Stop Multitasking

Stop Multitasking - it will destroy your brain. Such are the words of Deepak Chopra: "It’s the one skill that gets worse, so if you practice multitasking it will get worse progressively. It also damages your brain. It’s like any other addiction."
See this interesting video:

Free Reading Comprehension Cards

These free reading comprehension cards help students think critically and better understand stories and texts they read. Using the cards, students will practice the following reading strategies:
1) Predict
2) Connect
3) Clarify
4) Question
5) Comment
6) Synthesize
These reading comprehension cards can be used in large groups, small groups, literature circles, or individually.

Subject:

Reading, Critical Thinking, Reading Strategies

Grade Level(s):

Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Homeschooling

Goal Setting for the New School Year

“If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there?” – Basil S. Walsh

This quote by Basil Walsh really pinpoints the importance of setting goals.  If your children do not do goal setting for the new school year, they will be just aimlessly floating through their lessons.  By helping your child set goals you are not only teaching him an important skill that he will use the rest of his life, but you are helping him create a tool by which to steer his life.  These blogs will help you teach your child how to set goals, create a visual tool to stay focused on those goals and explain why setting goals is so important.

Good Homework Habits

Good Homework Habits

ABC Life Literacy Canada offers 10 tips on how to make homework a part of your family’s daily routine. Establishing good homework habits for younger children helps them develop effective study skills for high school and beyond.

1. Have a specific – and limited – time each day for homework. An hour should be enough for younger children. Early in the evening is best, so that when homework is done there is still time for play. Starting later means rushing to get finished before bedtime, when kids may become too tired to concentrate.
2. Have a regular place for homework. For older kids somewhere “quiet” might be best, but younger kids often do better in a common area like the kitchen or at the dining room table, with an adult nearby.
3. Limit distractions and temptation. Turn off the TV, cell phones and other electronics during homework hour – for the whole family.
4. Parents can do their own routine tasks during homework hour, but should be readily available to help, encourage, and answer questions. But don’t do their homework for them!
5. Start with the hardest subject first, since it will probably take the most time and effort.
6. Kids can become overwhelmed with big assignments or projects. Parents can help them break the project down into smaller steps.
7. When kids resist or delay doing homework, parents can help motivate them by using positive language (“When you finish your homework, you’ll be able to …”) instead of negative language (“If you don’t finish your homework, you won’t be able to …”).
8. Kids have different learning styles, and parents can help them develop effective methods for doing their homework. However, if homework is a constant struggle, talk to the teacher.
9. Show kids how the skills they are learning relate to real life. For example, if a child is learning math, collect receipts from the supermarket and calculate the weekly or monthly cost of your groceries.
10. Don’t limit family learning to homework hour. Make learning a part of daily life by embracing everyday learning opportunities.

To receive a FREE copy of our e-book, A Parent's Guide to Solving Homework Problems please visit our Facebook page.

How to Find the Right Tutor for Your Child

It can be painful to watch your child struggle through a particular concept or unit in school. Whether it is difficulty in understanding long division, struggling with standard English grammar rules or anything in between, there is only so much that teachers and parents alike can do. For children who are having trouble in particular areas of study, it often helps to hire a tutor. This can be a great way to help a child better understand concepts in a way that relates to him. Over time, working with a tutor can result in a significant improvement in a child’s grades and self-confidence.

This article, How to Find the Right Tutor for Your Child, provides 4 key points to consider when looking for that special tutor.

10 iPhone Apps to Help Kids Manage Homework

As kids get older, their responsibilities and schoolwork begins to increase, sometimes to the point that it seems like they need a dedicated personal assistant to manage the workload! Whether your child has his own iPhone or shares yours, these are 10 of the apps you can both rely on to make sure that homework gets finished on time and reference material is readily available.

18 OF THE BEST BLOGS FOR HELPING KIDS FIND THEIR PASSION

There has been much talk about helping kids find their passion so that they can live a full life, but how do you help your kids find that spark?  As a parent you can open the door to experiences and opportunities.  You can encourage your kids to try different things and to always be curious about life. But you can’t force your kids to love something. However, maybe one of the most important things you can do as a parent is to study your kids and take note of what kinds of activities make them excited and happy.  These 18 blog articles by Kenney Meyers will give you some ideas on how to help your kids find their passion.

10 Tips for Getting Back on the School Schedule

As the summer break draws to a close, many parents find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to get their little night owls back into a normal routine for the impending semester. Getting back into the swing of things with minimal fuss and relatively few tantrums will require a bit of effort, but it’s certainly not impossible. These ten tips will have your kids back on the school schedule before you know it, and the whole family will be back into a productive and reasonable routine in no time.

Online methods to gain class participation

Online methods to gain class participation

image courtesy of securedgenetworks.com

With today’s wired world, educators can now find venues in how to create an engaging activity with their students even when they are outside the four walls of the classroom. These activities help children gain knowledge and confidence to join class activities. Here are some ideas that you can use to extend student participation and learning online:

Post videos
Educational videos provide a good starting point for online discussions by giving feedback or asking questions about what they have watched. Try to find videos that your students can enjoy and learn. There are tons of websites out there that offers such a list.
Apart from informative films, you can also include shots of your class while doing an activity. With easy-to-use video editing apps for tablets, you can make your own videos about different events happening in your school. You can even do this as a classroom activity by letting them make their own using their gadgets. Most apps nowadays allow for frictionless sharing to social media, so it should be easy for them to publish and share their works online, as long as you have a fast mobile broadband connection or reliable WiFi coverage at school.

Post student achievements
Your classroom blog or online group is a good venue to publish their achievements online. These can help them gain confidence to achieve more in class.  For parents who usually check information on the internet, this is also an easy way for them to be updated with their kid’s class standing.

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Do team ups with other classroom blogs
Other classroom blogs meant interacting with other students from across the globe. You and your students could coordinate with fellow classroom bloggers and come up with online activities  like blog competitions or maybe conduct collaborative science projects. This approach gives a close-up view of other cultures.  The Skype classroom is a good way to find new classroom friends for your students.

Opening an online art gallery
Launching an online art gallery is an effective way to boost children’s artistic talents and confidence. Posting their works online allows other people to give their feedback on the students’ works. Instant recommendation can help them in improving their work because they get to discover their strengths and weaknesses. You can open your art gallery at www.artsonia.com. It offers millions of artworks to view. These are segregated into different school levels so kids can look for artworks made by their own age. Plus, it has a weekly contest where for students with great artworks.

Round robin short story writing
This activity helps students express their creative side through writing. It’s a method of writing wherein a group of people will write pieces of short stories in rounds.  You can assign a team of students who will contribute a these literary works to the blog every week.
Now that you learned some ideas on how get your students active online, what methods are you planning to use? Share us your thoughts.

About the Author
Reese Jones often looks at anything ipad, branding, alternative music and mobile applications. In her spare time she can always find time for playing guitar  and she also maintains a passion for cinema.

8 back-to-school tips for parents

 

The hustle and bustle of sending your kids back to school can be stressful. Here are eight back-to-school tips to help you stay stress-free and prepare for the coming school year.

By Jackie Middleton