New Releases by Laura Park

In this modern age of technology, children need nature play more than ever before in human history. Pediatric therapy practitioners around the world are reading current research and realizing the benefits of nature for children with developmental challenges. Evidence suggests nature-based therapy is a powerful way to help children make rapid gains in sensory processing, mental health, motor coordination, and social play skills.Just like any real adventure, nature-based therapy is exciting and fun...but getting started as a nature-based therapist can feel overwhelming and scary due to all the logistics and unknowns. Most of us are used to working indoors and nature-based therapy is an emerging practice area with not much out there to guide us.Therapy in the Great Outdoors will help you start providing nature-based therapy immediately with confidence and ease! In this book, occupational therapist Laura Park Figueroa shares lessons learned during the start-up and growth of Outdoor Kids Occupational Therapy, a nature-based pediatric practice. In this book, you will learn:¿ Expert tips for managing logistics and planning nature-based therapy sessions.¿ Specific supplies you need to get started without spending a ton of money.¿ Must-have outdoor skills: hanging swings, building fires, tying the one knot you must know, and more!¿ And best of all: 44 easy-to-do kid-tested therapy activities requiring minimal supplies that you can carry in a large backpack for mobile therapy sessions in nature! With proven ideas for Crafts & Building, Group Movement Games, Social Skills & Self-Regulation, Snack Time, & Swings, you''ll have an entire school year''s worth of activities to help you effortlessly plan your nature-based therapy sessions. You will be inspired and equipped to adventure into nature-based therapy and transform children''s lives!

A practical book for congregations interested in bringing clarity and focus to their ministry, The Nested Bowls defines and reframes the purpose of values, mission, and ends in congregational life, and provides an engaging, meaningful process for the entire congregation to inform the board''s articulation of these foundational policies. Distilling ten years of Unity Consulting''s experience in this work, The Nested Bowls offers both road map and inspiration for finding the core of your congregation''s purpose and the difference it makes in people''s lives.

Laugh along with troublemaker Rafe Khatchadorian and his quick-witted sister Georgia in this charming box set that includes the first four books of the Middle School series. "Rafe Khatchadorian is the bad boy with a heart of gold," The New York Times said about the mischievous star of James Patterson''s phenomenally successful Middle School series. Included in this paper-over-board boxed set is the #1 New York Times and #1 Indiebound bestseller that introduced the world to Rafe, along with his sparkplug sister Georgia''s point-of-view on her brother''s infamy. Rafe and Georgia''s complete set of escapades will provide countless hours of laughs for fans as well as newcomers to the series. Titles included are: Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life Middle School: Get Me Out of Here! Middle School: My Brother is a Big, Fat Liar Middle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli and Snake Hill

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is implementing a large scale exploration of digital pedagogies, including connected learning and open education, in an effort to promote digital fluency and integrative thinking among students. The purpose of this study was to develop a classroom assessment toolkit for faculty who wish to document student connectivity in course-related blogging and microblogging ("tweeting") activities. Student use of digital annotation devices, including hyperlinks, embedded images, mentions, and hashtags, were studied in four university courses as potential indicators of student connectivity, defined as the ability to connect current thoughts and experience with other concepts and people across space and time. One thousand one hundred and eighty six (1186) hyperlinks and embedded images, 2708 mentions, and 135 hashtags were collected from 498 learner blog posts and 5343 tweets through mostly automated, digital workflows and analyzed through a combination of statistical, content, and network analysis. General criteria for "connected course" design, a model for connectivity as a form of learning, connectivity-based learning goals, and integrated, potentially scalable assessment practices are discussed. Content analysis led to the development of classification systems for the types, sources, and communicative impact of hyperlinked and embedded materials in blogging and tweeting contexts. Network analysis was adapted to visualize, document, and describe course-related social interactions and student use of web-based information sources. Real student data are used to describe annotation-focused assessment criteria, analytic assessment dashboards, rubrics, and approaches to real-time graphic visualization of student performance.

The growth of international students in the United States and in California substantiates the need to understand the experiences and behaviors of these migratory populations (Institute of International Education, Inc., 2014). In 2014-2015, international students from China in California represented 34% of the higher education population, leading the countries of origin for the state. The purpose of this study is to provide understanding of how international students from China use social media to pursue ''local'' Chinese culture in the global context. More specifically, this paper illustrates how Chinese international students engage in the social network site activity, WeChat Red Bags, which utilizes both traditional symbolism and novel features, to participate in native Chinese tradition. Utilizing qualitative, participant-centered methods of data collection and analysis, the findings demonstrate how the students'' use of WeChat Red Bags engages dimensions of their ''local'' Chinese traditional culture.

In James Patterson''s heartwarming #1 New York Times bestseller, middle schooler Jamie Grimm faces bullying and self-doubt as he chases his dream to become the world''s greatest comedian. Jamie Grimm is a middle schooler on a mission: he wants to become the world''s greatest standup comedian--even if he doesn''t have a lot to laugh about these days. He''s new in town and stuck living with his aunt, uncle, and their evil son Stevie, a bully who doesn''t let Jamie''s wheelchair stop him from messing with Jamie as much as possible. But Jamie doesn''t let his situation get him down. When his Uncle Frankie mentions a contest called The Planet''s Funniest Kid Comic, Jamie knows he has to enter. But are the judges only rewarding him out of pity because of his wheelchair, like Stevie suggests? Will Jamie ever share the secret of his troubled past instead of hiding behind his comedy act? Following the bestselling success of the hilarious Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, James Patterson continues to dish out the funnies in another highly-illustrated, heartfelt middle school story. (Includes more than 175 black-and-white illustrations.)

The WASH complex is highly conserved and consists of the actin nucleation promoter, WASH, and several regulatory subunits; Strumpellin, SWIP, ccdc53 and FAM21. Previously, it has been shown that WASH directs construction of actin coats on lysosomes. This actin coat is required for removal of V-ATPase complexes from lysosomal membranes, allowing neutralization and maturation to post-lysosomes. WASH null cells are blocked at the acidic lysosome stage and are thus unable to perform exocytosis. We now show that FAM21 acts at a different step in the same pathway. FAM21 nulls are still blocked in exocytosis, but the remaining complex is functional in removal of V-ATPase, allowing progression to post-lysosome. We hypothesize that the role of FAM21 is to release the WASH complex from post-lysosome membranes in order to allow recycling back to newly formed acidic lysosomes. We have also shown that capping protein interacts with the WASH complex through FAM21, and this interaction is essential for progression to exocytosis, likely contributing to the mechanism by which FAM21 regulates and releases the WASH complex from post-lysosomal membranes.

A heartwarming story about a mother and her little girl who decide to switch places for the day. This picture book is a light-hearted life lesson that your little "rebel" will enjoy time and time again!