This site is dedicated
to those who train and teach our most precious jewels, our children.Teachers, administrators, therapists, parents,
and counselors,
will be able to visit this site and gain invaluable information for their students
and their own children. Feel free to leave your questions, comments,and suggestions and sign up
for my newsletter to meet our educator in the spotlight!
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this website is to
provide a variety
of tools and information to
teachers, parents, and students to facilitate
learning for all children.
Visitors will be able to visit often
and view new announcements, new educational materials, new questions, and new topics to discuss! Don't forget to leave your
comments!
My Educational Philosophyis that All Children Can and Will Learn Given the Right Tools! This includes involved parents,dedicated
teachers, and administrators who provide a curriculum and program that meets their students' needs. Parents need
to understand the importance of staying in touch with the teacher and providing enriching experiences that enable the children
to remember what they have learned. If there was one magic solution to educational success, it would be reading! Read! Read! Read!
American Education Week 2008
November 16–22
Great
Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility
NEA's 87th annual American Education Week (AEW) spotlights the importance of providing every child in America with
a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great.
Great Public Schools:
A Basic Right and Our Responsibility reflects the Association's calling upon America to provide students
with quality public schools so that they can grow, prosper, and achieve in the 21st century.
www.pta.org
**************************************************************************** May 25th is National Missing Children's Day!
Ensuring the safety of children is a primary parenting concern. That’s why PTA supports
the Take 25 campaign, which encourages parents to take time to talk to their kids about staying safe.
Lead poisoning is the number one environmental hazard threatening children throughout
the United States, affecting an estimated 310,000 children under the age of six. Children under 6 and pregnant women are at
the greatest risk for lead poisoning because lead inhibits the proper physical and cognitive development in children
and infants. Even low levels of lead poisoning can cause hyperactivity, aggressive behavior, learning disabilities, lowered
IQ, speech delay and hearing impairment. High levels of lead can cause severe mental disabilities, convulsions, coma, or even
death. More info contact www.leadsafe.org or www.alphalead.org.
In the complex and fast paced society in which we live, it becomes difficult for
parents to really know what is going on with their teens. In the United States, the average daily time parents spend with
their teens is about 15 minute s a day. Your teen can start heading down the wrong path without you knowing, until you
can see a need for serious help. This ad is posted for your information
and exploration and is not an endorsement of this program! Visit www.troubled-teen-advisor.com for more information.
Mission The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to advance
cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision
of our Founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay. To make
a donation call 1-800-4stjude.
What is ExploraVision?
Now in its
16th year, ExploraVision encourages K-12 students of all interest, skill and ability levels to create and explore a vision
of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science. All inventions and innovations result from
creative thinking and problem solving. ExploraVision offers a ready-made tool to put into practice many of the National
Science Education Standards — particularly in the areas of "science and technology" and "science in personal
and social perspectives." The competition is also an excellent way for students to learn how to work in collaborative
learning groups on an interdisciplinary project. Visit www.exploravision.org.
2008 National Convention
Connect for Success! 112th Annual PTA National Convention and Exhibition
Friday, June 20---Monday, June 23, 2008
Held at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, CA
Join
thousands of parents, teachers, students, and leaders who come to national convention each year to enhance their
skills. Visit www.pta.org for more information! **********************************************************************************
AcademicONE
Live e-tutoring!
AcademicONE, a Tec-Masters Incorporated company, is an online education service that provides tutoring in math and science courses
through a secured web site. Whether from home, school, library, or after-school program, AcademicONE allows students to receive
assistance with difficult homework problems from a live tutor. Wherever there is Internet access, help is just a few clicks
away. Visit: www.itutorlive.com.
Challenge Air!
Challenge Air for Kids and Friends, a not-for-profit organization, offers motivational,inspirational
and life-changing experiences to physically challenged children and youth through aviation. Visit www.challengeair.org for details and schedules!! **********************************************************************************************************************
Founded in 1988, Give the Gift of Sight is a family of charitable programs providing free vision care
and eyewear to underprivileged individuals in North America and in developing countries around the world. Sponsored by Give
the Gift of Sight Foundation and Luxottica Group, these programs have helped five million people on five continents and in
hundreds of communities across North America. The program's goal is to help seven million people by 2008. Visitwww.givethegiftofsight.comfor more information and how you can help.
.
****************************************************** How To Improve Education for African-American Students!
Edited by Sheryl J. Denbo and Lynson Moore Beaulieu Foreword by Vinetta C. Jones, Ph.D.
Dean School of Education, Howard University Washington, D. C.
Software Training for
Autistic Students at Your School!
LaureateLearning.net
Computers can be very effective when working with individuals who have Autism Spectrum Disorders
(ASD). The software in these packages is designed for children in all stages of oral language development from emerging
vocabulary comprehension to basic syntax mastery. You'll learn how these programs train cause and effect, early vocabulary,
syntax, category concepts, auditory discrimination and processing, following directions, and expressive language. Every participant
will receive workshop materials including a demo CD of the software discussed.
To schedule a training or
for more information, call Adam at 1-800-562-6801, ext. 15 or e-mail him.
Black
and Hispanic children have made significant gains in health, safety and income over the past two decades, narrowing gaps between
them and white children, according to a pioneering report on child development. They
still fare worse overall than whites, but they're catching up in several areas and are less likely to smoke cigarettes,
drink alcohol, abuse drugs or commit suicide, according to this report. It was sponsored by the Foundation for Child Development,
a philanthropy that funds research on children. Visit USAToday.com
¡Colorín Colorado
Welcome
to Colorín Colorado, the leading website for teachers and parents of English Language Learners! Here you'll find
lots of articles, resources, and ideas to support ELLs at school and at home. Teachers:
Take a look at our For Educators section (also available in Spanish) to find more information about ELLs, teaching reading and content to ELLs, and classroom
strategies. Also be sure to check our Topics A to Z section for articles on everything from early literacy and assessment to learning disabilties.
Visit
I received this poem from Garret and fell in
love with it! It is so true and offers insight into the minds of children who have ADHD. Please copy it and read
it to your students, parents, or children who have ADHD and watch a smile of understanding shine through.
A Poem for Everyone Who Has ADHD!
You are amazing. But many don't understand your ADHD mind. So you can tell them ...
The ADHD mind is no
more than this: A heroic soul born desperately in need of sensation.
To you ... a moment is an eternity, a rule
is a tyranny, a process is a purgatory, a joy is an ecstasy, a daydream is a vision, a hazard is a playground, silence
is suffocation, and completion is death.
Add to this brutally expansive spirit the overwhelming need to risk,
create, and express -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or businesses or buildings or
something of meaning, your very breath is cut off ...
You must create, must pour out your entire being in creation.
By some strange, unknown, inward urgency you do not feel alive unless you are intimately involved in the risk of self-expression.
Thank
you for having the courage to create. For without your creations the world would grow dull and listless And the rest
of us who are like you would not have your courageous act to lean on to inspire our own.
After a successful
launch with a Cat-A-Van tour of the Gulf Coast and a concentration on school libraries in the ravaged Gulf Coast region in
2006, NEA's Books Across America is going national, raising funds for school libraries in need around the country. NEA's
Books Across America and The NEA Foundation will announce the recipients of $5,000 awards to libraries affected by Hurricanes
Katrina, Rita, and Wilma during Read Across America week, the official launch of the 2007 national program. From
the moment NEA launched NEA's Books Across America along the Gulf Coast, N EA members and partners have risen
to the challenge of helping their peers along the Gulf Coast region. In 2006, NEA members contributed 350,000 books and raised
$125,000 for school libraries. More than 500 NEA member schools from 47 states "adopted" schools or classrooms in
the Gulf Coast region, raising funds and gathering books.
April’s
Attention focuses on the impact of AD/HD on individuals and families. Leading researchers clarify the meaning and limitations
of the widely cited, but often misunderstood, findings of the MTA follow-up. Read about a family whose stories—at turns
sad, triumphant, and inspiring—offer a multidimen-sional view of the disorder. Other articles cover such topics as educational
therapy, relationships, and the risks of lead exposure Learn More...
Girls with ADHD: Overlooked, Underdiagnosed, and Underserved by Anita Gurian, Ph.D
What happens to
the girls? Because they don't disrupt the rest of the class, it may take longer for girls to get a diagnosis
of ADHD and to get the help they need. Most of the research has been done with boys, and as many as 50 to 75% of girls with
ADHD are missed. Those girls who do get identified are diagnosed on average five years later than boys (boys generally diagnosed
at age 7 and girls at age 12). Thus, they lose five critical years during which they could have been getting help. Here's
the good news: Educators, mental health researchers, and parents are now becoming aware of the unique needs of girls with
ADHD.
How Teachers Can Help—Spotting the Signs in Class
Teachers
should be alert to the specific symptoms of ADHD in girls, such as poor concentration, easy distractibility, difficulty focusing,
disorganization (messy backpack, loss of schedules and homework), and forgetfulness (forgetting to hand in papers, take assignments
home). Other possible clues include nonstop talking, bossiness, interrupting others, slow to pick up social cues, and difficulty
paying attention to multi-step directions.
The Sensitive Teacher Can Use Strategies Such As:
seat girl in front of room to make
sure her attention is not drifting
give her a task to help her refocus
have her buddy share
teach
social conventions explicitly (how to join a group, give a compliment)
To
help her organize:
give her organizing folders and notebooks
break down work into simpler component tasks
assign classroom responsibilities to make her feel important
teach calming techniques, such as deep breathing and visualization when she's overstimulated
Connect for Success!
