2G

4 Parents • 2020-2021

09.18.20

Why You Should Read Aloud

[A] growing body of research suggests that we may be missing out by reading only with the voices inside our minds.

The ancient art of reading aloud has a number of benefits for adults, from helping improve our memories and understand complex texts, to strengthening emotional bonds between people.

And far from being a rare or bygone activity, it is still surprisingly common in modern life.

Many of us intuitively use it as a convenient tool for making sense of the written word, and are just not aware of it.

Full article

09.06.20

“I reached my peak at seven”

On Taylor Swift’s (lovely, quite brilliant) new CD Folklore, TS penned the most wonderful line, “I reached my peak at seven.” You’ll find it on “seven.” (Yes, TS forgot to capitalize the title of her song… just like…)

This could be 2G’s song… ah, to remember seven…

Enjoy!

09.06.20

KHAN (OF KHAN ACADEMY) ON DISTANCE LEARNING

Source: “Khan Academy’s Sal Khan shares advice for online learning: Do less, and turn off the camera,” Washington Post

Q: Distance school is starting and some kids are being asked to be on Zoom for hours. What is too much? Is there a best practice?

This is a brand new world for everybody, I definitely worry. Even as adults we can’t be staring at a screen forever.

For younger kids, you want these to be shorter sessions with more breaks. If you’re talking about early elementary, I think 30 minutes at a stretch is plenty, and then you should have nice, healthy breaks. Not to just use the restroom, but get a snack or stretch and play.

The last thing we want to do is burn kids out and burn out their families and burn out their teachers.

Try to focus. Don’t try to do everything school tries to do. I would argue even during a regular school year, trying to teach six or seven classes all at once is kind of ridiculous. You don’t get to learn anything that deeply then.

09.05.20

It Could Be Worse

Eye-opening article about distance learning in Washington Post.

Can’t anyone say “recess” or “Brain Break”?

08.31.20

ENDING ONLINE PHONiCS CONFUSION

08.29.20

The Tyranny of Chairs

2G students love our no-chair, no-table culture.

Sitting for hours and hours can weaken your back and core muscles, pinch the nerves of your rear end and constrain the flow of blood that your body needs for peak energy and attention.

This article — “The tyranny of chairs: why we need better design. Most chairs aren’t designed to serve human bodies – but a better seat is possible” — explains (some of the) why!

Squatting has been as natural a posture as sitting for daily tasks, and lying down was a conventional pose for eating in some ancient cultures. So why has sitting in chairs persisted in so many modern cultures?

It’s a “long read,” so here’s the link!

“Biology, physiology and anatomy have less to do with our chairs than pharaohs, kings and executives…”

Enjoy!

PS — if you’re never tried a stand-up desk… nirvana awaits!

Original article here.

08.25.20

EXPECTED ONLINE BEHAVIOR

• UPDATE 1: “Ms. Jana” is 2G Tanner’s mom, and now in 1G! Ms. Erin is now in 2G!
• UPDATE 2: Our online learning will begin THURSDAY (08.27.20) not “Monday”!

08.21.20

Report: Students are not spending enough time writing

Shawna De La Rosa • Published: Aug. 12, 2020
Original article

Students don't spend enough time writing, and writing is not practiced across the curriculum, new research by The Learning Agency shows. Only about 25% of middle-schoolers and 31% of high school students practice writing 30 minutes a day, which curriculum experts say is the minimum amount of time necessary. A slightly greater number of middle school (33%) and high school students (34%) only spend 15 minutes a day writing.

In addition, only 15% of 8th-graders and 13% of 12th-graders practice persuasive writing each week, though it’s considered a key skill for college success and in the workplace. Students also aren’t practicing their writing skills in non-ELA classes such as math and science.

One-quarter of 8th-graders studied said their English instruction centers on grammar. But more than one-third of Black students and one-quarter of Hispanic students said grammar makes up most of their English curriculum, even though grammar instruction in isolation does not improve writing outcomes, research shows.

Many students’ lack of writing skills — and the struggle to teach them — are top concerns for many educators.

Forty percent of students who took the ACT writing exam in the 2016 high school class lacked the reading and writing skills required of a college-level English composition class.

In addition, most recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress said that 75% of 12th- and 8th-graders aren’t proficient in writing. Common Core State Standards require students to learn argumentative, informative and narrative essay styles, but little improvement has so far been measured since these standards were put in place.

In a New York Times article, Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said part of the problem is that educators aren’t prepared to teach writing in teacher prep programs. One technique is to expose students to great writing so they can learn to hear sentence structure, rather than focus on grammatical sentence structure.

In an effort to improve literacy, leaders at Chemawa Middle School in Riverside, California, developed a plan to emphasize writing skills across multiple subjects that focused on reading, writing, speaking and listening. The Title I school established a close-reading protocol and developed specific ways for writing to be taught in ELA, history and science. At the school, 68% of students are Hispanic and 12% of those are English language learners.

Another way to teach writing is through “passion blogging,” where students tap into the topics they love as a way to develop stronger writing skills and then apply those skills to more formal assignments like analyses of classic literature. The student’s “voice,” or passion, expressed in their writing can be weighed in their final grade.

08.19.20

MAHALO HNC VESTRY!

Should you stumble across a member of the HNC vestry, be sure to say, “Mahalo for the hula hoops!”

See note in The Banyan Tree.

08.17.20

Phonics lesson review: HOW TO VIDEO

The Explode the Code phonics lessons all follow the same basic pattern.

If you know how to review this first lesson, you’ll know how to review them all.

This how-to video will also help you will any time you’d like to support your student in his/her reading and writing.

Enjoy!

08.15.20

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS

04.10.20

Sesame Street's pandemic advice for parents:
'Find joy within the moment'

Source: The Guardian, 04.10.20

Since 1969, the puppets of Sesame Street have raised generations of children, preparing them for school and helping them talk to adults about how they feel.

When crisis has struck, Sesame Street has responded, helping children process big emotions about the 9/11 attacks, parents who struggle with addiction or incarceration – and now, the coronavirus pandemic.

Sesame Street is one of the most researched children’s television programs in history, with evidence attesting to the learning gains made by children, particularly young children of color and those living in poverty. About 60 people – including in-house experts, researchers and production team members – collaborate to bring a single episode to air.

As coronavirus closes at least 124,000 schools across the countryand millions of parents are thrust into the position of full-time caregivers, here is Sesame Street’s advice for parents, teachers and children.

‘Flexibility is the keyword’

Children thrive on structure and sticking to routine brings them a sense of security, according to Rosemarie Truglio, vice-president of curriculum and content for Sesame Street.

Unfortunately, a spiraling health crisis that has overwhelmed hospitals and required families to shelter in place has made it all but impossible to say what’s coming next.

So how do parents create routine in an unpredictable moment?

“Flexibility is the key word,” said Truglio. “All children do best with structure, but we also need to be flexible if plans go awry.”

The trick for parents, said Truglio, is to stick to the routines that are within control. Keep to night-time rituals like brushing teeth and reading bedtime stories whenever possible. Find regular times for children to focus on schoolwork. Days may feel frantic, but small moments of structure can help create a sense of normalcy.

If plans don’t work out, pivot. If it rains, move a picnic to the living room. If you miss a morning reading activity, do it in the afternoon. And just as importantly, let children see that you’re capable of adapting when plans come apart. Handling frustration and disappointment is a crucial piece of child development.

“Building resilience is key,” Truglio said. “We don’t know how long this is going to last. We all have to be resilient.”

Embracing everyday moments

The good news for parents is that children learn best through everyday moments.

In her book Sesame Street: Ready for School! A Parent’s Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages 2 to 5, Truglio writes about turning everyday tasks into learning moments.

Enlisting kids to create a shopping list can be a way to use the alphabet and build vocabulary. Building towers with blocks can mean talking about shapes, width and height. Cooking dinner or doing laundry is a chance to practice math and measurements.

A key, said Truglio, is to make learning playful. “Lean in and follow your child’s interest,” she said.

“What’s not good is to do flashcards and rote learning. It’s not very interesting. When children are playing, they’re activated, they’re invested in the learning. When they are trying to solve a problem, they learn through trial and error. They learn not to give up.”

Coping with the ‘for-now normal’

The pandemic is presenting a new kind of trauma, explained Akimi Gibson, vice-president and education publisher at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Street. “This trauma is universal. It has no cultural or economic bias. And it caught us all equally by surprise,” Gibson said. .

Research attests to the negative impact trauma has on child development – whether it stems from poverty, a parent addicted to drugs, or a global outbreak. That’s why Sesame Street is leaning into the “for-now normal”, as the program creators are referring to the moment, by providing tips and resources for talking and listening to children in its recently launched “Caring for Each Other” initiative.

“We have to realize this is a new way to look at trauma”, said Jeanette Betancourt, senior vice-president of Sesame Workshop’s US social impact. “But most importantly, we need to ask how we can best support children in the most traumatic times, when their voices are often lost.”

If you listen closely, children will say what’s on their mind as they narrate their play, Truglio noted.

Crucial for caregivers is to listen and help children understand it’s OK to be scared or uncertain. Thankfully, the support children will need to adapt looks a lot like what they have always needed.

“Very important to young children are routines, but even more important is knowing that grown ups are there for me.

We know what young children need: routine, stability and love. A pandemic doesn’t change that,” Betancourt said.

In it together

Sesame Street is built around children, but its creators understand that adults need help, too. For them, Sesame Street’s message is simple: understand that you’re human and take a breath.

“Parents can’t help children if they’re not taking care of themselves. It’s like oxygen on a plane. We want to make sure there’s resources there, but also to be kind to themselves,” Truglio said.

For Sesame Street, that has meant providing educators with reliable learning resources at a time when they’re facing a glut of untested tip sheets and guides. For parents and caregivers, it has meant helping them understand they don’t have to become the teacher.

“A parent has to be a caregiver, first and foremost,” Gibson said. “And the educator wants to maintain a status as teacher. The two are in it together for the interest of the child.”

At no point do the makers of Sesame Street say any of this will be easy. But neither did they suggest the future has to be grim.

“I hope [people can see] a picture of joy within this moment,” Gibson said. “The act of rallying together toward a common goal is not a sad occasion.”