Ideas to Inspire

If you want to help your child when they’re not in school, check out these educational iPhone apps. Hey, it’s better than them using your phone to play Paper Toss or Bubble Wrap while they’re waiting for dinner. Here’s the link:

http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.org/blog/2009/100-most-educational-iphone-apps/

Of course I’m so pake, that I checked to see if they had free versions of any of the suggestions because that’s the only thing I was going to put on my own iPhone.

I think overall the reviews are pretty insightful on iTunes, and if it’s FREE99, even better!!

Summer is over, and now that school has started, the kids are coming home with reading homework,  but as a parent you want to make sure that they’re reading something at their level, educational and still interesting enough to keep them motivated.

If that’s a concern for you, Mrs. Crystella Kauka, our middle school librarian has a wonderful online resource for finding the “right” book for your child.

Instructions:

Go to our middle school home page and click on the banner for the Charles Reed Bishop library.

On the left column of the home page, under “Online Databases” is the link Novelist

The database can find books by type (adventure, adventure comics. . .), author, age/grade level, etc. You’ll get a short synopsis of the book and it will even list similar books so you can plan ahead.

Weboword is a website dedicated to teaching vocabulary visually.

If students are visual learners this is a great site for learning vocabulary. Not only does the site give a daily word, it also gives a visual, a sentence, a definition and information on the root of the word.

Why I like this: the more exposure students have to vocabulary, the more chances they have to learn new words. Also, by giving a visual picture, students have more ways to learn a word.

Learning doesn’t stop on the last day of school. Encourage your child to continue reading, writing and thinking all year long. Besides the list of ways to get and keep your teen reading (in the May newsletter), here are some other resources:

Around the web:

• NASA has an interactive website for science buffs.
• Explore the world with Smithsonian. Their on-line resources will take you around the world.
• Tour the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
• Be immersed in art.  SmArtHistory is an award-winning website that functions like an art history book. Search by theme, style or artist, then listen to an audio discussion of the work.

Around town:

• Go to the library – This link will take you to the public library site where you can get audiobooks, e-books, and information on special programs as well as location and hours for your local library. The Hawaii Public Library also has summer reading programs for kids, teens and adult. Visit Mark Kishaba, young adult librarian for the Hilo Public Library.
• Participate in community service, gain self-confidence and self-esteem. Youth Service America offers the following tips: 100_ways_to_make_difference.pdf

Blue and Brush

T.A. Barron, author of The Lost Years of Merlin epic wrote an article in Parent Guide Magazine talking about raising creative kids (Oct. 2004). In an nutshell, here’s his top ten most important things anyone can do to encourage a child’s creativity:

1. Be creative in your own life. Be a role model by honoring your own creative impulses: read, sing, ask questions, scribble, paint, tell jokes, write poems, imitate a howling wolf.
2. Read aloud.This is one of the most powerful sparks of creativity.
3. Surround your kids with creativity. Make your home a place that invites creative play and exploration. Unstructured play materials (old magazines, modeling clay, colored paper, spare clothes) are easy to keep handy.
4. Fan those creative flames. Try not to judge, and encourage wild ideas now and then.
5. Record ideas and experiences.
6. Turn off the television.
7. Experience nature.
8. Talk about creative people.
9. Don’t overschedule.
10. Creativity is a way of life.