"Comfort in the Night"

Children's Books

Comfort in the Night

‘Charley’s First Night’ and ‘Lovabye Dragon’

From “Lovabye Dragon”

By PAMELA PAUL

The night can be a dark and lonely place. Not just for children, but for dragons and small dogs too.

CHARLEY'S FIRST NIGHT

By Amy Hest

Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

32 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6)

LOVABYE DRAGON

By Barbara Joosse

Illustrated by Randy Cecil

32 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6)

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From “Charley’s First Night”

In the endearing “Charley’s First Night,” by Amy Hest (“When Jessie Came Across the Sea”), it is not Henry, a towheaded young boy, who grows lonesome and fearful in the dark, but his tawny-colored new puppy, Charley. Hest has Henry tell the story, which he does in perfectly calibrated 6-year-old-boy diction. “ ‘This is home.’ That’s what I told Charley when we got home, and I showed him all the rooms, including my room.” He repeatedly tells Charley this so that Charley will get the message.

But come evening, message received or not,  Charley doesn’t want to spend the night in the kitchen, where Henry’s parents have said he must sleep. Truth be told, Henry doesn’t want him to sleep there either. Whatever his personal preferences, Henry makes a good-faith effort to help Charley stay put, a sweet reversal of roles as he plays parent to Charley’s sleepless baby. He gives Charley a clock; he gives him his old bear, Bobo; he lies next to Charley to help soothe him into slumber.

“Charley’s First Night” is one of those stories that are delicious precisely because they are not something new, but something familiar. Hest understands the way small boys think and what tugs at their heartstrings. She’s got a pretty good feel for puppies, too, as does Oxenbury (“We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”), who uses soft brush strokes and muted colors to give the book a warm, intimate, bedtime glow. There’s really no question that these two companions will end up sleeping in the same bed. The sweetness is in how they find themselves there and how readers will recognize themselves in the story.

Loneliness in the night is also the subject of the dreamy “Lovabye Dragon,” one of a welcome wave of books that let girls play with beasts that once kept company solely with boys. But why shouldn’t girls appreciate fire-breathing dragons too, especially if they allow themselves to be ridden into the night sky? What’s not to like? The state of affairs in this story is understandably plaintive, as laid out on the very first page: “Once there was a girl / an all-alone girl / in her own little bed / in her own little room / in her own little castle / who didn’t have a dragon for a friend.”

Barbara Joosse’s story then switches to the lair of an all-alone dragon, and we go back-and-forth between their stories as the girl’s silver tears of heartache and longing wend their way to the dragon, and then back again to her castle chamber where the two fated friends finally meet.

“I am here!” roared Dragon.

“You’re a dear!” whispered Girl.

“I found you!” roared Dragon.

“As I wished,” whispered Girl.

The book is bathed like a romance in moody lavenders and deep grayish blues, and its bug-eyed dragon is more adorable than fearsome. Randy Cecil ("Horsefly and Honeybee") knows how to make even scaly creatures look winsome, and if his oddly coiffed princess is a bit on the homely side, well, that's kind of a nice change of pace too.

Music, Multivitamins And Other Modern Intelligence Myths

by Tania Lombrozo

January 22, 2013 1:08 PM

 

Teacher Denise Severing leads a math lesson at a Head Start school in Woodbourne, New York.

Playing Mozart to young children will make them smarter, right?
Probably not. When it comes to media hype and intuitions about intelligence and early childhood, some skepticism is in order. A paper published just this month by John Protzko, Joshua Aronson and Clancy Blair at NYU reviews dozens of studies on a topic likely to be of interest to parents, educators, and policy-makers alike: what, if anything, one can do in the first five years of life to raise a child's intelligence.
The authors combed the research literature to identify studies of children's intelligence that met their strict criteria for inclusion. Among other things, the study had to be a randomized controlled trial (RCT), typically considered the gold standard for making causal claims about the efficacy of medical or educational interventions (but see Stuart Kauffman's discussion here). They also focused specifically on IQ and associated tests of intelligence, so more general conceptions of intelligence weren't considered, let alone emotional or social intelligence. This search yielded over 70 studies that the authors subsequently analyzed to better understand what does — and what doesn't — boost a young child's IQ.

The results are a little surprising. When it comes to nutrition, there's not much evidence that multivitamins do any good, but having pregnant and lactating moms and young kids take Omega-3 fatty acid supplements (particularly DHA) likely does. Just having books in the home might not help, but interactive reading with children under 4 could boost IQ by around 6 points.

As for music, the one study that met the criteria for inclusion didn't find a relationship between systematic exposure to music and IQ. However, other research suggests advantages to early music training when it comes to some cognitive skills, such as spatio-temporal reasoning, and correlational studies with older children do find an association between music lessons and IQ. So the jury is still out, but any music-lover will attest that developing a love of music is its own reward.

What about loving and supportive parents, a stable home? The paper couldn't analyze factors like these because practical and ethical considerations make an RCT virtually impossible to administer. One would have to randomly assign children to parents who are or aren't loving and supportive; to households that are or aren't stable. Parents aren't exactly lining up to hand over their newborns, and no ethical review board would allow children to be raised in a deliberately unsupportive environment.

What we do know is that certain interventions are only effective for children from low-income homes, presumably because they provide some source of environmental support or stimulation that children in wealthier homes are already getting. In particular, attending preschool and early educational interventions that teach parents how to scaffold cognitive and linguistic development can boost the IQ of children from low-income homes by as much as 7 points.

The take-home lessons for parents are relatively modest: consider some Omega-3 supplements and sit down with your toddler and a good book for some interactive reading.

But the implications for voters and policy-makers are profound. Teaching parents to engage in interactive reading and elaborative conversations with their little ones and improving access to high-quality preschool could go a long way towards eliminating economic disparities in intelligence test results in early childhood.

"Singapore Math Demystified"

Singapore Math Demystified!

Singapore Math:

Can It Help Solve Our Country's Math-phobia?

Editor's Note:  Due to the interest expressed over our previous posts about Singapore Math and the non-Singaporean-specific classic, "Why Our Kids Don't Get Math"  here, The Daily Riff is featuring an exclusive original four-part series by Bill Jackson, Math Helping Teacher, Scarsdale, NY Public Schools, one of the highest performing districts in the country.

We asked Bill to share his truly incredible (which is both humbling and exhilarating) global journey into math education from Singapore to Japan and back again to the United States in an original series for The Daily Riff.  His posts are becoming classics in the Singapore Math lexicon.  - C.J. Westerberg

How I Became Interested In Singapore Math
Part 1

By Bill Jackson

In 1997, I attended a series of workshops on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). That study compared math achievement in over 40 countries in grades 4, 8 and 12. Singapore and a handful of East Asian countries performed extremely well, much better than the United States, which had a mediocre performance. I was an 8th grade teacher at Public School No. 2 in Paterson, New Jersey at the time.

At the workshop we watched videotapes of mathematics classrooms from Japan, Germany and the U.S. The U.S. lesson looked very familiar. The teacher showed his students how to do a procedure and then they practiced while the teacher helped individual students. The Japanese lesson looked very different, however. The teacher began the lesson by posing a rich problem. Then the students solved the problem based on what they had learned previously and shared different solution methods. Important mathematical points of the lesson were brought out through class discussion of the various methods. The students looked very engaged and they even clapped for each other. After watching the video, I felt that my students were getting shortchanged and I became determined to learn how to teach like that Japanese teacher!

Making this change, however, would not be easy. The lessons in the heavy 600+ page textbook we were using did not begin with problem solving. In fact, the word problems were the last thing on the page and often times we were so busy practicing procedures that we didn't even get to them. I decided to teach my lessons backwards by posing one of the word problems at the bottom of the page and then asking the students to solve it, share and discuss their methods. I explained to my students what I was trying to accomplish and even showed them the TIMSS videotapes. I was amazed at how quickly they adjusted to the new methodology and how engaged they were. They were actually starting to like math. They even began to clap for each other after they presented their solutions!

I soon realized, however, that there was much more to good math teaching than merely imitating the steps of the Japanese lesson. I got involved in a math study group begun by our principal to study the TIMSS data, read books and articles, and explore how to improve mathematics instruction. This led in 1999 to a partnership with researchers from Teachers College and a Japanese school in Greenwich, CT to conduct lesson study, a process where groups of teachers plan, observe and discuss actual classroom lessons. I also traveled to Japan to observe mathematics classes and learn about the Japanese school system.

When I began working with the Japanese teachers, I soon realized three important reasons why they were such good math teachers:

(1) They had a high level of math content knowledge. In fact, I felt that their first grade teachers knew more about math than I did as an 8th grade teacher!

(2) They used thin, lightweight paperback textbooks that were much more focused and coherent than our heavy hard cover books.

 (3) They continually worked to improve their teaching throughout their careers by conducting lesson study.

We began conducting lesson study at our school but we found that it was difficult to develop engaging and focused lessons like the Japanese teachers taught because of our unfocused textbooks. This led us to the Primary Mathematics textbooks from Singapore. Like the Japanese textbooks they were thin and lightweight and addressed fewer topics per year with depth and coherence. They were also very kid friendly with simple cartoon drawings that highlighted important mathematical ideas. One of the things we liked the most about them was a very effective method to solve complex problems using pictorial diagrams called bar models.

In 2000, we decided to adopt Singapore's Primary Mathematics (Third Edition) textbooks in grades K-8. The books used British spellings and had strange foods like durians and rambutans, but these things did not impede students' understanding of the mathematics. Later we switched to the Primary Mathematics U.S. Edition, which used American English and included customary measures. For kindergarten we used Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics and in grades 7 and 8 we used New Elementary Mathematics.

With the adoption of Singapore math textbooks combined with lesson study, math teaching began to improve at our school. But there were also challenges. We realized that in order to teach Singapore Math successfully we needed to improve our mathematical content knowledge so we invited knowledgeable others to conduct workshops for teachers. We also realized that our math content knowledge was improving just by teaching lessons from the textbooks and later found out that the textbooks were designed so teachers could acquire this knowledge since Singaporean elementary teachers are generally not math specialists. I also came out of the classroom to become the school's math facilitator. In small group meetings, we conducted lesson study, studied the textbooks, and solved problems together using bar models.

I'll never forget the time we were solving a difficult 6th grade problem with first grade teachers and one teacher jumped up a shouted excitedly, "I got it!"  She was so excited that she was finally getting it after not having a good mathematics learning experience herself as a child. The lesson study process was instrumental in allowing us to study the materials together and discuss how to craft good lessons.

In 2008, I left the Paterson school district and was hired by Scarsdale Public Schools as one of three district wide Math Helping Teachers to help facilitate the adoption of Singapore Math. Scarsdale is using the Primary Mathematics Standards Edition textbooks. It is interesting to me that Scarsdale, one of highest performing and most innovative school districts in the country, has adopted Singapore Math.  Before making the decision, they spent time researching and piloting the program. They concluded that even though their students were doing well already in comparison to most students nationwide, they needed to continually improve mathematics instruction. This was a very wise decision in my opinion and the implementation has been very successful. Teachers, students and parents are enthusiastic about the program and many groups of teachers have also conducted lesson study. One Scarsdale fifth grade teacher said, "Primary Mathematics has given me the opportunity to love teaching math. In turn, my students love math and impress me everyday as they become incredible mathematicians."

That's all for now. In future posts I will discuss Singapore Math in more detail, including the philosophy of the program, problem solving methods, and tips for successful implementation.

Bill Jackson

Helicopter Parents Make Children Miss Milestones

By KJ DELL'ANTONIA

 

Yet another account of educators describing wild instances of helicopter parenting is making the rounds, this time from Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that two-thirds of school psychologists, counselors, teachers and mental health workers who responded to a survey by the Queensland University of Technology reported seeing some instances of “overparenting” while more than a quarter said they’d seen many.
It’s all quite familiar. The necessary titillating anecdotes are there: the parent making a special plate of food for a picky teenager to take to a party, 10-year-olds at camp who don’t know how to dress themselves, parents requesting that their child be assigned to a “sports house” that matches their favorite color.
These anecdotes serve an unintended purpose: while they’re supposedly produced in support of the thesis (helicopter parents are ruining our youth), most readers get to give themselves a pat on the back. They would never do such crazy stuff! Therefore, they are not helicopter parents. Case closed — off to drive the kid to hockey practice as soon as I pack up his bag.

But amid all the things we have heard before about hovering parents was one line that gave me pause. The researcher who conducted the survey (which I have not seen) said that she’d drawn another conclusion from her results: many parents aren’t letting their child reach normal developmental milestones, such as traveling alone.

Milestones.
Milestones loom so large in the life of a young parent. When our children are infants, we’re constantly asking — when should they roll over? Sit up? Say their first word?
But as they grow up, those milestones begin to feel so much less clear. When should a child cross the street alone? Be able to enter a store and politely and successfully make a purchase? Advocate for herself with a teacher? Ride the subway? Take himself to the doctor or dentist, or for a haircut? Cook a meal, do a load of laundry?

Those are milestones, too. And those are the kind of milestones that it’s easy to forget your child isn’t hitting. Once we’ve set aside those books and charts— which provide remarkably little guidance on when a child should be capable of cooking a meal or doing a load of laundry — it’s too easy to forget to step aside and let those equally important moments happen. (The Motherlode contributor Kay Wyma‘s book “Cleaning House: A Mom’s 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her House of Youth Entitlement” has some thoughts to offer on the subject of when a child should be fending for himself in the kitchen and elsewhere, and other books I’m not familiar with may as well.)

All of which reminds me, again, of the wonderful checklist that the  blogger Christine Whitley shared back in 2011, from the 1979 child-rearing manual “Your 6-Year-Old: Loving and Defiant.” Your child, the writer proposed, was ready for full-day first grade if, among other things, she can “travel alone in the neighborhood (four to eight blocks) to store, school, playground, or to a friend’s home.”
That’s a milestone that not many of today’s 6-year-olds have met.

What other milestones are we parents overlooking, putting off or unintentionally letting our children skip entirely? (The college-age babysitter who arrived at my house completely unable to follow the instructions on the back of a box of mac-and-cheese springs to mind.) Do we need new guidelines for when our children should be able to do what?

Kids' Hobbies Websites

Looking for a way to spark your kids' creativity online or indulge their favorite hobbies? From coloring and building robots to science experiments and cooking, this list of great sites will help kids pursue their interests and passions -- and maybe even find new ones.

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Browse Kids' Hobbies Websites

all ages | Preschoolers (2-4) | Young kids (5-6) | Kids (7-8) | Preteens (9-11) | Teens (12-14)

• 
  Crayola Kids
  Wonderful site with lots of rainy-day fun!
  
  AGE

  5
   
  Learning
• 
  The Lorax Garden
  Fanciful garden sim with an environmental message.
  AGE

  5
   
  Platforms: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
• 
  Crafting Mama
  Create quirky projects in latest time management sim.
  
  AGE

  6
   
  Platforms: Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
• 
  Enchanted Learning
  Not flashy, but filled with good educational activities.
  
  AGE

  6
   
  Learning
• 
  Martha and Friends
  Explore arts and crafts with young, animated Martha Stewart.
  
  AGE

  7
   
  Learning
• 
  Book Creator for iPad
  Simple app lets kids craft their own books to read or share.
  
  AGE

  8
   
  Platforms: iPad
• 
  Create
  Unique physics puzzles require imaginative solutions.
  AGE

  8
   
  Platforms: Mac, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360
• 
  DLTK's Crafts for Kids
  A bounty of fun crafts for kids, but some iffy ads.
  
  AGE

  5
   
  Learning
• 
  JrChefsofAmerica
  Healthy recipes and tips for would-be kid cooks.
  
  AGE

  8
   
  Learning
• 
  Solitaire Chess
  Logic puzzler great for a wide range of ages, skill levels.
  AGE

  8
   
  Platforms: Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
• 
  The Toymaker
  Cheerful paper toys to print and assemble.
  
  AGE

  8
   
  Learning
• 
  Yellowstone National Park Just for Kids
  Impressive activities for virtual explorers.
  
  AGE

  8
   
• 
  Exploratorium
  Captivating site on everyday (and advanced) science topics.
  
  AGE

  10
   
  Learning
• 
  Let's Cheer!
  Realistic cheers must be practiced in order to do well.
  
  AGE

  10
   
  
  

"Tips for Volunteering with Kids"

Tips for Volunteering with Kids
By Laura Lewis Brown

The word "volunteering" may not make much sense to your young child, but even children as young as three can learn the value of helping people and places in need. Now is the time to start a lifelong commitment to giving, not only during the holiday season but also year round. Here are some helpful ways to get your child involved in community service:

Be a giving role model. Children love to copy their parents, so let them follow your lead as a volunteer. "Two thirds of youths who volunteer become active adults who volunteer," says Tanisha Smith, national director of volunteer services for Volunteers of America. When a parent or guardian is involved, the child often looks forward to the activity even more, and you get to share this special time with your child. A community cleanup is a great way to get the whole family involved, no matter what age they are. The best part is that your child can see an immediate impact when a littered street or park is suddenly clean, says Smith, who fondly remembers doing community cleanups with her parents when she was five.

Find something fun. Community service doesn't have to be a chore. Find something that interests your child or family. "Look for something that really fits you and your personality, and matches your family's dynamics," Smith says. Many children love animals, so find an animal shelter or wildlife rescue that needs donations of food or towels, or allows volunteers to walk the dogs. You could even offer to walk your neighbor's dog. If you have a friendly dog, ask a local nursing home if you can bring Fido in for a visit.

Find something easy. Volunteering doesn't have to take up an entire day if you don't want it to. "It can be as quick and fast as you need it to be," Smith says. She suggests picking up a gift for a toy drive or Adopt a Family program when you're already shopping for a gift for someone else. You can take five minutes and ask your child to go through toys and clothing in your house that they don't use anymore. Although children may first resist giving up their possessions, they may get excited about the idea of helping a child who doesn't have the same toys, particularly a younger child who will love the toys your child has outgrown.

Make it part of the family schedule. Between school, work, sports and events, family life is busy. The trick is to build volunteering into your schedule so that it becomes a priority. "It can be a one-time deal on Thanksgiving every year or a long-term commitment in which you go to a shelter or senior center on a regular basis," Smith says. If you make it part of the family routine, you can instill the notion that your family values giving their time and helping hands to those in need. Make sure that your children have a say in the activity your family chooses, so that they get even more out of the experience.

Create your own opportunity. Some parents struggle to find organizations that allow young children to participate as volunteers, due to age restrictions or other requirements. "Many organizations set minimum ages of 12, 13, or even 18 to be involved in activities. But there are things that you can do with children—even young ones," says Dr. Amy D'Unger, chair of the Board of Directors for Compassionate Kids, Inc. A few options that you can do with your child include fund raising, such as a walkathon, a lemonade stand or bringing a Unicef can with you when you trick-or-treat.

Think beyond volunteering. Beyond traditional community service opportunities, D'Unger also recommends taking your child on a field trip to expose them to an important social issue, such as homelessness, animal rescue or saving the environment. She says these experiences "can set the foundation in knowledge and enthusiasm for future volunteer activities." By showing your child who and what needs help, you can tap into how they would like to make a difference.

Learn from other generations. Senior centers are great options for older children to visit and spend time talking, reading or even watching TV with seniors whose relatives may not live nearby. Another way to interact with and learn from older generations is to deliver meals to homebound individuals through Meals on Wheels, which even has the opportunity in some cities to do your deliveries on bike instead of in the car. “From a senior's standpoint, they do not usually see anyone during the day, and a visit from a lively, smiling child makes all the difference in the world," says Enid Borden, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels Association of America. "From the child's perspective, they get the chance to talk to and learn from the very people who raised us, fought our wars, taught our schools and built our country's history."

Enlist your friends and family. Once you catch the giving spirit, consider asking your family and friends to join in. You can build care packages for the troops overseas or for homeless shelter residents. You or your child can call Grandma, Grandpa and any aunts and uncles and ask each one to pick up sample-size toiletries or other items that would go nicely in a package. When everyone is on board, your child can see how important giving is to the family at large.

See the impact. Volunteering or doing community service can benefit your child tremendously, as well as help create a family bond. "Working shoulder-to-shoulder with your kids can foster conversations about their lives and experiences and provide a window into their worlds," D'Unger says. "A project doesn't need to be on a grand scale to impact those intended to benefit from it or those who are participating." For some children, a simple smile or "thank you" from the recipient goes a long way in making them feel good about what they've done. D'Unger suggests discussing the volunteer experience with your child after the fact, to help him process what he learned and "to reinforce the positive message of service that you're trying to instill."

If you're still stuck on ways to get your child involved, here are some tips from CompassionateKids.com:

• Contact Keep America Beautiful or other local organizations for community cleanup days.
• Start a canned food drive or community garden to collect or grow vegetables for your local food pantry.
• Make baked goods for fund-raising bake sales or meal delivery services.
• Plan an activity at a senior center that involves crafts that are simple for young children and allow for ample interaction between the kids and residents.
• Check with local nursing homes for "toddler days."
• Ask your local Chamber of Commerce for information about local organizations that may have volunteer opportunities.
• Contact nonprofit organizations you like and ask how you can help.
• Visit national volunteer website databases like VolunteerMatch.org or Idealist.org, both of which have designations for kid-friendly opportunities.

Want to Get Kids Excited About STEM? Let Them Build Robots

Getting more students to pursue studies—and careers—in science, technology, engineering, and math is important for the economic success of our country and of the world. But catalyzing that interest requires more than drilling kids on facts in a textbook. I work as an engineer, but I also work as a FIRST LEGO League volunteer, and I’ve seen first hand the impact building LEGO robots through our program has on kids.

FLL is one of four programs offered by the national organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)—which was created by famous inventor Dean Kamen to inspire more talented American students to pursue careers in science and technology. It aims to increase the number of STEM professionals with the skills required to solve real world problems.

It’s primarily an after-school STEM program, but it’s also offered by many neighborhood and youth organizations, such as Girl Scouts, 4-H Clubs and Boys and Girls Clubs. We work with students aged 9-14 and get them excited about doing science and technology so that they will want to take STEM classes in high school and college and hopefully pursue STEM careers. Unlike many academic STEM programs, FLL is fun and is accessible to students with a wide range of physical and learning disabilities.

What we’re doing here in the Los Angeles is working. In 2012, our region had a record level of participation—up 30 percent from 2011. And thanks to a $15,000 donation from Time Warner Cable, we were able to host the FIRST LEGO League tournaments across Southern California. We had 2,400 young people organized into 297 teams to build robots, research problems, create solutions, develop presentations, and compete in 26 tournaments in four counties in Southern California.

The way it works is FLL teams register between May and September. Then, during September and October, they design, build, program and test LEGO MINDSTORMS robots to play a game with missions related to the Challenge theme on a field about the size of a ping pong table. The teams participate in high-energy practice, qualifying and championship tournaments in late October through mid-December.
At the tournaments, teams compete to see which team can achieve the highest score on the robot game and are judged for awards in the areas of robot design, research project, and core values/teamwork. The top 30 percent of teams attending the ten regional qualifying tournaments advanced to two regional championship tournaments. The top two teams from each regional championship advance to international championship tournaments. Worldwide, over 20,500 FLL teams participated in 889 qualifying tournaments and 124 regional championship tournaments in 2012.

The kids get excited because the program brings the fun and excitement of sporting events to science and technology via robotics competitions. They also think like scientists and engineers to solve real problems in their communities related to the Challenge theme, which is different each year. The 2012 Challenge was Senior Solutions—improving the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities.

The teams talked to seniors to identify problems they faced in their daily living, consulted experts in the field, developed creative and practical solutions, and presented those solutions to members of their communities. Their creative presentations of their work on the project frequently involved role playing and were always very informative. Teams are encouraged to practice a strong set of core values, including inspiring others, teamwork and what we call “Gracious Professionalism.”

All of these activities take the dedication of hundreds of volunteers—coaches, mentors, referees, judges and event volunteers. But the effort is worth it. We’re eager to help inspire the next generation of problem solvers by connecting young people to the wonders of STEM.

Digital Reading on the Rise for Children (With a Qualifier)

By LESLIE KAUFMAN

David Maxwell for The New York Times David Maxwell for The New York Times 

 

Alexis White, 7, a second grader in Green, Ohio, using an iPad during class. The iPad is gaining popularity as a reading device.

 

Digital reading is rising fast among children ages 6 to 17, but this is not necessarily translating into a greater desire to read, according to a report released on Monday by Scholastic Inc.

Every other year since 2006, Scholastic, a publisher and distributor of children’s books, has surveyed American families about their attitudes toward reading and literacy.

The latest study, the Kids and Family Reading Report, conducted with Harrison Group, showed both the advantages and the drawbacks of the digital age when it comes to encouraging reading among young people.
For example, the percentage of children who have read an e-book has almost doubled since 2010, to 46 percent. Yet, during the same period, the number of girls who reported being frequent readers declined to 36 percent from 42 percent.

The survey, conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 10, 2012, was based on a sample of 1,074 children and their parents: 2,148 respondents in total.

The change seems to have been brought on by a shift in the kind of digital devices that children, like adults, are using to read, said Francine Alexander, Scholastic’s chief academic officer. They are increasingly using tablets, like iPads, which allow for more activities than just reading. In fact, slightly more children reported having read a book on a tablet than on a plain e-reader device.

“When kids are using the digital devices, the girls were social networking more,” Ms. Alexander said. Many parents, she added, complained that their children spent too much time playing video games.
“Managing screen time is the challenge of parenting today,” she said.

Still, the technology is here to stay, and the study revealed ways in which it could increase reading among children. For example, about one-fourth of the boys who had read an e-book said they were reading more books for fun. Boys have traditionally lagged behind girls in reading.

Also, half of those in an older age range, from 9 to 17, said they would read more books for fun if they had greater access to e-books.

Children said e-books were particularly good when they wanted to be secretive about reading. But at night in bed, most children said they still liked to read books in print.

Children Are Not Our Friends (Until They Are)

By MICHELLE BLAKE

When my children were little, I was always a bit baffled by parents who talked about being friends with their children. Maybe I expect too much from my friends, but I like to hang out with people who read chapter books and bathe without being told. I’m big on reciprocity in my friendships — we exchange views and experience and occasionally good advice. I don’t tell you when to go to bed. You don’t tell me when you’re done pooping.

As my children got older, the friend idea seemed to get more popular with other parents. Meanwhile, my daughter and I debated what was appropriate school-wear for a 10th grader. And why an adult had to be in the house when her own friends had parties. And why, with our family history, drinking was a lot like sticking a piece of  lighted  dynamite in your mouth.

I didn’t have long heart-to-hearts with my children about my problems at work or my relationship with their father. I didn’t expect them to drop what they were doing to lend an ear or cheer me up, though I did that for them when I could.

Even as older teenagers, my kids still needed, one might even go so far as to speculate that they wanted, a voice of authority — another service I don’t provide for my friends. They needed to know they were supposed to be home at a certain time. They needed to know that we cared about what grades they were making (not necessarily A’s, but the best they could do) and where they were after sports practice. I don’t mean they asked us to do these things or that they frequently expressed their admiration for our parenting skills. Though I like to be admired occasionally by my friends, being admired by my teenage children was not a top priority (fortunately).


I am admittedly a formalist, a fogey, someone fond of rules and roles in human interaction (not so much in other areas, like music or poetry, but people strike me as fragile and in need of lots of clarity). As an adult, a parent, a college professor, I do my best work when the young people I raise and teach understand our relationship. I’m there to help them, not the other way around. And they don’t owe me anything except simple human respect. Caring for the young is a duty I adore; it is not about reciprocity.

But something lovely has started to happen over the last year. Slowly, without thinking about it, I am becoming friends with my children. I suspect it began when I realized it was none of my business how long my son waited to start looking for an apartment when he was about to begin a new school year in Manhattan. And when I understood that some personal decisions my daughter made, which I may or may not have loved, had nothing to do with me. I try not to offer advice where it isn’t invited, and I find myself asking for their advice more and more often.

My one-handed son (born with a short left arm) has hiked the Appalachian Trail and is now an avid rock-climber. He is also a serious film student and aficionado who introduced me to Bresson’s “A Man Escaped,” now one of my favorites. His older sister has just completed a grueling graduate program. I have watched her face down the demons of self-doubt and exhaustion — old familiars of mine — and come out shining. Last year, she nudged me until I sent out a long-neglected collection of poems I’d written over the past 30 years. I now have a published chapbook.

From my children I have learned persistence, courage and sheer goodness. Maybe because their lives matter so much to me, these lessons seem to stick. Their travels widen my world, their work enhances my knowledge, their interests feed my spirit. I turn to my daughter and son with questions about music, technology, movies, books, art, law and, yes, life. And because of the wise-hearted adults they have become, their answers are often the best I get. It was well worth the wait.

---

Michelle Blake, a novelist, is working on a book of essays called “Grown Children.”

"Best TV for Girls"

Best TV for Girls 

 

In a world full of TV catfights, we found nine shows that are actually good for girls.

by Sierra Filucci | Jan. 7, 2013 | Role models and stereotypes, Family media management

Best friends really are the best. For girls and young women, they're the ones who psych you up for fun, admire your talents, help you through tough days, and let you ramble on about your crazy theories.
But if you watch much TV -- from The Real Housewives to American Idol -- you might think girl friendships were something entirely different. Throwing drinks in your friend's face, calling her a tramp, or yanking her hair might seem like normal parts of being buds. Even scripted favorites like Nashville and Pretty Little Liars regularly pit women against each other.

But there are plenty of shows that don't wallow in the negative. By choosing entertainment that sends a better message to your kids, you can proactively counteract negative female stereotypes. Here are our favorite weapons against girl-on-girl hate.

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, 4+ (The Hub): It's super cutesy, but this animated preschool favorite shows girls (or girly ponies) working together to solve problems and sort out their differences in healthy, age-appropriate ways.

Ruby Gloom, 5+ (streaming): If cutesy isn't your kid's thing, this goth take on girl friendship might be more her style. Ruby, Iris, and Misery problem solve and cooperate in a ghoulishly fun setting.

H2O: Just Add Water, 7+ (Nickelodeon): This live-action drama focuses on three teen girls who find they have magical mermaid powers. As they make their way through high school and its attendant social dramas, the three stick together, showing the true power of friendship.

SciGirls , 7+ (PBS): This science-oriented educational show highlights girls working together to construct or develop experiments to learn about the world around them. Girls encourage and have fun together while modeling enthusiasm for science.

Jem and the Holograms, 8+ (The Hub): In this flashy animated series from the 1980s -- now airing on The Hub --  a group of rock star women plays music and battles meanies as a team.

Tia & Tamera, 13+ (Style): Real-life sisters go through ups and downs as they navigate different stages of their lives, but in the end they're always there for each other.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 13+ (DVD): This oldie but goodie never fell victim to silly stereotypes about female friendships. Buffy and Willow are best friends through thick and thin, and even Buffy's female rivals don't fight her over a man -- but rather over the survival of the world.

New Girl, 13+ (Fox): Jess and Cece are childhood friends who've taken different paths in life. But even though they don't always enjoy the same activities or agree with each other's life paths, they stay loyal and committed to each other.

Parks and Recreation, 14+ (NBC) -- Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones are hilarious and realistic as friends and co-workers who navigate the wacky world of relationships, careers, and camping trips. Their friendship shows that they can stand by each other, even if they sometimes disagree. That's what real friendship is, right?

3 Things You Should Never Do For Your Children

Posted on January 5, 2013

Written by Kim Droze

Thursday, 27 May 201

As parents, we only want the best for our children. But sometimes our judgment is clouded, and our actions can actually impede our kids’ progress. By nature, we want to see our children succeed, even if it means giving them a gentle nudge. Unfortunately for some parents, that nudge often turns into a huge push, and before we know it, we’re actually doing things for our children that they should be doing for themselves. Admit it. We’ve all been there. You see that sweet little face struggling to tie his shoe, write a Pulitzer-worthy paragraph or even make his bed. When you sense his frustration, your maternal instinct kicks into high gear, and the next thing you know, you’re doing the deed for him. Your intentions may be good, but the end results are not. You’ve essentially become the dreaded helicopter parent, a mom or dad who gives eagle-eye attention to every aspect of the child’s life. From report cards to recreational activities, you’re the gatekeeper of your child’s affairs. You exact precise oversight in everything he does do to ensure that there is nothing holding him back. The term “helicopter parent” was actually coined in the 1990 self-help guide Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility. It’s frequently used to describe those parents who sweep in to rescue their children from the perils of higher education. For some, it’s hard to believe that parents would actually appeal to a college professor on behalf of their young adult offspring, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. This trend begins long before teens ever don their cap and gown and head off to college. It’s a behavior that we as adults begin even in the earliest stages of parenting. However, helicopter parenting can have some serious implications on our children. While it might seem like we are doing our children a favor at the time, that couldn’t be further from the truth. What we’re essentially creating are children who are reliant on us for everything. Parenting expert and educational psychologist Michele Borba addresses the trend of helicopter parenting on her personal Web site, www.micheleborba.com. On her blog, the author of No More Misbehavin’ and Don’t Give Me That Attitude points out that children will continue to sink if you don’t teach them to swim. Dr. Borba writes, “Look down the road at the big picture. If you keep on with any hovering behavior now, how will your kids turn out later? Every once in a while, we need to fast forward your parenting and think ahead. “It just may help that you alter you current response with your kids. And here’s a big reason why: Researchers are seeing this phenomenon of “parental hovering” (aka micro-managing, overparenting or helicoptering) as a dangerous trend when it comes to how our kids turn out. The long and the short is: If we keep the hovering we’ll rob our kids of an essential trait for L.I.F.E. called self-reliance!” And Dr. Borba is definitely onto something. The ramifications of helicopter parenting are far reaching. Take a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive for the National Endowment for Financial Education. It showed that 40 percent of American adults aged 18-39 reside at home or have done so in the recent past. That figure also excludes students. Even more disturbing is the fact that 26 percent of parents with adult children living at home have incurred their own debt to support these adult children, with 7 percent delaying retirement. While it may seem like a giant leap to take, the point is it’s never too early to teach your children to be independent. You want your children to be able to stand on their own two feet so they can make the transition from impressionable children to responsible adults. Here are three things you should never do for your children: 1. Homework – How many times have you watched parents do their children’s homework for them? One minute you’re shaking your head in disgust and the next minute you’re holding a #2 pencil in your hand writing an essay on the French revolution. Face it. It’s easy to get sucked in by your child. Those frustrating cries of “I can’t do it!” can weaken even the most steadfast parent. Sometimes it seems far easier just to do the work for your child. But before you give in, stop, look and listen hard. Your child first should attempt to the work on his own. If he is genuinely confused about the subject at hand, take a moment to look over the questions. Ask your child what he thinks the questions mean. If possible, show examples of how to solve the problem. Avoid doing the actual problem for your child. Once you feel like he has a grasp on the subject matter, send him back to his desk to finish the work. Do not sit over him while he is doing his homework, as he will be inclined to ask for further assistance repeatedly. After all of the work is completed, glance over the assignment for any glaring errors. When you find mistakes, have your child redo the problems until they are correct. While it’s fine to show examples, brainstorm and encourage, do not — and we repeat — do not do the work for him. Doing reports, projects and homework independently will actually increase your child’s self-confidence and self esteem. Nothing compares to the sense of accomplishment your child will have knowing that he earned that “A” on his own. 2. Speak for them – It’s far too easy to put words in your child’s mouth. Children are works in progress. As they get older, they come into their own. However, being a child can often be intimidating. Children are often insecure and, at times, unable to properly express themselves. In many cases, he may expect you to be his spokesperson.Whether it’s asking a neighborhood child to play or requesting a cup of water at a restaurant, always encourage your child to use his voice. It might be just as easy for you to do your child’s bidding, but how will he ever gain self- confidence if he never has to speak for himself? Oftentimes, we feel compelled to speak on our child’s behalf. For example, in school your child might have issues with a fellow student. If the situation puts your child in danger, it’s understandable that you would get involved. However, if things haven’t escalated, encourage your child to work things out on his own. It’s fine to make suggestions of things he might say to smooth things over and resolve the conflict. However, try not to take things into your own hands unless it’s an absolute necessity. Keep this important rule of thumb in mind when you are also among a group of people. When your child is asked a question, it might be instinctive to respond for him. Don’t. Give your child a chance to speak for himself. Over time, you will notice him becoming more and more confident in the way he expresses himself. Remember, practice makes perfect. 3. Choose their friends – This one is a real doozy. It’s only natural to want to pick your child’s friends – whether it’s the sweet little boy from Sunday school or that adorable girl from the playground. In your mind, you think you know what – and who – is best for your child. And you probably do. But this is one of those lessons your child needs to learn on his own. While you will probably be responsible for fostering many of their friendships through play dates in the early years, your child will be more and more inclined to choose his own pals as he gets older. This is one of those cases when you should go with the flow. Just because you might be friends with someone doesn’t necessarily mean your child when be friends with that person’s child. First and foremost, don’t force it. Your child will only resent you in the end if you make him spend time with someone he doesn’t particularly care for. There’s nothing wrong with introducing him to new faces. However, let him take the lead when it comes to building lasting friendships. At the same time, you still have a responsibility to ensure that your child is playing with kids who have similar values. In other words, you probably want to prevent your children from hanging out with kids who swear, steal, misbehave and have other habits you don’t want your own child picking up. Always be aware of who your child is hanging around. At the end of the day, what you don’t do for your children is every bit as important as what you do. Sometimes a more hands-off approach actually will benefit your child.

"Gifted, Talented, and Separated"

A System Divided

Gifted, Talented and Separated

In One School, Students Are Divided by Gifted Label — and Race

Dave Sanders for The New York Times

DISPARITY A fourth-grade gifted class taught by Angelo Monserrate at Public School 163. More Photos »

By AL BAKER

IT is just a metal door with three windows, the kind meant to keep the clamor of an elementary school hallway from piercing a classroom’s quiet. Other than paint the color of bubble gum, it is unremarkable.

A System Divided

This is the fourth and final article in a series examining the racial distribution of students in New York City’s public schools and its impact on their opportunities and achievements.

Multimedia

Slide Show

Are They Gifted? Or Segregated?

Graphic

But the pink door on Room 311 at Public School 163 on the Upper West Side represents a barrier belied by its friendly hue. On one side are 21 fourth graders labeled gifted and talented by New York City’s school system. They are coursing through public school careers stamped accelerated.

And they are mostly white.

On the other side, sometimes sitting for reading lessons on the floor of the hallway, are those in the school’s vast majority: They are enrolled in general or special education programs.

They are mostly children of color.

“I know what we look like,” Carolyn M. Weinberg, a 28-year veteran of P.S. 163, said of the racial disparities as she stood one day in the third-floor hallway between Room 318, where she and a colleague teach a fourth-grade general education class, and the one where Angelo Monserrate teaches the gifted class, Room 311.

“I know what you see,” said Ms. Weinberg.

There are 652 students enrolled at P.S. 163 this year, from prekindergarten through fifth grade. Roughly 63 percent of them are black and Hispanic; whites make up 27 percent; and Asians account for 6 percent.

This reflects the flavor of the neighborhood, and roughly matches the New York City school system’s overall demographics.

Yet in P.S. 163’s gifted classes, the racial dynamics of the neighborhood, the school itself and the school system are turned upside down.

Of the 205 children enrolled in the nine gifted classes, 97, or 47 percent, are white; another 31 of the students, or 15 percent, are Asian. And a combined 65 students, or 32 percent, are black and Hispanic.

In the 21 other classes that enroll the school’s remaining 447 students, only 80, or 18 percent, are white.

The disparities are most apparent in the lower grades.

Of the 24 students in Karen Engler’s kindergarten gifted class, one is black and three are Hispanic. Ayelet Cutler’s first-grade gifted class has 21 students, one of them black and two Hispanic. There are two blacks and two Hispanics among the 26 students in Athena Shapiro’s second-grade gifted class.

On a recent morning, a line of Ms. Cutler’s students moved from the classroom to the corridor, ahead of the general education class of Linda Crews. A string of mostly white faces and then a line of mostly black and Hispanic ones walked down the hall of a school named for a New York politician who sought to end inequities in education: Alfred E. Smith.

It was 11:25 a.m., and the classes wound their way to the cafeteria, a cavernous room at the school’s western edge. Once there, the children sat with those in their own class, each one at a separate long white table that, for a moment, froze the divisions.

For critics of New York City’s gifted and talented programs, that image crystallizes what they say is a flawed system that reinforces racial separation in the city’s schools and contributes to disparities in achievement.

They contend that gifted admissions standards favor middle-class children, many of them white or Asian, over black and Hispanic children who might have equal promise, and that the programs create castes within schools, one offered an education that is enriched and accelerated, the other getting a bare-bones version of the material. Because they are often embedded within larger schools, the programs bolster a false vision of diversity, these critics say, while reinforcing the negative stereotypes of class and race.

Despite months of repeated requests, the city’s Education Department would not provide racial breakdowns of gifted and talented programs and the schools that house them. But the programs tend to be in wealthier districts whose populations have fewer black and Hispanic children, and far more children qualify for them in affluent districts than in poorer ones.

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"Have a Good Day"

Children's Books

Have a Good Day

‘Polar Bear Morning,’ by Lauren Thompson, and More

From “Polar Bear Morning”

By PAMELA PAUL

A new year, a new day. For very young children, there really isn’t much difference. Each morning seems to bring a whirlwind of emotion and possibility, hope and disappointment. And it takes a good long while to get to bedtime. Three new picture books honor the boundaries, as so many picture books do, of the 24-hour lifetimes of young children.

POLAR BEAR MORNING

By Lauren Thompson

Illustrated by Stephen Savage

32 pp. Scholastic Press. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 5)

CHU’S DAY

By Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Adam Rex

32 pp. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

MY FIRST DAY

By Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Illustrated by Steve Jenkins

32 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

Related

• Times Topic: Children's Books Reviews

Enlarge This Image

From “Chu’s Day”

Enlarge This Image

From “My First Day”

“Polar Bear Morning” is a sequel of sorts to the previous collaboration between Lauren Thompson (“The Forgiveness Garden,” “The Christmas Magic”) and Stephen Savage (“Where’s Walrus?,” “Little Tug”). Their previous effort, “Polar Bear Night,” was a bedtime story about a cub wandering outside at night, observing his sleeping neighbors and a star shower before taking to bed himself. This new book likewise features the pure simplicity of Savage’s near-monochromatic linocut illustrations, beginning with the icy blues of early dawn before bursting into the warmer brights of polar sunshine. And “Polar Bear Morning,” like its predecessor, is a real charmer.

Just as “Night” captivated with its hushed solemnity, so “Morning” captures the excitement of daybreak — the need to “clamber” out of bed, scamper into the “sparkling snow” and gleefully tumble down a little hill. Thompson’s text is a concise approximation of preschool vernacular, though lighted by poetry. The words, which tell a modest story of burgeoning friendship and two bears swept along by childhood exploration, join in buoyant harmony with Savage’s soft lines and gentle forms. The image of the two new friends diving side by side, eyes blissfully closed, as they leap into the polar sea perfectly encapsulates the bliss of the young at play.

In Neil Gaiman’s “Chu’s Day,” a very different bear, this time a panda, begins his day on a foreboding note. “When Chu sneezed, bad things happened,” the first page tells us. Can a popular YouTube video motif inspire a picture book? Quite possibly, though Gaiman doesn’t explicitly identify his source material.

But as soon as Chu and his mother enter a musty, dusty library, we know panda sneezes are in order. The hows and whens and whys provide the substance of this slight tale, which is enriched primarily by the sly humor in Adam Rex’s deeply hued oil paintings. At the Moby Diner, for example, a whale plays short order chef to an octopus, a monkey and a turtle, and a kangaroo carelessly wields a pepper grinder. Uh oh. 

“Are you going to sneeze?” Chu’s father asks. It becomes a refrain. To which Chu replies, “Aah, Aaaah, Aaaaah — no.”

You can bet that when Chu finally does sneeze, it comes at an unexpected and inopportune moment — and shows Gaiman’s keen understanding of a 5-year-old’s comedic sensibility. “Chu’s Day” is the first in a planned series of three about Chu. (Time to Google “panda yawning”?)

Steve Jenkins and Robin Page have already done yawning in one of their many collaborations, “Time to Sleep.” That book and a companion, “Time to Eat,” provide the rough format for the smart, informative and accessible “My First Day,” as the team offers a glimpse into the very first day of newborn animals, whether a sifaka, a capybara or a California sea lion. (As usual, the two venture far from the expected menagerie, though they are careful to include favorites like tigers and penguins.)

Jenkins’s masterly paper collages achieve their usual high standards of zoological accuracy and beauty. The text is shrewdly written in the first-person voice of each baby animal, mingling personality with scientific fact. The baby blue wildebeest notes, “On my first day, I trotted along with my mother. My herd was on the move, and I had to keep up!” The voices give expression to the ideas and emotions of human children while also being true to the animals in question. The barking between a baby sea lion and his mother, for example, assures the baby that “I won’t get lost among the other sea lion pups.”

The analogies with a young child’s physical achievement and independence are clear, and inspiring. “On my first day, I raced to the water,” a baby leatherback turtle boasts. “I landed in a heap,” the baby giraffe admits. “But I wasn’t hurt, and before long I was taking my first steps.”

Children will likewise respond to the warm relationship between parent and offspring. “I clung to her fur as she slept,” a golden snub-nosed monkey says of his large, orange-furred mother. The story ends, sweetly, with a polar bear who practically purrs, “I curled up in a cozy den beneath the snow. I was safe and warm beside my mother.” The full spread of his silhouette nestled against hers is one of pure filial joy. What a fine way to start, or end, the day.