Welcome Connie McCarthy to the School Family blog team!

We're thrilled that Connie will be sharing her insight and expertise here on SchoolFamily.com. As a teacher, she has devoted her career to making sure that her young students do very well in school, right from the start. Connie has tons of experience in helping youngsters learn the fundamentals for success at school. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education, a Master's Degree in Special Education, and has fulfilled all the requirements of the State of Rhode Island to be deemed a "Highly Qualified Teacher". Connie will be sharing her experience with regular blog posts.

In addition to writing a newspaper column, Connie is a regular speaker on the subject of preparing children for school. As she was raising her own two children, she taught nursery school for four years in her hometown of Barrington, RI. She has been teaching early elementary grades in East Providence for the past twenty-one years.

Connie will be sharing all sorts of tips, ideas, and experience on the blog. She also has some great hands-on activities that are easy to do at home and reinforce core skills.

Connie's first post will be going live tomorrow and it will talk about some of the skills children need to develop before they can master learning. Hope you'll check back often and jump in with your own thoughts and comments!