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Addressing the Risks and Rewards of 3-6 pm |
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The bell rings, signaling the start of afterschool for a half million children in the Central Valley. For too many this time is unsupervised, marked by the risks associated with boredom and unstructured time.
The risky behaviors: bullying, drugs, gangs, alcohol, sexual activity, pornography, crime, suicide, and other self-destructive activities.
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Using the Art and Science of Design to Shape our Children`s World |
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From product design to graphic arts, and from fashion design to engineering, what would our world be without design? The art and science of design is critical to the advancement of society and imperative to teach to students of all ages.
Today, classes are emerging to focus on design in multiple areas of science, technology, math, engineering, and arts. Afterschool leaders use curriculum in rocketry, graphic arts, fashion design, robotics, Rube Goldberg technology, and other courses to advance a student`s design skills. Children and youth learn that everyone can be a designer as they are allowed the freedom to experiment and create.
As a sign of the growing popularity of teaching creative thinking, the Massachusetts public school system announced that it will begin to test students not only on standardized measures but on their ability to use the curriculum to think creatively or “outside the box.” Educational leaders plan to form a creativity index that will rate public schools based on their ability to foster creativity in students.
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Saving the Children, From Literacy to Good Health |
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Halle was a good student. Last year, the second grader at Thomas Law Reed Elementary School in Reedley had solid grades and liked to read. Her mother thought she was on the right track until Halle brought home a progress report that reflected low reading scores. Confused, Halle’s mother inquired about the low scores.
“She had always been a strong reader and she read really fast. I didn’t understand why she was struggling,” said Tessa Vowell, mother of four including Halle.
Through Save the Children (STC), Halle received extra help in her afterschool program where they discovered she was reading too fast and was not retaining the information. Relieved, Vowell knew her daughter was getting the assistance she needed.
Today, Halle is an energetic third grader who has made vast improvements through the one-on-one and group literacy program with STC. Now that Halle’s scores have improved, Vowell said her daughter’s confidence has soared as well.
“She used to like reading, but now she loves reading,” Vowell said. “It is such a privilege to have a program like this.”
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