Breakfast Club Blog
The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!
The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!
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Books to Help Build Elementary Students’ Understanding of Engineering
Thoughts Turn In Springtime … For the last several weeks, the view from my office on the third floor has been of treetops filling out with leaves. Looking down to the ground, I can see flowers coming into bloom, bushes becoming green, and animals of all kinds scurrying, hopping, or flying about, urgently concerned with their appointed, springtime tasks. It’s a delight and a wonder to see the natural world coming to life in such vivid fashion. … To Tech? But here’s what I have been touching and u...Read More
GGJNext: A New Global Game Jam for Youth
This July 2018, all around the world, kids aged 12-17 years old gather together to make games. Known as GGJNext, it is a new game jam event specifically for youth. What Exactly is a Game Jam? In a game jam, designers are given a topic or theme and then build a game. Sometimes known as fast prototyping, groups work collaboratively to create sometimes barely viable games. The point isn’t to deliver a finished product, but to go through the steps of design thinking: ideating, making, and iterating....Read More
Webinar 4: 25 Engaging Tools in 60 Minutes
Editor’s Note: A special thank you to author @jillgordon for sharing the last of four of Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana’s webinar series. Today’s post focuses on engaging tools you can use in your program too! Click on the webinar link below “Engaging Tools in 60 Minutes” for the full program. And keep your eyes open, Jill will be adding to this series with additional content from Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana. The Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (YPII)...Read More
More Than 5 Smart Ideas for Professional Development on a Shoestring Budget
Last week I received an email about an upcoming staff development opportunity for my team. It sounded so good. It met our goals, it spoke directly to our growth areas, it was what staff were asking for… and then I saw the price. $7,500! YIKES! That is pretty much all of the staff development budget for the year, and then some. I have always found it a fine line to walk, to be able to provide the quality and quantity of staff development opportunities for my team and still maintaining the b...Read More
Start Planning for Summer Meals Success
Even though there might still be traces of snow on the ground in your state, now is the perfect time for youth-serving programs to start thinking about expanding access to and participation in Summer Nutrition Programs. The Summer Nutrition Programs — which include the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) — fill the nutrition gap for low-income children who rely on free or reduced-price meals during the school year. The programs also support summer prog...Read More
Webinar 3: Igniting Leadership in Young People
Editor’s Note: A special thank you to author @jillgordon for sharing the third of four of Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana’s webinar series. Today’s post focuses on youth leadership practices that can be implemented in your program too! Click on the webinar link below “Igniting Leadership in Youth” for the full program. And keep your eyes open in April for the next special webinar from Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana. The Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (...Read More
How Do You Reach Frontline Staff?
I cringed, big-time when I realized that part of my role as LA’s BEST Director of Staff Development was to develop an online learning and resource hub for our 2,000+ staff. Based on my previous experiences, I knew we were up against a lot—creating ‘that thing’ for compliance or ‘that thing’ we have to use online. It’s not easy to make an online learning platform engaging and relevant. Our internal Learning Management System (LMS) was mostly PowerPoint presentations with recorded voice-overs, use...Read More
Coding Club: What High School Students Can Teach Us About Leading Afterschool Programs
None of the high school or elementary students noticed me when I slipped into their after-school classroom last fall. The room buzzed with happy energy as the older students crouched at computers, coaching their younger peers on using Scratch to create animated games. This after-school Coding Club was the first of its kind for my organization, Ann Arbor Public Schools Community Education and Recreation (“Rec & Ed”). We have a decades-long history of providing after-school programs in our sch...Read More
Engaging Young People in Creative Placemaking: Part Two
Welcome back to this two-part blog series as we unpack what creative placemaking looks like in community development and how we can use it as a tool to empower youth in being key players in their local public spaces. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to take a few minutes to read Engaging Young People in Creative Placemaking: Part One, published February 20, 2018 right here on the BOOST Cafe Breakfast Club Blog. Using Creative Placemaking in Youth Program: Examples It may feel daunt...Read More