Parents CAN Help!

Was just notified of a wonderful (read ***FREE***) resource for parents to use to help their child with school. It's the Thinkfinity Parent Resources, an exciting collection of online educational resources. Choose any of the subjects below to browse our resources to help students with their homework, provide opportunities for extra practice and skill-building, engage their creativity and much more! This collection will continue to grow, so check back often.

Free-Reading.net

Designed by a New York-based educational start-up, Wireless Generation, the reading program for kindergartners and first-graders allows teachers to post their own lessons, comments and modifications in what the company says is a “wiki” application. The site even looks like Wikipedia.

This is the same person who turned the DIBELS reading test into a money making venture.

Check it out at Free-Reading.net

Read the entire blurb at The Apple, a website I'll be posting about soon.

Snakes and Ladders

BBC.com out of the United Kingdom produces a number of wonderful online activities. My favorite is a game of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ which you can play with a friend or by yourself. Watch the die roll itself when you click on it, then move the red markers the correct number of squares (if you don’t, the marker goes back to the square it was on).

Video Interview with Robert Sabuda

Do you know Robert Sabuda? Sure you do! He's the author of those WONDERFUL pop-out books such as 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and 'Cookie Count: A Tasty Pop-Up'. Well, the website, Reading Rockets has an 18 minutes video (broken into VERY short segments) in which Robert Sabuda discusses when he became fascinated with pop-up books, the challenges he faced with his first pop-up book, and how he makes those pop-up books. Check it out here. While you're on the website visit the page that links to other video interviews.

Did You Know? The New $5 Bill

There's a new $5 bill on the way! The $5 bill will look pretty much the same, except it will have shades of gray and a splash of purple (Mrs. Sharoff's favorite color!). The new bill will start being available on March 13, 2008. Read more about it here.

Follow You, Follow Me

That's the motto over at Wayfaring a website where you create you own personalized place-by-place map for others to follow. Once you create the map you can share it with your friends, family, and practically anyone you wish to. And if you're planning a group vacation where everyone wants to get their two-cents worth in, this is the perfect planning tool since it allows collaboration on building the map.

What's great about this map is that you can actually insert information about each stop, along with a description. If it's a restaurant think about including items you would recommend someone order. Distance between stops is also listed, which could provide helpful if you are designing a walking tour or even a cross-country trip.

Time for Bed

Not sure what to title this post yet, so I'll wait until I'm done writing. As I was looking through my Bloglines.com I came across this post from Connect With Kids entitled 'No Sleep After Gaming'. Basically, studies are showing that teens who spend two to three hours watching tv, playing video/computer games, or playing music will find it more difficult to fall asleep. I thought this article was timely for me since I tend to spend a lot of time on the computer after dinner, though I have to say I don't seem to be having any trouble falling asleep! LOL The article went on to provide the following tips for parents:

Studies in children have shown that playing interactive video games can lead to significant increases in heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate, "and thus a higher arousal state of the central nervous system.” (National Institutes of Health, NIH)

A new study shows that the bright light of a screen may alter the body's biological clock and suppress the natural production of melatonin that's critical to the normal sleep-wake cycle. (WebMD)

In the hour before bedtime, which experts say should be a time to relax and prepare for sleep, the majority of adolescents watch TV or surf the Internet. (National Sleep Foundation)

Sleep requirements: (National Sleep Foundation)
18 months to 3 years should get 12 to14 hours/night
3 to 5 years should get 11 to13 hours/night
5 to12 years old should get 10 to11 hours/night
Teens should get 9.25 hours/night

Create a bedtime routine. Bedtime routines are important, regardless of a child's age. It should include at least 15 to 30 minutes of calm, soothing activities. Discourage television, exercise, computer and telephone use, and avoid caffeine (found in many beverages, chocolate and other products). (National Sleep Foundation)