No more Birthday's in School :(

Many schools just like Duxbury elementary are closing their doors to junk food because survey says that parents have nutrition as their first priority.

"That doesn't mean they want to have cupcakes removed from birthday celebrations and replaces with celery sticks and boxes of raisins-especially those little boxes with 32 raisins that always come out in one inseparable clump!" http://paulharrisonline.blogspot.com/2004/06/no-cupcakes-for-you.html The schools response in incorporating this rule into the school system is because they are scared of the obesity rate increasing.  I for one believe the children should have more time to do outdoor activities and exercise and then we would not have this problem about worrying about the nutrient and health of our students.  

It's also sad that this is actually a discussion right now.  Whether or no cupcakes should be allowed in school or not.  They have so much more they should be worrying about!

Halloween Scavenger Hunt

I found this neat idea written by: Melissa Kelly @ About.com Directions: Find the answers to questions 1 - 20 on the following Web pages to complete the following Halloween Scavenger Hunt. If the page is a list of other Web pages, you will have to follow links to find an answers.

• Parenting of K-6 Children - Kids Halloween Stories
  
• Entertaining - A Harry Potter Halloween Party
• Family Internet - Halloween
• Halloween Games
• Travel with Kids - Haunted Happenings
• Southern American Cuisine - Halloween Recipes Index
• New England for Visitors- Spooktacular Salem

Now For the Questions....

1. What kind of worms are in wormy apples?

2. What do you get when you cross a Snowman with a Vampire?

3. Name the Halloween Haunted House in Bentleyville, PA.

4. From where does the name 'Halloween' come?

5. In what year did the Salem witchcraft trials occur?

6. What color should the Walkman box be sprayed in order to complete the Walkman costume?

7. In 'Halloween Checkers', what type of creature is on your pieces?

8. What label should you look for when purchasing costumes?

9. What do you make the Halloween Spiders legs out of?

10. Who wrote The House of Seven Gables?

11. What three ingredients are needed to make 'Goopy Slime?"

12. In the Easy Halloween Maze, what are you trying to help the skeleton find his way to?

13. Who wrote 'The Raven'?

14. What sign should hang over the entrance to a Harry Potter Halloween party?

15. Where can you see memorabilia from pirates like Blackbeard?

Internet Safety

I've been reading many articles on Internet safety for the Contentious Paper. I just recently found a site that spoke to the parents and what there jobs were in keeping their children safe on the Internet. http://kidshealth.org
It also stresses the Internet safety laws, The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, (COPPA). This prevent students from giving out their information without parents permission. COPPA requires websites to explain their privacy policies on the site and get parental consent before collecting or using a child's personal information.
Even with this law in place a child's best protection from Internet "bad guys" is their parents. The article lists suggestions on how parents should go about protecting the children.

• Become computer literate and learn how to block objectionable material.
• Keep the computer in a common area, not in individual bedrooms, where you can watch and monitor its use.
• Share an email account with your child so you can monitor messages.
• Bookmark kids' favorite sites for easy access.
• Spend time online together to teach your kids appropriate online behavior.
• Forbid your child from entering private chat rooms; block them with safety features provided by your Internet service provider or with special filtering software. Be aware that posting messages to chat rooms reveals a user's email address to others.
• Monitor your credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges.
• Find out what, if any, online protection is offered by your child's school, after-school center, friends' homes, or anyplace where kids could use a computer without your supervision.
• Take your child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable online exchange.
• Forward copies of obscene or threatening messages you or your kids get to your Internet service provider.
• Call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 if you're aware of the transmission, use, or viewing of child pornography online. Contact your local law enforcement agency or the FBI if your child has received child pornography via the Internet.

Set up some simple rules for your kids to follow while they're using the Internet, such as:

• Follow the rules you set, as well as those set by your Internet service provider.
• Never trade personal photographs in the mail or scanned photographs over the Internet.
• Never reveal personal information, such as address, phone number, or school name or location. Use only a screen name. Never agree to meet anyone from a chat room in person.
• Never respond to a threatening email or message.
• Always tell a parent about any communication or conversation that was scary.
• If your child has a new "friend," insist on being "introduced" online to that friend.

There are also warning signs to watch out for in case you child does fall victim to an Internet crime. When they spend long hours online, especially at night, phone calls from people you don't know, or unsolicited gifts arriving in the mail. If your child suddenly turns off the computer when you walk into the room, ask why and monitor computer time more closely. Withdrawal from family life and reluctance to discuss online activities are other signs to watch for.

There are also other related articles for parents to read:
Healthy Habits for TV, Video Games, and the Internet
Computer-Related Repetitive Stress Injuries

And articles for Teens and Kids:
Safe Cyberspace Surfing
Internet Safety Safe Surfing Tips for Teens

Student Learning Needs Survey

I read a blog by Sue Watson at About.com.  She writes a blog on Special Education.  She says that the way to figure out the best way for students to learn is by asking them which way they prefer.  The more we understand about out students, the better we can help further their academic career.  Here are some sample questions to ask all students:

• Yes ___ No ___ During work time, I like to listen to music.
• Yes ___ No ___ During work time I like it to be quiet.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like working in small groups.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like to work alone.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like working in pairs and triads.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like sitting in groups.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like sitting near the door.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like sitting near the window.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like working on the computer.
• Yes ___ No ___ I work better in the mornings.
• Yes ___ No ___ I work better in the afternoons.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like things being explained to me.
• Yes ___ No ___ I prefer to read about how to do something.
• Yes ___ No ___ I like having the same desk spot.
• Yes ___ No ___ I prefer to change seating from time to time.
• Yes ___ No ___ I enjoy speaking to the whole class.
• Yes ___ No ___ I prefer not to speak to the whole class.

If you want to check out her blog for yourself, she's the one writing about special education on about.com

Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner

by Marc Prensky

Now a days we are living in a technological age, where there is no reading of books, students first learn to use the computer.  This is hard for many teachers who have been teaching for many years.  The basics are no longer the basics or interest of what the students want to learn.  

The article states: "We treat out students the way we treated women before suffrage."  Meaning students have no rights in school, by which I mean their ideas are not heard.  I agree that students should be allowed to voice their opinions and ideas.  I understand the feeling of being in a classroom where i am bored out of my mind and the teacher just drones on and on.  

What I like about this article is the fact that the students are allowed to share their knowledge and experience of computers / internet to teachers and parents.  Some questions that Marc asked the kids were, "What experiences in school really engaged you?  How do you use technology in school as opposed to out of school?  What are you pet peeves?"  This technique of asking the students how they feel about the subject, helps the parents and teachers reach the students perspective.  

I have done the same exercise in the past, with potential students for the University of Maine.  We have a student panel in which the students tell their stories and the parents are allowed to ask us questions.  Sometimes this is a very helpful way of getting a stressful situation down to ground level.  

"There is so much difference between how students think and how teachers think" said a female student in FL.  I thought that was a great statement from the student because it does put u in the perspective of how some students feel in class. When becoming a teacher, i need to keep this thought in mind.  Though i don't believe it happens as much in the younger grades as it does in the older.  

If we really think about it, computers are the second teacher at home.  They're like the new age tutor, or take home teacher.  The new age computer / internet system can also help out sick students.  No matter if the student is sick or not, their papers could still be passed in.  

Podcasting

I found this podcast about teachers , trading stories on how to get their students up to speed on the new technology.  Teachers Teaching Teachers "A virtual staff meeting with youth voices Teacher - TTT123- 09.24.08 What were they thinking?" by: Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim, Thomas (Teb) Locke

They are discussing about wikki's and Blogs and how these teachers from around the country are trying the same lesson of digital photography.  They're working how to make the lessons as similar as possible for the kids to understand.  Sarah an art teacher from Maine joined the discussion.  She has her students posting blogs about their art work and how they feel about art in the world.  Blogs for her students are primarily E-portfolios and they're able to critique each others works of art.  Once they get their classes connected then they can have student from the NY school and ME school help each other out.  

The Youth Voices program teachers high school students how to create a radio feature story about an issue that affects their lives and their larger community in which they live.  The workshops are held 3 times a week during the fall, spring, and summer semesters at the studios and offices of WAMU 88.5 , and allow students to interact with professional radio journalists and producers.  The reports are considered for airing on WAMU 88.5 and offered nationally through PRX, an Internet content-sharing platform through which many Youth Voices have aired on station from New York to Oregon.  

Building A Tree Leaf By Leaf

Objectives:

• Exploring overlapping
  
• Mixing colors
  
• Large Group Cooperation
  

What You Need:

• Download single leaf outlines form
  
• Felt tipped markers
  
• Brown Craft Paper
  
• Scissors
  
• Masking tape
  
• Any other media; paint, cloth, etc.
  

What You Do:

This is a great project that can be accomplished by people with limited vision or motor skills

Outline leaves with pen and then fill in with lots of color.

staying in the lines is not necessary 

Trunk is brown Kraft paper (paper bags will work) and hang with tape

Cut leaves out

Have the children decide where each one goes

It might be fun / educational for children to write their names on the leaves.  

The tree will eventually grow with all the names over the years.

One afternoon after a very hard day of lessons, Miss Waskiel, could sense the tension in the classroom.  To break the ice and Destress everyone she had everyone sit in a circle on the floor.  Everyone was given a piece of sheet paper and a marker.  The instruction was to write their own name on the top of the paper and then pass it to the person on their right.  Each student wrote something nice about the each other and eventually would get back to the beginning student.  Even Miss Waskiel took a turn.  Everyone left that class feeling confident in themselves and as if they were on top of the world

Years passed and the students got older.  Most of them always came back to visit their favorite teacher.  They eventually graduated and Miss Waskiel was nominated teacher of the year.  Some went off to college, some went into the work field and other went into the military.

One afternoon, Miss Waskiel got a very distressing phone call.  One of her students from the class had passed away over seas (he was in the army).  She prepared her self to go to the funeral thinking of him as he was when she had him as a little guy.  Wishing he was still there as she remembered him.  

The Funeral was as sad as any funeral is especially when you were a part of someones life.  She attended the reception afterwards and was greeted warmly by the mother of the boy.  She said, "Miss Waskiel, you have no idea how much you touched my sons life.  You were his favorite teacher.  The army has sent home his private items and tucked away was this folded note.  I thought it was some letter he'd written, but never had time to mail, but in fact it was that paper with all the nice things his friends wrote about him back in your class.  He's kept it all these years!"

Tears instantly came to her eyes and instantly the classmates around her reached into their pocket books / wallets and pulled out their paper as well!  

*********************************************************************************

Now that wasn't exactly how the story went, but it is how i remembered it.  My 5th grade teacher read us that story and then had us do the same activity.  I still to this day have my piece of paper tucked away nice and safe.  I hope to do this activity some day with my own classroom.

What's your learning style?

We were talking in class today about the different ways students learn.  I was very interested in the different ways students learn and wanted to figure out which way i learn best.  I found this website http://www.usd.edu/trip/tut/ts/style.html

There are 3 common learning styles, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.  The survey is only 16 questions long.

After taking the quiz I came out with A3, B8 & C5. Because I got an 8 in the B category it means I'm an auditory learner.  I don't necessarily agree with the survey.  I believe I'm somewhere in between an auditory learner and a Kinesthetic learner.

Auditory learners:

• sit where they can hear but needn't pay attention to what is happening in front
• may not coordinate colors or clothes, but can explain why they are wearing what they are wearing and why
• hum or talk to themselves or others when bored
• acquire knowledge by reading aloud
• remember by verbalizing lessons to themselves (if they don't they have difficulty reading maps or diagrams or handling conceptual assignments like mathematics).

Kinesthetic learners:

• need to be active and take frequent breaks
• speak with their hands and with gestures
• remember what was done, but have difficulty recalling what was said or seen
• find reasons to tinker or move when bored
• rely on what they can directly experience or perform
• activities such as cooking, construction, engineering and art help them perceive and learn
• enjoy field trips and tasks that involve manipulating materials
• sit near the door or someplace else where they can easily get up and move around
• are uncomfortable in classrooms where they lack opportunities for hands-on experience
• communicate by touching and appreciate physically expressed encouragement, such as a pat on the back