We know children need structure and routine to feel safe in their constantly changing lives to help them organize their time, and to help them regulate their emotions and impulses. My family and yours have just found our usual routine pulled out from under us. My five children are home from elementary school, middle school, […]
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From the Archives: Webinars from the Past can Inform Future Thinking When I first started at the Connecticut After School Network 13 years ago we did monthly webinars with guest speakers. At the time there was no Zoom, no streaming video chat, and YouTube was just gaining steam. One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has shown […]
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How to Prepare Children for Group Activities I have to say, I have conducted a few group activities that ended in chaos and have left me wondering what went wrong. Through my experiences, I have learned the skills and strategies that help children develop in learning the skills and benefits of working together in groups. […]
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5 Strategies that Help with Transitions When I visit our learning centers to conduct an observation, I pay close attention to how staff assist children with transitioning from activities. Let’s face it, change is hard for adults but especially difficult for children. It is critical for staff to be able to transition students quickly and […]
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The National Afterschool Association just released The Landscape of Afterschool Leadership: Considerations for Supporting and Strengthening Diversity (click here to read full report). As part of that work, NAA is now accepting applications from people of color in out-of-school time who hold mid-level management positions (i.e. site coordinators, program managers, etc.) and would like to […]
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What is your program achieving to include Social Emotional Learning in daily scheduled programming. 1. What is your school’ s planning process for choosing the SEL program and activities? 2. What tools, resources, training are your staff performing to implement SEL programs? Is there a coordinator or planning committee to assure that the efforts of […]
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A total of 26 grants will be awarded to support local afterschool, summer, or expanded learning programs serving middle schoolers. Take a look to see which grant category is a good fit for you, and apply! Three grant categories: $100,000 – 8 grants of $50,000 per year over the span of two years will go to […]
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Why Children Tease In a perfect world, children wouldn’t make fun of each other. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world- and teasing is a typical behavior among younger people. With concerns of bullying in our schools and the impacts it has on our youth, its important to have knowledge about why children may […]
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That Kid’s Got Talent! On the Lookout for Your Child’s Hidden Talents. Children with learning and attention issues may be more reluctant to try new things because they may already struggle with making friends, academics, and have some social and emotional struggles as well. Often, children are reluctant to try new things for fear of failure- that […]
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“It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it”, I remarked to my father after he said “never mind, it’s fine I’ve got it”. I could hear the frustration and impatience in his voice. His words said, “everything was okay”, but I knew he needed help and was spent from a long day. I […]
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