December 2011

As I sit to write this post, I am exhausted with the reading from this week....so much out there about Screen Time, App Gap, the need for physical fitness and of course student testing.  It is hard to get the balance in your child's life - time for sports, time for music lessons, and time to just relax...BALANCE is the key.  No matter what article I read about screen time - the common denominator is  - all screen time needs to be counted.  I am watching the students in fifth grade make wonderful book trailers.  They are spending time looking for the perfect music and effects.  They are also infront of the screen a lot...but the conversations between the students are most interesting and insightful and the evaluation of the work is intense.  How can you not encourage students take time to produce amazing film and video that communicate their knowledge?  But we also know that any elementary students should also be on the playground running and developing motor skills (without the motor skills, how can they manipulate a mouse?)  It almost seems like what came first or what needs to be most important.  The next article talked about app gap....the idea that children with technology are far ahead of the children without.  Schools are doing their best for app gap by having technology available at school and in flexible time and arrangements.  (Rummel Creek library is open before school and during lunch/recess every day.) As if all of the technology is not enough...you also need to make sure your children eat well, get enough sleep and have some type of physical exercise as well as try to get Boy/Girl scouts and religious training all outside of the hours of school.  Bless you parents for trying to get it all done!  No wonder our students are over scheduled and over tired.  Read some of the linked articles above and hopefully you will gleam some information to help your children succeed in life...and possibly not be overwhelmed!