Support Dogs, Inc. (SDI) will hold a holiday open house on Tuesday, December 6 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. featuring service dog demonstrations and refreshments. The public is invited to bring their pets for a family photo session with Santa from 4 to 7 p.m. The $5 per sitting photography fee will benefit Support Dogs’ programs and activities.  The open house will be held at Support Dogs’ headquarters located at 11645 Lilburn Park Rd.
 

Teachers have this network thing going on. Most of our social circles include other teachers (yeah, we like to hang out with ourselves), where we get to talk about our practice and share ideas. We have countless message boards, blogs and websites to hover around. Basically, we can't stop searching for something ‘new’ to bring to our classrooms.

This summer I spent a week in Nantucket with an eclectic group of friends, none of whom were teachers. But like any addict, I needed my fix, and so between vicious games of Hearts or Scrabble, beach trips, bike rides or eating (oh my, the eating!), I managed to lure almost everyone into a chat or two about their child’s education.

While your kids will be ecstatic to be off of school during winter break, the combination of holiday overload and cabin fever can quickly turn a week of fun into a week you’d like to forget. Do yourself a favor and head out to the Missouri History Museum’s Winter Getaway. This event is guaranteed to bring a smile to even the crabbiest of faces.

Take a Winter Getaway at the History Museum! Snack on complimentary North Star Frozen Treats, read to a support dog through the PAWS for Reading program, make some hands-on crafts and take a tour of the museum. Preschoolers to preteen. 10:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Free. Missouri History Museum.

More information: mohistory.org or 314-746-4599.    

Fellow SmartParenting blogger Sharon Linde’s post last week about fluency really hit home. We are struggling with a new reader in our house. Sharon is right – it takes a lot of patience to teach someone to read. It’s hard not to shout out the correct answer or rush the new reader along when she struggles with a word. But practice makes perfect.