January 2015 Education - North/South Edition - Hersam Acorn Newspapers

EducationJANUARY

2015HERSAM ACORN NEWSPAPERSHERSAM ACORN NEWSPAPERS

by Melissa Ezarik

Peek inside a school classroom today and you might see kids asked to “go bananas” while doing math facts, or a “brain break” activity getting students out of their seats for a few minutes before a writing assignment.

Morning meeting may incorporate some stretches or simple yoga. Games of Simon Says get kids transitioned back from lunch or recess, and jumping jacks, chair push-ups or desk push-ups at various times.

“In the morning, and in between our activities through-out the day, we do a lot of big muscle moving,” said Stratford kindergarten teacher Christina Adzima, an 18-year teaching veteran who has also taught special educa-tion. “I need to stretch and so do they.”

It’s not just the younger set doing their movement reps. “Sensory input and movement breaks are beneficial for

everyone and can truly help to ‘recharge’ your batteries,” said Kerri Cybulski, a licensed occupational therapist (OT) who has worked in her field for 17 years, in the public schools, in medical outplacement settings, and currently in the Connecticut Birth to Three program.

As an OT student, one of her professors used to yell, “Ready, set, go!” when the class appeared to be fading during a lecture.

“During the 30-second break, we had to get up and run around the class and back to our chairs before the timer went off. This was her way of helping to alert and orga-nize our nervous systems to a ‘just right’ or optimal state for learning,” explained Cybulski, who now works with children under three for Trumbull-based Cooperative Educational Services and Hamden-based Reachout Inc.

Organized movement breaks “help with regulation of arousal levels, which often assist with improving one’s attention and focus,” added Cybulski.

In Adzima’s classroom, that’s certainly the case. “Children expand energy, and they are better able to attend,” she said.

The movement also helps her students to make assign-ment choices they may be given, such as whether to color, paint, or work on a gluing project. “If they’re able to choose how they’re going to learn when they’re in that level of engagement after moving and exercising, they’re going to better be able to learn the skill at hand — and that will take them to a higher level of thinking and a bet-ter level of engagement overall,” she said.

While movement break tip sharing can be heard in many a teachers’ lounge, the results of movement breaks are more than anecdotal. In a 2010 Centers for Disease Control overview of nine studies on classroom physi-cal activities, nearly all the research showed that when teachers got kids moving, there was a positive association between cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behav-iors, and academic achievement, said Kristin Downer, schools supervisor for Norwalk-based Constellation School Based Therapy.

In other words,“students are more focused, they’re more engaged socially with their peers, and academically in the classroom,” Downer said. “Students themselves are reporting that it’s fun and they like to have their brain breaks.”

A big reason movement breaks are catching on in elementary and even middle school classrooms is today’s intense curriculum. Phys ed class is just once or twice a

week and recess may be at the end of the day or inside the classroom.

“They don’t have the physical activity they used to,” said Downer, a licensed occupational therapist. “Kids aren’t moving and they need to be moving to allow their brains to catch up on the demands being placed on them.”

In her experience, having worked with students of all ages and in school districts throughout Fairfield County, the majority of kids need more movement than the school schedule allows.

That can mean the need for both whole-class and indi-vidual breaks.

The solution Constellation devised for schools in one local district is the water fountain break. When a teacher sees a student needing a break, he’s cued to go to the water fountain, where five or six sensory motor activities await, Downer said. Another local district is starting to implement the program.

She has known a lot of teachers to have kids run errands when they need to move. “They’ll give kids who need breaks a fake note to take to the office,” she said, adding that many of these children aren’t identified as having any disability and are academically right on target.

Cybulski will advise teachers to consider trying discreet in-classroom strategies, as well. These may include senso-ry squeeze balls, “fidget” toys, Velcro under the desktop, disc seat cushions, “chewy snacks,” or water being sipped through a straw. These items may be available from the school’s occupational therapist to loan out to teachers.

A student receiving special education services who’s included in the mainstream classroom may have sensory strategies designed by an OT to meet individual needs--activities to bring the arousal level up or down as needed that the OT or a paraprofessional oversees, Downer said.

As for classroom movement activities overall, both vet-eran and newer teachers she encounters are incorporating them, she added. “I would say nine out of 10 are doing it, and 10 out of 10 are open to it.”

Move to learn

Movement breaks in the classroom

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K-12 Open House

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• 2 • • Education • Hersam Acorn Newspapers • • January 22, 2015 •

by Melissa Ezarik

The afternoon juggle. Both working and stay-at-home parents (those with multiple kids to schlep) experience the pressures of getting the kid from school — point A — to afterschool activity — point B.

The potential solutions are many, and there are right ways and wrong ways to approach it.

A wrong way: Turning an afterschool program director or sports coach into your babysitter.

“That builds resentment in a person you’ve entrusted to educate your child, not to chauffeur him or her around,” said Julie Davis Canter, a Redding mom of two who just ended a 20-year period of getting her kids around after school. Her husband Len coached soccer for 15 years, with some bas-ketball and baseball coaching thrown in over the years for good measure.

“There would always be one parent on any given team who constantly called with what amounted to an ultimatum — ‘Pick up my child at school or he won’t be able to get to practice.’ That’s not fair to the child, the coach, or the other teammates,” said Davis Canter, a former magazine editor and execu-tive who is now author of the “Waddley Sees the Word” children’s e-book series about a penguin in Antarctica who hitches a ride on a boat to see the world.

Another no-no is something a single dad Davis Canter once knew would do: make afterschool childcare plans on the fly.

“He had a wide support group, but things were way too fluid, made on a daily basis, never in advance,” Davis Canter said. “Consequently, people would often bail on him, leaving him scrambling for a backup to get his son to football practice and his daughter to ice skating.”

One way parents make afterschool activity transportation work is to turn to programs offered at the school or at community cen-ters where transportation from school is included. In fact, nearly one in four families currently has a child enrolled in such a pro-

gram, according to the 2014 report “America After 3PM” from the organization Afterschool Alliance. In 2004, 6.5 million children par-ticipated, and by 2014 that grew to 10.2 mil-lion children.

Almost three in four parents surveyed (and nine in 10 afterschool program participants) believe afterschool programs can help reduce the likelihood that youth will engage in risky behaviors after school.

But even among these programs, not all offer the transportation part. When

Connecticut parents specifically were asked about challenges in enrolling their child in an afterschool program, one of the major ones was “lack of a safe way for child to get to and come home.” The 17% of Connecticut children who participate in these programs is below the national average.

For those seeking the majority of activity choices — and there are of course many — planning ahead on transportation is a must. And the solution may well take a whole village of others who need to get to

the same place. After all, Davis Canter said, “It’s so much easier to juggle responsibilities and to share the driving with other parents when there’s a set schedule that everyone has agreed to.”

Today there are carpool organization apps. But she still advises what she used to do, when afterschool activities among her two kids included dance, soccer, basketball, base-ball, and music lessons, sometimes simulta-neously: Invite everyone over for coffee or dessert to map out a strategy.

“The hour you put in saves time and stress in the months to come,” she said.

Here are seven other strategies Connecticut parents use:

1) Ask (beg!) grandparents, other family members, or close friends for help.

2) Request your employer’s permission to temporarily alter your work schedule for the duration of a short-term activity.

3) Hire a transportation service that spe-cializes in safely getting kids where they need to go. Bristol-based Kids’ Wheels (which serves all of Connecticut) and Ridgefield-based KiddyKars are two.

4) Ask the activity provider if transporta-tion might be available or arranged.

Master Hwang’s Martial Arts, for example, which has locations in Stratford, Hamden, West Hartford and Bloomfield, picks up kids at their schools, with part of the afterschool program involving participation in regularly scheduled classes at the studio.

5) Find out if the provider will allow par-tial program participation, only on the days when transportation can be managed.

6) Petition school administrators for more on-site afterschool programs of interest.

7) Pay a local high school student to stay at the house with other children in the fam-ily while the parent gets another child to an activity.

After you find something that works for your family’s schedule, pat yourself on the back and breathe. That sports season or activity session will eventually reach its end. (Never mind that soon it will be time for the next one.)

Yes, you canGetting kids to and fro’ afterschool activities

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• January 22, 2015 • • Education • Hersam Acorn Newspapers • • 3 •

1000 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton CT 06484203-926-2080

Julie Butler, editorIan Murren, designer

•Thomas B. Nash, publisher

•For advertising information,

call 203-926-2080

Copyright 2015, Hersam Acorn Newspapers, LLCEducationJanuary 22, 2015

The pressure on Fairfield County high school students to apply to and be accepted at selective colleges is as intense as ever. Applications are up, acceptances are down and mood swings can vacillate from hope to panic, and back again.

Many candidates wrongly think having a “well rounded” profile is their best path to receiv-ing an acceptance letter. The truth is that diving deeper into a narrow range of activities will help an applicant to bet-ter stand out.

Students today are reacting to the com-petitive environment by applying to more schools. According to National Association for College Admission Counseling data, the percentage of students who submit three or more applications a year has been steadily increasing, and hit 79% in 2011, up from 67% the prior year.

Students applying to seven or more col-leges has also been rising, and is up to 29% from 25% the year before. In our practice, we now often see students applying to 15 different colleges each year.

This has put substantial pressure on the gatekeepers who review the applications. In 2011, the average college admissions officer was responsible for reviewing 622 applica-tions, a 73% increase from 359 in 2005. What is an applicant to do to stand out in this maddening crowd?

We are surprised each year to come across so many parents who think the best way to help build their child’s application profile is by encouraging them to get involved in a diverse array of interests and activities. They are surprised when we tell them selective schools are oftentimes less interested in an applicant who has a broad range of activities. This student can come off as being unfo-cused, or a “dabbler” — someone who has

been involved, but unable to make a real impact any-where.

Admissions officers at super- and highly-selective schools are instead more interested in students who become specialists, be it in math, engineering, technol-ogy, sports, the perform-ing arts, theatre, fashion, community service, or any other area. They develop a passion, and then dig deep-ly into it. They also find new paths outside of school to more fully develop their area of interest. They become leaders and make an impact.

Indeed, admission offi-cers at selective schools are looking to build a diverse class. It’s this idea of “diver-sity” that oftentimes trips

people up to think these colleges are looking for students with a diverse array of interests. But the truth is these schools want to create this diversity with a cohort of students who have built expertise in different areas. This way students learn not only from the faculty, but other students as well. They go on and make an impact in their communities after graduating. Schools also have many different activities, organizations and fields of study to fill each year.

So it’s important for admissions officers to know exactly where an applicant might fit into life on campus.

It’s harder than ever to get into selective colleges. Developing and digging deeply into a passion area can help a student build his very own success profile not only for the application process, but also for life in gen-eral.

Kristin White and Michael White are co-directors of Darien Academic Advisors (DAA), an educa-tional consulting company founded in 2005. DAA provides advisory services to students and fami-lies for college, boarding, independent day and MBA school admissions. It also provides a career launch service for pre- and early-stage profes-sionals. More info: darienacademicadvisors.com.

How to catch a college’s eye

by Kristin White and Michael White

Darien Academic Advisors

College admission officers are more interested in students who become spe-cialists, be it in math, engineering, tech-nology, sports, the performing arts, or any other area.

Dance Workshop of Monroe holds showcase

The Dance Workshop of Monroe held its 10th Annual Shining Star Showcase recently. Dancers ages 6 to 17 from the Competitive Ensemble and Performance Team treated family and friends in the Masuk High School auditorium with an evening of non-stop tap, jazz, modern, contemporary and lyrical pieces. The performance team provides community service efforts to local nursing homes as well as community events. The competitive ensemble is a competitive dance team competing in events throughout Connecticut and the New England region. The annual review brings together family and friends in support of scholarships to two Masuk High School graduating seniors pursuing a degree in the performing arts.

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by Eric Gendron

A new rigorous and comprehensive set of standards outlining developmentally appropri-ate guidelines for children from birth through preschool is being implemented for the first time in Connecticut after years of study and is currently being rolled out across the state.

With input from nearly 100 teachers, administrators and other education offi-cials statewide and with research of similar programs in a dozen states, the state’s Early Childhood Education Cabinet and six regional education service centers have teamed up to start the implementation of the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards.

Pre-kindergarten administrators and teach-ers have been attending workshops, including a two-part workshop recently held for Darien and New Canaan teachers and administrators at the Darien Board of Education Building, to learn the ins and outs of a significantly revamped system.

A 71-page booklet that summarizes the new standards was compiled over the course of nearly two years and is now in the hands of teachers around the state.

Michelle Levy, an education consultant in the state’s Office of Early Childhood, played the lead staff role in supporting the creation of the document, saying that teachers and administrators have been “excited and recep-tive” to the standards and how the booklet organizes those standards.

“The goal was really to include everyone in one document so we were looking at how children grow and develop over time,” Levy said. “We wanted this document to be able to be used by everyone and to create some com-mon language.”

The booklet outlines standards in much more specified areas compared to the older and broader guidelines in the previous Preschool Assessment Framework.

The new CTELDS sets expectations for children from birth to six months, six to 12 months, 12 to 18 months, 18 to 24 months, 24-36 months, three to four years and four to five years. In addition, the standards are bro-

ken into more specific subjects such as math, science, social studies, language and literacy, as well as physical development and health, social and emotional development and cogni-tion.

While that may seem like a lot for young children, Levy says that children are smarter than adults tend to give them credit for. She cited recent research that children are able to understand more specific concepts like math much earlier than originally thought.

“It’s not a big, scary content area,” she said. “It is appropriate for them to be learning sci-ence and math at their age.”

One of the most striking parts in the new standards booklet is eight pages of expecta-tions for parents and guardians and what they can do to help their child develop in each of the aforementioned categories.

For example, the booklet suggests to par-ents to ask questions or encourage their child to make choices to improve their cognition; to use new words when describing something to improve language and literacy; or to talk about shapes out loud or count everyday objects in to improve their math skills.

“Families are the first and most important people in children’s lives,” Levy said. “So helping them be aware of the things they can do to support their children’s growth and development is very important. That’s one of the reasons we want these standards to not just be used in a center-based or preschool program.”

Former interim state Education Commissioner and current consultant for Cooperative Education Services George Coleman admitted that they can’t “mandate” parent involvement, but he feels the standards present an opportunity to give parents clear guidelines of what to expect as their child reaches preschool age.

“We believe that parents desperately want their children to succeed,” he said. “We need to take the approach of not just enrolling a child in an early childhood program, but enrolling a family in an early childhood pro-gram.”

Julie Coakley, an Early Childhood

Coordinator at CES who has led many of the teacher/administrator workshops in Fairfield County, said she is especially excited about this section of the booklet.

“The state is really committed to making families a partner with them in their children’s education,” she said. “The state has been real-ly proactive about sending the action guide out not only to every licensed program in the state, but also to family daycare providers, libraries and pediatricians in both English and Spanish.”

While the previous standards were due for a makeover, Common Core standards at the kindergarten level were one of the major rea-sons the state created the new CTELDS. The state is hoping that with the implementation of the new standards, children will be more prepared for Common Core curriculum when they reach kindergarten.

Under CTELDS, by the time they enter kin-dergarten children will be expected to know, for example, that print is read from left to right; words are formed by letters grouped together; they should be familiar with letter sounds; begin to sound out words to write; know simple addition and subtraction; and know two and three-dimensional shapes.

“The previous sets of standards had been around for a long time and it was time for them to be revised,” Levy said. “We haven’t changed or said that children need to know more now than they did yesterday. It’s that we have research to show what they may be able to do.”

While educators and officials are thrilled about the completion and the implementa-tion of the standards, the raised academic expectations at the early childhood level have sparked some concerns about children’s access to high quality preschool education.

Gov. Dannel Malloy announced in June the allocation of pre-kindergarten opportunities to 1,020 children from low-income families in 2015 and 4,020 children by 2019. But Levy, Coakley and Coleman all agreed that the long-term goal under the new standards is to achieve universal public preschool statewide.

“We don’t have universal access yet, but

I think we’re heading in that direction,” Coakley said.

“There is an awareness in every one of our districts about the importance of education for young children and about the need to partner with the private programs and work together,” said Coakley. “There is a bigger picture.”

“In our professional development, we often talk about these standards as being guides and not gates,” Levy added. “They should not serve as barriers to children accessing pro-grams or support.”

While the state is likely still years away from all children having access to pre-kin-dergarten environments that implement these new standards, Levy said she is confident that the action guides available to parents will be helpful tools in preparing their children for kindergarten.

“A lot of high-quality early care and educa-tion settings as well as parents are already doing the things that promote of all of these skills,” she said. “This is really a tool to help them think more deeply about what they’re doing. The action guides that go with these standards [are] a really good place to start for someone who may not have a degree in early childhood education or for families who are learning the ways to support their children.”

Coleman was confident that public pre-school is all but an inevitability at this point in Connecticut.

“I think we all now understand that there is a growing number of preschool children who come to school behind and never seem to catch up,” Coleman said. “The quality of the experience in the preschool is so much more important than ever.”

In the meantime, Levy said there have been many glowing reviews about the CTELDS booklet and an excitement to start using these guidelines in classrooms.

“I think that overall people feel that it’s a useful tool in supporting children and giving [teachers] ways to communicate with families or other care providers,” Levy said.

“There’s been a very positive response. The booklets are flying off our shelves.”

New pre-kindergarten standards roll out across Connecticut

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• January 22, 2015 • • Education • Hersam Acorn Newspapers • • 5 •

Often called the language of love, French is the native tongue of Marie Curie, Claude Monet and Coco Chanel.

It is not the world’s most spoken lan-guage or its fastest growing, but it is taught in schools across the U.S. and is spoken in more than 30 countries.

Given its ties to innovative thinkers and other cultures, French is a popular language to study. And the best way to learn it is to start young.

“We are teaching kids age six months and above,” said Jean-Louis Troch, executive director for language program Linguakids in Darien and Larchmont, N.Y.

Troch suggests children start learning French before they enter the public or private school system.

Complete immersion is the best way to become fluent in a second language, but for some families that is is impossible. Parents may not speak another language. They also may not have the needed tools to teach one.

Troch said the reason programs such as Linguakids exist is because children get additional training outside of school and are one step closer to complete immer-sion.

With trained instructors, specialized language programs also know how to teach a different language in a entertain-ing way. Linguakids, for instance, uses French music, books and videos to sub-ject kids to the romance language.

Another important aspect of learning French is to understand why it’s impor-tant to speak a second language.

Linguakids often points to a Carnegie Mellon University study that shows bilingual speakers are able to switch tasks at a faster rate than monolingual speakers.

The ability to switch mental gears is not the only pro to learning French. Because it is similar to Spanish and Italian, French can be used to study other Romance Languages. And unlike Chinese or Arabic, it is easy for English speakers to pick up.

In addition to Latin and German, French helped shape the English language when William of

Normandy conquered England in 1066. During the Norman occupation, several French words were added to the English language. In fact English speakers who have never been exposed to French already know more than 14,000 French words.

Facts aside, there are other reasons to learn the language of love.

“French is just a beautiful language,” Troch said when asked why people should choose French over other popular languages such as Spanish.

And the more words of love one can learn to utter in this world, the better!

Say ‘oui’ to learning French

by Frances Moody

Another family has moved onto your street. They live down the road from perfecting Tiger Moms and next door to hovering Helicopter Parents. Their name? Snowplow Parents.

What characterizes them is their zealous attempt to plow away bumps in their children’s paths before they occur. Their goal is simple: smooth the way for their child’s enjoyment of life which will guarantee feelings of success with a sprinkle of superiority.

They used to be labeled pushy parents. Teachers became accus-tomed to them early in the year and because they were a minority, their behavior was tolerated: school projects resembling media adver-tisements, complaints about the pace and content of the curriculum, imperfect test scores, suggestions about how to run the classrooms …

The problem is that their number has swelled. It’s the new normal. The following are actual examples — no kidding.

Claudia’s mother was concerned about where she would be sitting in her kindergarten class. A few days before the start of school, she sneaked into the classroom, found Claudia’s nametag on a table and didn’t like what she saw. Rather than sitting with her friends, she was seated with children she didn’t know. The next day Snowplow Mom approached the teacher with her concern and a gourmet box of chocolates.

Jake’s father was anxious about his son starting college. Accustomed to daily chats, he called the day after he and his wife dropped him off, only to learn that Jake couldn’t fall asleep because of loud partying and that when he did, his roommate’s snoring annoyed him. So his father did what any good Snowplow Parent would do, he called the dean of students and persevered until he got him on the phone. He requested an immediate change of roommate and/or dorm and ended the conversation by mentioning that when they ate in the cafeteria on drop-off day, the salad bar was sparse. He suggested additional items to add.

After graduation, Charlie’s mother accompanied him to his job interviews. Not content to sit in the waiting room, she insisted on accompanying him into the inner office, interjecting comments when she thought her son’s answers were inadequate.

Much has been written on Snowplow parents, but the consensus of most psychologists and teachers is that childhood and young adulthood are a time for kids to explore, try new experiences, and yes, struggle and/or fail. These professionals encourage parents not to throw away the safety net, but to behave more like guide on the side, mentioning that when all obstacles are removed from their lives, self-confidence and problem solving abilities can be compromised.

Amy Tuteur, M.D., sums it up this way: “Snowplow parents forget their principle job is not to make sure that a child is successful, but to make sure that a child becomes a competent adult. Success will follow if it is merited.”

Parents, put away those snowplows, and while you’re at it, the shovels too. Use a broom if you must, but let your children feel the snow as they tramp through it.

‘Snowplowparenting:’

The new normal?by Polly Tafrate

Study of a Figure Outdoors: Woman with a Parasol, facing left, 1886. Musée d’Orsay

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Climb out of the box.Summer writing camps.

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CWP-Fairfield is an affiliate of

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Many of today's classrooms are filled with all types of emerging technologies, which educators use to enhance their students' edu-cational experiences. However, the humble newspaper has long been a staple in the classroom and at home and remains one of the best tools for learning.

Newspapers can be used to further chil-dren's academic abilities in a variety of ways.

Improve reading fluencyFluency, comprehension and inference

of text are lessons that begin as soon as a child begins learning how to read. Children need access to a variety of reading materi-als so they can expand their knowledge and vocabulary base, and it's never too early to introduce youngsters to the newspaper as not only a source of local and national informa-tion, but also as a reading tool.

Parents can go through the newspaper with their children and select articles that may be of interest. A section devoted to local events or a particular theme, such as sports or fitness, may be good starting points.

Children can have fun matching headlines with photos and following the sequence of the stories that continue on another page. They're also bound to be exposed to a num-ber of new words and phrases as they read newspaper articles, which helps improve their vocabulary.

Strengthen writing skillsNewspaper articles are written differently

than books. Exposing children to a journal-istic style of writing can help them with their own writing assignments.

Teachers often stress that narratives and other writing assignments should follow a certain format so students learn to express themselves clearly. Students are urged to validate statements with proof and to have a logical flow to their work.

By reading articles in newspapers, students can gain an understanding of how to intro-duce a subject, expand on facts and summa-rize a point. Students who tend to be more pragmatic writers may connect with the jour-nalistic style of writing more so than students who excel at creative prose.

Children can practice reporting on differ-ent events in and around their communities, emulating the style of writing presented in newspapers. They also can learn the differ-ences between editorial and opinion pieces.

Make current events accessibleNewspapers are an inexpensive connection

to culture and information from around the world.

Through newspaper articles, students can better understand political, financial and entertainment issues spanning the globe. Staying abreast of the latest news from around the world can help students become more well-rounded and learned. Students who may have read about events in a history book can compare those accounts to current information on what is happening in the world today.

Develop an eye for photographyStunning, award-winning photographs are

published in newspapers nearly every day. A picture is worth a thousand words and news-paper photography helps readers interpret stories and bring the words to life through imagery.

Access to newspaper photography can open up an entirely new world for children. It also may inspire their own creative works.

Students may be inundated with techno-logical resources both at school and home. But perhaps no classroom resource can match the array of benefits provided by newspapers.

The power of print

Using newspapers as an educational tool

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January 2015 Education - North/South Edition - Hersam Acorn Newspapers