Quoting from a news article from NYDailyNews.com:

Researchers at the University of East London examined what effect drinking water had on the performance of five dozen girls and boys between the ages of seven and nine.

The research journal Appetite reported that half the kids drank a 250 ml glass of water (approximately 1 cup) and the other half didn’t. When the two groups took a test on visual attention and memory 20 minutes later, the drinkers scored 34 percent higher than the abstainers. The drinkers also did 23 percent better on a harder version of the memory test and 11 percent better on another test that called for them to delete certain letters from a sequence.

Just why water may benefit test performance isn’t clear.

The article goes on to say:

Of course all the water in the world isn’t a substitute for hitting the books to prep for a test. For young kids who find studying for long periods nearly impossible, Marotta has a suggestion.

“Study for shorter periods of time but over a greater duration,” he says. “Instead of an hour the night before, study for 10 minutes a night beginning on Monday night for a test that will be given on Friday. That way you’re not overloading the brain in one session.”

Read the entire (short) article here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/03/12/2009-03-12_drinking_water_linked_to_higher_test_sco.html#ixzz0iI8KcNsZ

Thanks for Snapr from Flickr.com for the photo in this post.

There’s no getting around it, the learning expectations for students are higher than ever. I list below a free virtual tutor and some additional websites that offer support in math and reading. Click on the images to visit each site.

LearntoBe.com – free virtual tutoring

NeoK12.com – math video tutorials

IXL.com – Math practice

TicketToRead.com – Reading

Raz-Kids.com – Reading

LetsGoLearn.com – Reading and Math

Today we finally watched President Obama’s “Back to School” speech.  The kids were very excited and listened carefully to Obama’s words.  As they listened to Obama, each student took notes on things they heard that seemed important.  As part of our conversation afterwards, we made a list of some of the ideas students deemed powerful.

Notes from President Obama’s Speech:

1. Failures teach you.
2. Put your best effort in school so that you can learn more and more things.
3. Don’t ever give up on yourself.
4. Don’t give up.
5. You need education for a (good) job.
6. You can’t drop out of school and then get a good job.
7. Don’t be afraid of asking questions, so that you can learn more.
8. Spend time doing extra time doing extra curricular.
9. You won’t always succeed at first, so keep trying.
10. Here in America, you choose your own destiny.
11. Don’t cut class.
12. Do your homework even if you don’t feel like it.
13. Don’t let anyone down, especially yourself.
14. Don’t let your country down.
15. There is no excuse for not doing anything.
16. Set your own goals.
17. It’s important to learn to help your life.
18. You are never too old (too young) to have a dream.
19. Do your best at everything.
20. Listen to your parents.

Notes from President Barack Obama’s “Back to School” speech.pdf

A big thank you to Mr. Becker for working with our class all day!  Mr. Becker joined our class to introduce students to computer programming using MIT’s free software Scratch.

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

I encourage all students to download the Scratch program, create some games or programs, and then post them to our online gallery.

This link will take you to the page Mr. Becker created for our class.  

Here is a video about Scratch:
 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Learn more about Scratch and how to use it here.

I look forward to seeing everyone’s projects!  I will try to post some pictures and videos this weekend.

I discovered this video recently and thought it was a humorous look at how students (right or wrong) view textbooks.  I like how the student in this video referred to his textbook as a “foreign tool”.  

In class this year, we are learning about the different parts of a textbook: index, table of contents, glossary. We are also learning about different types of resource books: Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Thesaurus.  

In addition, we are learning about text features: headings, sub-headings, captions, tables, diagrams, etc.  These are all important things to understand about non-fiction books and knowing these features and parts helps us become better readers and researchers.  

At the same time, it is important to understand (as adults) the world has changed and is continuing to change rapidly. Students are often much more comfortable using online resources and will often turn to these before a textbook or other text reference book.  I think it is important that students know how to navigate both traditional text resources and online resources effectively and safely.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is a great technique you can use to practice your spelling words.  The recipe is included in the video.

As learners the more we involve our body and senses, the better we learn.  Try this method to learn your Geometry words!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have heard that often elementary teachers do not do a good job preparing students for middle school. One common area where students are not prepared is the area of grades. In elementary school we have moved away from the grading system we all knew from growing up. Instead of As, Bs, Cs, Ds, and Fs, we give 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

I think this system can be confusing for both students and parents because it is unfamiliar to us. Over the past two years I have also realized more and more the importance of helping students understand what grades mean for them as a learner. One goal of mine as a teacher is to help students understand how they learn and how they can be a successful student in the school system and in life. Part of being successful in school is figuring out what you need to learn.

As learners we all begin as novices and hopefully as we practice and get coaching and mentoring and work hard, we slowly move from Novice to Apprentice and from Apprentice to Practitioner and eventually to Expert. This is true whether we are learning how to shoot a basketball or add positive and negative numbers.

I have created a color-coded chart that helps show the connection between the learning process and grades (both number grades and letter grades). As we talk about learning this year, I will be using the terms Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, and Expert.

I think will the right support every child can be successful and grow through these phases of learning. As a teacher or parent, we become concerned when a child is stuck at the novice or apprentice stage for a long period of time.

Learning Levels Color Guide.pdf

In class we have started our science projects.  Our students are creating books, slideshows, and videos they will use to teach other Pioneer students about Living Things, including photosynthesis, food webs, food chains, biomes and endangered species.  We are using books and the internet to research.  As we research we are learning a lot about copyright laws and how they relate to using images from websites.  Here are a three links below you might want to explore at home!

http://www.copyrightkids.org/

http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/schools/jones/Copyright-Kids/index.htm

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/?#/copyright/