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Career Day, study abroad, kindergarten, homework, music

Education Roundup

Adele Harrison celebrated its fifth-annual career day a few weeks before school ended. The entire student body participated as 20 local professionals came to the middle school to talk about their careers. The event began with the keynote speaker, Lisa Lavagetto from Ramekins, who gave a cooking demonstration. After the keynote, the students went to their classrooms and were able to hear from two different professionals of the student’s choice. 

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If you have a student ages 16 to 26 who is interested in studying abroad at some point, I recommend an incredible list of 65 different organizations that provide study abroad grants and scholarships. Read the entire list here: www.gooverseas.com/study-abroad/study-abroad-grants-and-scholarships. This website also has great general information on living and studying overseas.

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Foreign students studying in California have a positive impact on our economy. International students contributed an estimated $3 billion to our state economy last year alone. California is ranked first in the nation in the number of international students at our universities. Our colleges with the most foreign students are: USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford and Academy of Art University (San Francisco). The leading places of origin for students studying here last year were: China, South Korea, India, Taiwan and Japan.

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Congratulations to Sonoma Valley High School graduate Jonathan Weiland who will be one of 180 high school seniors in the state honored in Sacramento next week. Weiland, who is a resident of Hanna Boys Center, was the recipient of a Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship. The award honors seniors across California who exhibit a combination of academic excellence and leadership. You may remember Weiland for his moving and successful senior project helping the homeless, a cause close to his heart after spending three years homeless himself.

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Some parents prefer a kindergarten experience that is more academic, others feel strongly that kindergarten should be play based and centered on socialization. A teacher at Prestwood sent me a link to a very interesting TEDx video about the history of kindergarten and how the standards have changed. The speaker is a very dynamic young man who has taught kindergarten for the past 15 years in Santa Monica and he is not a big fan of the worksheets now pressed upon most 5-year-olds in kindergarten programs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ye78F4Mnbk

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Speaking of Prestwood, its recent parent bulletin reminded parents that due to budget cuts, class size reduction will be eliminated in second grade and it will be having three classes of up to 30 students, instead of four classes of smaller numbers. This was an unfortunate fall-out from the most recent round of budget cuts.

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Are you a teacher or interested in becoming one? Teach.com covers the who, what, where, when and how of being a teacher, including anecdotal and empirical data about what types of people choose to teach and a comprehensive explanation of the responsibilities that are expected of teachers as well as logistical questions regarding certification and testing, and the differing standards between states are listed in order to help teachers find their way.

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Sandbox Consignment Store, next to Whole Foods, is making donations to our public schools from now through summer’s end. If people want to round up the cost of their purchase, the owner will match and donate to your school of choice. 

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I am midway through “The Homework Trap: How To Save The Sanity of Parent’s Students and Teachers” by Dr. Kenneth Goldberg. The book discusses homework issues from the student’s point of view. Goldberg talks about the “homework-trapped child” and why some children, regardless of how bright they are, cannot complete their homework assignments. His recommendations are thought provoking but controversial as they would entail a major shift in thinking by teachers and schools as they center around homework time restrictions and requirements.

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Very early interactive musical training benefits children even before they can walk and talk, according to a new study by McMaster University. Babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents smile more and communicate better, according to this recent study.

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To that end, high school musicians will soon be able to take a class from the famed Juilliard music conservatory. Julliard is spearheading a series of online K-12 courses that will be available (at a price) to students and school districts starting this fall. The online courses are meant to complement classroom teachers and not replace them. Learn more at: tinyurl.com/8xbdamm.

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A new study published by Science Magazine found that subjects do their most creative thinking in a blue room. They suggest that this is because blue is relaxing and a relaxed state of mind is crucial for creative thinking. Subjects in red rooms exhibited superior accuracy and attention to detail.

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Friday, June 15, at 12:40 p.m. is the free summer lunch kick-off at the Boys & Girls Clubof Sonoma Valley. The club is offering a free lunch and fun activities for children under 18.

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UC Irvine made the list of the top five universities worldwide (founded within the past 50 years). It isn’t a very popular choice for Sonoma students and I am not sure why. According to the Times Higher Education World University rankings, the top five new-ish universities worldwide are (in order): Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea; Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland; the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; the University of California, Irvine; and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea.

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Increasing the spacing between characters and words in a text improves the speed and quality of dyslexic childrens’ reading. As a parent of a dyslexic child, I was interested to read about this study that found that this basic change results in 20 percent faster reading on average with half as many errors. This may hold true for students who are slower readers in general. The research was conducted at the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive in France. There is a new free app called DYS that can test your child’s success with various text spacing.

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Correction: 10-year-old St. Francis student Kelly Needleman won the regional Native Sons fourth-grade essay contest and his essay will now enter the statewide competition. I apologize for the gender mix-up.

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The Our Schools page, new this school year to The Sonoma Index-Tribune, has been made possible by a grant from the Vadasz Family Foundation with additional support provided by Nelson Staffing and Exchange Bank. Additional sponsors are needed to continue to page next year. Sponsors receive advertising space on the front and back side of the page and a big thank you from the community and from me. Please contact Steve Kyle at steve@sckyle.com or 321-4377 if you are interested in learning more.