Free Spirit Publishing Announces 'Building Everyday Leadership in All Kids'

Building Everyday Leadership in All Kids: An Elementary Curriculum to Promote Attitudes and Actions for Respect and Success, the most recent resource in Free Spirit Publishing's line of Everyday Leadership products by Mariam MacGregor, emphasizes that anyone can be a leader-and it's never too early to start learning what leadership means and how to lead.

"Leadership goes deeper than an individual's personality," says MacGregor. "It's a complex mix of character traits, behaviors, skills, and competencies. Strong leaders emerge at all stages of life-even kindergartners can benefit from identifying their own leadership strengths and weaknesses. The earlier kids learn about their leadership strengths, the sooner they can make firsthand positive differences."

Building Everyday Leadership in All Kids contains close to fifty classroom-tested youth leadership activities, in categories such as Understanding Leadership, Communication, Working with Others, Problem Solving, and Making a Difference. The activities, which take ten to forty-five minutes to conduct, are designed to promote group interaction, build self-confidence, and allow students to explore personal understanding; all are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Many activities are grouped for grades K-3 or 4-6, while others can be used with some minor adaptations for any age in the range. A special set of activities is specifically geared toward kids who are transitioning to middle school.

MacGregor's youth leadership materials are intended to help children and teens change their definition of leadership by looking beyond the expected leadership roles, such as class president or captain of the football team, and helping everyone see where they can excel as a leader. In Building Everyday Leadership in All Kids, she writes, "Leadership is doing the right thing, being honest, being humble, and making confident decisions, even in difficult situations where others may pressure you to act differently. Leadership also means treating others as you want to be treated. Good leaders help others along so their 'team' (family/class/school) thrives and succeeds because they're prepared for the challenges in each day."

This book expands the Everyday Leadership line of materials to elementary-age children. The activities in Building Everyday Leadership in All Kids are designed for use in a range of settings: classrooms, out-of-school groups, advisory groups, service learning and leadership programs, and community- or faith-based programs. MacGregor's Building Everyday Leadership in All Teens curriculum is the recipient of the Association of Educational Publishing's (AEP) Distinguished Achievement Award.

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