IEP Workshops - Space is Limited!

If you are interested in learning about IEPs, The SERC Library is offering a series of 3 IEP workshops - space is limited! Click HERE to register.  All workshops are FREE!

All workshops are on a Wednesday evening from 5:30 pm to 7 pm - register for all three or just the one you are interested in!

March 22nd - Building Bridges:  Working with school staff to inform IEP programming for you child

April 5th - Become Knowledgeable:  Understanding the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and IEP process

April 19th - Intensify Focus:  Connecting the role of advocacy to your child's success in meeting IEP goals

Reading Room Wednesdays - FREE series at the SERC Library for Families & Caregivers of Children, K-Grade 4 with Special Learning Needs

Click HERE to register for these FREE sessions - see below for more information!

Hurry Space is limited! Register today!

Register Early!

https://16-09-216.eventbrite.com

Check out this site and it is free you just have to sign up!

Personalized learning-made smart, easy and free.  ---- We like free ----

Why Study with Knewton?

It's like having the world's smartest tutor at your fingertips.

Knewton pinpoints the exact pieces of content that are best for you from their every-growing open library.  Different sections for Teachers, Students and Parents!

Free Webinar

Monday, May 18, 2015, 2 to 3 p.m. ET

Guiding Parents Through School Choice In cities where traditional school boundaries are fluid and more options, such as charters, have entered the mix of K-12, selecting a school is an increasingly complex endeavor for parents. Recent research shows that an abundance of school choice doesn't guarantee access, and many parents in high-choice cities struggle to find adequate information, transportation, and, ultimately, the right school for their children. But some cities, like Denver, are leading the way in practices to help ease the burden on parents, such as universal enrollment systems and partnerships between districts and charter schools to assist parents in making informed choices. Our guests will discuss the realities, research, and practice of guiding families through choice. Underwriting for the content for this webinar has been provided by the Walton Family Foundation Guests: Brian Eschbacher, director of planning and enrollment services, Denver school district Betheny Gross, senior research analyst and research director, Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington This webinar will be moderated by Arianna Prothero, staff writer, Education Week Register now for this free live webinar.

FREE Webinar --- Empowering Parents to Transform Schools

 

Empowering Parents to Transform Schools Increasingly, parents are playing a larger role in the transformation of schools and school districts. In cities across the country—Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington—and many states, parents and parent groups are forming coalitions, lobbying lawmakers, creating new schools, and generally bringing about school change. But this hasn't always been the case, and it's certainly not the case in many school districts, where underserved communities of minority, low-income, and rural families don't always have the tools to become involved. And schools can be at loss for how to empower parents to increase student achievement. How can the forces at play come together to create an environment where parents play an active and positive role in school improvement? And what obligation does the federal government have in playing a helpful role? Our guests will explore the necessary levers that schools and parents can use to drive real change. Guests: Arnold F. Fege, president, Public Advocacy for Kids, Washington, D.C. Alberto Retana, executive vice president, Community Coalition, Los Angeles Karran Harper Royal, parent advocate, New Orleans This webinar will be moderated by Elizabeth Rich, commentary editor for Education Week. Underwriting for the content of this webinar has been provided by the Walton Family Foundation. Register now for this free live webinar.

Webinar Date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2 to 3 p.m. ET Can't attend? All Education Week webinars are archived and accessible "on demand" for up to four months after the original live-streaming date.

Free Webinars About Parenting Gifted Children

 

National Parenting Gifted Children Week is July 21-27, 2013!

SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) are offering four free webinars.  The important thing about this series - Each webinar is only free to download on the date listed and for a one-time ("single use") viewing.  So, wait until the day of to click the link and "order" the webinars you want.  The webinars can be "watched" at anytime you wish, however, to get it FREE it has to be "ordered" on the date it is offered below.

Monday, July 22: Bootcamp for Determined Advocates, presented by Wenda Sheard, an attorney, teacher, and mother of three grown gifted children. This webinar will focus on legal, political, and educational aspects of advocacy.

Tuesday, July 23: Forging Partnerships with Teachers and Why They Often Don't Work, presented by Nancy Robinson, professor emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and former director of what is now known as the Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars. This webinar will feature reasons parents and teachers can be on different pages, plus strategies for coming together and working together on behalf of the child.

Wednesday, July 24: Parent Engagement in Promoting a STEM Identity Among Gifted Black Students, presented by Tarek Grantham, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology (EPIT) at the University of Georgia, and Kristina Collins, a doctoral student in the EPIT department whose research focuses on parent engagement, STEM identity, and under-represented gifted students. This webinar details strategies parents can utilize to encourage and support a positive STEM identity in underrepresented gifted youth.

Thursday, July 25: This Isn't the Child I Dreamed of Raising, presented by Barbara Probst, social worker and author of When the Labels Don't Fit. This webinar will assist parents in deconstructing their child's challenging emotional and behavioral issues, followed by focused strategies to empower parent and child alike to overcome them and thrive.

More details about each webinar and each presenter are available at the webinar's link.

NAEYC for Families Web site!

 

NAEYC has launched a new web site For Families!  Check out the web site which offers resources that can be use in working with young children and families and that families can use!  There is research-based information about children's learning and development that families can trust and use.  The Families Today section is a column by Drs T. Berry Brazelton and Joshua Sparrow about the meaning behind young children's behaviors, the Learning & Development section offers activities for Child Development, Reading & Writing, and Music, Math & and More!  In addition you can find child care/preschools and a blog!  Make sure to share this web site with others!

TutorCloud

Okay ---- check this out ------ TutorCloud is aiming to provide quality online tutoring that enables parents and students to search for tutors who have particular subject expertise and interests.  The bank of tutors are primarily from Ivy League colleges.  Online sessions are held using video chat and interactive whiteboards.  The program is designed to encourage students who may be reluctant to sign up or go for face-to-face tutoring to seek help and potential mentorship.  Check it out at http://tutorcloud.com/  and yes, there is a fee, sorry not free, however it might be a great alterative to face-to-face tutoring.  According to the site you can hire a tutor for an hour every week, just 15 minutes when you need help, pay by the minute so you only pay for the help you need.  You have access to hundreds of experienced tutors searchable by subject!

2011 - 2013 Parent Leadership Training Grant Application is Now Available

The State Education Resource Center and the CT Parent Information and Resource Center (SERC/CT PIRC) are pleased to release the following Parent Leadership Training Grant Application for 2011-2013.

The Parent Leadership Training Grant funds are intended for programs aimed at improving children's health, safety, and education by training parents in civic leadership skills.  The programs must (1) train parents in civic leadership skills and (2) support, increase, and sustain parental engagement in community affairs (PA 10-11, July l, 2010).

PIRC link to grant application is:  http://ctpirc.org/s/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=154 

All grant applications are due on August 31, 2011 no later than 2:30 pm.  Grants will be awarded pending the availability of funds, public and private.

A Bidders Conference will be held on August 15, 2011 from 8:30 am to 10 am in the SERC Classroom at 25 Industrial Park, Middletown, CT 06457-1516.  For advance registration, please contact Martine Persico, Project Assistant, at SERC/CT PIRC 860.632.1485 x 288, or persico@ctserc.org.  Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend.

Connecticut Book Festival

The first-ever Connecticut Book Festival, celebrating our State's continuing cultural heritage by focusing on authors, books literary sites and cultural institutions, will be held on the UCONN Greater Hartford Campus in West Hartford on Saturday and Sunday, May 21st and 22nd. Over the course of two days, three dozen authors will talk about their work; there will be performances by DANCEENLIGHT, Mystic Paper Beasts, and five State Troubadours. Children will be entertained at the unique "instrument petting zoos" provided by the Hartford and New Haven Symphony Orchestras and children will have a chance to make chalk drawings with author/illustrator Bill Thomson. Children can also read to pet therapy greyhounds. Parents, teachers,b and students will attend the annual ceremony marking the conclusion of the Letters About Literature program sponsored by the CT Center for the Book. Exhibitors and food vendors will add a "festival" atmosphere. The event is free of charge.

The Festival has been planned over the past two years and is patterned after the National Book Festival held in Washington, D.C. each fall. The festival is sponsored by CT Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library, CT Commission on Culture and Tourism, CT Humanities Council, CT Library Association, CT State Library, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, UCONN Co-op Bookstore, and UCONN Greater Hartford. More information and details are available at www.ctbookfestival.org.

Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley event on Saturday, December 11th from 9:30 am to 12 pm

Everyone eats rice, no seriously, everybody does! Come join the latest offering in the "Raising a Reader" series as we invite families to the State Education Resource Center (SERC), if you could not guess considering you are at the SERC Library blog, meet the staff of CT Parent Information and Resource Center (CT PIRC), the Early Childhood Resource Center, and the, yes you guessed it the SERC Library staff to eat rice and play with rice ----- no seriously ----to READ the book Everybody cooks rice by award-winning children's author Norah Dooley, create some crafts and play games related to the story ----- sample different kinds of rice -----yummy! ----- decorate rice cakes and rice treats! You can take home a recipe box, designed by you and filled with rice recipes -----please bring your favorite rice recipe to share with others ---- directions and materials to replicate activities at home and a copy of Everybody cooks rice! To register for this yummy learning event to be held on Saturday, December 11th from 9:30 am to 12 pm, please contact Suequanna Lewis, Project Assistant at 860.632.1485 x 288 or lewis@ctserc.org. Space fills up fast so get going and register by Friday, November 26th so you won't miss all the rice, I mean fun!

Energy Balance 101

Energy Balance 101 - Healthy Schools. Healthy Kids.

Okay is this timely or what! Engery balance - Active, Healthy Lifestyle ---- Halloween 3 days away, Thanksgiving in less than a month, December Holidays on the way! Take a hike! No seriously, check out the Energy Balance 101 at http://energybalance101.discoveryeducation.com/ and DISCOVER (no pun intended, HA HA) all the ----- get ready ----- FREE resources for teachers, parents and community to support kids for an active and healthy lifestyle. For teachers a free k-5 wellness curriculum with lesson plans, resources, and videos aligned to national standards. There are resources for family and community extension to help with learning beyond the classroom. Besides you might learn something too! So why are you still reading ---- check out the link and the lunchbox sandwiches they'll love under the Families/Parents tab!