What happened to imagination?

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  ~Henry David Thoreau

There was a time when kids actually had to imagine that toys could walk around and talk.  A time when a stick could be a scepter, weapon, or horse. A leaf could be currency or decoration. Building cities with blocks, creating story lines with dolls - imagination was in full gear and could explode for hours. 

I am afraid that nowadays there are so many toys that take the imagination out of playtime. A doll from an existing tv show or movie.  Lego sets with prescribed plans that are meant to be followed exactly. Cars and gadgets that do everything for the kid - all he has to do is press a button.  Flashy and fun as they are, the ironic thing is how soon a kid will abandon the fancy toy and return to playing with the box the toy came in.

Why? Because of the infinite variety of things a box can do.

I complete agree with Susan Linn from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood:

"The best toy is 10% toy and 90% child," Linn says. "We've got all these toys embedded with computer chips that talk and sing and play and dance at the press of a button. But what they do is deprive children of the ability to exercise their creativity. The toys that really foster creativity just lie there until they're transformed by children." (USA Today)

Play is important because it is through play that children understand and learn about the world:

"Play is a really big part of a child's development," says Steve Snyder of The Franklin Institute, an interactive science museum in Philadelphia. "We don't play by accident."

Any toy can be a learning tool, he says. "Ask 'What would happen if we did this? Why might this happen?' At some point, kids stop asking questions. We want them to always ask questions." (USA Today)

Can you remember the games you played as a child?

For me, it is the most imaginative of games that I remember the most. Paper dolls from paper, playing school, carnival in the backyard, etc. All these games required little more than a couple friends and random items collected to create the world or our imagination.

Dr. Stuart Brown, researcher on play talks about the importance of play -and its not just for kids :

 

Hope you have a playful holiday!

Awesome resource alert: JA Biztown

Recently read an article about JA Biztown, a project of Junior Achievement that provides 5th graders an opportunity to learn about financial literacy through participating in a mock city.  Students learn about community, currency and how the "real world" works by role-playing:

JA BizTown, a national program operated by the economic education nonprofit Junior Achievement, provides a "day in the life" simulation of a city environment, and is the culmination of a suite of curriculum designed to help fifth-graders learn economic principles from how to balance a checkbook to the importance of saving. 

Each student interviews for a "job" and spends the day performing tasks related to that industry, whether installing phones or interviewing CEOs at the BizTown TV station.

JA Biztown also has a summer program for youth 10-14 years old.  The weeklong camp explores community, financial literacy and business.

In light of current economic situations, this is an incredible opportunity for youth to get a handle on how our economy works as well as develop ideas on where they would like to be in the future. I'm so glad this program is available in Portland!

Thanksgiving Ideas

Thank you Imagine Learning for sending such a beautiful statement!

Here are some creative ways to give thanks I've recently stumbled upon:

Thankful Tree from Simply Vintage

I Am Thankful Guessing Game by Sissy Prints

Tons of Thanksgiving themed games to play with kids or kids at heart.

Sustainable middle school programs include...

The Wallace Foundation released a study that highlighted a few key attributes that make for a sustainable after school program for middle schoolers.

The basic findings:

1. Provide youth with as much leadership opportunities as possible.
2. Staff must have a pulse on what goes on in the students lives outside of program
3. Program is community-based
4. Staff discuss the program at least 2 times per month (I say the more the better)
5. 100 or more youth enrolled per year

Find the entire report here.

The Wallace Foundation has a wealth of research on after school programming. 

How to study for a test

The Wall Street Journal recently released an article with study tips that have research proving their effectiveness.  

One of the takeaways for me from the article is the emphasis on overcoming test anxiety through building confidence.  

Some tangible tips from the article:

1. Write down fears and anxieties before the test to free working memory and prevent distractions during the test.

2. To combat self-doubts (such as 'I'm bad in math'), remind yourself of proven personal traits and strengths that can propel you to success.

3. Practice in advance facing all the pressures you will face on exam day, such as driving to the testing center or visiting an unfamiliar testing room.

4. Test yourself by recalling broad concepts rather than trying to memorize facts or re-reading textbooks.

5. Before the test, envision yourself answering questions calmly and with confidence.

Find the rest of the article here.

Quality after school programs

Came across a couple articles lately discussing quality after school programs.  I am so glad that I am working for an organization that believes in best practice and is making sure we are adhering to methods that are proven to be effective.

The following articles are great - no mysterious mumbo-jumbo, just very clear steps and elements in quality after school programs:

Ed Week has a great article that spells out the recipe for a successful after school program, I cannot agree more with the points Nora Fleming clearly describes, including the need for parent engagement.

Harvard Family Research Project provide great insight on the elements that bring quality to a middle school specific after school program.

Both are great and worthy reads for anyone interested in the after school world.  I am proud of the elements we are already enforcing in our program, and have already made goals, inspired by these articles, on some next steps for our program.

A Middle School Halloween Party

We treated our middle schoolers to a halloween party yesterday.  The format worked very well.  Initially, we all met community meeting style, where we called on a few brave volunteers to participate in Meet the Pirate.  We then explained the rules for the remainder of the evening - stay within the perimeters of the room, and participate in any of the stations available.  After 40 minutes, we regrouped for the brain eating contest, after which we awarded prizes for winners in the the station activities.

Meet the Pirate 
Students come in blindfolded and are introduced to a pirate.  They shake hands with the pirate's hooked arm, feel the pirates wooden leg, and then when being introduced to the pirate's glass eye, the student's finger is pushed into a tomato, after which the pirate screams...turns out the eye wasn't glass after all.  The kids got a huge kick out of this one.


Then we had 3 kids participate in the brain eating challenge - They had 1 minute to see who could devour the most brain:


Brain Eating Contest
Jello molded to look like a brain, with a little bit of whipped cream led to a lot of cheers and cream smeared faces.  We timed to see who could eat the brain the fastest within 1 minute.


Ghostwriter Pen
Inspired by Family Fun, our students created ghostly pens out of mold magic clay. Detailed instructions can be found here.  We awarded prizes for the most realistic pen and the freakiest pen.


Pumpkin Decorating
With our limited time, we used sharpies as our chief pumpkin decorating tool.  I printed off this page to inspire them.  We awarded prizes for most creative and spookiest pumpkins.

Check out some of the amazing designs the kids came up with:

Skull Toss
Students threw skulls into the cups - each player had 5 skulls to throw in the cups.  Each cup was worth a designated amount of points. Student who scored the highest over the course of the party won a prize.

Skull Hunt Matching Game
Skulls with one of two colors stamped on them were under the cups.  The goal was to run and find the skulls stamped with your teams color.  There were two lines of students and it was played relay style, so each student could look under two cups, and brought to their team the skulls they found that matched their team color, after which the next student would run to find the matching skulls.  First team to find all their skulls won.