Hilltop's Blog
Building on the Wonders of Childhood
Can Kids Go to Jail?
Children are naturally curious about things that we adults sometimes have a challenging time wrapping our minds around. And children sometimes feel even more curious as our own discomfort grows. Recently, despite my own discomfort, I decided to engage with a subject...
Literacy Ideas for Home
Literacy is more than just learning how to read. It consist of reading, writing, creating, and other forms of emergent markings that represents their thoughts and ideas. Children as young as 2 years old begin to imitate the act of writing and if we build on children's...
Learning Stories Conference 2021
SALSA TAPS HILLTOP AS NEXT CONFERENCE HOST Seattle, WA has been selected to welcome the 3rd annual Learning Stories Conference in June 2021 Seattle, WA – July 21st, 2020 - Hilltop Children’s Center and Educator Institute has been named the host of the 3rd Annual...
Zoom University
My mother used to always say "When I was younger, we never had to be on iPads, laptops, and video games." And if you're reading this mom, I can't believe I'm saying this but... you're right! At Hilltop, we believe that the less screen time a child gets, the better. We...
SEL Ideas for Home
The most important skills we teach in the early years aren't academic. Skills such as self-regulation, sharing, kindness, and social justice are the life-long skills crucial to the overall success of our children, however you define success. "We have to be...
When Kids Become the Teachers
As any guardian knows, combining work and family life can be challenging. Educating young children while working from home during a pandemic? Now that's a pretty monumental task. While there is no shortage of articles and resources aimed at supporting families as...
STEAM Ideas for Home
Sometimes as adults, we read these blogs and articles, or in my case, recipe books and try to follow each set of directions to a tee. We face enough stress in life without the need of putting more on ourselves. "Families shouldn't feel pressured to do 'exactly' what...
Talking to Toddlers During a Time of Crisis
Covid-19 descended upon Seattle, seeping in like a fog first in small ways, then eventually in signals we couldn't ignore. Stores were empty, hours at our center were limited. A constant state of interruption became the norm. Children were being told constantly to get...