by Stone Marshall | Nov 16, 2014 | parent-news |
The children of wealthy parents hear millions more words in their first years of life than the children of low-income ones. That creates a vocabulary gap that never really closes: poor children lag behind in literacy from their first day of school.
Researchers are looking at a low-cost way to help: sending three text messages a week to parents of pre-K students, at a cost of about $1 per family. And they have some early evidence that this program, which suggests easy ways to help kids pick up literacy skills, can work.
Two researchers at Stanford University, Benjamin York and Susannah Loeb, recruited parents of pre-K students in San Francisco for the text message study. Parents who agreed to participate in the program received three text messages a week with specific suggestions about what they could do to help their children learn to read and succeed at school:
A control group received weekly text messages about kindergarten registration, required vaccinations, and other issues.
Parents who received the texts were more likely than parents in the control group to tell stories, point out words that begin with the same sound, look at pictures in a book, or play games and work puzzles with their children, the researchers found, according to research published this week in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. They also were more likely to ask questions of teachers about what their children were learning in pre-K and what they could do at home to supplement it.
The texts were more effective at getting parents to do specific activities, like point out letter sounds, than general ones, like read to their kids. That suggests that parents were receptive to specific guidance that breaks down a seemingly overwhelming task.
The results showed up for children, too: children of parents who received the text messages scored higher at the end of the year on a test of letters and letter sounds than did children of parents in the control group.
The researchers say these results are promising in part because the program was so inexpensive and can be easily scaled up. Sending the text messages cost less than $1 per family for an entire year, and the texts (which were also available in Spanish and Chinese) aren’t location-specific, so they could easily help families in other places.
The study is the latest to prove the power of nagging text messages, which have previously been found to help people lose weight, walk more, save money, stop smoking, and remember their medication. It turns out that regular reminders about what you’re supposed to be doing could actually help you stick to it.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 15, 2014 | parent-news |
Bryan Cranston has not finished with the dark, criminal underworld yet.
The Breaking Bad star is to team up with House creator David Shore to create a new crime drama called Sneaky Pete for US network CBS.
The plot will follow a thirty-something man who takes cover from his dark past by assuming the identity of a cellmate.
“Sneaky Pete” hides out from the mob while working for the cellmate family’s bail bond business, taking down criminals worse than himself.
Over time, he discovers a family life he’s never had and possibly the love of a woman who sees through his act.
Cranston will co-write and executive produce the project, which has been given the green light by CBS.
The drama marks Cranston’s second successful venture into TV this year after NBC commissioned his comedy series Dangerous Books For Boys, based on the book by Conn and Hal Iggulden.
The series will follow three boys as they use their imagination to navigate growing up without a father.
Cranston is also set to reprise his Broadway role playing former US president Lyndon Johnson in new HBO movie All the Way about Kennedy’s successor’s election campaign.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 14, 2014 | parent-news |
PATERSON – More than 250 youngsters at the Boys and Girls Club of Paterson and Passaic received three free books apiece last week as part of the renovation of the Reading Corner at the community center.
Funding for the books and renovations was provided by Capital One and the Heart of America Foundation’s READesign program, which provides monetary grants as well as book and computer donations and volunteer hours at library makeover events around the country.
Since 2002, Capital One has donated more than 1.35 million books valued at $11 million to different READesign events around the country, according to a news release. More than 1,000 books were distributed at the event last week, according to the news release.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 14, 2014 | Minecraft News, parent-news |
On Tuesday’s Mommy Matters — we’re trying to make sense of Minecraft.
If you have children over the age of five, you have probably heard of this popular video game.
Love or hate Minecraft, kids obsess over it, playing huddled over iPads or fixated on monitor screen.
Minecraft is an open-ended game where you construct and play in elaborate worlds.
Some kids recreate famous pieces of architecture, others express their creativity through fun or fantastical designs, but the experience is simple: in the free-form Minecraft “world” you can build practically anything your imagination can think up.
FACTS:
• Published by Mojang in 2011, the game is one of the best-selling, independently developed games, available on PC and Mac, iOS and Android, and even Xbox.
• Since Minecraft’s release in 2009, over 20 million copies have been sold, including 93,000 sign-ups in a 24-hour peak.
• 30 million people play worldwide
MINECRAFT CULTURE
Kids experience all things Minecraft beyond the game itself.
• They gather online on forums and in the offline at conferences and at Minecraft summer camps.
• Many follow YouTubers like StampyCat and iBallisticSquid who make videos using Miecraft. These Youtubers have MILLIONS of subscribers and viewers.
• Minecraft Parties – see photos of Audrey’s Birthday party
WHAT DOES IT TEACH?
Some schools, which understand that experimenting is an important part of learning, are taking notice, and integrating the game into classroom curriculum.
“Before Minecraft, I tried to use video games in class, but I always had to change my lesson to fit the game,” Joel Levin, co-founder of TeacherGaming, a company that helps schools set up games, told the Washington Post. “Minecraft was the first game that came along where I could change the game to fit my lesson.”
1. Creativity and imagination – they can build anything – my daughter built a spa for animals.
2. Resources – what kinds of building materials to use
3. Reading and Vocabulary: Kids need to read and know the names of items in the inventory of resources. For older children, reading the wiki and online guides can extend their skills.
4. Writing: Players can use the Book and Quill within the game to keep a log, or to communicate information to other players. By contributing to the Minecraft Wiki, older children learn to write informational texts in a collaborative, multimedia environment!
5. Math – The crafting system can help in teaching basic math (e.g. “I need 3 sugar cane for paper), which transitions to multiplication (I need 3 Paper and 1 leather for a book, and 3 books for a bookshelf, so I need 9 paper and 3 leather altogether”) and division (“When I create paper I get 3 at once, so 9/3 = 3 times per bookshelf I’ll have to create paper”).
6. Social skills: By setting up a private server, parents can provide a safe environment for children to interact with friends and make playing Minecraft a cooperative event – which lets kids play in the same room or same WI-FI network with their friends, on the phone, or with in-game text chat, they can play together wherever they are. These methods allows children to work together to build, explore, and learn as they develop their social skills, especially teamwork. For older children, contributing to the Minecraft Wiki can be a chance to learn about Internet etiquette and collaboration.
MINECRAFT IN THE CLASSROOM:
http://minecraftedu.com
Created by teacher Joel Levin: MinecraftEdu is a school-ready version of Minecraft, played by over 30 million people worldwide. Created by teachers for classroom use and officially supported by Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, MinecraftEdu contains a set of powerful yet simple tools to fine-tune the Minecraft experience for learning. Teachers in over 40 countries use MinecraftEdu in every subject area from STEM to Language, to History, to Art. Made by teachers for teachers, fine-tuned for the classroom.
MINECRAFT CAMP:
https://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/teen-summer-camps/summer-tech-camps-for-teens/3d-game-design-with-minecraft/
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 12, 2014 | parent-news |
Annabelle Howard, the founder of a nonprofit organization called Big Fun Education, is showing the world how the internet can and should change the way kids learn.
It’s not about looking facts up on the web. It’s about connecting kids with other kids and people that they could never have worked with before the internet. And her choice of internet tools is Google+ and Google’s videoconferencing tool, Hangouts.
For instance, using Google+ and Hangouts she has:
- Connected middle schoolers from Scotland with students from North Carolina to teach them what the accents in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” are actually supposed to sound like.
- Helped coordinate one-on-one reading sessions between students and adults from all different backgrounds.
- Recruited two chefs from Trinidad and England to walk students through the menu of a medieval feast, while coaching them on how to make marzipan in real-time.
- Produced a video on the feast that reached an astounding 27 million people.
Those activities came through two of Big Fun Education’s programs: Macbeth Goes Social and Reading Without Borders.
Macbeth Goes Social coordinates live readings and performances of the play Macbeth with students from around the world.
Reading Without Borders connects adults with students to read books about things the kids are passionate about.
Howard says her goal is to make theatre accessible and fun for everyone and to get students interested in reading.
“Everybody loves feeling connected,” Howard tells Business Insider. “It’s almost addictive.”
Google+Two students who participated in a Big Fun Education program.
She started Big Fun Education in 2011, after working for many years as a teacher and publishing almost 30 classic drama adaptations that came with board games. She and her partner, Forrest Stone, wanted to find a way to bring those adaptations digital. They wanted to find a way to use social sharing tools to bring them to as many kids as possible.
She plugged into Google’s Connected Classroom Google+ community and found more teachers than she ever expected willing to give her idea a shot. She eventually created her own Google+ community for Big Fun Education that now has more than 500 followers.
Once she saw how much kids came alive and engaged with the literature when acting out her plays with other students through Hangouts, she wanted to try to see if she could find other ways to get them reading. After she put out a call for willing readers, the volunteers poured in.
She has now connected students and adults in more than 37 countries.
Through Macbeth Goes Social, she has seen kids interact with plays they had previously found boring. Through Reading Without Borders, she’s watched kids who hated reading get excited about books. The readers become mini-mentors, all through using Google Hangouts.
“In this day and age, where everything is known or could be known with a click or a search, we’ve got to remember how to be human,” she says. “It’s not all information. It’s about relating to each other. It’s about telling stories. It’s about listening as well as speaking. That can be magic.”
by Stone Marshall | Nov 12, 2014 | parent-news |
The motto of Disneyland is “The Happiest Place on Earth,” but if you’re looking for a happy place closer to home, visit the picture book room at Seymour Library. Come on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning during story time, and you’ll hear kids singing, clapping their hands and shouting out answers. It’s not always noisy during story time, of course — sometimes you’ll hear next to nothing, because the kids are listening intently to a story, waiting for the page to turn and reveal what happens next.
Come another time and you’ll find grandparents reading to grandkids, and moms and dads helping their little ones pick out books to take home. Stop by on a quiet afternoon, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see one of our favorite things: a preschooler who has carefully arranged all the stuffed animals in a semicircle on the rug and is sitting in front of them, reading them a story. It’s story time for Curious George, Clifford and the many stuffed bears who make the picture book room their home.
It’s a magical place, the picture book room. It’s decorated with brightly colored posters and furnished with pint-sized chairs. It’s filled with animals who talk, pirates and princesses, hungry caterpillars and cats in hats. And November, which is Picture Book Month, is a good time to talk about the real magic of picture books, and what happens when you read them to children.
They learn all kinds of things.
Reading aloud is the single most important thing a parent can do to help a child learn. There’s a nationwide movement to get every parent to read to their child every day for just 15 minutes; you can learn more about it at readaloud.org.
The goal of the Read Aloud campaign is to have every child arrive at kindergarten ready to learn. Every time you read to your child, you’re improving their ability to learn. Read to a child just 15 minutes every day, and that child will enter kindergarten at age 5 having more than 450 hours of reading time.
That’s a big advantage for a child. All that reading time gives a child a better vocabulary, and the number of words that a child knows upon entering kindergarten is a key predictor of success. It also builds a child’s skills in phonics, comprehension and other literacy skills.
Unfortunately, most kids don’t get this kind of preparation. Fewer than half of all children are read to every day. Some children come to school with as many as 1,000 hours of reading time. Some come with as few as 25. That’s an awfully big gap to close.
Reading together builds literacy skills. It teaches kids about colors and shapes and letters and numbers. It helps them learn about friendship and family relationships, and it helps them develop empathy.
And aside from all this, reading together is a pleasure. We have books that are laugh-out-loud funny, and books that leave you with a warm feeling long after the final page. If you need ideas for books to read to your child, just ask. But we suspect that it won’t take long to find ones you like if you just browse around the picture book room, our happiest place on earth.
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