Showing posts with label 21st century learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 21st century learning. Show all posts

Monday, July 6

FAIRMONT FIVE introducing young children to the wonders of nature




Summer break offers excellent opportunities to be outdoors, whether it’s visiting the beach, mountains, deserts, or even your backyard. Breathing fresh air, getting exercise, satisfying curiosity, and feeling a warm breeze on your face are a few of the many joys of exploring the wonders of nature.

Under the caring guidance of parents, young children can gain an amazing perspective of the world around them, from engaging in a backyard safari to spending a week at a national park. We live on a beautiful planet, and it’s worth exploring!

Here are five simple steps for parents to expand their children’s appreciation for nature:

Ecosystem outside your back door— A patch of weeds, flower garden, a green belt, and community park yield an abundance of tiny discoveries for young explorers. Children can record their observations by drawing pictures. Here’s an opportunity to teach the importance of examining and appreciating plants and bugs only with their eyes and not with their hands.

Digging in the dirt – For a small child, a small hole in the back yard is a portal to an amazing journey where imagination and science intertwine. Pick out a spot where your child can use a kid-appropriate shovel and bucket to find worms, bugs, rocks, plant roots, and more. To enhance the experience, plant some plastic dinosaurs to recreate a paleontological dig!

Exploring with your ears – Encourage your child to sit quietly on a bench. After a few minutes, your little one will easily pick up bird songs and the sound of wind blowing through the trees. The child can pretend to be a creature silently hiding.  This will engage their imagination while experiencing the simplistic beauty of the natural world.  This activity definitely fosters the value of patience and reinforces the discipline of learning to sit quietly and listen attentively.

Nature scavenger hunt – This is a fun way for children to pay attention to their surroundings, as well as seasons of the year. While in the yard or on a short hike, children can pick-up leaves, seashells, and small rocks as a reminder of the places they explored. Each item can be linked to a story in pictures about the outdoor experience. (Please note public park rules in regards to collecting items.)

Let’s talk about it – Discuss the experience of being outdoors with your child. Parents can follow-up with questions and observations to determine the child’s favorite part of being outdoors and what they would like to do on their next adventure in nature.

Contributed by Doug Fleischli, Fairmont Private Schools
Image by Extension

Monday, June 8

CHALK TALK: decoding STEM


 STEM is a new buzz word in the education field. But what exactly is it? Simply defined, STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The STEM Education Coalition states that incorporating a STEM-based curriculum is critical if the United States wants to remain a global economic and technological leader.


The goal of this education initiative is to create a STEM-based curriculum for all students. However, Fairmont Private Schools is proactive in providing students with a STEM-rich curriculum. Fairmont currently boasts robust, competitive robotics clubs at the junior high and high school levels, as well as advanced mathematics programs, and the Advanced Science and Engineering Program (ASEP) for high school students. A total of 24 awards were earned by Fairmont junior high students at the 2014 Orange County Science and Engineering Fair. Fairmont students are also introduced to technology in the classroom, working with iPads and Interactive Whiteboards from preschool through high school.

Despite the national push for more technical training required for STEM-related jobs, it is important to maintain a balance between study of the humanities and study of the technological fields. During the 2011 release of a next generation iPad, Steve Jobs explained that “it’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — that it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.” Fairmont believes that both liberal arts and STEM focuses are important, thus, Fairmont students are enriched with opportunities to learn musical instruments, participate in theater productions, read classical literature, create wonderful works of art, and engage with curriculum that examines history, sociology, and more! 
After graduating from Fairmont Preparatory Academy, 87% of Fairmont seniors are accepted to US News & World Report’s list of top 100 American colleges and universities, many entering the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These successful outcomes result from a well-balanced education that enable students to flourish academically and artistically.    
Contributed by Rebecca Stokes, Fairmont Private Schools

Image by Teacher Reboot Camp

Wednesday, May 20

A to Z: encouraging digital citizenship in your child

Young adults represent the majority of today’s digital citizens. Students are encouraged to be good digital citizens by maintaining a positive online environment when using technology. While teaching children to use good manners in the physical world is important, it is becoming more and more prudent for those manners to apply in the digital world. With the rapid advancement of technology, teaching children the importance of digital social skills and leaving behind a positive digital footprint ensures a better online world and protected reputations. 

Technology is a wonderful learning tool, but it can also lead to some unhealthy paths if a student does not know how to navigate away from the sludge of  inappropriate comments and harmful content. Closely monitoring children ensures that they’re viewing and contributing to positive content. Parents that allow their children to operate their own social media accounts should advise that virtually everything posted to the internet can never be completely removed. Posting media creates a digital footprint which allows an individual’s internet activities to be loosely followed. A good rule of thumb for students is to post only what you’d like your parents to see; anything questionable in content, harmful to others, and potentially damaging to your online reputation should be avoided.

As children engage in more social media, and inherit more digital responsibility, it’s critical that they understand that everyone can see anything posted by anyone. This means that college admissions advisors and future employers, to name a few, are privy to the digital footprints left by all applicants. Promoting oneself in a positive manner will never harm one’s chances of getting that dream job or admissions letter.   

Social media and internet browsing are a large part of American life. Helping children to be aware of their digital footprint, teaching them to respect other users, and to protect themselves while using the internet fosters a responsible citizen in both the physical and digital world.

For more ideas about raising responsible digital citizens, visit Fairmont’s Pinterest board 21st Century Learning!

Contributed by Rebecca Stokes, Fairmont Private Schools

Image by Roofing Brand

Monday, May 18

CHALK TALK: helping young children be aware of the purpose of advertising




As with television and the internet, young children may innocently embrace advertisements on kid-friendly apps, such as the recently launched YouTube Kids app, as a resource of viable, unbiased information. While adults and older children have a better understanding of the intention of advertising, children eight years and younger are particularly susceptible to the persuasion of ads sharing the screen with educational content and kid-appropriate entertainment.

Children advocacy groups express concerns about the negative influences of advertisements on these age-appropriate apps. They worry that the ads, specifically those targeting vulnerable young children, contribute to reinforcing children’s fixation on soft drinks, junk food, and other unhealthy habits. The issue matches concerns raised in a report published in 2004 by the American Psychological Association entitled “Television Advertising Leads to Unhealthy Habits in Children.”

Dr. Rebecca Osborne, Technology Enhanced Curriculum Specialist for Fairmont Private Schools, encourages parents to monitor what their children are watching and to be vigilant about the kind of advertising that accompanies the programs.  Parents may want to consider streaming programming such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, which do not include ads, as an alternative to broadcast television or ad-supported apps.

When children watch ad-supported programming, parents can help their children identify the difference between a regular show and an advertisement. Parents can point out how the characters are different, the changes in volume or pacing, and how the content of the program and advertisement does not match.  Since this type of distinguishing will not develop until children are around 5-6 years old, parental guidance is essential for helping them see the differences.

Lastly, parents can help their children think critically about the information they are presented. This skill will develop over time, but parents can encourage children to evaluate statements by simply asking "What do you think about that?" or "Do you agree with what they are saying?"

Children have a natural curiosity, and parents should foster this type of thinking in their children to help them identify advertisements and avoid being unduly persuaded by them.



Contributed by Doug Fleischli, Fairmont Private Schools
Image by sheknows

Monday, April 27

HOW TO: backing up your student’s work



As the school year winds down, now is a good time to think about the best way to save your student’s work.  If you have not been backing up regularly, summertime offers a great opportunity to clean up your student’s iPad and computer by backing up the data to an external drive.  To save work and projects, we recommend backing up data from your student’s iPad using one (or preferably several) of the methods outlined below.  Once the data has been backed up to a hard disk, it can be deleted from the iPad.
Since iCloud will save only the most recent backups, if you delete data from your iPad, the newer back up will not contain that data.  It’s recommended to use both a cloud-based and hard disk backup to protect and save your data, which will enable you to wipe your iPad clean for the next school year.  If you so choose, be sure to wait until after the school year is over, as teachers may have projects, assignments, and assessments that utilize school work completed earlier in the year.

 

The bottom line is to always remember to back up your computers and mobile devices regularly!


iCloud

Perhaps the easiest way to back up your data is by using Apple’s iCloud feature.  With this feature enabled, your data will be backed up automatically when your iPad is plugged in, locked, and connected to the Internet.  This form of backup takes place when the iPad is charging and not in use. To activate iCloud backup:

  • Go to Settings > iCloud > Backup
  • Toggle the iCloud Backup switch to “On” setting
  • You can choose the “Back Up Now” option to create an immediate iCloud backup of your data
If you require more than the free 5 GB of storage, Apple offers additional storage space starting at 99 cents per month for 20GM
 

iTunes

Another great option to back up your iPad is to plug it into your computer and sync it with iTunes.  If you have iTunes installed on your computer, it should automatically open when you plug in your iPad.  If not, simply open iTunes manually with your iPad plugged in. To back up your data:
  • Click on the iPad icon near the top of the iTunes window
  • Under the Backups box, click on “Back Up Now” to create a backup of your iPad

You can select how your iPad will generate automatic backups by selecting the "iCloud” or “This computer” option.  You can always create a manual backup of your iPad using iTunes even when your auto backup is set to “iCloud”


Google Drive

Google Drive is a convenient way to back up files, images, and videos.  However, Google Drive will not save your iPad apps or settings.  
To save apps or settings, you will need to use one of the above options  (iCloud or iTunes).
Many apps, such as iAnnotate and Explain Everything, give you the option to save directly to Google Drive.  You can also upload any video or picture from your camera roll to your Google Drive using the 
free Google Drive app. If your iCloud storage is getting full, the main culprit is usually the large size of your camera roll.  You can choose to back up your camera roll to Google Drive on a regular basis to free up some of your iCloud storage space.  Note that your drive has a capacity of 30GB while the free iCloud storage is limited to 5GB.  

Dropbox

Dropbox works  similar to Google Drive, but the free storage is smaller (only 2GB).  Dropbox will allow you to create an automatic back up from your camera roll.  To enable this feature, open the Dropbox app on your iPad then click on the Settings tab at the bottom left side of the screen.  Tap the “Camera Upload” option and toggle it to “On”  setting. 

Computer: External Hard Drive and Off-site Backup

It’s essential to back up your computer regularly to an external hard drive using Time Machine on a Mac or a number of programs on a PC.  It can be devastating to lose work and personal files if your computer becomes damaged or is stolen.  Establishing a routine to plug in the drive at the end of the week is an effective measure to back up data.  This ensures you will never lose more than a week’s worth of work.  And if you are using Google Drive or Dropbox to back up some of your files, you are creating even more insurance for protecting your data.  Other off-site options for backup include Crashplan, Mozy, and Carbonite. The best backup plan includes a local backup to an external hard drive and an off-site backup to the cloud. 
Backing up your student’s work ensures peace of mind. This protected resource of information will be useful for the upcoming school year.   It will also enable your student to safely free up space on his/her iPad in anticipation of new projects.

Contributed by the Marketing Department, Fairmont Private Schools 
Image by It's All About Laptops!