read the rest! The post Are you being fooled? first appeared on KidsLearn.
I bet you think you know what success is. We all do, right? It’s not like every little kid doesn’t learn the meaning of that word. But in every culture, words have both their definition and their connotation. The definition of “success” is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” Easy, right? The connotation is much harder to explain, though. What’s a connotation? Google tells me that a connotation is “an idea or feeling that a word invokes … Read the rest! The post What is success? first appeared on KidsLearn.
When you were a baby, you knew how to learn. Think of everything you learned in the first few years of your life! Learn how to learn like this guy! [Wikipedia] You learned how to feed yourself You learned how to walk You learned how to talk You learned how to annoy your siblings or friends! But then you got older and suddenly it seemed like learning was different. You were supposed to study. What’s that about? It … Read the rest! The post Learn like a baby first appeared on KidsLearn.
I had a realization at some point which was really helpful: I don’t really know what I think about something until I write about it. I wondered why that is, and I came up with four reasons! Writing puts thoughts into a concrete form Writing makes you focus on details Writing makes you clarify your thoughts Writing makes you organize your thoughts Writing puts thoughts into a concrete form Thoughts—what are they made of? That depends on whether you want … Read the rest! The post Learning to write = learning to think first appeared on KidsLearn.
You probably know each of these words separately: Media refers to all the forms of information that we access, from TV shows to newspapers to books and what we call “social” media—interactive online media. Hygiene is keeping yourself clean. These two words together sum up an approach that I think will help all of us be happier, better-informed, more productive human beings. Media includes entertainment and information The two major reasons for accessing media are entertainment and information. You can … Read the rest! The post What is “media hygiene”? first appeared on KidsLearn.
One of the things that my book club students often notice in children’s books is the Dead or Missing Parent Syndrome. In one class, we read: Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World: Dead mother Cornelia Funke’s Dragon Rider: Missing parents Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden: Dead parents Diana Wynne Jones’s Charmed Life: Dead parents Kenneth Oppel’s Airborn: Dead father Kacen Callender’s King and the Dragonfly: Dead brother and just to top it off, … Read the rest! The post Why are authors so MEAN to their characters? first appeared on KidsLearn.
It’s been all over the news, and maybe you’ve even tried it out: You can now ask AI bots to do your homework, write an essay, compose a note to Grandma, explain the history of skateboarding… pretty much anything! Sounds nifty, doesn’t it? So why not use it to do all your work for you? I can give you three reasons to do your own work! Reason #1: Doing the work yourself is how you learn Have you watched a … Read the rest! The post Should you use AI to do your homework? first appeared on KidsLearn.
Bad things happen. Life can be hard. Sometimes it seems as if all the news is bad, and everyone you know has a complaint. First, let’s get this straight: Acknowledging challenges is not a problem. In the past, kids were encouraged to pretend that everything was just fine. We had phrases like “suck it up” and “be a man” and “don’t rock the boat.” But our culture has changed. We now know that it’s good to express emotions. It’s good … Read the rest! The post The hazards of focusing on the negative first appeared on KidsLearn.
One thing that all people—not just kids!—have trouble with is habits. We all have trouble forming good habits We all have trouble getting rid of bad habits Why? Habits are all in your brain First of all, let’s understand what a habit is. A habit is a pathway in your brain that’s nice and comfy and slick like a Slip-n-Slide on a hot summer day. Your brain jumps on that habit pathway without any conscious thought. If we didn’t have … Read the rest! The post A note about habits first appeared on KidsLearn.
I can hear what you’re thinking already: Prof. Suki’s a writing teacher and she made a typo? Nope, freewriting is a single word, even if spell checker doesn’t like it! Freewriting is a writing technique that writers use the way athletes use stretching. A runner doesn’t stretch to win a race—they stretch to get their muscles ready to win the race. Writers use freewriting to stretch out their brains, to free up their thoughts. In freewriting, you don’t worry about … Read the rest! The post What is freewriting? first appeared on KidsLearn.