« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 29, 2006
Daughter's Daunting Adventures
I mentioned earlier this week that my daughter, Carolyn, had been accepted at Sonoma State University. She got word it was a go on Wednesday and had to be there by Friday. We managed to have a good-bye Thursday dinner after she had spent the day pack and repacking her car with her belongings, at least whatever she could fit in.
I talked to her Friday afternoon just to make sure she'd arrived. She had, had a room, and was off to register. I talked to her again tonight, Sunday. There were ups and downs to her weekend. She'd had trouble registering on Friday, but by Saturday she'd had help to get all of her classes. Her car wouldn't start Sunday afternoon, but by the evening she was going out to dinner with her new roommate and her friends.
She's going to be fine. It's not too far away, but just far enough to be out of reach. That probably pretty good for the first time away from home. It does make it a bit harder when they're not just down the hall or in the next town over. It's really amazing, but they do grow up.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2006
SPARK in the Afternoon
I had a great deal of fun today doing a workshop for our After School staff. The program known as SPARK (Supporting Participation in Academics and Recreation for Kids) http://www.glenncoe.org/__programs/__after_school_programs/index.html is at every elementary school but one in Glenn County. It was announced today that they are currently serving more than 640 students in the county, and according to one site director growing by as many as five children a week.
The program is fun for kids and very helpful for parents. It runs right after school in a child's home school and provides a time to get homework done, do at least one enrichment activity, and have a recreation time. It ends around 5:30 or 6:00 PM, just about the time parents are finishing work. Both parents and kids are enjoying the benefits. Every school site is truly a beehive of activities every school day afternoon.
Today, Saturday, we met to talk about how to make sure the activities we are providing help reinforce the standards being taught during the school day. I told the group that they often had more fun than the teachers. Teachers are spending so much time on the academic standards using textbooks and written material, they don't have much time left to do the hands-on, fun learning activities the SPARK staff gets to do. They can go plant the garden and make snowflakes while teachers are working very hard to read about plants and weather.
We had a good time talking and trying out vrious activities for their grade levels. I promised them to come visit, but they have to show me what activity they're doing with the kids and what standard they are teaching when I come. They said they would so I'm going to have to do some visiting soon.
Take a look at this great group:
There's more:
Posted by Dr Joni at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
On the Move
For those of you who followed the exploits of my children for many years in my newspaper column, I will give you the latest. If you didn't read about them, I have four, including one set of twins. I would write about their newest and latest learning events on a weekly basis. When you have four at various stages of navigating the world, there's always something to write about.
So...for a quick update on the most recent learning stage-my youngest, Carolyn, is leaving for college. Now most parents have an opportunity to plan for and enjoy the impending news, hock the farm for tuition and do the hundred and one others things you do for this occassion. Carolyn's plans were a bit different. She found out of Wednesday she was accepted to Sonoma State http://www.sonoma.edu/ and will be leaving tomorrow. That's Friday, by the way.
We've been working on this for a few months, but couldn't seem to get her high school transcripts worked out. I figured it wasn't going to happen until the Fall, but she never gave up. She called, followed through, and hung in there until every last detail was completed. The folks at her work gave her a going away party on Wednesday even before she got the final word she'd been accepted. Now that's faith.
Tonight we had a quick good-bye dinner after she'd spent the day trying to get 18 1/2 years worth of stuff into her car. She finally settled for two weeks worth of clothes and other necessities. I think she's planning on someone bringing her the rest soon.
With her sister getting married in March and both her brothers in the Air Force, empty nest is being discovered in one big batch. People tell me it takes about three weeks until you're ready to change the locks in case they decide to come back. Somehow tonight it doesn't feel like something I'd ever be interested in doing.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
PreSchool for All
I'm on my way to a meeting and not sure whether I can technologically figure out how to use a different computer and write my blog. That remains totally to be seen both by me and the technology wizards that live and breathe in my computer.
However the meeting should be interesting. We will receive all kinds of new information about what's going on in the world of education including, I'm sure, the state budget.
One of my major areas of interest this week is preschool. What are we doing? How are we planning for it? What's happening with the initiative to have a Universal preschool option for parents?
If I can get my computer to work, you'll have updates while I'm there. If I can't, you'll have them when I get back. See you soon.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:09 AM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2006
Fabulous Parents
Last night I had the opportunity to work with a fabulous group of parents at Jackson Heights elementary school http://www.jackson.rbuesd.tehama.k12.ca.us/. The reason they were so fabulous is because they took an evening out to come talk about how they could help their children learn. This group of twenty-five or so parents spent time learning how to do some fun activities that would help their kids with their reading, social studies, and math.
It was really a pleasure to watch Celia's face light up when she saw how easy it was to play learning games with her children, Kathy and her sister liked the letter game we did with sticky notes, and a gentleman in the back (I don't know his name) was very good in our sixth grade license math. He told me later he had studied math 20 years ago in Mexico, and he could still remember some of it. He remembered a lot more than "some."
The parents were really excited that they had some fun activities to take home to do with their children. They each promised to do one fun thing this week. One was going to read a book with her child. Another was going to take a walk and talk about everything they saw. Others wanted to practice spelling or writing.
There are many research studies that show when parents are involved with their children's learning, learning improves. This group is ready to prove that too.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
More Higher Education
Today was my second day with a fun group of college students. They are in their last year of schooling to become teachers. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to teach Special Ed Law. Some days I wonder why I would choose to accept the challenge of turning such a dry subject into something someone could enjoy. Not today.
This group of 21 students was just fun. For two days they've listened, asked questions, gotten frustrated, and I've watched lights turn on as they see how what they're learning in class fits with what they'll be doing in the classroom.
If there's a great reward for a teacher, it's watching folks come alive with understanding. I don't care if it's a toddler learning to walk, a first grader learning to read, or a college student getting law. Learning is great to watch.
Now I'm going to get to watch these new teachers try their wings this year and be ready for their own classroom by Fall. Fun!
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Higher Education
I do enjoy just about any age of learning. Today I have the opportunity to work with college students. For the past 20 years or more I've spent a bit of my extra time (hm, I haven't quite figured out yet what time that is, but...) teaching a college class or two. For the past few years it's been the Special Education Law class for Chico State.
You can stop yawning now. I know this sounds like I should get a life and you may be right, but what I've found is almost any subject can be interesting. If I can make law interesting, useful, and practical to students then calculus or geology or whatever couse can be equally as interesting. A lot depends on the attitude of the teacher and the needs/interests of the students.
The students coming into the special ed law class are mostly people who want to teach special education students. They are in their last year, actually their last sememster, and they are eager to get going finally in their chosen profession. My job is to spend a few weeks with them showing them why they do certain parts of their job the way they do it. In other words, the law requires you to do things a certain way. Paperwork and following certain rules is not just because some capricious administrator says so. Knowing the law changes these new teacher's perspectives a lot.
I also do what I believe all teaching should be-some teaching and then a great deal of practical application. It's the application that makes the learning real and meaningful. What one student does in a classroom of 20 gifted students might be very different from a teacher in a classroom of 35 kids from poverty. Both teachers need to meet the law and both want to provide the best possible education, but the needs of the children are different going in. The approaches to teaching are different as well so you practice with different kinds of scenarios.
Teaching is an art as much as it is a science. I've always enjoyed good artwork.
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2006
Live Oak Parents
I also spent an evening with a great group of parents. When talking with parents, my most important message is always "You are your child's most important teacher."
Those of us in education help out and try to provide more specific learning. All of it is supposed to be developmental, one new learning building on another. It's sort of like learning the alphabet, then recogizing words, to reading sentences, and finally reading stories and books. We do that every day in classrooms, but parents are the teachers at home. They teach all kinds of things we don't teach.
Parents teach values and morals, traditions, family language and hertigage. The other night there were three groups in the meeting from three very different traditions. There were the English speaking parents, an Hispanic group, and a Punjabi group. The district had been very clear that they wanted to be able to address and provide support for all cultures in their school. All the materials were translated from English into both Spanish and Punjabi.
I applaud a district and a group of teachers who are willing to meet the needs of all members of their community. It's much easier to only deal with one group and one culture especially the one we know, but these folks were very clear, all groups were to be considered.
Funny tomorrow is Martin Luther King's birthday. I hadn't realized that when this piece took on such an ethnic theme, but it's what King was about. Working in schools, we take his work even farther, not including just Blacks, but any ethnic group. Our country came about because of immigrants coming here. We're made up of many different cultures.
Live Oak's parents are the foremost teachers their children have. From their parents they will learn how to live. We, in schools, will help them gain skills to live better. My job and one of the oldest jobs of school administrators is to help parents and teachers work together to make children's learning valuable for their future. I look forward to their continuting success.
Posted by Dr Joni at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2006
Live Oak is Getting Ready
This week I’ve had the privilege of working with the Live Oak Unified School District in Live Oak, CA http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_district/909/ca. What a great group!
Their request was to include parents in school and learning activities, something I love to do. On Wednesday evening I met with teachers from Luther Elementary, Encinal Elementary, and Live Oak Middle School. We spent the evening, besides having a great dinner, talking about what differences it could make at their schools if parents were involved in learning, especially what was being learned at school.
Certainly meeting state and Federal requirements was part of the discussion, but a bigger part was what difference parent involvement could make in a child’s success in school-better grades and test scores, better behavior, and better school programs.
Probably the most fun for everyone was actually doing some activities. We used the Parent Playbook http://www.edsuccess.com/index.html series I’ve compiled as a base. I demonstrated a couple activities, but three of the teachers took the show.
Tony showed everyone, even the kindergarten teachers, they could do eighth grade math by using numbers from license plates. He had us doing algebra equations without even thinking about it.
Carleen had soaked lima beans for everyone. Acting as fifth grade science learners, we took off the seed coat, opened the beans, and got to look inside for all the parts that would be growing into full plants. Well, not from these beans after what we did to them, but normal beans.
Gail helped us be kindergarten/first graders learning sentences. She showed us a sentence written on a strip of paper and told us how to cut the words apart, mix up the slips of paper, and let the beginning reader put the words back in the right order to read the sentence. She reminded us to cut the period (.) apart too, so the sentence would have its proper ending.
The evening was fun, and I left knowing the Live Oak staff had some new ideas percolating for their parents.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2006
How About Fifth and Sixth Grades
Today let's do some stuff for fifth and sixth graders:
Fifth grade History/Social Studies:
This one we did with our kids. When we were waiting in the car in a drive-thru line or in the parking lot waiting for someone to run into a store, I'd pretend we were on a trip to various states in the country. We'd go from one state to another on our imagininary vacation. The job of the kids was to tell me the name of the capital of the state we were in. I'd usually start with visiting their grandparents in Arizona, and they'd tell me the capital was Phoenix. They I'd decide to go to Colorado, and they need to know Denver. If I moved on to Utah, they'd have to know Salt Lake City.
You get the picture. It was fun and we'd do pretty well until we hit North Dakota or Wisconsin. Someone would usually tell me it was too cold to go to one of those states anyway.
Sixth grade Math:
Sixth grade math doesn't have to be as difficult as you think. Have your child go with you to the store. Let them check out the sales prices. Is the 22 oz. jar for $1.98 a better deal that the 44 oz jar for $4.05? Give her store coupons and ask her to check whether the coupon at 50 cents off is a better deal than the store brand on sale. These kinds of activites take both good math and reasoning skills. They're also not only fun, but can save you some money.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2006
Activities for Third and Fourth Grades
Since I gave you some activities for first and second graders, here are a couple for third and fourth.
Third grade Science with bubbles
• You’ll need water, liquid dish soap, a shallow tray, and a straw
• In the tray mix 1 quart of water and 8 tablespoons of liquid dish soap
• Let your child use a drinking straw to blow into the tray. With a little practice some very big bubbles can be made.
Fourth grade Math
• While you’re waiting to fill your gas tank, ask your child to help figure out your bill
• If a gallon of gas costs $2.59, how much will it cost for 10 gallons, 15 gallons, to fill up with 18 gallons?
Both of these activities match to California State Standards in science and math. For more quick, fun, and easy activities you can go to http://www.edsuccess.com.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2006
Weekend Learning Fun
I've spent the last couple weekends working on some workshop presentations I'm doing for school districts on parents helping their children with learning. I've been writing about the topic for years. I have several book out with activities for parents to do. Now it's time to go talk about making it work. Information about those books and possible workshops can be found at http://www.edsuccess.com.
Since I've been so involved in it this weekend, I thought you might like to have a few of the activities planned for the workshop:
•First grade reading activity for word recognition.
o Using post-it notes and a felt pen, write several words naming things in your house such as, desk, chair, table, couch, fireplace, etc.
o Give your child the post-its and ask them to put each word on the item
o Variations include:
Putting the words in the wrong places and having your child correct them
After the words are on, have him bring them back to you in alphabetical order
Ask him to find all the words that begin or end in a certain letter sound
•Second grade history/social studies timeline
o Ask your child to talk to one of his grandparents or an older friend of yours
o He needs to find out three of the most important events that happened in that persons life, what was the date of each event, and what was going on in the world at the time each event happened
o Then help him make a timeline showing each event
o He can then draw pictures, find pictures in a magazine, or use words to describe the events happening in the world when these events occurred
o Here’s an example
_1946________________1963-4____________1968______
Born HS graduation Twins born
World War II John F. Kennedy Martin Luther King
Robert Kennedy
Whatever you do, make it fun.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
Baby Learning
I've been thinking about my visit to the infant program the other day. It's unusual for a school/education system to run an infant center, but we do, and I have the joy of stopping in their every once in a while to watch the babies.
While I was there I noticed one little one in particular. She was probably about seven or eight months old. She was sitting up and crawling, but not yet walking. (They do so much learning in that first year of life!) She was playing with a toy when I walked over to watch the children.
Very shortly she lost interest and starting looking around for someone. When the teacher came into range, she just lifted her arms. It was a very obvious "pick me up" sign. The teacher picked her up, held her for a few minutes, then set her down with the toy.
Again, it lasted just a minute or two and she began looking again with arms up. The teacher made an interesting comment to me as she picked the child up, "This one's been sick and she really needs some holding right now. We can tell when children aren't getting enough attention. All they want is to be held."
What struck me was the ability of a seven month old to make her needs clearly known and for an adult to pay attention and respond to those needs. The needs of infants may be few on the care giving side. They're probably as simple as being clean, dry, fed, and warm. There are several studies of orphanages that provided a clean, dry, warm environment with plenty of food, but children failed to thrive.
What drives us all, infants too, is the need for love and attention. The little one I was watching wanted to be held. She hadn't felt good and, although no one could make her cold go away, they could give her reassurance that they loved her and cared about her.
Sometimes we forget that learning/education is about the whole being whether you're an infant, toddler, teenager, or adult. Learning something new means taking a risk, sort of like having a cold, feeling out of sorts while you try something different, but knowing you're okay to do it. Without support you may not be willing to take the risk to try the something new.
As your infant is growing, be sure to give them the love and support they need so they know it's okay to try something new, knowing they can fall down, get up and keep going, and you'll still be there for them. Love is a very important part of learning. It even works with teenagers.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2006
Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
Today included a visit to my little guys. Our office is having a state review team visit this week. They check programs to see if we're in compliance with all the laws. Rarely is anyone perfect because there are so many laws to follow in each and every program, but we sure try to be!
Today they were visiting one of our preschool programs as well as the infant/toddler program next door. What a treat for me to join them.
Sometimes when I'm sitting at a desk dealing with buses, budgets, and buildings which is exactly what I did today, going to visit the babies is just what I need to remind me why I do what I do. They are so much fun to watch when they learn something new. Their face lights up and you can watch them learn whatever it is all over their bodies. The wonder of a puddle, a goldfish, or the sound of their voice is incredible to them.
If you're having a bit of trouble with your New Year's Resolutions (remember it's all about learning a new set of habits), go watch a toddler. Every bit of his energy, attention, and concentration is directed at learning whatever the new activity that is in front of him. Before long he's building that tower, riding that tricylce, or, for me, exercising that 20 minutes I promised myself.
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2006
Money Management is a Learned and Practiced Skill
Since I've been talking about adult learning, let's talk about young adults learning how to manage money. Managing money is a learned skill just as is reading a book. My children are now out on their own getting to practice the skills they learned from having an allowance and working at part-time jobs.
James is my most recent example of learning about money. He's been in the Air Force now for three years and has a steady if not large income. He's learned to make his car payments, take care of basic needs, buy the clothes and CDs he likes, and put a bit aside.
This week he moved into his own apartment and life just got more complicated. "Mom," he said when I talked to him after the move, "there were so many things I didn't have. I had to go get a set of dishes, silverware, a waste basket, even a toothbrush holder. I had to spend $200 on just dumb stuff."
I was very good and didn't say things like, "Oh, you mean all the dumb stuff we quietly provided all those years," or "told you so," or any of a number of other possibilities. I just smiled to myself and said, "Well, it is a bit costly to live on your own. The good news is these are one time purchases. You won't be buying these every month."
"I know, but it just wasn't what I expected," he said. "I sure hope I have enough money for the things I have to do. I thought I knew, but now I'm not sure." Funny his sister used almost the same words six months ago when she moved to Chico.
Lessons learned are very often not what we expected. If learning was always what we planned, life would be boring and quite unimaginative. Like most new lessons, this one just seem scary and he's looking for a safety net. The net appears as we become more and more familiar with the situation we are in and as we figure out what works and what doesn't.
He may well make some mistakes and come up a little short at times. When he does he'll figure out what to do about it. When he has a little extra, he'll figure out what to do with it. Learning is often about trial and error. Those who have some experience can help when the learner is ready, but whether we have a teacher or not, what we learn and retain is gained through our own experiences.
He ended our conversation with one thing he'd decided he'd learned with this move, "I'm definitely not getting married. I like having a place by myself."
My only thought was, "Uh, huh."
Posted by Dr Joni at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2006
Resolution Two
How's it going? Picked a resolution yet to use the learning steps on:
• Deciding what you want
• Visualizing it happening
• Affirming that it’s happened
• Finding the match to make it happen based on your needs
• Now do it
Sometimes, lots of times, I have to visualize and affirm a great deal, especially if it's an area where I have lots of old negative baggage, but if I keep at the new activity every day it will happen.
Yesterday I used my new DVD and exercised. I didn't exercise very long. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't even pretty, but I did it. You can too.
As of this morning I'm adding one more resolution to my agenda. I had a phone call at 9:15 today, Sunday, New Year's Day telling me I hadn't paid an account. Now I'm very good at paying my bills so this was a real surprise. Could I owe it? Maybe. I do buy things at this store. Do I know the people who called? No. Do I want my credit hit if the bill is late? No.
These folks wanted my bank card number and the number on the back. When I said no I'd pay it with the charge card from the store they said no, they couldn't accept it. When I asked for a copy of the bill they couldn't fax it to me. It's New Year's Day and no way to check. I didn't give it to them. I'll check on it Tuesday.
But-I've known for a while I need to keep better tabs on my expenditures. So I'm going to go back through my little process and figure out a better system to keep track.
One more new learning experience.
My point this week is simply that adults learn too. Kids are often easy and quick learners. Adults may have a harder time just because we are somewhat set in our ways. I know that's hard to believe, and maybe it's just me who needs dynamite to blast me out of my routine. It's hard to change, but given motivations that work for us, we can be just as ready to learn something new as the toddler taking those first few steps.
Have a great year learning all kinds of new and interesting things.
Posted by Dr Joni at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)