Families, Friends, and Fellow Educators:

The school year has ended for Boston Public Schools! I have done some packing up and cleaning out in the Science Makerspace, and will now make sure I rest, reflect, and get ready for this upcoming school year in the next few months.

That being said, now is the time for your Young STEAM Inventor to continue being immersed in engaging and authentic learning experiences. This does not have to happen in a summer camp classroom. There are many ways to provide these experiences for your student:

• Explore the resources on this website. My Resources page links to several apps that are great for young children to practice important skills, such as literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving. You can download the website one-pager for my top picks on educational websites and products for STEAM, such as LEGO Steam Park.

• Sign up for newsletters or local calendars for events. Magazines such as the Boston Parents Paper highlight several local (and oftentimes FREE events) that you can Upcoming events include the “Summer Solstice: Night at the Museums” festival at the Harvard Museums in Cambridge; the Day of Portugal Festival at Boston City Hall Plaza; and “Free Fun Fridays” at participating museums.

• “Travel” as much as you can. The best learning experience can sometimes be through travel. I traveled and lived abroad in the Middle East as a child, and a lot of the lessons I learned and memories I made are still with me to this day. This is not feasible for all families, but luckily, the Digital Age makes accessing these intercultural experiences much more possible. The London School of Economics recently published an article “Kids on Earth: Travelling the world to understand the 21st century” on how videos and other technologies can help facilitate learning about other worlds. Old-fashioned book reading is also a great way to tap into this. Please check out this list of Afro-Latinx books from elementary school to young adult on SocialJusticeBooks.com, in addition to this list of over fifty multicultural teenage book titles on Colours of Us.

Of course, there are many more ways that I did not list here. Still, I hope that you are able to seek out these particular resources for your student and can share their experiences with me!

All the best,

Alicia