Kick off summer reading!
Summer is here! Camp! Swimming! All day play! Reading!
Wait, what?
Yes, reading! Think of all the time now your child has to get lost in a book. This is a great way to avoid the summer slide of losing some of the great comprehension skills gained during school year. Your child can read about new places and fun experiences while gaining vocabulary and background knowledge that will aid in the fall.
What it feels like to be bad at math
Via JoanneJacobs.com The author of the blog Math with Bad Drawings is a current math teacher (and former math student) and discusses the feelings and actions of someone who is floundering at math from both his teaching and his own experiences. As a math teacher, it’s...
Embrace the Mistakes
No one enjoys mistakes, but we all make them. Did you ever think it could be beneficial to admit to them? Kathryn Schulz, the author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error writes about the good side to being wrong in this article. Is there anything at...
3 Methods to get kids to WANT to read and write
The Washington Post blog, Answer Sheet, ran an article about developing self-driven learning in students from a new book by veteran educator Larry Ferlazzo. Daniel Pink describes in his book, Drive, that the development of intrinsic motivation needs autonomy,...
Early number sense plays a role in later math skills
On Joanne Jacob's blog, she highlighted a recent AP article discussing the correlation between early number sense and math ability several years later. The University of Missouri study found that 7th graders who struggled were the same ones who struggled in 1st...
Real Life 101: How Do We Make Students Aware of the Working World?
In this blog post at edweek.org, Illina Garon discusses how her many of her 10th grade students don't believe they will need math or English for their future jobs. I was incredulous. "You want to be astronauts, and you think you're not going to need math?" I turned to...
This is your brain, and THIS is your brain on books!
HERE is a great article from Open Education Database about 10 positive changes that happen to your brain when you read and listen to books. Below are some of the highlights. We make photos in our minds, even without being prompted Researchers have found that visual...
10 Steps Toward Better Writing
While at Gideon we don't focus on writing long essays, we do recognize the need for this skill. In high school and college, you'll need to be able to write two to ten (TEN?!) page papers. Don't think being a STEM based major will allow you to avoid them either. ...
Learning Apps for Kids
We know kids love smart phones, ipads, and like. I hear that two year-olds can navigate better than their parents sometimes. While we still believe in limited technology time, here are some learning apps for little ones that will make the time spent on the devices a...
Little Numbers Add Up to a Big Difference for HS Math
In THIS article on edweek.org, author Sarah Sparks discusses the findings of a new study, Why Mental Arithmetic Counts, done on 10th grade students and how they solve simple math problems. The students' brains were scanned while performing single-digit arithmetic...
Learning Apps for Kids
We know kids love smart phones, ipads, and like. I hear that two year-olds can navigate better than their parents sometimes. While we still believe in limited technology time, here are some learning apps for little ones that will make the time spent on the devices a...
Little Numbers Add Up to a Big Difference for HS Math
In THIS article on edweek.org, author Sarah Sparks discusses the findings of a new study, Why Mental Arithmetic Counts, done on 10th grade students and how they solve simple math problems. The students' brains were scanned while performing single-digit arithmetic...
Gideon Gold Star – Avery
Avery went from struggling in math to excelling beyond grade level. You can too!
Global Report Card
A really cool website, Globalreportcard.org, has compiled a massive amount of data to compare ANY school district in America against the state, nation, and even international students. While we hear about how our national education is failing our students, maybe it's...
Sucessful School Turnaround with Some TLC
Here's a great video I just found on Valerie Strauss's Washington Post education blog from PBS News Hour about how one LA middle school was turned around with small changes such as monitoring attendance closely with calls to the parent - especially in a pivotal year...
Online Videos Aid Mastery Learning
While I still think putting pencil to paper is crucial while working out math problems, I heartily agree with some of the ideas espoused by the online Khan Academy's founder, Salman Khan. From MIT Technology Review: In much of the developed world, Khan writes, schools...
Why Students Should Learn Cursive (and Math Facts and Word Roots)
Yes, Yes, and Yes. I could not agree more! In this article from TIME, an English teacher describes her negativity towards being required to have her students memorize word roots only to discover how beneficial it was. And that they didn't hate it! Fancy that! In an...
Top 10 Bedtime Stories: Children’s Books You Will Love
From WashingtonTimescommunities: By Brighid Moret Silver Spring, Md, June 28, 2012 – The tradition of reading a bedtime story has been around for generations. Sitting on the bed with a parent reading a brightly colored picture book before being tucked into bed is a...
Persistence Predicts Success
One of the big benefits of a program like Gideon is the ability to train a child to focus on a task for period of time. Another great skill learned through repetition (when needed) is perseverance through difficult tasks pays off by making that task easier! We feel...
Why Johnny Can’t Add Without a Calculator
A new trend is the use of a calculator for EVERYTHING. While we demand mastery at Gideon which requires memorization of basic math facts, many students (from high performing school districts) we see are still counting (or even multiplying!) on their fingers. There...