Contingent Communication - why it is so important

The Committed Parent

Translating social neuroscience to help children raise parents they can live with and they're crazy about~

http://committedparent.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/our-greatest-human-failing/

image from

http://blog.tioki.com/why-i-do-what-i-do/?doing_wp_cron=1372524388.8061680793762207031250

HEAL & Business - So you think you are globally minded

Take this 5 question test....

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130625141721-3458678-so-you-think-you-re-globally-minded-take-this-5-question-test

The 5 questions posed in this article could have come straight from our Health Education and Active Living curriculum and resulting class discussions!  
I feel our cohort is perched to take on global-minded activity.

Thank you

* Stephen Smith          * Michal Fedeles           * Marie-France Boissonneault  

 * Celeste Snowber       * Kathryn Alexander   * Jacqueline Pizzuti Ashby

for sharing your wisdom, experience and passion over these past 2 years.  

I very much appreciate everything you have brought into the classroom and 

I am grateful to have met each one of you.

Thank you Brittany, Cara, Crystal, Danielle, James, Joane, 

Liesl, Marina, Mary, Neda, Raj, Rosie,

Christina, Jen, Laura and Michelle 

for sharing your expertise, your hearts and your smiles!

 I wish you all well!  Cheers to more satisfying adventures!!!

Presenting at the Congress of Humanities 2013..sharing a wonderful adventure

Check out Taneem's blog post about our adventure over to Victoria BC!

http://taneemtaneem.blogspot.ca/2013/05/week-91-we-did-it-csshe-conference-in.html

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, organized by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, happens over the span of a week and 75 societies meet for their conferences and other society business.  Last year it was in Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario and next year it is back to Ontario at Brock University near Niagara.  I feel very fortunate for the opportunity to participate in this event so close to home.  

http://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/one-last-look-back-congress-2013-my-top-7-highlights

This Washington Post news article addresses a study "The Heart of the Matter" and the importance of including the humanities and social sciences with STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics...

A liberal-arts education combined with STEM disciplines could improve innovation and inventiveness among the American workforce, according to the report, but there has been a diminished focus on, and funding for, humanities and social sciences. Parents are spending less time reading to children, history and humanities teachers aren’t as well trained as STEM teachers, and civic education has declined. In 2010, about 45 percent of high school students had a basic understanding of U.S. history, the report said.
 
Stephen Kidd, executive director of the National Humanities Alliance, said humanities and STEM education should not be mutually exclusive. For example, doctors are studying literature to help them better relate to patients and produce more coherent narratives for medical histories.
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/report-humanities-social-science-education-needed-along-with-stem/2013/06/18/76076df6-d83e-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html

Thanks so much Taneem for capturing our time together so well :)

Connections: Family and School

http://cyfs.unl.edu/resources/resources_publications.php
"The power of partnerships:  How to create meaningful connections with parents"



Here's some great work from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that speaks to the worthwhile establishment of family-school relationships.  

Every little girl needs a champion! "When Your Mother Says She's Fat"

http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/8760102/When-your-mother-says-shes-fat#comments

When Your Mother Says She's Fat

If you have time, give this article a read through and the 156+ comments.  The focus is on the growing female, although similar things can be said of boys.  Each of us have the potential to encourage holistic health for the young, developing people we are in relationship with.   

I ask myself, "Do my words and actions influence myself and others to celebrate our bodies or hide our bodies?"  I'm still pondering that answer.    

This is an excerpt from Dear Mum, a collection of letters from Australian sporting stars, musicians, models, cooks and authors revealing what they would like to say to their mothers before it's too late, or would have said if only they'd had the chance.

All royalties go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. 
Published by Random House and available now.

MUMS AND DAUGHTERS:

"I don't want Violet to believe that her

beauty is her most important asset; 

that it will define her worth in the world...

We need to show her with our words and our actions that women are good enough just the way they are."

Good news for pet owners...

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/2013/06/07/pets-heart-disease.html

This is a good follow up to our recent class discussion on our pets and how they affect our health through active living and emotional well-being.  

Embodied learning starts young...a preschool in the forest

http://www.littlenestforestpreschool.com/index.html 

Here's Catherine Cummins' blog link:  http://www.littlenestforestpreschool.com/little-nest-blog.html

 
For the families that can afford it, a preschool in the forest of Saltspring Island is starting up.  Catherine Cummins is an Early Childhood Educator and Master Herbalist.