Education Archives - Page 19 of 19

Teacher Talk: Why Reasoning Apps for Children are Essential

September 13, 2016 by Mandy

Reasoning apps and games are all the rage right now in early education. And for good reason (pun intended), reasoning skills are behind literally every essential cognitive skills from reading to writing to mathematics and everything inbetween.

So what is reasoning?

Reasoning is the way in which we are able to gather and sort through information to come to a logical conclusion. The process of reasoning can be described as collecting evidence, finding patterns, and creating a hypothesis or theory to explain what you see, then finally drawing a conclusion from this process of collection and interpretation. For toddlers, reasoning is at an all time high because they are gathering and seeking to understand the world at an incredible rate.

Because reasoning is so important for toddlers, it’s no wonder technology has put a focus on creating the best reasoning apps for children. Most reasoning apps are either logical reasoning apps, which involves deductive reasoning (if this then that) and verbal reasoning apps, which involves constructive thinking.

The Best Verbal and Logical Reasoning Apps

The best verbal reasoning apps and logical reasoning apps for children involve simplicity and repetition; look for reasoning apps that have pattern building and organization skills in both word and shape form. Puzzles, matching, and music making are three great examples of reasoning games. The simplicity and repetition allows toddlers and young children to learn reasoning skills slowly and many times without noticing; even if it appears overly repetitious to adults.

Teachers are encouraging parents to use reasoning apps for children at home because it’s a fun way to practice reasoning skills that are directly transferable in the classroom. Children who use reasoning apps at home can have a much easier time applying reasoning into their school lessons as well, even if the reasoning game is not directly related the lesson being taught.

Reasoning skills are just like a muscle, the more you exercise them and in different ways, the stronger they become. Reasoning apps for kids are a great new way to approach and teach these foundational learning skills for toddlers and kids of all ages.

Cold and Flu During Winter Season: Causes and How to Prevent

February 11, 2016 by Mandy

Winter is the season of cold and flu. It’s never been scientifically proven but a mom would know. It is indeed the time where everyone particularly young kids start to sniffle and get sick.

Why cold and flu is more common during winter

According to new studies, as the internal body temperature drops when exposed to cold air, the immune system’s ability to fight rhinovirus that causes common cold weakens too.

Rhinovirus is known to replicate better in cooler temperature – around 33 degrees Celsius compared to internal body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. Thus, when the person is exposed to cold air especially outdoors, his/her immune system weakens while Rhinovirus replicates, resulting to cold and flu.

However, it is still not easy to pinpoint as to how the cold air allows rhinovirus to replicate better.

Ways to prevent cold and flu this winter season

Here are some ways to help prevent cold and flu during winter season:

Always stay warm – like what we’ve discussed, cold is common during winter season where the weather is extremely cold so to be able to prevent catching the virus, it is advisable to keep yourself warm. Make sure to wear clothes that will keep you warm especially when going out. Cover your head, feet, hands, and even your nose and mouth in case you have a weak immune system.

Wash your hands regularly – kill the germs and viruses fast by washing your hands regularly. Wash it thoroughly with soap and water or alcohol when you are outdoors and have no access to water.

Take vitamins – it is important to keep your immune system strong to fight viruses like Rhinovirus. Drink your vitamins regularly including vitamin C, D, zinc, iron and probiotics.

Drink cold and flu tablets – in case you are starting to sneeze and sniff, it is time that you drink your cold and flu tablets to fight off germs fast before they create more damage to your health.

Drink lots of fluids – it is also advisable that you drink lots of fluids daily. Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. Rehydration is good for the health since it helps your kidney wash off dirt that your body accumulates. In case you are suffering from cold already, drinking plenty of water will help your body to feel better.

Exercise – lastly, try to strengthen your immune system by working out regularly. It is not easy to be active during winter season where you just want to cuddle up in your couch or bed but you have to. Regular exercise helps increase the number of natural killer cells in the body that fight off bacteria and viruses.

As a mom, you cannot afford to see your child suffering from cold and getting sick. As much as possible you want to protect them from these viruses just to keep them healthy and happy all the time. So be extra cautious when it comes to your children’s health during winter season. Cold is common among adults but moreover among children below 6 years old.

4 Awesome Educational Apps For Kids

June 5, 2015 by Mandy

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The use of technology with your children can be a hand-wringing dilemma: how much is too much? Is it bad parenting to allow them free reign? Should I use a reward system?

The dawn of the iAge has brought many parenting puzzles (as well as guilty solutions to child-related dinner party problems) with it. However, the use of tablet technology doesn’t always have to be the reluctant surrender to your child’s demands or reward for their good behavior. There are now available huge numbers of Apps which are both fun and educational, so relinquishing the iPad to your youngster can be a guilt free experience.

Here are four of the best:

LEGO Creationary

It’s no secret that LEGO can be hugely educational, so it’s our luck that they’ve created an App for young learners. Incredibly simple but fun, the app delivers a timed guessing game, where you have to guess the object being constructed on the screen to earn points.

Great for vocabulary and visual analytical skills. Game on!

Ages: 5+

Zoo Train

Two kiddie favourites for the price of one: animals and trains! This app is perfect for very early learners. There are 5 educational games to play (alphabet and letters, shape recognition, word construction, musical note recognition, and matching patterns) plus a bonus sticker activity. Lots of original music and original animations, this will keep your little one learning for hours!

Age: 2-4

Hakitzu: Code of the Warrior

This highly original (and entirely free!) app wants to teach your kids to…code! While it’s probably too late for many of us, many predict that coding will soon be a subject taught in schools and possibly essential for many areas in the not-so-distant future workplace. This app teaches children to code in the JavaScript language, in the form of a game where your child builds robot warriors and battles them against friends or themselves in single-player mode. Cool!

Age: 8+

Mystery Math Town

Get your kid down with numbers early with this fun and hugely educational app. Presented as a game where you explore mysterious houses, tapping on windows, doors, ladders and stairs and solving math problems before you can enter them. The difficulty level can be adjusted for the age and ability of your child. Who knew math could be fun?!

Age: 5+

Remember to allow your kids downtime to play on fun ‘in the now’ apps, but make sure they earn it first. No one wants their kid to become one of these zombie-kids who stare at screens all day. Fight the system and mix education with pleasure when your little ones want to let loose in the digital world!

6 Tips For Helping Kids With ADHD Succeed in School

March 20, 2015 by Mandy

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Having a kid with ADHD certainly has it’s challenges both at home and particularly at school, at home the onus is solely on you and your family to manage your child’s behaviour, school is a slightly different story. School life requires a careful and thought out approach and here are 6 ways that you can help them succeed at school.

Parent/Teacher Relationship

A positive relationship between the teacher(s) and the parents is imperative, you must have constant communication about your child and take the time to meet with them to hold discussions. My advice would be that even before the school year begins try to seek out your teacher to discuss any plans and concerns you may have.

Consistency Between Home and School

For the good of your kid’s behaviour you have to ensure that they are treated the same way at home as they are at school. Naturally the school environment will be slightly different due to the other students present but authority figures have to be singing from the same hymn sheet. Whether it be punishment or praise that you are giving your child or even in terms of how you inspire their creativity, a seamless shift between home and school is vital in your child’s development.

Encourage Movement Around The Classroom

Sitting still and listening for long periods of time will be tough for a kid with ADHD so it’s important that you create an environment where they can move about the classroom a bit. When there are tasks to be done such as sending messages or handing books out, your child will benefit from undertaking them. Another helpful tip is for teachers to do activities that involve different areas of the classroom, again encouraging movement for your child, this also benefits attention span of other students.

Breaking Big Tasks Down

If your child is taking on a sizeable project they can be overwhelmed which will lead to lack of attention, break projects down into bitesize pieces to keep your child stimulated. Doing this also helps them feel a sense of achievement after completed each chunk of work which again, will lead to higher stimulation.

Praise and Reward

It’s important to manage your child’s behavior with praise and reward as much as it is to accordingly punish them, ensure this is consistent at both home and school. Create a behavior plan with the teacher and reward your kid when he/she has succeeded in that plan. You may do a checklist for your child’s desk with items such as not interrupting the classroom, tick it off with them if they manage to do so and verbally praise them or reward them, rewards should be creative and not always an item of reward such as a toy.

Create a Code

It is vital for your kids’ self esteem that they are not belittled in front of the class, the last thing you, the teacher or your child needs is a stigma attached from other students,. A great way to combat misbehaviour in the classroom is to create a ‘secret code,’ just something simple like a hand gesture for the child when they are beginning to misbehave. Eventually teachers will spot the signs of gradual frustration and be able to combat it with a hand gesture or giving them a task to do.

Children with ADHD can be tough to deal with so definitely seek help and make sure you and the teacher are both doing your best to help your child succeeded at school.