Our Children Can T Wait

Martin Sterling's 'hands-on' approach to building an effective learning environment was developed over a number of years and observed in action, in grade three to eight classrooms. Elementary school teachers, who Martin Sterling helped turn their classrooms around with a new view of a child's world, suggested he write this book. He presents a detailed 'How To' section, with structure, planning, and parameters, to guide teacher and children on a journey of discovery towards an environment of constructive relationship. Discussion and child-created classroom rights guide and focus the exploration. He shares ideas on building effective environments; how children begin and continue to develop a classroom life of learning how to learn; how they become effective and constructive architects of their own persons. In short, how children learn to take responsibility for themselves and those around them. Classroom management becomes a lighter touch. Mrs. Dubray, Vice Principal and grade 4/5 Teacher. "The real strength of this system is that the kids take ownership for it." Children take joy in being valued and in valuing others. All are celebrated. This is a place where each child can feel emotionally safe, move forward with greater confidence and be excited about learning. Mrs. Cummings, grade 7/8 teacher "Using this system makes it nice to come to work, I have such a good time." Teachers have found that this collective empowerment of the class proves most effective in dealing with behavioural problems, including bullying and is a powerful process to engage in troubled classrooms. It doesn't just control bad behaviour, it creates good behaviour. Together, teacher and children build a happy place to learn and grow. This foundation of constructive relationship process that the teacher establishes in the classroom engenders feelings of connection, understanding and security and becomes the bedrock upon which learning and the acquisition of curriculum is built. Ms. Tibbs, Education Student. "This system works so easily, I felt like I was cheating. My College of Education supervisor was really impressed with my class." Mrs. Dubray continues, "The energy you are able to give to your children in terms of teaching curriculum is so much greater. There is significantly less stress, and it seems that children take on much more responsibility and carry on with their tasks. The system allows children to develop their abilities and blossom at their own level in a way that they feel safe. I've seen the benefit - it pays dividends all year." Parents report that their children are happier, look forward to school, and come home talking about their classroom life and learning. When children are given the opportunity to become architects in the creation of an effective learning environment for themselves and others, we lay important foundations in the quest for a sustainable future. Dr. Edmund O'Sullivan - Professor emeritus, OISIE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) "This is a refreshing book by a teacher and educational practitioner with a wealth of classroom experience. It is an ambitious and imaginative book; a groundbreaking work that offers, both at the level of theory and practice, a powerful ecological vision, providing a way to develop whole human beings in the context of sustainable education that benefits the emergent needs of this new century."

Education policies have too often ignored how conditions outside of school can alter life chances for young people, especially students of color, before they even reach the classroom. More recently, COVID-19 has made it impossible to overlook the needs of the whole child, both inside and outside of school. The authors assert that responding to a number of factors like air quality, housing, public health, community safety, segregation, and neighborhood conditions are essential to improving academic outcomes and student health. Our Children Can’t Wait urges readers to reconsider what education policy is, what it could be, who it is for, and who should be directly shaping it at all levels of government. Experts present a new equity roadmap by bridging scholarship, ideas, and original thinking on education policy as a vehicle for setting a redemptive path forward for reckoning with race in America. Book Features: Presents a new, evidence-based blueprint for addressing persistent gaps in education opportunity through a number of interrelated social policies.Includes contributing authors from 17 organizations and universities, representing a powerful national network of scholars.Goes beyond diagnosing or identifying challenges to present solutions in the form of tools and promising models.Offers strategies for preventing more students from experiencing homelessness or entering the criminal justice system through strategic investments.Addresses timely issues that are in the hearts and minds of many key stakeholders in no small part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Contributors include Linda Darling-Hammond, Tyrone Howard, Sonya Douglass Horsford, Ron Avi Astor, Erica Frankenberg, Bruce Lesley, and Oscar Jimenez Castellanos.

Give a Little SnuggleMusic soothes our souls, wiggles get the mad out, giggles lighten the load, and a snuggle brings a calm connectedness. Give a Little Snuggle is a story about your child. The delightful illustrations, text, and music, are created with all hearts in mind. It is a story about blue times and rough times, and the fear that comes with those times. It is a story that teaches children and adults alike, that though we may have blue times, rough times, and fearful times, there is always something we can do to ease our soul; connect with those we love and who love us.When your child is sad or upset, you may find connecting difficult. Their "upsets" become yours, and soon you are at your wit's end. Nothing you try works to calm or connect. You may think your child wants to be left alone. But as a mother and educator, I can assure you what they really want and need, is connection.This book helps you do just that: Connect when there is sadness, connect when it's been a bad day, connect when there is fear?I wrote this as a song first, when my son was having a meltdown. No matter how hard I tried, he wouldn't "let me in." Out of desperation I just started singing. These are the words that came out.Suitable for ages 4 to 8.

A little boy considers eight things to do while he waits to take his turn. Presents questions about behavior and feelings for an adult to ask the child as each alternative in the story is considered.

Don’t wait to read this picture book about three friends who are each waiting for something worthwhile—and practicing patience while they’re at it! William was waiting on his front porch. Annie was waiting in her backyard. And, in his house on the corner, Thomas was waiting, too. But what are they each waiting for? When will it arrive? These three stories of three eagerly waiting friends come together in the end, where everything—especially friends and family—is worth the wait.

As final preparations are being made for a long-planned surprise party, Bear gets so excited he nearly ruins everything.

Can you imagine not being able to speak or communicate? The silence, the loneliness, the pain. But, inside you disappear to magical places, and even meet your best friend there. However, most of the time you remain imprisoned within the isolation. Waiting, longing, hoping. Until someone realises your potential and discovers your key, so your unlocking can begin. Now you are free, flying like a wild bird in the open sky. A voice for the voiceless. Jonathan Bryan has severe cerebral palsy, a condition that makes him incapable of voluntary movement or speech. He was locked inside his own mind, aware of the outside world but unable to fully communicate with it until he found a way by using his eyes to laboriously choose individual letters, and through this make his thoughts known. In Eye can Write, we read of his intense passion for life, his mischievous sense of fun, his hopes, his fears and what it's like to be him. This is a powerful book from an incredible young writer whose writing ability defies age or physical disability - a truly inspirational figure. Foreword by Sir Michael Morpurgo A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Jonathan Bryan's charity, Teach Us Too. http://www.teachustoo.org.uk/