By Katy Killilea

A child’s lunch box is a tiny, portable piece of home. Like a happy home, it is best kept clean and comfortable and filled with good things to eat. Finding the right format for your child’s lunch need not be tricky, and waxed paper and a bag might be all anyone actually needs. However, lunch box goods get cleverer and more beautiful each year, so they are fun to choose and can quash the new-school jitters.

The cost of outfitting a lunch box shouldn’t exceed the cumulative cost of the food that will go in it. But like boots, cabinetry, and masking tape, it’s worthwhile to consider higher-cost options. Metal containers are pricier than their plastic counterparts, but are very durable and can be safely washed/crammed into dishwasher by clumsy/careless people in your household. Among other lunchtime items, Eco Lunch Boxes offers a lidded, sandwich-sized container of stainless steel, accompanied by a small leak-proof dish that fits inside and reliably contains liquid components ($22 for the set). Lunchbots is dedicated completely to stainless steel lunch containers and offers a basic rounded rectangle for $13. (Spotted locally in Wakefield at the Alternative Food Coop.) An eight-ounce cylinder from Kids Konserve ($18.50 for a set of two) will last to accompany your child to college, but let us bar our minds any images of what might be stored in it then. (more…)

By Jill Davidson

For all of us, no matter what kind of school our kids go to, or what sort of summer routine (or lack thereof) we’ve had, the event of heading back to school is a powerful universal, something that nearly all families experience collectively.

I opted to check in with a teacher to get the professional perspective on ways to get kids to make the seasonal shift successfully. Currently teaching fifth grade at The Learning Community,  a charter school in Central Falls, Maureen Nosal has been in the classroom for 16 years. As she gets ready to welcome students into her classroom, she offers some thoughts on what families can do to help create the best summer-to-school transition.

Hit the Sack
Nosal believes that lack of sleep poses one of the greatest challenges to students as they return to school. “Kids and parents are busy, with busy lives.,” says Nosal. “What we see in the classroom is a lot of yawning. During those first few weeks back, kids don’t have enough stamina or resilience. Some of them get frustrated easily and they can’t make it through the day intact.” The solution, of course, is to go to bed early enough, winding down screen time and other excitement early enough so that kids are used to getting to bed at a suitable hour, and focusing on maintaining a consistent routine during the first few weeks of school until it becomes a habit. (Author’s note: on Tuesday nights for as long as its season lasts, Wipeout will be the biggest challenge to bedtime in our house. It has been a summer delight, but unsurprisingly, with three young boys, it is not particularly soothing or soporific.)

Pack the Pack
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Saturday, August 21 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The Providence School Department, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Sodexho School Services and over 30 community partners will sponsor this year’s Back to School Celebration. Kick off the new school year with celebrations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 11 community sites. Over 12,000 kids will receive free backpacks filled with school supplies. Music, raffles and food also will be provided at each location.

For more information, call Doris M. De Los Santos at 401-222-4890.

Back-to-school celebrations will be held at the following sites:

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Today Tracy Minkin from GoLocalProv shares some great tips on how to stock up on school supplies without breaking the bank.

Sure, that dad in the classic Staples back to school TV ad is skipping down the shopping aisle while his kids trudge, but that may be because he hasn’t hit check-out yet. Back to school shopping can burden any family’s budget. But with big sales hitting the streets this week, now’s just the time to organize and execute a shopping strategy that can save you some serious money. Here are 12 tips for getting the most for your back to school dollars:

1. Check before you shop. Make your list of supplies, but before you start shopping, check all your work and homework spaces for unused items that can be used this year. Then, check under sofa, chairs, and beds, between cushions, and in spare drawers for lone pencils, pens, and erasers. You’ll be amazed at what a collection you can create.

2. Work the chains. Most major chains are kicking off big back to school sales this week, and weekly store circulars are a great way to comparison shop. Recycled them already? Just go to shoplocal and leaf through weekly circulars for stores including CVS, Walgreens, Kmart, OfficeMax, Staples, and Target. You’ll have all the information you need.

3. Grab and go. Once you’ve got your sale items picked out, go grab them, but don’t fall for the full-priced items on adjacent shelves. Stick to your plan.

4. Go online. Just as during holidays, online shopping can save you time and aggravation, not to mention gasoline at high prices. Major online retailers like staples.com have whole special areas devoted to back to school, and with careful price comparisons, you can really save.

5. Think outside the box. Office supply stores may be reminding you with lots of advertising that they’re your go-to for back to school (and specific sales on certain items may be worth the trip), but you can often pick up excellent savings at thrift and dollar stores. You may want to check your local grocery store as well…

Read full article on GoLocalProv.

Although school is out for most children, some PTOs and PTAs are already planning for next year. As many parents of school-age children know, these days we have to raise money for everything from pencil sharpeners to field trips. At my sons’ school, we are always looking for new ways to pay for it all.

Here is a clever idea: juice box art offers the opportunity to fund-raise all year long – through art.  Kids can create their own party invitations, stickers, and T-shirts or design a special gift for the grandparents, aunts, and uncles by sending in their artwork. What a creative way to raise funds for any nonprofit organization.

For details about how juice box art works, visit juiceboxart.com.

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH) will honor award-winning singer, songwriter, and storyteller Bill Harley along with noted historian, antiques dealer, and civic provocateur Richard Kazarian at its eighth annual Celebration of the Humanities, which will be held Monday, October 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket. This year’s theme is “A Night of Curiosity.” Each year, the celebration recognizes the recipients of RICH’s Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities and Honorary Chairs’ Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities.

The popular social event offers RICH an opportunity to publicly honor its awards recipients while spreading the message of its mission: to inspire and support intellectual curiosity and imagination in all Rhode Islanders through lifelong learning. This year RICH also launched the new 2010 Civics Education grant program, funding eight Rhode Island based projects that support teachers, schools, and community organizations who are working to enhance civic education in K-12.

Lifetime Achievement
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual or group whose career achievements demonstrate humanities excellence, reflect RICH’s mission and core values, and enrich public life in Rhode Island. This year, the award honors Bill Harley for his use of music, song, and story in building community; promoting our common humanity; and encouraging lifelong learning, exploring, and growing.

Bill Harley is well-known nationally but we are fortunate that he lives locally. My children and I have had many opportunites to see him perform in person, inspiring them to become better storytellers themselves. I also had the honor of interviewing Bill Harley for Kidoinfo in 2008.

Harley is a prolific writer and recording artist as well as a longtime regular commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered. Since 1984 he has released 28 albums, authored eight children’s picture books and two novels for gradeschoolers, and worked on multiple theatrical productions. Several of his books have received awards, including The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher and Night of the Spadefoot Toads. His award-winning DVD, Yes to Running, was featured on PBS, and many of his other albums have been honored for their excellence. Entertainment Weekly labeled Harley, a two-time Grammy Award winner and multiple nominee, “the Mark Twain of contemporary children’s music.” Our personal favorite story CD is Town Around the Bend.

In addition to touring and recording, Harley currently is conducting research for a book on the culture of schools and preparing for the September release of his new spoken-word CD, The Best Candy in the Whole World. For a complete list of Harley’s work and awards, visit billharley.com.

The Celebration of the Humanities is open to the public; tickets are $75 ($25 for students). To reserve tickets and learn more about the honorees, visit rihumanities.org.

About RICH
Founded in 1973, RICH is an independent, not-for-profit state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Sharing with the NEH the belief that “democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens,” RICH invests in individuals and organizations—from scholars, filmmakers, writers, and oral historians to libraries, museums, historical societies, and community organizations—that engage Rhode Islanders in the intellectual and cultural life of the State.

I regularly read Julia Steiny’s weekly education column in the Providence Sunday Journal. Her perspective on what is happening in our local schools and education at large is always insightful and thoughtful.

In this week’s column, Start now to stem summer’s rising tide of learning loss, Julia Steiny makes the case for extending our children’s learning beyond school and into summer. Schools are not the only place where learning happens and may even turn some kids “off” from learning. I agree that one solution may be to have our children learn about what they love and as a result they may love learning. In her article, she argues;

But it has come to pass that learning is largely associated with schooling, and not happily. Our brains are designed to get pleasure, actual fun, from learning. It feels great to be good at something, or just to be right. The world teems with intriguing problems to solve for any brain with an appetite.

Some kids love baseball, robots or nature. What do your kids love? Talk to them about it, help them find books about it, make art, and ask questions about it. See where it takes them. My boys love movies and this passion has motivated them to find books at the library about how movies are made,  study the history of film, write their own stories and learn how to use a movie camera. They get up in the morning to read about new films in the newspaper. From their passion they have become better readers and writers, learned math and have a better understanding of music. They do not consider this homework or boring.

I agree with Julia Steiny that we need help from the community, parents and educators to find ways to challenge, inspire and motivate our kids to learn on their own. Kids will want to learn when they are passionate about it Julia says;

All kids, certainly not only the privileged ones, need to become independent learners, with such strong appetites for information, skills and mastery that it lasts a lifetime. They badly need the confidence, values and pleasure of knowing how to learn on their own.

Summer is a time for fun but does not mean learning should stop and resume when kids head back to school in the fall. Julia challenges us to create learning opportunities for our children within the community. As parents I think we can do our part and start at home to build a foundation for independent learners by introducing our young children to reading, math, science and art through play, everyday life and experimentation. Give children the opportunity to explore at home and in the community—encouraging them to be inquisitive and ultimately the leaders in their own learning.

Thank you Julia for mentioning Kidoinfo as a great resource for parents. Although it’s true Kidoinfo is not an education site we love learning and invite parents to get off line often to find ways to connect with their kids, other parents and the community. So much to discover!

Last year I created a list of 10 Ways to Vacation at home: Call it a Staycation. This is a list of things kids can do during the summer. With a little a help from parents, children can choose which activities they want to pursue.

By making learning fun and meaningful to children their world becomes a giant playground where anything can happen.

In a divisive world the humanities has the opportunity to bring people together of all ages. Eight Rhode Island projects designed to enhance civic education were awarded a total of $80,000 from the 2010 Civics Education Grants. These grants are funded, in large part, by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH). RICH is an independent, nonprofit state affiliate of the NEH.

“These civics grants, will be put to immediate use supporting teachers, schools, and community organizations who are working to enhance civic education in K-12,” says Mary-Kim Arnold, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.

The NEH Chairman Jim Leach joined Senator Jack Reed, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts in congratulating the recipients of the 2010 Civic Education Grants, awarded by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, on Monday, June 14 at the Chace Center, RISD Museum of Art

Congratulations to the winners. As a parent of two children in the Providence Public School system I am inspired by the chosen projects. Supporting programs that engage our youth, promote positive collaborations and celebrate life-learning is a benefit to us all.

2010 Civics Education Grant Awards – 8 projects totalling nearly $80,000 (Recipients pictured below).

Barrington High School, Tammy McMichael, Project Director, for: A Look at Rhode Island’s Judiciary System. Funds support an experiential component to an existing 2-week unit of study on the state and federal judiciary system in their upper class required American History Course.

Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Pamela Gray, Project Director, for African Americans in Rhode Island. Funds support development of online curriculum materials to complement and expand on the Haffenreffer’s Cultural CaraVan outreach program Sankofa: African Americans in Rhode Island. (The Cultural CaraVan program brings discussion to the classroom through direct interaction with objects and images from the museum.)

Global Rhode Island, Christopher Walsh, Project Director, for Teaching Complex International Issues and RI Capitol Forum on America’s Future. Funds support training teachers in multi-perspective approach to international issues at a 1-day workshop; dissemination of Choices curriculum materials into participating classrooms; public event at the State House for teachers and students; and evaluative workshop for teachers who elect to participate in the program.

Foster-Glocester Regional School System, Lisa Tvenstrup, Project Director, for Perspectives:  Using Multiple Lenses for Historical Understanding. Funds support training US History and World History teachers in six selected Choices curriculum units as well as the purchase of these units for students as part of an ongoing revision of pedagogy and content in this school’s Social Studies Program.

The Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery, Kristin Gallas, Project Director, sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society for Northern Complicity in Slavery and Racial Identity Development: How to Teach Our Complex History. Funds support workshops to educate middle and secondary teachers in Rhode Island’s role in slavery and the slave trade, to disseminate curriculum developed by the Rhode Island Historical Society on these topics, and to provide information on additional resources.

Center of Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island, Paul Bueno de Mesquita, for Gandhi-King Teacher Institute:  Integrating Nonviolence, Humanities & Civics Education. Funds support development of an institute for secondary teachers to learn about nonviolence, and how to use the Raise Your Voices program – with its stress on humanities reflection and arts, to engage students with this topic.

Vartan Gregorian Elementary School PTO, Catherine Carr Kelly & Wendy Warlick, Project Directors, for I WAS THERE Project (top picture). Funds support expansion of an existing multidimensional oral history project that connects students to the history of their local community.  The scope of the project includes professional development for teachers, creation of lessons and student experiences on the theme of “Factory Work and Jewelry,” and development of 3-day teachers institute on methods to disseminate model across the school system.

West Warwick Public Schools, Paul Bovenzi, Project Director, for Units of Study Workgroup. Funds support further work already begun by this school system to align systematically their district curriculum to the Civics GSEs at the elementary level and also to create two units of study for K-4 Social Studies that are both grounded in humanities content and perspectives as well as the GSEs. Specifically, funds allow ten K-4 Social Studies teachers to develop these units and purchase classroom materials.

About the NEH and RICH:

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supports learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities. NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places.

The mission of The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent, nonprofit 501-c-3 organization and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is to inspire and support curiosity and imagination in all Rhode Islanders through lifelong learning. The Council provides grants, supporting services, and outreach for public programs in the humanities.

Rhode Island Is Ready is a campaign advocating for the creation of a fair statewide funding formula for Rhode Island public schools. Rhode Island is currently the only state in the United States that doesn’t have such a formula, which would allocate state funding to school districts in an equitable manner, based on each student’s needs and the ability of each district to raise local funds.

The objective of the Ready campaign is achieving a fair funding formula for Rhode Island this legislative session. With less than 40 days until the end of the legislative session, the Ready campaign invites you to help make this happen!

Here are 3 things you can do:

1. Save the date for Ready’s ADVOCACY DAY, Tuesday, May 11, 2:30 – 4:30 pm, at the State House. There will be legislative briefings, advocacy trainings, meetings with legislators, and more! Please note new date and time: Thursday, May 13, at 11:30 am, Room 35 at the State House.

2. Contact your State Representative and State Senator today! Give them this simple message: “My community and the state of Rhode Island urgently needs a fair education funding formula and I would like to meet with you on May 11 at the State House to discuss how we can get this done.” Find your legislator and their contact information here: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/index.html.

3. Participate in Ready’s Statewide Speaking Tour by hosting an event in your community. Contact Karina to schedule a date and a speaker.

The Details
Organizer: Karina H. Wood
email: karinawood@cox.net
phone: 401-595-2999

The Ready campaign is made possible through support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island

For more info, visit the Rhode Island is Ready FaceBook Page

By Erin Barrette Goodman

Last spring, as kindergarten registration loomed and I watched as my daughter’s friends’ parents made plans for their children, I did nothing.

“She’s just not ready,” I told my mother one day, when she asked what we would be doing for school the following fall.

“You’re not ready,” she responded.

I don’t remember what I said in response (it was basically the 35-year-old equivalent of “Whatever Mom”) but in the weeks that followed her words stayed with me.

Was I really denying my daughter the age-appropriate kindergarten experience just because I’m not ready for her to go to school?

I spent most of the summer second-guessing our decision.

Our daughter is extremely bright. She’s an eager and motivated learner who frequently amazes my husband and me (as well as complete strangers at the grocery store) with her ability to remember tiny details she has picked up from books we’ve read to her, nature videos she has watched, or places we have visited.

By the fall, she was showing a clear interest in learning to read and write and was asking me to give her “homework” (reading and math workbooks) to do when she came home from preschool.

All academic signs pointed to her being ready for kindergarten. And yet, as a family (spearheaded by Mama) we had decided not to send her.

Why?

There are (at least) a dozen reasons why I wanted to have an “extra year” before we started school.

Many are personal and unique to the circumstances of our family in the months leading up to what would have / could have been our daughter’s first year of school. Others are more universal – like the growing concern that as a society we are putting too much academic pressure on our children at too young an age. But when all was said and done, what it really came down to was that sending her to kindergarten shortly after her fifth birthday did not feel right in my gut.

She was not ready. I was not ready. We were not ready.

And as we wrap up her “extra” year at her play-based preschool, and I look at how she has blossomed and matured in this year and how ready and excited she is to begin kindergarten this coming fall, I am sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we made the right decision for our family.

How about you? What works for YOUR family?

Erin Barrette Goodman is a writer, yoga teacher, and mother of two. She is the founder of the RI Birth Network, which promotes empowered decision-making during the childbearing years, and the creator of Mamasté Mothers’ Circles, which are held monthly at All That Matters in Wakefield.