Group items tagged

"This isn't just for people with traditional careers and family lives. It applies to all families regardless of how busy your schedule or important your job, In her book "The Obamas," author Jodi Kanter highlights the President's commitment to having dinner with his family five times a week. Unfortunately in the hustle and bustle of today's digital world, the art of the family dinner has been drained out of many homes with device interaction replacing face-to-face connection. During a panel discussion hosted by Common Sense Media that focused on raising caring kids in a digital world, Howard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education shared that many families are not even sure what to do at dinner time if all are free of digital devices. If this applies to your family, don't despair. Below are ideas for dinner time activities for each day of the week. These suggestions should serve as a helpful way to ensure dinner time is a valuable experience for families."

"Any parent who has battled with a child over homework night after night has to wonder: Do those math worksheets and book reports really make a difference to a student's long-term success? Or is homework just a headache-another distraction from family time and downtime, already diminished by the likes of music and dance lessons, sports practices, and part-time jobs? Allison, a mother of two middle-school girls from an affluent Boston suburb, describes a frenetic afterschool scenario: "My girls do gymnastics a few days a week, so homework happens for my 6th grader after gymnastics, at 6:30 p.m. She doesn't get to bed until 9. My 8th grader does her homework immediately after school, up until gymnastics. She eats dinner at 9:15 and then goes to bed, unless there is more homework to do, in which case she'll get to bed around 10." The girls miss out on sleep, and weeknight family dinners are tough to swing. Parental concerns about their children's homework loads are nothing new. Debates over the merits of homework-tasks that teachers ask students to complete during non-instructional time-have ebbed and flowed since the late 19th century, and today its value is again being scrutinized and weighed against possible negative impacts on family life and children's well-being."

"One of the biggest issues I have with many descriptions of "making" in education is that it's about students just being creative with tools or materials.  I strongly disagree. Making is not just the simple act of you being the difference between raw materials and finished product, as in "I made dinner" or even "I made a robot." I don't think we always need to ascribe learning to the act of making - but the act of making allows the maker, and maybe an outsider (a teacher, perhaps) to have a window into the thinking of the maker."

""This is cool." With those three words from my 11-year-old son, I knew Apple had a hit on its hands with Swift Playgrounds, its iPad app for learning the company's Swift programming language. We didn't exactly have to pry him away, but he had reached that just-one-more-level-before-dinner type of self-motivation that warms an educator's heart. The app is free. So when Apple releases Swift Playgrounds on Tuesday in the App Store, I recommend giving it a try. It's geared for middle school kids, but adults can learn too -- it sucked me in. You'll need Apple's new iOS 10 software, also arriving Tuesday. And just so you know, some older iPads like the first-generation iPad Mini can't run it."

"Whether you're planning a day trip through one of Britain's national parks or trying to find somewhere tasty for dinner, we've found an iPhone and iPad app for every requirement to make sure your travels are the best that they can be."

"The free app, KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese "Dinner, Not Art." offers you not only macaroni to place and move around, but also you can color those noodles. Much easier than having to have all those little Dixie cups on the table, each with their own colors."

"Taking pictures on handheld devices and blasting them to everyone you know, has become the norm of today's social generation. Snaps of our pets, our dinner, and even ourselves ("selfies") can be found stored in the library of most people's iPads. With all the work that has been done on the technology end of things, to enhance the megapixels and quality of the camera, it's no wonder the App world is keeping up by enabling user's to have fun with and perfect, their digital masterpiece's. "

"You don't need an infographic to tell you that your students (and probably most of your friends, colleagues, and family members) have their nose pointed towards a screen more often than not. While I'm definitely not above chastising my dinner mates for getting too cosy with their phone instead of interacting with everyone at the table, I wouldn't necessarily transfer that same open shaming technique to a classroom. Studies show that so much of our daily media interactions are screen based - 90%, in fact. So while your inclination may be to have students focusing on one thing at a time to make sure they're getting all they need to out of an activity, maybe you should think again."

"Restaurants and public places in Ireland are loud. They looked so different from the United States -- full of people laughing and talking to one another -- that it took me several days to figure out just what I was seeing. Actually, it was what I wasn't seeing. As we traveled through Ireland, families and friends met each other for dinner or coffee just like we do here in the States, but without one thing. Their cell phones weren't out. No one was texting. No one was taking selfies. They were with each other. . . . . . except in one place -- the McDonalds."

"Dear daughter: I know you find this hard to believe, but there are apps out there that you would enjoy that are NOT related to Minecraft. What? What's that you say? You have no interest in anything that's unrelated to Minecraft? Such as dinner or the dog or YOUR MOTHER? Sigh. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  If your kid, like mine, is completely obsessed with all things Minecraft, here's a list of apps he or she might find interesting. And if you have yet to introduce your kid to this addictive and educational game, start with the Pocket Edition and then jump head-first into the Minecraft well. Be warned: it's deep. VERY deep. And a bit on the expensive side -- most of these apps have an up-front price, as well as in-app purchases for extras. But what price peace and quiet?"

"If you find yourself frustrated trying to keep up with the school packets, video chats, and virtual office hours, take a deep breath and a step back. Official school activities are important, but there are plenty of everyday activities that count as learning too. These kinds of activities have their limits (kids aren't going to learn calculus from cooking dinner), but overall, you can feel good about kids furthering their learning through these at-home activities."

"You can customize your own spinner with your own labels using the tools below the spinner. You can save your spinner for later use by either copying the address from the browser or by using the sharing buttons embedded on this page."