Let’s Get Ready with Cedar Valley Publishing

PBS Invention Contest

Looking for something fun to do with kids of all ages this summer?

Fenway News Online reports that Design Squad, the PBS engineering reality competition series, is offering kids a chance to get in on the action this summer.

The 2010 Trash to Treasure Competition challenges kids, ages 5-19, to recycle, reuse, and re-engineer everyday materials into out-of-the-box inventions. Three winners will win a trip to Boston to see their designs built and appear on an episode of Design Squad.

Twenty-five finalists will be featured on the series website and will receive a Design Squad t-shirt. Entries will be accepted through September 5, 2010. For more information go here.

Photo by PBS.

Check out Learning and Laughter with Louise and her favorite Back To School Products:

And the Award Goes to…..LEARNING AND LAUGHTER WITH LOUISE!

BEST BACK TO SCHOOL PRODUCTS AWARD - 2010

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT PRODUCTS RECEIVE LOUISE’S 2010 LEARNING AND LAGHTER AWARDS!

Dear Parents,

Summer is here and many of you will be traveling with your babies and toddlers. Thought you would enjoy this article.

15 Tips for Traveling with Your Little Ones

If you are planning a summer trip with your baby or toddler, make sure to plan ahead. Here are fifteen sure-fire ways to make traveling easy and fun.

1. Before your trip, visit the dollar store and stock up on coloring books, paint with water books, and age appropriate toys for your toddler. And save them for a trip.  There is nothing better than something new!

2. If you have a small video player, stock up on age appropriate movies for your little one. Baby Einstein has some great videos for a younger baby.

3. If you can plan your plane schedule around your child’s nap-time, your trip will be a breeze.

4. When traveling on a plane, feed the baby while the plane is taking off and landing. This keeps the Eustachian tubes open so the baby’s ears won’t hurt.

5. When traveling on a plane with a toddler, it’s sometimes difficult to sit still during take-off and landing. Give him a sippy cup and some goldfish crackers and play a counting game with the crackers. It will be fifteen minutes of fun, instead of fifteen minutes of tantrums.

6. Always take a change of clothes, extra diapers, wipes and socks for your baby or toddler. Spills happen in the blink of an eye.

7. Remember to take a change of clothes for yourself on the plane. There is nothing worse than meeting the family smelling like formula.

8. Bring lots of healthy snacks for your toddler whether you are traveling by car or plane. Buying them at convenience stores can get very costly.

9. Bring extra formula for your baby when traveling. One spill could result in lots of tears.

10. When staying in a hotel, bring along the lullaby CD that you play at home. Most hotels have CD players or you can request one. There is nothing more comforting than the sounds of home.

11. And don’t forget to bring your toddler’s favorite lovey and bedtime book along.

12. Try and stick to your bedtime rituals while away the best you can. Consistency makes everything easier.

13. If your toddler has a difficult time falling asleep in a different crib or bed, let him listen to your Ipod. He will be snoring away before you can count to ten.

14. If you are staying in a hotel and are going to hire a sitter for the evening, ask that she come and meet your children a few hours before you leave. It is worth it not to have that dreaded phone call to come back.

15. Don’t forget to bring along extra batteries, photo card for your camera and protein bars for you.
 
Have Fun and Happy Traveling!!   

Blythe Lipman is the president of Baby Instructions. She is passionate about babies, toddlers and their parents. After working in the field for over twenty-five years, she wrote her third award-winning book, HELP! MY BABY CAME WITHOUT INSTRUCTIONS which is available at  www.babyinstructions.com  and all major bookstores . You can hear Blythe’s weekly radio show on Mondays, 11am EST @ www.toginet.com  Blythe is available for in-home, video and telephone consultations. ©Blythe Lipman 2010

This post comes from Mashable www.mashable.com.

Rebecca Zook is an online female math tutor who has been helping students get math into their brains for seven years. She blogs about learning at Triangle Suitcase.

We’ve sorted the contenders from the pretenders and found five genuinely fun ways to help your kids learn math this summer. These unique technologies go way beyond the world of flashcards, and use surprising tools including rap music, adaptive technology, psychological research and wailing guitar solos.

They’re fun. They’re easy to use. And they aren’t lame.

Multiplication Hip-Hop for Kids

Have you ever wished your kids could learn their times tables by rapping? Well, the wait is over. A remix compilation like no other, Multiplication Hip-Hop for Kids sets the multiplication tables to popular hip-hop songs. Each track starts with an inspiring intro (e.g., five seconds in the style of Mystikal: “Too fly to slip and slide, because we don’t cry, we multiply”) before launching into a times tables rap.

Unlike any other math learning tool, Multiplication Hip-Hop for Kids includes not just one, but two rap versions for most of the times tables, so your kids can learn their 11s either in the style of Lil’ Wayne, or set to 2 Pac’s “How Do You Want It.”

And though many times tables learning tools stop at the 10s, Multiplication Hip-Hop for Kids goes all the way up to the 12s, which means your kid will be more prepared for multiplying dozens than you ever dreamed possible.

With syncopated rhythms and high production values, you and your kids will feel proud to blast these tracks this summer while cruising around in your spinners.

Price: You can download the complete MP3 collection for $24.95, which includes the study guide and 13 bonus multiplication video games. Or, download the MP3 albums individually from Amazon for $8.99 each.

Rockin’ the Standards

If your kid is more of a rocker than a rapper, try Rockin’ the Standards, the educational rock sing-a-longs created by veteran elementary school teacher Tim Bedley.

This ruthlessly kid-tested, surprisingly listenable MP3 album includes skip counting songs for the 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s, as well as succinct, memorable songs about math concepts like angles, perimeter, place value, and area.

Most of the tracks are set to familiar tunes, so your kid can skip count their 9s to a hard-hitting version of the “Hokey Pokey” or their 6s to a highly-electrified version of “Row Row Your Boat,” interspersed with air guitar-worthy solos.

Ages: 2nd through 6th grade.

Price: You can download the entire album for $2.99 from digstation. It’s also available from Amazon for $8.99 or iTunes for $9.99. Download the lyrics for free here.

DreamBox Learning

In this online program, kids choose from among 500+ math games while exploring a virtual adventure park full of pixies, pets, dinosaurs, and yes, pirates.

Even though it looks like it’s “just a game,” DreamBox learning works as a stand-alone math curriculum, unlike most math computer programs. Many of the games use colorful visuals to illustrate the concepts behind them, or let kids use on-screen manipulatives to build the problems.

DreamBox’s adaptive technology also sets it apart. Based on your kid’s answers, DreamBox adjusts the difficulty, number, and type of problems, as well as feedback, pacing, and hints to individualize the learning experience.

Ages: K-3 (4th and 5th grades in development).

Price: $12.95 monthly for one kid, $19.95 monthly per family.

KidCalc 7-in-1 Math Fun

Do you wish you could give your kids a talking calculator that animates whatever mathematical operations they enter into it? Or flash cards that, when you flip them over, use animation to illustrate the math problems on the other side? Were you hoping to spend only 99 cents? Look no further than KidCalc 7-in-1 Math Fun.

This iPhone and iPad app for kids ages 2 through 10 uses animated lessons, flash cards, and puzzle games to teach number recognition, number tracing, counting, and sorting, as well as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Your kid can choose between six themes including sports, springtime, outer space and birthday (with candles and cupcakes).

Unique one-touch age-based settings let you configure the appropriate skill level. Not to mention, it’s currently the only math app that lays out long division problems the way they’re taught in school. No wonder it’s been on the top 100 list of iPhone apps for eight consecutive months!

Brainology

While there are many computer games in the world, Brainology is the only one that’s been developed by leading motivation psychologists Carol Dweck and Lisa Sorich Blackwell. This interactive online program boosts kids’ math scores by dealing with their underlying mindsets about intelligence.

In the program, two cartoon characters, Chris and Dahlia, receive brain challenges from a floating, talking brain orb. Then, with the help of cartoon neuroscientist Dr. Cerebrus and his brain laboratory, they discover how the brain works.

At key points, the animation sequences pause and your kid gets a chance to conduct interactive “experiments,” reflect on what they’re learning in their e-journals, and play games that reinforce what they’re learning about the brain. At the end of the four-level program, kids attain the status of “Brain Master.”

It’s not specifically about math, but Brainology teaches kids basic neuroscience to help them learn what may be the ultimate lesson: We’re not limited by what we already know, because we can grow our intelligence!

Ages: Middle and high school.

Price: $99 per student for home use. Sibling and bulk discounts available.

Know of any other educational websites, apps, or downloads that are great for learning math? Share them in the comments below!

“Mrs. B., I hope you have a daughter, because you have already raised a son.”  With tears in my eyes and a hand on my eight-month pregnant belly, I hugged my student as he got ready to walk the graduation line.  It is statements like those that make me glad I became a teacher.  The first day I set foot in a classroom, I knew that I was truly born to teach teens.  For the first time in my life, I felt …home. 

The young man who I quoted above came from a broken home.  Although he had a wonderful mom, she had to work around the clock to make ends meet.  When I first met him, he was so angry and had such a chip on his shoulders.  I realized that until we could break through his frustration, English Lit was about the last thing he would be learning.  So I became a mentor, a friend and a tough teacher.  I had high expectations, but made sure there was always a soft place to land.  He knew he could not get away with anything less than his very best, and he delivered.  All he asked for in return, was that I believe in him.  This relationship has forever changed my heart for the better, as have the relationships I have had with so many of my students.  I know that I had a small part in making them better citizens in this world.

Now I am afraid.  I am afraid for tomorrow’s children.  We are facing a National crisis in our education system.  Our funding is literally disappearing and as a result, so are our teachers and mentors.  With 35-45 students in my classroom, would I have time to connect with students like this?  Of course not… so who would?  We are in danger of losing over 150,000 of our teachers if action is not taken, and quickly.  If you are moved, even a little by this story…or have one of your own, don’t sit by and watch as we lose good teachers…or worse…we let kids miss an opportunity to have a mentor truly believe in them. 

So what can you do?  Learn and then Act!  To become more educated on the issues, please read http://www.educationvotes.nea.org.  If you are as concerned as I am, tell your elected officials; I did!  It is an easy process, just follow this link: http://bit.ly/8ZBh8M.  They will be voting soon on the Education Jobs Fund, which could release money to schools this summer and save the jobs of tens of thousands of teachers.  And if you are so inclined, Tweet your opinions with the hash tag #EducationJobsFund.  I have felt so helpless to make a difference lately, but I know we can speak as one voice and do what is right for our kids.  Join me…please.

Hilary

Live Your Brand!

TrademarkU - Leadership through Personal Branding

www.TrademarkU.org
715.326.1213 (m)
715.344.0295 (o)

Please show support of teachers on May 26, 2010 for Speak Up for Education & Kids Campaign to support #EducationJobsFund. National Call-in Day 1-866-608-6355 please tell our national education leaders to stop cuts to education - http://bit.ly/9VNbuB

I was so honored to be selected as the Wisconsin Delegate at Mom Congress in DC earlier this month and invited to the Wisconsin Engagement Summit on Saturday to meet with the Governor, First Lady and Secretary of Education to empower parents, kids and teachers to be involved in education.

Our children’s quality education is under threat from budget cuts– music and arts programs, bus routes, sports, extracurricular activities, books, crossing guards, special needs, gifted and talented and foreign language programs are all on the cutting block–and teacher layoffs could mean perhaps as many as 35 or 45 students per classroom.  

This is not the answer!   Students need individual attention, not crowded classrooms and fewer educators, to succeed in the 21st century and help keep America competitive.  It’s not just failing schools that need our help!!  Gwen Samuel, the Mom Congress Delegate from Connecticut is fighting to keep a top 10 HIGH PERFORMANCE school OPEN.  It serves over 70% minority, 20% ESL, 10% disabilities and it is on the chopping block to close!  We need your help to get the message out to parents to get involved!! School should be replicated not closed!Their excuse the budget.SBCTA is convener of event

For more information on this important legislation visit: http://www.educationvotes.nea.org.

Here is a sample to share with your social networking sites: 

National Call-in Day 5/26/10 to Speak Up for Education & Kids to stop cuts! Yes to #EducationJobsFund 1-866-608-6355 http://bit.ly/9VNbuB

Thank you so much for your help and support!

Smiles – Stacey

I have heard rumblings for a few months now about multiple states that were getting ready to do the unthinkable- cut the numbers of teachers within their school districts.  I kept thinking that could not be at all possible until I had a recent visit from a former neighbor who had relocated to a state in the deep south.  Her husband was encouraged by people within the education community that they met upon their recent move to leave his career and to go back to school to become a teacher.  He jumped at the chance of changing his career and helping high school students understand math successfully. This was his dream and he was assured that positions were plentiful, especially with high risk students.   He was three years in to his studies when the floor dropped out from under him.  The initiatives that would have guaranteed him a job teaching math in a high school that was designated as “in need of support”  all the sudden was cutting teaching positions versus adding them, as was the plan.  How could  this be?  What happened to all the reasons that were clearly outlined  as to  why the state and school district needed to fund additional teaching positions, especially for schools that were “under - performing” or “with critical needs”?   Not only were all the newly trained teachers “on hold” as no new teaching positions would be available, but many of the expected retiring teachers no longer could leave their current jobs due to the state of the economy.

Then my niece called me very upset.  She graduated a year ago, the top of her class at her university with two degrees- elementary education and Spanish.  She has hoped that like our friend, she too would be able to work with children who were from inner city schools that were in grades K-6.  This magna cum laude could not find one job. It has been a year- no teaching job to be found in the public or private sector.  She took a low paying teaching assistants job and had to move back with her parents as her salary didn’t pay for rent let alone other expenses.  She still has the drive and desire to teach, but she has now joined the vast growing number of unemployed people holding full teacher certification who want to be in the classroom.  My niece did all the right things and now has all the wrong perceptions of what being a teacher is all about.  Instead of setting up a classroom and using the tools she has acquired over four years of intensive training, she is working at menial jobs for a very low salary.  She is considering leaving the field of teaching before she really got started.

Why have I written about my two connections with the state of affairs in the teaching world?  It is because I too am a proud educator who will not sit quietly as teaching staff is being reduced nationwide.  I will not be quiet about programs being cut that are often the very reason why children go to school.  We often maintain students in our schools because of the ancillary programs that are integrated with the core academics.  How many students will leave upon their 16th birthdays if they cannot participate in sports or the performing arts?  These are the programs that often hold kids in our schools!  How many students will lose their competitive edge for college when they don’t have a “well rounded high school  experience” reflected on their transcripts?  How can schools even think about terminating much of their foreign language programs when many of our schools are filled with bilingual- bicultural children?  (And don’t get me started about school districts that are cutting full classes of students wishing to take American Sign Language- ASL- which is the fourth most commonly used language in the U.S today!)

So, I ask my readers to do the following if you now have chosen not to sit quietly either.  First, read the facts for yourselves. The National Education Association (NEA) has long advocated for keeping teachers in the classrooms and even adding staff where needed.  They are a huge advocacy group for children and their families.  I have great admiration and respect for their platforms.  Here is a helpful link that provides information that I think you will find of value with understanding the current needs and why we all need to be proactive within the next few days:  http://www.educationvotes.nea.org. Then please go to this link to let your elected officials know exactly how you feel about this situation. I hope that you are as outraged as I am.  I hope that you will advocate for teachers, children and families everywhere in the U.S. by letting your representatives know that these individuals come first.  I don’t want to fathom an educational system where children are in classes that exceed the size of conventional wisdom.  I don’t want to think of special needs children without trained staff support within the classrooms.  I really don’t want to think that all the decades of research and observations that have told us what are the best practices for education will be tossed out the window because we are not following the common knowledge known to  every fifth grader -  It is the teachers and special school programs that make students well educated and happy.

To find your state officials please see this link: http://bit.ly/8ZBh8M Please reach out to them asap.  The vote is imminent.

Please don’t sit quietly.  I hope you will share this information with others.  I look forward to reading your Tweets.  Feel free to add this hashtag  #EducationJobsFund to ones related to this cause, as I will-  Thank you!

For more information, visit with Louise at http://louisesattler.wordpress.com/author/louisesattler/

I was so honored to be selected as the Wisconsin Delegate at Mom Congress because as many of you know my mission is to empower parents, kids and teachers to work together to change education.  Obviously being known as the “Get Ready To Learn Mom” education is near and dear to my heart which is why I am reaching out for your help.  Our children’s quality education is under threat from budget cuts– music and arts programs, bus routes, sports, extracurricular activities, books, crossing guards, special needs, gifted and talented and foreign language programs are all on the cutting block–and teacher layoffs could mean perhaps as many as 35 or 45 students per classroom.  

This is not the answer!   Students need individual attention, not crowded classrooms and fewer educators, to succeed in the 21st century and help keep America competitive. 

The good news is that an education amendment has been added to the pending jobs bill in Congress, which will help schools avoid such drastic cuts.    I am asking that you help me get the word out.  We need to be one voice telling Congress to pass the #EducationJobsFund.   We must let our congressional representatives know how we feel about children’s education as well as support our teachers!  Ask your community to take action now because next week maybe too late!   Have them go to http://www.capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=15045411&type=co to forward a letter directly to their representative to have their voices heard.  More information on this important legislation can be found at http://www.educationvotes.nea.org. 

Here is a sample to share with your social networking sites: 

Tell Congress 2 pass #EducationJobsFund 2 support teachers w/ no cuts in class #education http://bit.ly/8ZBh8M. Vote is next wk. Pls RT!

Thank you so much for helping me share this upcoming vote!

1. “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” – Emilie Buchwald

2. National Center for Education Statistics (What kids are read to, told stories or sung to?) 2009 data

3. “There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” – Jacqueline Kennedy

4. How NOT to teach reading (humor)

5. Read to me! (From The Goddard School)

6. Do your kids tear up books? Here’s a solution!

7. Some of my favorite children’s books

8. What is your book philosophy with kids?

9. Make your own Book Nook – it’s not hard!

10. Finding Multicultural and Multilingual books for kids (links to 5 different sites)

11. Grow up With Books (Books right to your door – like Netflix)

12. Encouraging Kids to Read (lots of ideas here!)

13. 15 Reading Tips: From birth up…

14. I find television to be very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. – Groucho Marx

15. My very first PCS book (ten years ago!)

16. TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they’ll have with twenty-six. Open your child’s imagination. Open a book. – Author Unknown

17. What do YOU remember from childhood?

18. AWESOME video: Gotta Keep Reading!

19. Children’s Book Week: What a poser!

20. This will never be a civilized country until we expend more money for books than we do for chewing gum. – Elbert Hubbard

Happy Reading!

Kindergarten is a big step! The social circle is expanding rapidly beyond caregivers, and the child is becoming more aware of self and others. There has been much research on which skills children need to get ready for kindergarten. The Kindergarten Entry Skills project (McIntyre, 2007) surveyed kindergarten teachers and identified skills they look for in incoming kindergarten students. According to the Kindergarten Entry Skills survey, skills include the ability to:

• separate from parents without excessive crying
• manage own bathroom needs
• verbalize needs and wants
• sit through an age-appropriate story without interrupting
• work independently for short periods of time
• follow simple directions
• respect limits and rules
• care for belongings

Ways to Increase Children’s Social-Emotional Competency for Kindergarten:

Familiarize your child with the new school before it starts:

• play at the school playground during the summer
• find out who’s in the class and arrange play dates during the summer
• invite classmates and their parents over during the summer

Get your child excited during the weeks leading up to kindergarten:

• Talk to your child about the positive changes that will occur when he/she goes to kindergarten. Share about all of the fun, new experiences and activities that “big kids” get to participate in while they are in school.
• Let your child assist when purchasing school clothes and supplies. After bringing the items home, let your child talk about all of the wonderful things that he/she will be able to make with the new crayons, glue, scissors, etc.

Provide your pre-k child with reading experiences that discuss going to kindergarten

Reading books about a potentially stressful situation, with a parent, can take the stress out of the situation. Here are a few book suggestions parents can share with their child:

• Ready for Kindergarten by Sharon Wilkins [Zondervan, 2000]
• Let’s Get Ready for Kindergarten! by Stacey Kannenberg [Cedar Valley Publishing, 2006]
• Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff

Read, read, read to your child every day! (Reasons to turn off the TV and read with children)

Talk to your children about their feelings: help them name feelings, understand and express them; this affects how children view themselves and others, and helps them cope with stress (Raising an emotionally intelligent child)

Give your child a chore to do during the summer to develop a sense of responsibility and self-esteem

Make sure your child gets plenty of sleep, and establish good routines for going to bed at night and getting up in the morning

Provide your child plenty of opportunities to get outdoor exercise and spend quality time with family and friends

Expect regressive behavior before kindergarten starts: children may rely on previously acquired self-comforting behaviors to help manage any fears

• shyness
• thumb sucking, needing a blanket
• clingy behavior

As school and new classmates become more familiar, self-comforting behaviors will occur less frequently.

Visit SF K Files- a place for parents who are seeking a kindergarten in San Francisco. The site offers up reviews of public, private, and parochial schools, as well as lots of advice and opinions from the community of parents who frequent the blog.

Sara Shaw, M.S., MFT is a Consultant for the Family Service Agency of San Francisco and has a private practice in Pacific Heights (www.sarashaw.com)