Rene Herrick is a fourth-grade teacher in Raleigh, NC. She has been named Wake County's Teacher of the Year. Congratulations Rene!

May 12, 1820, Florence Nightingale was born at the Villa La Columbaia in Florence. She is the founder of modern day nursing. She revolutionized nursing care and hospital conditions during the Victorian era. During the Crimean War, the death rate among the British reached 42%. After instituting many of Florence's recommendations for sanitary reforms, the death rate dropped to 2%. Enjoy learning more about this wonderful lady and celebrate her birthday today.

While traveling this on vacation, be sure to make up an interactive book that your child can fill in during the vacation. Pre-printing stickers with a state's flag, bird, tree, etc will make adding this information to a page in the book very easy. Print off a map of the state so the child can trace the journey, place the capital and add points of interest they saw or visited while traveling. Coloring pages from special locations in the state can be used to fill the time spent riding in the car. Print off some historical information to read or a time line of historical events to allow the child to learn more about the state's history. Be sure to include a page that has information on an historical figure from that state. Include lots of blank pages so the child can add photos, souvenirs, draw pictures and journal about their vacation time in that state. These make great learning tools and wonderful scrapbooks to save and savor the fun family times.

Looking for ways to keep up your child's math skills this summer? This website has some great math information, games and worksheets for math.

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Reading lists can help guide both child and parent in the search for age appropriate reading material. Many standardized test questions are based on some classical literature which it has been assumed every child in the USA will have heard or read at some point during childhood. Reading lists can also be used by the parent as a general barometer of a child's reading ability. If a parent sees that a child consistently has problems reading grade level materials, the parent can approach the teacher with this concern or locate a tutor for additional help before the child gets behind. As TV and video games supersede activities such as reading, a child needs to be encouraged to develop a life long love of reading. Their own library card and a special bag or box for storing the books while at home can help make the experience more fun. Having a reading list will make it easier to guide them toward books that are age appropriate and interest driven. Enjoy!

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is investigating No Child Left Behind and how standardized testing affects children, teachers and schools. Hopefully, Duncan is getting an earful! The Pros and Cons of standardized testing are in no way balanced.

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If you are looking for some fun Mother's Day craft ideas to help the kids make some cute gifts for Mom, check out Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities website.

Allowing your child to listen to recorded books, especially the unabridged versions, will encourage love of reading. It will help to improve auditory processing skills, visualization skills and fluency as well. It is even better if you have a copy of the book for the child to follow along as the story is read on the recording. LibriVox is an on-line source of free recorded books you can download.

Summer break from school can mean lost skills by fall. There are a lot of fun summer activities that parents can provide for the child during the summer which can encourage him or her to continue practicing the skills they learned this past year and be ready for the new year to start come fall.

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