Link: Kindergarten
New research challenges a growing trend toward holding kids out of kindergarten until they’re older, arguing that academic advantages are short-lived and come at the expense of delaying entry into the workforce and other costs.
Link: MLive.com
In this advice column, a special education administrator explains to a parent that the "gift of time" can help a struggling learner practice a given skill, organize their thoughts, or recall necessary information — in short, put their best foot forward.
Link: DailyNewsTranscript.com
A Massachusetts elementary school is offering a new classroom experience to its special education students: Cafe 21. Cafe 21 began last year as a way for teachers to meet and discuss teaching strategies, but has burgeoned into a way for special education students to learn lessons in a unique way and raise money for charity.
Cafe 21, named for the room it takes place in, really begins on Thursdays, Dunne said. Students take part in a cooking class that helps them learn how to sequence, follow directions and take measurements as well as basic living skills, Dunne said.
Link: EssentialEstrogen.com
Sandwiched between two of Iowa's more rural counties, the Louisa-Muscatine Community School District and its centralized campus may not seem like the type of educational facility that would gain international notice for technological advances. Looks, however, can be deceiving. Next week, when elementary students in the district sit down to take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, a number of special education students will have the added assistance of an Apple iPod at their side. The event will be a technological breakthrough in standardized testing that will likely produce ripple effects throughout the state and nation because it allows special education students to remain in the classroom during testing while continuing to work at their own pace.
Link: Palisadian-Post
California Julie Firstenberg Kamins has just released her first children's book, Why Am I at the Red Table?, the newest children's book dedicated to kids with a desire to learn and to those who have faced challenges in learning and reading. The book follows the story of Madison, a second grader who has just started school and has been assigned to the "red table" reading group. Aware of the labeling, she is quickly discouraged and stops reading. Eventually, Madison learns an important lesson. "Education is really about focusing on your own learning, and not really paying attention to or comparing yourself to others, but trying to work on your own personal best," said Kamins, an academic tutor. "The message isn't that you will definitely move up, but if you don't try at all, you definitely won't."
Link: Education World
As a classroom teacher, I have worked with a large number of identified special-needs students. That has been difficult at times and, at other times, quite joyful. Although it might feel like it sometimes, we are not alone when dealing with special-needs students. Unlike the old one-room schoolhouse teacher, educators today have a number of support resources available through their schools and districts. Unfortunately, many teachers simply fail to utilize those resources.
Link: Tennessean.com
For the first time in two years, the Nashville school district is hoping to train more adults to become surrogate parents for special needs students. Federal law requires every special-education child to have a parent advocate to help develop specialized learning plans and secure proper services. If the child doesn't legally have a parent, or if the parent can't be found, the government has to appoint an advocate. Currently, surrogates in the Nashville school system are juggling several children, but the district would like to lessen the caseload so every volunteer has only one child.
Link: LD Online
Many students with disabilities find homework challenging, and teachers are frequently called upon to make accommodations for these students. What research supports this practice? This article describes five strategies that researchers have identified that help students with disabilities get the most from their homework. They include:
1. Give clear and appropriate assignments
2. Make homework accommodations
3. Teach study skills
4. Use a homework calendar
5. Ensure clear home/school communication
Link: Testing
The Cohoes city school district, outside Albany, is considering a gifted program for elementary students and adding college-level courses after discovering that its top students improved less on standardized tests in the past two years than everyone else in the district. In Ardsley, N.Y., a Westchester County suburb, administrators intend to place more special education students in regular classes after seeing their standardized test scores rise in the last year.
Link: Back to School 2005 | canada.com.
Kid-size mouse, two-ounce phone and dictionary pen among choices. Oh, for the days when a bottle of Elmer's glue, a six-pack of duotangs and a protractor were enough to equip kids for the classroom.
These days such a sparse, low-tech supply kit could very well trigger a phone call from teacher.
It's no secret teenagers now consider high-tech personal accessories school essentials: cellphones, PDAs, iPods and laptops routinely make their must-have lists. But increasingly, companies are marketing the latest learning gizmos to tweens and elementary school kids.
Here's a look at the latest back-to-school gadgets for the K to 7 set.
