 If they haven’t already, it won’t be long before students start counting down to one of the most coveted times of the school year…SPRING BREAK! As a former full-time teacher, I remember how excited students (and teachers) were in knowing that Spring Break was just around the corner. It was going to be a great time to kick back, stay up until the wee hours, sleep in late, travel, relax, and basically change up the weekly grind of the normal school routine. One thing is for sure, no matter how much or little happened during the vacation, it always flew by in the blink of an eye. Here are three ideas to help make the transition as smooth as possible, and hopefully take the sting out of heading back to school:
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 For 16 days, millions of eyes will be glued to televisions watching competitors from around the world compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. While witnessing these athletes compete, this can be a wonderful and fun cross-curricular learning opportunity for students of all ages. Below are a few examples of knowledge that can be gained and skills to be reinforced while viewing these events. Be creative and have fun with it!
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 The link below will take you to a great article from the January 26, 2010 edition of the New York Times. As with any type of change in the logistics of a school day, there are always issues that need to be addressed in order for the change to be effective.
During my 20 plus years of teaching elementary/middle school, this thought never came to mind. However, I did implement a 15 minute "cool down" period when my students returned from the lunch/playground time (lunch first then playground). It worked wonders for me with respect to them being more calm and allowing for an easier transition into focusing on academics for the afternoon. Parents may find this useful to implement when their child/children get home from school...a little play time before beginning homework or a class project. Enjoy the article, please share your thoughts! http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/health/26well.html?_r=1&  Are you trying to improve your vocabulary for school, standardized tests, or personal growth? If so, you must be committed to learning new words on a regular basis. Expanding your knowledge and use of words will enable you to communicate more effectively (speaking & writing), so people will easily understand you. You will also be perceived as a confident and intelligent person. Your ability to communicate is an important skill that can be useful in various situations throughout your lifetime. For example, writing a letter to a restaurant owner to voice your displeasure with service received when dining at their establishment. Perhaps you would like to notify a store manager about excellent customer service you received from a Sales Associate while shopping in their store. Maybe you have suggestions regarding how a store can improve certain aspects of their business, and you want to tell them by dropping a note into their "suggestion box". Regardless of the situation it is important to speak and write well so you are taken seriously and are understood. Here are 5 powerful ways to enhance your vocabulary: 1. Develop an insatiable appetite for reading Read novels, short stories, anthologies, magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc. The more you read the more words you will be exposed to. 2. Become best friends with the dictionary and the thesaurus While reading, when you encounter a word that is unfamiliar, look up the meaning. Be sure to read the entire entry for the word because it can have a different meaning depending on the context in which it is used. Then write down the main entry for the word. You can also write a descriptive sentence using the word correctly. A great idea is creating a personal glossary of terms in a composition notebook, Google Docs or another digital format. While writing/typing the definition and using it in a sentence, you are using the kinesthetic and visual modalities of learning. Also find opportunities to use these words in your day to day conversations. 3. Study Latin & Greek prefixes, suffixes and roots If you don't take Latin in school, that is not an excuse for not learning them. Do it on yourself (DIY). If you like, you can do it the old fashioned way and create flashcards using 3 by 5 index cards. If you prefer a digital tool you can use Quizlet to create the flash cards. Knowledge of these prefixes, suffixes, and roots can help you figure out what a word means on sight as well as from context (very helpful on the ACT & SAT tests). 4. Learn a new word each day There are many different websites that offer this service, but I signed up to receive Word of the Day from dictionary.com and have created a personal glossary of terms using Google Docs. Some of the words are not used in typical conversations, but it can’t hurt to learn what they mean. There are also digital tools such as Vocabador, SAT Vocab, and Power Vocab Word Game that are available on Android and iPhone. 5. Play word games (e.g. Scrabble, Words with Friends) You can also learn several words by playing these games. There is nothing more frustrating than having your opponent play a word you don't believe is a "real" word only to find out it is certainly a real word. Add words from these games to your personal glossary. Crossword puzzles are good for learning new words as well! Those new words can be a part of clues as well as answers. How do you learn new words to expand your vocabulary? |
AuthorRandy Sally 
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