Sisterland

By Salla Simukka

One of my favorite books growing up was “Best Friend,” by Shirley Simon >> The story explores the concept of friendship from the point of view of a young girl. Making friends, losing friends, what today we’d call “friend drama,” and finding friends in unexpected places.

So I was looking forward to reading Sisterland, a fantasy with tween friendship at its core. I had given “Best Friend” to my 9 year old niece to read, but I think she found it boring. Sisterland might appeal more to a modern audience that Continue reading “Sisterland” →

Physical Activity And Learning

A recent study has concluded that incorporating physical activity into teaching time increases learning. For example, ask students to answer a true/false question by jumping up and down to indicate “true” and doing a jumping jack to indicate “false.” Alternatively, have students jump to match the answer to a math question—e.g. if the answer is “4” the student jumps 4 times. Continue reading “Physical Activity And Learning” →