Back to School

Great Tips for Reducing the Stress
of Going Back to School

Grown-ups begin a new year on January 1st, but for kids the new year begins on the first day of school. Although kids love to "hate" school, many are truly eager to learn, to get back to their school, its social scene, and its reassuring routine. New kids in town, oldest children, kids transitioning from elementary to middle school or from middle school to high school, or kids with learning or behavioral challenges, may feel a little anxious when the new school year rolls around.

Our job as parents is to raise our children to be independent. One of parenting's greatest challenges is learning to distinguish when and how much we should help our children and when we should encourage them to solve problems themselves. The best way to help your children or teens prepare for school this year is to teach them by example and by posing questions that will help them think through their own problems and arrive at workable solutions.

Some Helpful Tips:

• Use the two weeks prior to school starting to let your child readjust to their new bedtime. Set their alarm each night and make sure your little one is up and at em' the next morning.
• Take time to go over your child's car pool or bus schedule as well. This way they will be aware of what time they need to be ready when the big day arrives.  In addition, you may want to go over routes and how long the ride to school will take.  Most importantly, talk to your child about car/bus safety!
• If your child is new to town, the oldest, or transitioning from one school to another, make sure he or she has the opportunity to tour the school a few days before school begins. Encourage your child to ask questions of you and anyone he or she meets at the school. Be aware that younger children, preteens, and teens will all have different fears and concerns. And, older kids may be too insecure to ask questions for fear of appearing stupid or un-cool. For example: young children may worry about paying for lunch the first time and where the lavatories are located in relationship to their classroom. Preteens and teens may be more worried about their lockers, lock combinations, and what they're going to wear the first day of school.
• Before any "back to school" clothing is purchased, make sure you and your child or teen know the school dress code. That knowledge will ease family tension and save you a great deal of time and trouble.
• From kindergarten on, encourage your children to dress in a way that is compatible with his or her personality. Let them know that being true to themselves is "way" better than being trendy; in fact, the kids who create trends never copy anyone else. Peer pressure builds as kids get older and celebrating individuality through clothing style is a great way to show your kids that they do not need the approval of popular kids to survive, and thrive, in school.
• The night before school have your child pick out a first day outfit. This will avoid adding unnecessary chaos to an already hectic event. Have them pack their backpack as well. Click here for tips on backpack safety: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/learning/backpack.html
• School textbooks are getting heavier and heavier. Make sure you child or preteen has a sturdy backpack that distributes the weight of books equally. You may want to invest in a roller backpack that has a luggage handle so that your child can pull his or her backpack instead of carrying it.
• If you plan on packing them a lunch ask them what they would like to eat on the first day of school. If you aren't fixing their lunch, be sure to give them lunch money and have them put it in a safe place.
• If your children will be participating in any extracurricular sports, they will need a physical. Schedule it as soon as possible, even before school starts.
• If your kids had required reading over the summer, you may want to have an informal discussion with them about their reading right before school starts. Ask them to remind you what books they read and why they liked or disliked them. Don't be satisfied with simplistic explanations; ask for details about characters, place, and plot. Ask them if and why they would recommend the book to other kids. Your informal book chat will jog their memories and help them if they are assigned a report on their summer reading.
• Share your own feelings and memories about your first day of school experiences: being the new kid in town; the first one in the family to ride a bus to school; or the forgetting your locker combination running between classes in middle school. When your kids share their worries or concerns, don't dismiss or trivialize them. Validate their concerns. Ask them if they have ideas on what they can do to alleviate their apprehensions. If they do not have ideas, brainstorm with them to come up with viable solutions and actions.
• In this era of "kidnap fears" it is hard not to be too overprotective of your children, but try. In most of America, kids can walk to school safely. They can ride the bus safely, too. Human skin is waterproof, and dressed for the occasion, kids can walk in the rain and snow unharmed. The classroom is not the only place where learning occurs. The journey to and from school provides your kids with another situation in which to learn. If your area is "traffic safe," adequately prepare your kids with safety tips and, at an age appropriate time, stop driving them to school door and let them explore. Their self-esteem will swell with their responsible independence.
• Make sure your child has a library card, knows his or her way around the library, and knows how to find the books he or she will need to complete assignments and read for pleasure during the school year.
• Get into the habit of going to the library once a week or once every two weeks, regardless of whether or not your child's school assignments require it. The best way you can help your children achieve in school is to encourage them to read and become life-long readers. The best place to get free books, magazines, computer access, entertaining stories, and important information is your neighborhood library.
• No matter how old or young your children, read through the school student handbook with them at the beginning of every year. You both need to know the school's goals, expectations, opportunities, and rules.
• Fill out any medical and emergency forms and return them to the school immediately. If your child has any special health or physical needs make sure you put those needs in writing and that the principal, your child's teacher, and the school nurse all have copies.
• Establish a safe place in the house where all school forms and notices can be deposited every day. Get your kids in the habit of taking all forms and notices out of their backpacks and putting them in that safe place as soon as they walk through your door. They need to learn from kindergarten on that they are responsible for making sure you receive all communications from their school. It may help to give each of your children, including your teens, a sturdy plastic folder that they can keep in their backpack to carry notices home safely.
• Rusty Browder, the librarian at Amos A. Lawrence School in Brookline, Mass., recommends that kids of all ages acquire great "backpack habits." She suggest that kids go through their backpacks everyday, organize papers and notebooks, give parents important notices and work, and throw out garbage of any kind! Older kids who have locker breaks between classes may want to organize their heavy textbooks in groups of morning and afternoon classes so that one group of books can be left in their lockers until needed.
• Read aloud to your children from their favorite books, every night if possible, if only for ten or fifteen minutes. And don't assume that once your child has become an independent reader that he or she no longer wants, or needs, to be read aloud to. Kids of all ages, and adults, love to hear a great story. And reading aloud increases your children's vocabulary, makes them laugh, expands their universe, and helps them to learn about human understanding and compassion. Besides- it's great fun!
• Try to find a special time each day to talk with your children about their day at school. Sometimes that moment takes place in the car driving between after-school activities. Sometimes it takes place on the phone from home to your work place. Sometimes it takes place at the table over dinner. Wherever and whenever it takes place, don't ask the question, "How was school today?" –– it is a certainty that you will get a one word answer. Ask: what was served in the cafeteria; did you have gym outside; how did your history presentation go? –– anything to initiate a conversation. Never underestimate your impact or importance to your kids. Your taking the time to take an interest in them and their day is not only important to their education, it is something they will remember and cherish the rest of their lives.
• Send them off with big kisses and a bunch of well wishes!

Happy School Year!!

© 2013 Mary Brigid Barrett

The Price of a Book

Letter to the Editor Invites Readers
to Consider the Value of Books

New York Times Asks for Your Opinion
Before August 15

New York Time
(c) 2013 Miguel Porlan

In "Invitation to a Dialogue: The Booksellers’ Tale," Stuart Bernstein writes, "Your local bookstore can’t survive as a showroom. The Justice Department apparently wants you to have cheap book prices above all else. But isn’t there a bigger picture? We vote at the polls, but also with our wallets. What is the value of the best book you’ve ever read? Can you even put a price on it?"

To read the entire letter and to send your response, click here.

Education News

Today's Students Outperforming
Students of the 1970s;

Academic Achievement Gap Narrowing per New Federal Study

In the Washingto Post article "Academic achievement gap is narrowing, new national data show," journalist Lyndsey Layton reports on the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which paint a picture of "steady student achievement that contradicts the popular notion that U.S. educational progress has stalled."

To read the entire article, click here.

In Case You Missed It!

Children's Advocacy Group
Files Complaint with FTC
Regarding Child Learning Applications

A screen shot of Fisher-Price’s Laugh & Learn
Let’s Count Animals for Baby iPad app

In the New York Times blog piece "Children's Advocacy Group Faults Learning Apps for Babies," Natasha Singer writes:

The baby genius industry is notorious for marketing products as educational, when in fact there is no evidence that they are,” said Susan Linn, the director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which is based in Boston. “Parents deserve honest information about the educational value of the activities they choose for their children and they are not getting it from these companies."

To read the entire article, click here. 

Discover the World
at Your Local Library this Summer

Libraries across the nation are sponsoring a treasure trove of events this summer for people of all ages. From art and history exhibitions to job hunting workshops, from pajama time storytelling hour to language classes, you are bound to discover a class or event--or even a book--to spark the imagination of all members of your family this summer!

Read below for a sample of library happenings across the country. For ideas about how to make the most out of a library visit with your family, check out the NCBLA's article, "An Affordable Family Night Out: Visit Your Neighborhood Public Library."

Boston

At the Boston Public Library through August 30 is the exhibition The Imaginative Worlds of Danie Defoe: Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and the Early Novel, which features the riches of the Boston Public Library’s William P. Trent Collection of Defoe and Defoeana. One the most comprehensive rare book collections of Defoe’s works, the Trent Collection also features works that represent the early print culture of his time. This exhibition displays Defoe’s novels, positioning them within the larger context of his other writing. The exhibition provides insight into Defoe’s novels, his life as a writer, and the lively British culture that helped to give birth to this new art form.

Chicago

The Chicago Public Library is offering the Full STEAM Ahead Summer Learning Challenge through August 10. Get on board with other readers and travel Full STEAM Ahead, bringing the best of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math to the Chicago Public Library! Challenge yourself this summer with a redesigned Summer Learning Challenge, where you will Read, Learn, Discover and Create. Read at least 300 minutes: Fiction books, informational books, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers and ebooks are great ways to experience the world and are all available at the Chicago Public Library. Read 20 minutes a day every day. A great way to do this is by reading aloud as a family.

Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Public Library is sponsoring King, the Kennedys', & Los Angeles through September 30. This exhibit presents images of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy during visits to Los Angeles for various events, including political rallies, campaign banquets, and civil rights gatherings, and explores the impact they had on the city - both in life and death. Featuring photos exclusively from the Los Angeles Public Library’s Photo Collection, “King, the Kennedys, & Los Angeles” presents a view of the 1960s and its legacy through the lenses of photographers from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and Valley Times newspapers, along with images from local photographers William Reagh and Rolland Curtis. In some cases, the images have not been seen since they first ran in the local newspapers more than 40 years ago.

What's happening at YOUR local library?!

Summer Travels: Visiting Presidential Birthplaces, Houses, and Libraries

The NCBLA's Field Trip Guide
Provides Helpful Hints for Planning and
Making the Most of Your Visit

George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate

When planning your summer outings and travels this summer, you can help your kids connect with American history by visiting a presidential site. More than twenty states boast presidential birthplaces, historic homes, libraries, and museums. The NCBLA's educational website OurWhiteHouse.org offers a comprehensive guide to finding these fabulous places, listed by state in "Field Trip Guide: Presidential Birthplaces, Houses, and Libraries."

Read, Think, Act!

Help young people dig deeper into America's past and think critically about the future using the NCBLA's art and literature anthology Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. The illustrations, essays, short stories, presidential letters, personal reflections, and historical accounts in Our White House inform and entertain, offering a window on more than 200 years of American history.  Our White House is available in both hardcover and paperback. The paperback edition features a NEW poem by Nikki Grimes about President Obama’s inauguration! 

Complementing the book is the NCBLA's educational website OurWhiteHouse.org, which hosts a vast array of exclusive articles, primary sources, activities and discussion questions, and research resources. In addition to the field trip guides, be sure to check out "The Eloquence of 'Silent Cal'" by Katherine Paterson, "I Pledge Allegiance: Classroom Kit on Becoming an American Citizen" by Helen Kampion, "Presidents Are People Too" by Heather Lang, "A Taste of the Past: White House Kitchens, Menus, and Recipes" by Mary Brigid Barrett, and  "From White House Hostess to American Powerhouse: The Evolution of the First Lady's Title and Role" by Geri Zabela Eddins.

Summer Writing Fun!

Let's Put On A Show and
Other Summer Amusements:
Great Ways to Get Your Kids Writing this Summer and Liking It!

How often have you hear this sad summer refrain from your children, “Mom, we're bored. We have nothing to do." I remember hearing it often by mid-summer when the heat drained my kids' energy or their friends went away on vacation.

The best summer pursuits engage kids' imaginations. Many of the anti-boredom activities I suggested to my kids had underlying educational value of which they were blissfully unaware. Today, as then, children often only engage in writing activities as a result of school assignments. As a result, many kids view writing as a chore. Summer is a great time to get kids writing for pleasure.

Here are suggestions for fun summer activities which will keep your kids entertained and occupied, and at the same time improve their language and writing skills-perhaps long enough for you to get something done:

Gather all your board games together that deal with word play: Scrabble, Balderdash, Scattergories, Boggle, Password, etc. Hide them away for a few weeks. Eventually, your children will tire of all their electronic games. When they do, announce that the first annual "___________(your last name) Board Game Marathon" will take place on your kitchen table, or weather permitting, your deck or porch the following day. Stipulate the order of play for the games and how many times each game must be played before moving on to the next game. Pick a scorekeeper to track the winners. Step back and let them go to it. Provide a great snack and award the winners double-decker ice cream cones. At my house, the board game marathon ran for a week!

Suggest that they write their own play or show and perform it live and/or video the performance. Visit your local library and ask your librarian for a book which contains plays for children. Look through the book with your kids. Immediately, they will notice that plays are not only structured differently from a novel or story, they are written differently, too. Discuss how plays are structured in acts and scenes, as opposed to chapters in a novel. Plays are written in dialogue or conversations, with directions which tell the actors what to do. Make them directors and playwrights. They can write a play and make photocopies of the original for their cast. They can audition their friends for the parts in the play. Non-performing friends and siblings can make costumes out of paper or from things around the house. Big appliance size cardboard boxes are great for scenery, and an old sheet thrown over a clothes line makes a great stage curtain indoors or outdoors. Your library will have books which can help them do all of the above. The most important thing is that they do the work, not you. When all is ready they can perform for family and neighbors.

Have them write and perform a puppet show. First they have to write the show out completely. Then puppets can be made from just about anything. Again your local library will have books, written just for kids, on how to make simple puppets. Hand puppets are easily made using markers and paper lunch bags. Stick puppets can be made from paper and Popsicle sticks. Cut off the bottom and one long side of any cardboard box and you have a puppet theater.

Help your child create a summer memory journal. At your local art supply store, purchase a blank sketchbook for your child. They are available in different sizes and prices. Also supply your child with a glue stick and a variety of writing instruments. Before or after dinner, give your child the time to write about the events and activities of the day. Encourage them to write down their feelings and reactions, too. They can also illustrate their activities with drawings or photographs. And suggest that they glue in an item that symbolizes that day: a flower from the yard, a piece of shell from a beach, a baseball game ticket. They can write or draw or glue anything in the journal, anyway they want. They can ask family members to contribute to the journal, too. At the end of summer ask them to show and share their journal with the family.

If you plan to travel this summer, buy your kids their own private address book and have them write down their friends' addresses before you leave. Put together a surprise present, a folder which they can take with them on your travels. The folder should contain postage stamps, envelopes, writing paper, and blank postcards. Add their new address book. They'll love if the folder is in their favorite color. In the car, at the pool, on a plane, or at the end of the day in your hotel or tent, encourage them to take a quiet moment and write a note or card to their friends back home. Their folder will provide all the items they need.

© 2004 Mary Brigid Barrett

Save the Date! NCBLA at the National Book Festival, Sunday, September 22, 2013

The National Children’s Book and
Literacy Alliance
to Present READERS THEATER
Featuring
National Ambassadors for
Young People's Literature Emeritus

Katherine Paterson and Jon Scieszka

and Award-Winning Authors

Susan Cooper and Grace Lin

at Library of Congress National Book Festival 

The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, in conjunction with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, is thrilled to be presenting a Children's "Literary Lights" Readers Theater presentation at this year’s National Book Festival. The "Literary Lights" presenters will include two former National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature--Katherine Paterson and Jon Scieszka--as well as award-winning authors Susan Cooper and Grace Lin. Readers Theater is a dramatic presentation of a written work in script form, similar to a radio play. The Readers Theater presentation will include readings from all four participating authors' books.

Katherine Paterson is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, an honor co-sponsored by the Library of Congress Center for the Book and the Children’s Book Council. Her international fame rests not only on her widely acclaimed novels but also on her efforts to promote literacy in the United States and abroad. A two-time winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award, she has received many other accolades for her body of work, including the Astrid Lindgren Award for Lifetime Achievement. She is also a vice president of the board of directors of the NCBLA. Her new book is Giving Thanks (Chronicle Books), featuring Pamela Dalton’s exquisite cut-paper illustrations. Learn more about Paterson and her books on her website.

Jon Scieszka was the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a program sponsored by the Library of Congress Center for the Book and the Children’s Book Council. His zany, somewhat subversive sense of humor is evident in such best-sellers as The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. He also has a book series and website that encourages boys to read more called Guys Read. Scieszka’s new book is Guys Read: Other Worlds (HarperCollins). Learn more about Sieszka and his books on his website.

Susan Cooper is the author of the classic five-book series The Dark Is Rising, which won a Newbery Medal, a Newbery Honor Award and two Carnegie Honor Awards. Cooper has also received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for a “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” Born in England, Cooper was a reporter and feature writer for the London Sunday Times before coming to live in the United States. Her writing includes books for children and adults, a Broadway play, films and Emmy-nominated screenplays. Ghost Hawk (Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster) is her latest novel. She is a member of the board of directors of the NCBLA. Learn more about Cooper and her books on her website.

In 2010 Grace Lin won a Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, an Asian-inspired fantasy that some people compare to The Wizard of Oz. Many of Lin’s books feature members of her family. “My mother and I were star characters in my first book,” says Lin. That book was “The Ugly Vegetables.” In addition to writing her books, Lin also illustrates them. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her new book is Ling & Ting Share a Birthday (Little, Brown). Learn more about Lin on her website.

About the National Book Festival

The 13^th annual National Book Festival will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22. The NCBLA's Readers Theater presentation is scheduled for Sunday, September 22nd. The National Book Festival is free and open to the public. 

Each year the National Book Festival features authors, poets, and illustrators in several pavilions. This year two pavilions are dedicated to authors and illustrators who write and illustrate books for children and teens.  The festival is a family friendly event, providing an opportunity for readers of all ages to meet and hear firsthand from their favorite authors and illustrators, get books signed, hear special entertainment, and have photos taken with storybook characters. Learn more at the official website:  loc.gov/bookfest

About the NCBLA at the National Book Festival

The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance has been captivating audiences of all ages with author presentations at the National Book Festival since the festival’s inception. At the 2011 National Book Festival, the NCBLA presented a dramatic reading of its national reading and writing outreach project The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, which featured nine of America’s most gifted authors and illustrators on stage: National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Emeritus Katherine Paterson, Mary Brigid Barrett, Calef Brown, Susan Cooper, Jack Gantos, Gregory Maguire, Fredrick McKissack, Patricia McKissack, and Chris Van Dusen. Watch the NCBLA’s 2011 National Book Festival presentation here.