Educational | The Angel Forever

Category Archives Educational

TV interview and rally lessons

Posted on March 27, 2010 9:26 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL,

This week has been filled with a lot of ups and downs. We started the week off trying to get the word out about saving your school. Then we were told that the school was safe. Less than 24 hours later the threat to close things down was back in full force. It has been a very hard time for me to understand as an adult, I can not imagine how it has been as a six year old.

Yesterday afternoon when you got out of school, we were asked to stay around. People had been told that a local new station was coming to interview people about what was happening. Much to your surprise when they came and we were ready to leave, the reporter asked to talk with you. You were not nervous at all. You went right up to the camera, answered the questions and made me so proud. You told her that you liked gym, art, time outside at lunch, computers and math. I will admit, the teacher in me was a little nervous that it took you so long to mention the traditionally academic areas of your school day. You also saw how the news takes a longer interview and chops it to fit within a story that they air.

This morning we got up and went in the freezing cold temperatures to a rally to save your school. Parents, students and neighbors were there to let the media and others know that we are fighting to keep the school open. For two and a half hours you stayed outside and marched by the street, held signs and chanted in front of cameras and cars that went by to save your school.

You had to regroup at one point, but once you sat down and talked with Daddy for a little while you were ready for more of the same. Today, you learned that in our country we are lucky to have the right to demonstrate our beliefs in this type of rally. I hope you know that Daddy, Mommy and the other adults are not going to back down. We are going to make sure that everyone knows that we will fight to the end to save your school.

Love,

Mommy

_______________________________________

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Categories:
decisions Educational jl looking back milestone nhl photos real world news school stupidity

Public schools – a dying breed

Posted on March 15, 2010 9:22 pm by TheAngelForever

As a child, I went though public schools. Some people may not want to admit that, but I am proud to say that I went from kindergarten to a senior in high school in the same school district. Like most schools at the time, things were rough in the middle school level, but if you kept your nose clean it was easy to get a good education. I had opportunities in the high school that no other schools in the area, state or country were doing at the time. I learned so many amazing things during my time as a student in the public schools. I also had teachers that inspired me in my teaching career and beyond.

Today, I find myself sitting here scratching my head after recent events.

Last week, I went to a meeting at our school where they revealed drafts of the new budget. I sat at the meeting feeling more and more disgusted by the minute. I shook my head, worried about the future of the schools for my son and his peers. Right now, NHL’s school may be on the chopping block.

Why?

That is a very good question. Something that I do not understand given the progress this school has made. It has steadily increased enrollement and done extremely well on state exams. The sad reality is this does not seem to matter in the district. They are willing to close one of the top performing schools because of the size.

Of course, the bigger issue is the cause of the budget issues. Like so many other school districts in New York state and beyond, budgets are being slashed. Thanks to sloppy work in the New York state government, the wrong amount of federal stimulus money was sent to districts thoughout the state last year. They were sent the money that should have been split over 2-3 years and they were JUST notified about this a few weeks ago. Don’t even get me started on how the individuals that screwed this up causing districts across the state to be short millions of dollars are still in their job. This is something I hope to continue to investigate.

The largest issue are the charter schools in our area that are sucking the tax money and literally killing off our public schools. What many people do not know is that charter schools are run by businesses, NOT educators. Where this may seem like a fabulous idea, it typically fails in the end. Tests are not developmentally appropriate for students, teachers are not licensed, business people run the school and make promises that can never be delivered. Worst yet – they correct their own state exams which are not audited (so DUH they do wonderfully). Having applied for a charter school teaching job I was floored with the line of questioning I received that had nothing to do with educating children. That is a topic for another day – we are talking major anger and pet peeve here.

For now though, my attention is on helping to save my school district and most importantly my son’s school. Here are some of the items on the chopping block with the first Tier of reductions even with another HIGH tax hike to all of us within the area:

Over 100 employees will be losing their jobs. This includes administrators, teachers, non-instructional staff, and substitute hall monitors. Note that last year over 100 also lost their job.
Discontinue Reading Recovery
Stop specials for PreK students (classroom teachers will be responsible for teaching art, music and I believe PE along with library)
Cuts in professional development and substitutes for this purpose (As a teacher, I do not know how this works when teachers are required by the state to have a certain number of continuing education credits)
Nurse teachers will be replaced by RNs. At the meeting, the district speaker tried to say that they are not in the classroom. I beg to differ. The nurse teacher at my son’s school is an amazing woman that teaches health education, nutrition, distributes healthy snacks to the kids and is a fabulous resource for the kids when they need another trusted person to talk with.

Tier 2 of reducations get even more frightening and includes some of these items:

Close 2 elementary schools
Reduce sports programing by 50%
Cut Special Education Teacher Assistants
Close down K-7 Summer School
Get rid of Literacy and math coaches

For the record – even if everything in Tier 1 is nixed, there will not be enough money generated to stop Tier 2 from going forward. The reality is that both are likely needed to just get the district out of the deficit and keep things at a status quo. Today, people received notices that they will likely not have a job next year. The reality is harsh and as a parent I fear for our children. Public schools are a dying breed and it makes me horribly sad.

So I am now on a mission. I need to write letters, let my voice be heard and find a way to save not only our school, but our district that is in a horrible mess thanks to the economy and our bankrupt state.

My question to you. Where should I start? Who should I write to outside of the school district to let them know how they are failing the future of our state with their incompetent spending and constant cuts to education? Where do I send a letter to let them know the truth about Charter Schools and how they are slowly making public schools in our area dinosaurs that will not be seen?

Categories:
bad news Educational looking back real world news school

National Geographic Kids – Weird But True (Review/Giveaway)

Posted on March 10, 2010 10:36 am by TheAngelForever

Have I mentioned lately how we love books? Seriously, we are constantly getting new books,going to the library and reading something with the boys. NHL is in first grade and likes to read books with history, science or things to learn. Yes, our first grader is slowly warping very nicely into a mini-Geek!

When we were asked by Family Review Network to review the new National Geographic Kids: Weird But True! 300 Outrageous Facts book, we jumped at the opportunity. As a teacher, I had many National Geographic Kids books in my classroom, so I knew it would have amazing photos to share with my boys.

About the book (from their website):

At last, all those weird but true facts that readers of National Geographic Kids love so much are collected into a fun-filled book that you’ll come back to again and again!

Weird But True is based on the hugely popular magazine page of quirky, fun facts that many readers of National Geographic Kids magazine turn to first. Why? Well did you know that…

Peanut butter can be converted into a diamond?

The world’s oldest pet goldfish lived to be 43 years old?

The world’s longest soap bubble was as long as four school buses?

On Neptune, the wind blows up to 1,243 miles an hour?

An elephant’s tooth can weigh as much as a bowling ball?

All of the facts in this handy book will amaze friends and family: Animals Superpowers, Chills and Thrills, Eat or Be Eaten, Mini and Mega, Wild and Crazy, and much, much more. Adjacent pages for such facts present a one-paragraph explanation of how that fact is possible or why it is so.

Purchase your copy for $6.95.

What we thought:

Both of the boys are fascinated with the photos within Weird But True. Yes, even my 2 year old will sit with the book for an extended time looking at all of the photos. JSL will chat away and call out all of the items that he recognizes. NHL, in first grade, will read the facts to me and then talk with me about what it says. Our conversations actually made me think about ways to use this book in the classroom. (I am always a teacher, even when on hiatus.) I could see the fun facts in this book being used as a prompt for classroom discussion and/or a writing exercise. In addition to this, the facts could easily create interest in a subject for kids to do more research on. Anything that excites children to learn gets a thumbs up from me.

Giveaway:

Thanks to National Geographic Kids, one lucky reader will win a copy of National Geographic Kids: Weird But True! 300 Outrageous Facts for your family.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following questions: What is one weird fact about you that you are willing to share with others?
1 Bonus Entry – Who will this book be for if you win and why would they love to have it?
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and National Geographic Kids Giveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win National Geographic Kids – Weird But True book from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/9YBplK
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of January/February/March. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today March 10th and ends at 10:59 EST on March 24, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for National Geographic, who supplied the book for review and giveaway. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about the product.

Categories:
books Educational giveaway Product review

The importance of technology education

Posted on February 23, 2010 8:24 pm by TheAngelForever

When I was teaching, I used computers and all forms of technology in my classroom whenever I could. If the computer lab had an opening, I would often take my Language Arts students there to work on a writing piece. Even my health classes went there to do projects while learning to use Microsoft Publisher. When I left to stay home with the kids, I was actually scheduled to get a Smart Board in my room (who knows if it would have happened).

Growing up, we hardly had computer education. Back in the dinosaur ages, there were horrid little computers that had Carmen Sandiego on them if we were lucky. I also recall my 5th grade teacher having a Disney print program on it. Loved the personalized Disney stationary he made us. It actually motivated me to write. We wrote things by hand because there was not wide spread use of word processing – forget about spreadsheets! I learned things on my own as it showed up on the scene. I was fascinated with all things related to computers. I remember sitting in front of our old Commodore 64 and typing in code to make it do something interesting.

When I switched majors from Pharmacy School to education, I took computing classes to beef up on my knowledge. When I was working on my Masters Degree in Reading, I took my electives in Educational Computer. I could have taken Special Education courses, but I preferred finding out new and inventive ways of incorporating technology into the classroom.

Fast forward to being a mother. . .

Right now, a lot is on my mind. Threats that the district will be closing my son’s school, thanks to budget cuts from higher up, have us thinking about looking at other options. (I will leave that topic for another day.) This was intensified with me feeling like I am failing my son. Is he being challenged and working to his potential, or is he being held back? While trying to remain calm this afternoon, my focus went to technology education.

At NHL’s school, they start having computer twice a week in first grade. I was thrilled and could not wait to see what they would be doing. As the weeks and months have passed, I kept asking what they were learning. Much to my surprise, I would hear the same thing – they were allowed to go on the internet and use PBS Kids and other websites. At the start of the year, this was fine with me, but I started to question TechyDad about it and said I was going to e-mail the principal to see if there was a technology education curriculum.

While at school today, my question was answered. I was told that the person that does computer is not a teacher. It was only recently that they had a person go to the lab and be with kids in this room. Apparently, they decided to do this since many of the teachers in the school were not utilizing the items.

My mouth hit the floor and I almost had to ask for help picking it up. I was stunned, mortified and ticked off. This day and age technology education is a must. To keep kids up to speed, they all need to have basic computing skills. Many of the children in our district may not have computers at home, so it is even more crucial for the schools to do this. For children to be ready for high school, and competitive in college computer skills are not just needed they are essential.

So my questions for you today: Does your school have a formal technology education? Is there a certified teacher following a curriculum with goals for each grade level?

I guess I was naive assuming that this was a given. Right now, I am taking it all in and trying to figure out how to approach this with the school. Of course, with threats to close 2 elementary schools, remove art/music educations for certain age groups this is not a good time to bring it up. *sigh*

Categories:
decisions Educational looking back school stupidity vent

Money Savvy Pig

Posted on January 25, 2010 1:27 pm by TheAngelForever

When we were getting ready to head to Disney World last spring, we allowed NHL to earn money doing certain things. The purpose of this was for NHL (5 at the time) to have the ability to make some of his own purchases. Not only would he be able to keep track of his earnings, but he would also see the value of his money as he spent it on items he liked at stores on vacation. This experiment went pretty well. NHL actually bought one item and came home with a lot of leftover money.

NHL has learned over the years that we put away money that he gets from his birthday into his savings account. We have explained to him the importance of having this money or when he goes to college in the future. Other money has also been invested on his behalf for college. Without realizing it, we had talked with him in elementary terminology about saving, spending, and investing money.

When Hebrew School started in the fall, they began to talk a lot about Tzedakah. The kids would bring money for the Tzedakah box that would be sent to Israel and other charities. Over the last week, we have slowly started to talk to NHL about Haiti. We have mentioned to him that it is important for all people to help others and usually this means donating money to help them. TechyDad and I explained that in Haiti they will need to rebuild everything, get medical care to the people and send the survivors food and water. In his own way, NHL understood. We talked about going to the local grocery store and donating money to the charity for Haiti.

To assist us even more in making NHL a money savvy individual, we were lucky enough to be sent a Money Savvy Pig to review and use with him.

More about The Money Savvy Pig:

One slot piggy banks have been around for….centuries. But the world has changed. Now we have a highly sophisticated financial system, a system whose complexity has outstripped the ability of most adults, many of whom grapple with credit card debt, even bankruptcy.

Personal finance education needs to start young. How? With the same universally loved childhood toy, the piggy bank….but with a 21st century twist! The Money Savvy Pig piggy bank has four chambers, one for each of the four money management choices a child should be taught from the time they are small. They are SAVE, SPEND, DONATE, and INVEST.

The Money Savvy Pig works by giving gives children a sense of control over their money through choices
By being interavtive, the Money Savvy Pig involves children on their terms to begin money management skills
Parents participate by helping to set goals and discuss choices, consequences of those choices and developmentally appropriate values
Made out of a translucent durable polystyrene plastic that comes in blue, pink, green, purple, red and platinum editions
Holds up to $300 in coins
Price $16.99/$19.99 and comes with a sheet of goal setting stickers to help kids track the goal of each of their money choices, as well as instructions/tips for each of the four money choices
If you are not a Piggy fan, they also make a Money Savvy Cow and Football
The Money Savvy Pig (or cow or football bank) is also part of the Money Savvy Kids @ Home program available from Money Savvy Generations that comes with a parent handbook, student workbook, CD with images to guide you through lessons, a coloring/activity book and glossy money poem poster

Our Thoughts:

When NHL was asked to pick out a pig color for our review, he immediately selected green. When I asked him why he quickly replied "Money is green!" Good reply from a six year old child. So far we have really worked on talking with him about the save, spend and most recently the donate areas of his pig. The invest portion is still a little too abstract for a first grader. We are working on ways for NHL to earn money to put into his Money Savvy Pig and where to place the coins when he receives them.

As a parent, I really appreciate the attention to detail that Susan Beacham (founder of Money Savvy Generation) has put into this product. I had seen it on several television shows and mentioned in magazine articles after it won awards and was curious about trying it with NHL. I can see how the Money Savvy Pig will continue to grow with him as he becomes a more mature consumer. As an educator, I love how this could also be used in a classroom. With older children, it could be a fabulous lesson and classroom party goal project.

I know that we will continue to use the Money Savvy Pig with NHL and eventually with JSL to help them to become money savvy adults. In this day and age, it is even more important as our society digs the way out of the economic struggles.

Disclosure: I received the Money Savvy Pig complimentary of Money Savvy Generation in order to facilitate this review. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about the product that my family tried.