My Learning Circle

If every conversation with your child sounds something like this…

“How was your day?”
“Good.”

“What did you do today?”
“I don’t know.”

…this post is for you. 😂

Sometimes it’s not that children don’t want to talk.
Sometimes they need better questions.
A simple question swap can help children:
🧠 think more deeply
💬 communicate more clearly
🌱 reflect on their experiences
✨ build stronger conversation skills

Try just ONE of these question swaps today and see where the conversation goes. You might be surprised by what your child shares. 🤍

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Follow for more play-based learning, critical thinking, and childhood-centered parenting ideas.

Play isn't a break from learning. It is learning!

When children build, invent, question, and experiment, they're doing serious developmental work: problem-solving, symbolic thinking, early math, and language all grow through play. It doesn't compete with academic success. It fuels it.

And it gets even more powerful when play connects to meaning. With intentional play-based learning, every experience is designed with a purpose; even when the child's path through it is entirely their own. They're not just doing; they're understanding. And when they play together, they teach and learn from each other.

That's the heart of what we believe: you're already your child's first teacher, and play is one of your most powerful tools.

Save this as a reminder the next time play looks like "just playing" ; because it never is.

The world your child is growing into does not reward people who can simply recall information. That's what search engines do!

It rewards people who can think through problems, ask better questions, design original solutions, and adapt when circumstances change.

Research consistently shows that children who develop strong higher-order thinking skills perform better academically, score higher on assessments that measure deep understanding, and are better prepared for careers that require problem-solving and innovation.

The good news is that these are not skills reserved for advanced students. They are skills every child can develop with the right support. And that support starts at home, with caregivers who ask the right questions.

Grab our guidebook "Building Independent Thinkers" to help prevent the summer slide. Working on these types of skills will make learning new information easier in the long run, because they will have been practicing HOW to think. Which in turn will help them truly understand the new info, rather than them just memorizing it for a test.

www.mylearningcircle.org/guidebooks

When people struggle under pressure, it doesn’t mean they lack resilience. It often means they lack practice. @davidbeckham and I discuss the overlap between the evidence and his experience

I have a Ph.D. in Instruction and Learning, so I've been reading, writing, and teaching about these practices for many years. It was important for me to expose my teacher prep students to voices outside the typical education research circle.

Here are four people I believe every teacher and parent should be studying:

Brené Brown: The importance of vulnerability. Children and teachers learn best when they feel safe enough to be imperfect.

Raj Chetty: A high-quality kindergarten experience with a strong, effective teacher impacts a person's lifelong earning potential.

Adam Grant : Rethinking how we define potential. The qualities that matter most for long-term success, curiosity, determination, character, are often the ones we overlook in favor of early academic performance.

Jonathan Haidt: Sounding the alarm about a child's early use of screens and social media.

Are these voices part of the conversation in your school or your home? They should be.

If you haven't explored their work yet, start with one and tell us in the comments which one you're picking up first!

🔗 Free Parent Toolkit at
www.mylearningcircle.org/toolkit
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So true❤️ One of our strongest beliefs! We all need to play more. Have fun. Laugh. Move about and be in community with others!

One thing Brené said that stuck with me: Play isn't just entertainment for children. It's training for relationships. It's where we learn boundaries, forgiveness, negotiation, trust, and repair. A fascinating conversation about what happens when less of that learning happens in the real world. Full episode available now on my YouTube channel.

Vanessa was one my mentors when I started to teach pre-kindergarten. I had taught kindergarten a few times however PreK is a whole differ ball game!! Take a listen!!

“What’s wrong with rewarding good behavior. Shouldn’t we be preparing children for the real world?” I hear this all the time when we talk about rewards, stickers, behavior charts, and consequences in early childhood classrooms. And yes — of course we want to prepare children for the real world. But here’s the part we have to lovingly unpack: A preschooler earning a sticker for sitting still is not the same thing as an adult earning wages for skilled labor. In my Soar to Success Summit session, “How Do I Give Consequences That Work?” we’re going to unpack the purpose of giving consequences in preschool and pre-k — and how to use them in a way that is firm, caring, developmentally appropriate, and truly helpful. Because busy teachers like you don’t need more shame, more tools to buy, or more behavior advice that doesn’t align with the way young children’s brains grow. You need practical tools that will help children learn the skills they’re missing. Come join me inside the Soar to Success Summit and let’s rethink consequences together. ❤️ Comment JOIN and I’ll send you the details! #preschoolteacher #prekteacher #earlychildhoodeducation #preschoolbehavior #prekclassroom