Tuesday Open Thread
Hard to believe at this late date that this is news but the company Land's End is producing - by popular demand- shirts for girls that are science-themed.
Still on the clothing theme, there's a new campaign by a group, Too Small To Fail, to impress upon parents to teach their pre-school children news words by talking to them more. How?
The cute kid-sized shirts list conversation topics that parents can use when chatting with their children. The campaign is designed to address the so-called "word gap" that exists between children from low-income families and those from more affluent families. According to research, affluent children have heard 30 million more words by age 3 than children from low-income families.
"One of the things that families told us is that they know they should be talking, reading and singing," Susan True of the Bay Area Council, an organization that collaborated on the campaign with Too Small To Fail, said in a promotional video for the campaign (above). "We also know that families are so overwhelmed that telling them what they should do is probably not that helpful."
True goes on to say, "So we thought, 'What about every time you put a T-shirt on a child, every time you take a bath, every time you put the child to bed, these are all times that families could take advantage of building their young child's brain."
Time magazine jumps into the "should anyone listen to stars about public education" fight by comparing Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. First, one is truly a character and the other is mostly real (should I spoil it and tell you which is which?) So for me, it's a dopey argument because you are talking about someone who is fictionalized versus someone who is exaggerating their own thoughts for effect.
It's funny because ed reformers get themselves all in a knot over the "outsized" attention stars get (lately, Colbert, Stewart and Louis CK) but what about those knowledgeable ed reformer stars like Andre Agassi, John Legend and Eva Longoria? We should believe them more?
What's on your mind?
Still on the clothing theme, there's a new campaign by a group, Too Small To Fail, to impress upon parents to teach their pre-school children news words by talking to them more. How?
The cute kid-sized shirts list conversation topics that parents can use when chatting with their children. The campaign is designed to address the so-called "word gap" that exists between children from low-income families and those from more affluent families. According to research, affluent children have heard 30 million more words by age 3 than children from low-income families.
"One of the things that families told us is that they know they should be talking, reading and singing," Susan True of the Bay Area Council, an organization that collaborated on the campaign with Too Small To Fail, said in a promotional video for the campaign (above). "We also know that families are so overwhelmed that telling them what they should do is probably not that helpful."
True goes on to say, "So we thought, 'What about every time you put a T-shirt on a child, every time you take a bath, every time you put the child to bed, these are all times that families could take advantage of building their young child's brain."
Time magazine jumps into the "should anyone listen to stars about public education" fight by comparing Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. First, one is truly a character and the other is mostly real (should I spoil it and tell you which is which?) So for me, it's a dopey argument because you are talking about someone who is fictionalized versus someone who is exaggerating their own thoughts for effect.
It's funny because ed reformers get themselves all in a knot over the "outsized" attention stars get (lately, Colbert, Stewart and Louis CK) but what about those knowledgeable ed reformer stars like Andre Agassi, John Legend and Eva Longoria? We should believe them more?
What's on your mind?
Comments
wondering
The nation is embracing discovery math as Seattle Public Schools finally starts moving away from it.
S parent
Is it one step forward (new K-5 texts) and two steps back (CCSS) for SPS students?
From a practical standpoint, the WA math standards (as compared to the CCSS) were clearly defined, with plenty of accompanying sample problems, which made covering the standards pretty straightforward for teachers (or parents trying to tutor their children through the lousy math texts).
parent
I am just concerned what Common Core will do, if students get more credit for drawing circles than getting correct answers to math problems.
S parent
wondering
Both JAMS and Fairmont Park have Fusion pages, but no true school website. I agree that this is odd. Seems like both schools should have a school website by now. Heck, they should have had them up and running for open enrollment back in February.
Does anyone know who to contact at SPS about school websites? Maybe they just forgot to set them up for the new schools?
- North-end Mom
1. Many single parents, who are likely to be less affluent compared to a married couple, who share expenses and family duties, have very little time to converse with children after working back to back, mind numbing, minimum wage jobs.
2. If for generations families have carried forward poor grammar and limited vocabularies, how then are they to expose their children to varied language and vocabulary with conversation, unless they themselves are given the time and money to improve their own linguistic skills?
We need to flatten income disparities, promote marriage and family, value parenting as much as working, and provide affordable or free ongoing education for all people to solve these problems.
This goes way beyond children's t-shirts.
Jessica
another teacher