Back to School: Supporting Kids, Adults, and Yourself with Education

Books to Help Support Kids and Teens in School

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Christiansen, Katie T.

Give little learners the foundation they need for school and life with this essential collection of activities from veteran preschool teacher Katie T. Christiansen. Using her years of experience developing curriculum, she has curated 75 easy hands-on projects centered on the most important skills children should practice between the ages of 3 and 5--from literacy, math and science to gross- and fine-motor skills and social-emotional mindfulness. Best of all, these activities require minimal preparation and use affordable, everyday items, so they're perfect for busy, budget-conscious caregivers and educators.

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Damour, Lisa

An urgently needed guide to help parents understand their teenagers' emotional highs and lows-and how to support their sons and daughters through this critical development stage. In teenagers, powerful emotions are the rule, not the exception. Unfortunately, many of today's parents now regard their teens' negative feelings as disruptive, dangerous, or diagnosable, thanks to the rise of the wellness industry and the widespread use of psychotropic drugs. To make matters worse, the global pandemic, academic pressure, social media stress, and a bleak environmental future have left today's teenagers feeling overwhelmed. Parents who read this book will learn: a teenager's mental health isn't just about "feeling good," it's about having the appropriate feelings at the appropriate time. Parents can help their teens regulate those feelings to avoid emotional floods. strategies to keep teens from being overwhelmed by their emotions, so that kids aren't at the mercy of their moods how to connect with their teens to facilitate open, honest conversations how to deal with their teens' arguments, risk taking, romance, friendships, social media, and much more With concrete, relatable explanations embedded in vibrant, real-life anecdotes, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers gives parents the science-based information they need to guide their teens through a challenging developmental phase during challenging times.

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Dawson, Peg

This practical manual presents an evidence-based coaching model for helping students whose academic performance is suffering due to deficits in executive skills, including time and task management, planning, organization, impulse control, and emotional regulation. In just a few minutes a day, coaches can provide crucial support and instruction tailored to individual students' needs. From leading experts, the book provides detailed guidelines for incorporating coaching into a response-to-intervention framework, identifying students who can benefit, conducting each session, and monitoring progress. Special topics include how to implement a classwide peer coaching program. More than three dozen reproducible assessment tools, forms, and handouts are featured; the large-size format facilitates photocopying. Purchasers also get access to a webpage where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

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Hanel, Marnie

Take the drudgery out of the midday meal with Lunchbox-an adult's guide to creating 75 unique, healthful, and delicious lunchboxes for children ages 3 to 10. For many parents, packing or preparing a healthy and satisfying lunch for their child can be a daunting task. But with breakfast being the most routine meal and dinner often a struggle, lunchtime is an opportunity to get your little ones to explore new foods, fuel up on nutrients, and sample a range of ingredients. Each meal in Lunchbox is built around a theme meant to reinforce learning, celebrate holidays, and set children up to have a positive relationship with food.

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Liang, Belle

An essential guide to tackling what students, families, and educators can do now to cut through stress and performance pressure, and find a path to purpose. Today's college-bound kids are stressed, anxious, and navigating demands in their lives unimaginable to a previous generation. They're performance machines, hitting the benchmarks they're "supposed" to in order to reach the next tier of a relentless ladder. Then, their mental and physical exhaustion carries over right into first jobs. What have traditionally been considered the best years of life have become the beaten-down years of life. Belle Liang and Timothy Klein devote their careers both to counseling individual students and to cutting through the daily pressures to show a better way, a framework, and set of questions to find kids' "true north": what really turns them on in life, and how to harness the core qualities that reveal, allowing them to choose a course of study, a college, and a career. Even the gentlest parents and teachers tend to play into pervasive societal pressure for students to perform. And when we take the foot off the gas, we beg the kids to just figure out what their passion is. Neither is a recipe for mental or physical health, or, ironically, for performance or passion. How to Navigate Life shows that successful human beings instead tap into their purpose-the why behind the what and how. Best of all, purpose is a completely translatable quality to every aspect of life, from first jobs to last jobs and everything in between.

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Payne, Kim John

The teen years are rife with social landmines in school, sports, and other activities--and instances of teasing, bullying, and exclusion are unfortunately all too common. Social media has only made this behavior easier and more insidious. But when kids learn to respond effectively, manage their emotions in the situation, and recognize their self-worth, they can reclaim a sense of their own power, and develop skills for life. Kim John Payne, an education consultant, and parenting expert, offers guidance in tandem with ten inspirational stories by young adults who have navigated bullying and social exclusion--and triumphed. It gives teens the tools to address the problem themselves, giving them mastery over the situation--rather than having parents step in and try to "fix" things. Parents, teens, and educator learn critical anti-bullying skills and strategies including How to figure out why you are being teased How to handle rumors How to deal with physical bullying How to break out of feeling everybody hates you How to develop an empowered attitude when dealing with a bully How to deal with overbearing or bullying brothers or sisters How to differentiate tattletaling from truth-telling How to stand up for others without making it worse for yourself How to make real friends And much more Payne says, "You can't control what comes at you in life, but you absolutely can control where and how you meet it," and this book helps kids understand that while they can't necessarily make a bully stop, they can absolutely stand their ground and take their power back. They can strongly influence the whole situation rather than feel they have to passively accept what is happening. This is essential reading for anyone with teens in their life, to help them experience their own power, find their own voices, learn how to problem-solve, and navigate their way out of challenging situations.

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Rolland, Rebecca

A Harvard faculty member and oral language specialist provides adults with evidence-based tools and techniques to help them have productive and meaningful conversations with children of all ages.

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Smart, Maya Payne

Reading for Our Lives challenges the bath-book-bed mantra and the idea that reading aloud to our kids is enough to ensure school readiness. Instead, it gives parents easy, immediate, and accessible ways to nurture language and literacy development from the start. Through personal stories, historical accounts, scholarly research, and practical tips, this book presents the life-and-death urgency of literacy, investigates inequity in reading achievement, and illuminates a path to a true, transformative education for all.

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Varella-Cid, Miguel

We all want the best possible education for our children! Most parents starting out homeschooling want to know the best methods, and how to avoid making classic mistakes. The pitfalls can be many. Miguel Varella-Cid examines and answers the most commonly asked questions from new homeschooling parents, so you'll have the needed knowledge and confidence to make amazing progress. Using many examples from the methods they've used to attain excellence with their own kids, Miguel explains how to make learning a continuous journey of fun, wisdom and enchantment, whilst facilitating your child's passions.

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Vigil-Otero, Ashley

Are you afraid to try new things for fear of failure? Do you second-guess yourself or doubt your abilities? Do you hesitate to speak up in class because you may be wrong, or people might laugh at you? If so, you may have a problem with self-confidence--and you are far from alone. Many teens struggle with low confidence and self-esteem. This workbook can help. Written by teen mental health experts, The Self-Confidence Workbook for Teens offers powerful mindfulness skills and activities to help you gain confidence in your abilities, be more assertive, and start believing in your own awesomeness! You'll learn how to ease feelings of self-doubt, and quiet that pesky inner critic who says you aren't good enough, smart enough, or attractive enough. Most importantly, you'll find tools to help you cultivate an inner 'ally' who always has your back in difficult, stressful, or intimidating situations. If you're ready to start living with confidence, this workbook will help you believe in you--so you can reach your highest goals!

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Waller, Victoria E.

Help and hope for parents of children with learning differences. Every child can succeed in school and life, but some children need more help than others. For over 40 years, internationally acclaimed reading specialist and student advocate Dr. Victoria E. Waller has helped children who have trouble reading, who can't sit still in class, who don't feel like they can participate-children whom teachers have all but given up on. In Yes! Your Child Can, Dr. Waller shares with parents, teachers, and therapists her proven techniques to create success for children with learning differences and draw out the singular genius within your child. In compassionate, nontechnical, easy-to-understand language, Yes! Your Child Can gives step-by-step guidance on how to help your child achieve in school and build lifelong intellectual confidence. Drawing on the latest science and her own wide-ranging experience, Dr. Waller explains why it's important to pay attention to your first gut feeling that your child may need extra help and shows how to navigate testing, medication, and choosing a team to help your child. Most importantly, Yes! Your Child Can shows you how to use your child's natural strengths and passions to build their academic, social, and personal confidence. Dr. Waller empowers parents to let their children follow their own interests, whether that's learning about sharks, reading to the dog, or building with Legos and writing about their creations. With Dr. Waller's help, learning can be motivating and fun. Dr. Waller's techniques are smart, caring, and effective with any child, no matter their current or past educational difficulties. Respectful, compassionate, and offering real help, Yes! Your Child Can is the first book every parent of a child with learning differences should read.

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Wang, Jessica

Teaching Your Child to Read is a guide book for parents looking to get their children, ages 3 to 6, interested in reading. It explains how to help children cultivate reading ability step by step, as well as answers the questions of Why should I? and How do I? when it comes to specific exercises.

Books to Help Support Adults and Yourself in School

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Collins, Tim (Timothy G.)

Provides an in-depth overview and deep content review for all test sections. You'll be able to answer GED practice questions for each subject area, plus you'll have access to two complete practice exams in the book and in the companion mobile app. Improve grammar and punctuation skills, get comfortable with the types of reading passages on the test, gain confidence in solving math and science problems, and study for Mathematical Reasoning, Social Studies, Science, and Reasoning Through Language Arts questions.

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Fenet, Lydia

How many times in your life have you felt truly confident? Do you find self-assuredness a fleeting feeling, or a consistent state of mind? These have been unusual times and difficult years, and many of us have found our expertise tested and our confidence challenged. As a senior vice president at one of the world's premiere auction houses and a commanding presence in every room, it's easy to believe Lydia Fenet's confidence comes easily. In reality, she has experienced countless instances which threatened her ego and pride, but rather than let defeat crush her, she has learned to locate inner reserves of self-determination and push back. In Claim Your Confidence, Fenet offers the idea of confidence as something everyone has inside--you just need the know-how to claim it. Recounting both professional setbacks and personal challenges that required adaptation, Fenet offers case studies, insights, and advice to help even those who doubt themselves become the most confident version of themselves. In Claim Your Confidence, Lydia Fenet will inspire you to become more self-assured, take action, make decisive choices, and grow into a leader in your own life.

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Gerstley, Ashley Feinstein

Financial Adulting is an easy-to-follow, informative, and fun financial guide. The book covers everything you need to know and do to be a confident and competent financial adult. It includes all the personal finance education most of us were missing, but also the accompanying tactical step-by-step guidance so readers can take action and create systems to set themselves up for success months and years after they read the book. Gerstley shares everything readers need to know about budgeting, building their rainy day fund, retirement investing, understanding insurance, filing taxes, increasing their credit score, making a plan for student loans, and everything in between. Personal finance is also very personal. We all value different things and therefore our money lives will all look unique. Readers will not have to give up their lifestyles or what they love most. They can live big meaningful lives now while also reaching their financial goals. Financial adults understand this important context and recognize that they may be coming from a place of disadvantage due to historic and systemic obstacles. Financial adults also recognize that their privilege can and should be used to help close racial and gender wealth gaps. The book provides readers with everything they need to become confident and competent financial adults and start building meaningful wealth, one small manageable step at a time.

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Hyatt, Michael

Drawing upon the latest insights from the fields of performance psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, as well as case studies from their own coaching clients, New York Times bestselling authors Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller explore the power of ideas to shape superior outcomes, not only in business but in the rest of life.

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Krannich, Ronald L.

This book addresses the major psychological and practical day-to-day challenges facing ex-offenders as they re-enter the free world. Ten hard-hitting chapters outline a clear seven-step process for re-entry success.

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Moran, Daniel J.

Everyone knows they should be more mindful, but how exactly does one get started? This workbook is an accessible, step-by-step guide for putting mindfulness into action every day. For millions of readers who feel stuck, unmotivated, and unable to move forward in their lives, this evidence-based and customizable approach blends mindfulness, behavioral activation skills, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help readers identify what they deeply care about; get unstuck from anxiety, depression, or trauma; reach their goals; and ultimately live a more meaningful life.

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Negrón-Gonzales, Genevieve

The Latinx Guide to Grad School offers readers advice on the graduate school process-from the application stage to the cultivating of effective networks in academia-in an accessible guidebook. It provides a broader institutional analysis as well as grounded advice for prospective and current graduate students navigating doctoral and Master's programs, with a specific focus on the humanities and social sciences, areas of study with significant Latinx representation. Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales and Magdalena L. Barrera have worked for many years as professors, thesis advisors, dissertation chairs, instructors, and mentors within institutions with a large percentage of Latinx undergraduate and graduate students. They identify common challenges, key questions, and helpful techniques for supporting Latinx students that will be helpful for both students and faculty mentors. This book offers their refined approaches to working with Latinx students in a way that both pushes them forward in their work and academic goals in an ethical, socially-engaged manner that still offers a critical assessment of institutions of higher education.

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Reiman, Cindi

Soft skills like clear communication, time management, critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership can make the difference between where you are now and where you want to be. Soft Skills for Dummies shows you how you can develop important attitudes and habits to improve every aspect of your life. Level up your employability, deepen personal relationships, and work toward your goals. With hands-on advice for sharpening the skills that matter in the workplace, this friendly, no-nonsense book helps you get hired and get ahead.

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Resnick, Mitchel

In kindergartens these days, children spend more time with math worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Kindergarten is becoming more like the rest of school. In Lifelong Kindergarten, learning expert Mitchel Resnick argues for exactly the opposite: the rest of school (even the rest of life) should be more like kindergarten. To thrive in today's fast-changing world, people of all ages must learn to think and act creatively—and the best way to do that is by focusing more on imagining, creating, playing, sharing, and reflecting, just as children do in traditional kindergartens.

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Schulman, Miriam

Art-preneur is a creative call-to-arms for the aspiring professional artist, with an unapologetically feminist tone. Miriam Schulman challenges readers to become bosses of their own art and to take charge of their destiny.

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Vanderbilt, Tom

The best-selling author of Traffic and You May Also Like now gives us a thought-provoking, playful investigation into the transformative joys that come with starting something new, no matter your age.

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Wheater, Carolyn

All the Math You'll Ever Need, Third Edition is a practical, accessible guide that helps readers understand mathematical concepts that directly apply to daily life tasks. From learning to calculate monthly mortgage payments and time to pay off a credit card balance, this book helps readers understand how and why mathematical concepts work. This revised edition will reflect recent changes in rates, prices, and wages. It will also incorporate information on intelligent and efficient use of calculators and introduce mental math techniques that improve estimation skills. The primary addition to this revision is a new statistics chapter that features basic coverage of measures of spread and understanding common graphs.

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White, Tessa

Stop spinning your wheels and take control of your career future today. Building a successful career in the world of remote work, hybrid schedules, and a lack of work/life balance is not easy. In fact it's difficult and often seems impossible. But, it doesn't have to be that way. By confronting the lies we are told about building a career, this book will bring you one step closer to the epiphany that will change your life. This workplace manual lays out the truth behind the lies that are fueling the most common career frustrations, including: The truth about pay. Hard work doesn't always lead to more money. Learn how to leverage your position to maximize your salary. The truth about promotions. If you want to be considered for a better job title with better pay, you need to be better than your job description. Understand how to build the skills you need to be considered for a promotion. The truth about loyalty. Companies are not designed to return the loyalty you give them. Stop waiting for the praise you've earned and start focusing on your future. The truth about burnout. Work/life balance doesn't have to mean taking a step back. Learn to work with your brain and not against it. The truth about office politics and power. You may hate office politics, but they are in every company in every industry. Learn to use the political landscape of your workplace to your advantage. Master these unspoken truths for greater recognition, increased opportunities for pay and promotions, and to provide a path to greater influence and power. The truth can indeed set you free.

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.