Fair Enough

Summer Learning

Looking at the Solar System Through

Fruits and Vegetables



If the Sun were a pumpkin about a foot wide,

Mercury would be a tomato seed 50 feet away,

Venus would be a pea 75 feet away, and

Earth would also be a pea, but 100 feet away.

A little raisin would represent Mars 175 away,

Jupiter, and apple 550 feet from the Sun, and

Saturn would be a peach 1,025 feet away.

Next would be Uranus, a plum, 2,050 feet away,

Neptune would also be a plum, at 3,225 feet,

Pluto stays in the fridge...

More Than a Melody - ♫ Education ♫

Everyone knows that music influences people—

that it holds a special power all its own.
But what are its "magical properties?

For years researchers have studied why and how music has such an enormous effect on people. Music has been found to boost athletic performance; soothe and heal injuries; help depression, autism, and Alzheimer's; and increase academic performance. It seems there is something more to those tunes that get our toes tapping and our fingers snapping.

Education and Music

"But Mom, I do better on my homework when I'm listening to music!" Most parents have heard this, possibly repeatedly, from their children. And your children may be right, depending on the type of music that is playing. While things like popular music, TV, and chatting online all distract from homework and increase the likelihood of making mistakes, non-vocal, calming music can sometimes help a child focus more on their studies.

But what really causes an increase in your child's academic performance is music education. Studies repeatedly show that learning to play and read music correlates with positive results in learning capabilities.

Think about it – getting an 89 percent on an essay is a pretty good grade. However, if your child plays 89 percent of the notes correctly in the end of the year concert, neither your child, the band teacher, or the other fifty kids in the band are going to be pleased with his or her performance. The unique discipline that comes from learning and performing music helps children in many areas of their lives.

In one study, two elementary schools were compared – one in which children studied piano formally for three consecutive years and one that required no formal musical training. Students from the "music-learning" school had significantly better vocabulary and verbal sequencing than the other group. Another study in Switzerland tested 1,200 children in 50 schools for various effects of music education, and found that children actively involved in music learned to read more quickly and acquired other languages more readily. These children also had lower stress levels and demonstrated more enjoyment in school then those not involved with music.

Using music in the classroom to teach math and reading is a new concept, but one that has proven to be very effective. Gregory Stevens, an algebra teacher from Elk Grove, California, has been using music in his classroom for several years now. To teach his students the quadratic formula, he has them sing the words of the formula to the chorus of "Jingle Bells." Because of this exercise, every one of his students is able to memorize this complicated formula.

Starlene Hansen, a student of his in 2000, says she still remembers the song (and, consequently, the formula), ten years later: "[The song] made an unfamiliar concept with an incredibly foreboding name into a simple and fun song." Hansen continues, "Mr. Stevens also used the 'Tomorrow' song from Annie and had us sing it the day before a major assignment was due, to increase our awareness and eliminate the excuse of not knowing when something was due." Hansen feels that singing made the mundane task of remembering due dates fun and created unique accountability.

Music can make a huge difference in lives. Anyone who has listened to an inspired choir in a church meeting knows the effect that their simple harmonies have on people. Somehow music is able to connect with parts of us that speaking just can't reach. While research continues to be done, the whys behind the power of music have yet to be discovered. For now, the reason these joyful strains have such an effect on us will remain an amazing and wondrous mystery.

by Jamie Cline via LDS Living

Only an 8th-Grade Education

Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th-grade education? Well, check this out...

This is the the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal:

8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

Grammar (Time: one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza, and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a Verb? Give Principal Parts of lie, lay, and run.
5. Define Case. Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time: 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 ft. long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weights 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50¢/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 ha a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. of coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7%.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards, 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10%.
9. What is the cost f a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time: 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates, 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

Orthography (Time: one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology.
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocals, dipthong, cognate letters, and linguals"
4. Give the substitutes for caret u.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final e. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and us in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, and sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, and last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, and rays.
10. Write ten words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time: one hour)
1. What is climate: Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, and Aspinwall & Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Did you notice that the exam took 5 hours to complete?
Gives the saying Only an 8th-Grade Education
a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
What happened to us?
It's kind of humbling, isn't it?

Teacher to Parent

Nine Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew

1. Don't Be a Stranger: Talk to your child's teacher early and often. Stay in touch with updates on how things are gong at home, questions about your child and his/her work, or to schedule conferences to head off trouble. Most teachers have e-mail at school, which is a great way to check in.

2. Learning Doesn't Stop When the Last Bell Rings: You can help the teacher do a better job by encouraging your child to show yo something he/she is working on at school. It doesn't have to be a big deal. Ask your child to demonstrate how he/she does long long division, or to read his/her book report out loud to you. Every time your child gets a chance to show off what he/she knows , it build confidence.

3. Stay Involved – Even When You Don't Know the Material: You can provide moral support and be your child's cheerleader no matter how well (or poorly) you did in a certain subject. You don't need to be an expert on every subject. Just knowing you are paying attention can be very motivating for your child.

4. Keep Your Child Organized and Help Teachers with the Paper Chase: Have your child empty his/her backpack every day as part of a regular after-school routine. But, don't ever go through your child's paper without your child there to help explain what each paper is. You might throw something important away! Set up a special place where he/she can put that day's papers to work on, and another place to put old assignments that you want to save. A brightly-colored folder is a good idea, too for toting homework and signed papers to and from school.

5. Let Your Child Make Mistakes: Don't forget, he/she is learning! Teachers don't want perfect students, they want students who try hard. Sometimes parents get caught up in thinking every assignment has to be done exactly right, and they put too much pressure on their child. It's OK for kids to get some problems wrong. It's important for teachers to see what students don't know, so they can go over the material again.

If your child is having trouble with homework, let him/her take charge by asking the teacher for help the next day.

And remember to keep your hands off the big assignments and projects. Too many times students bring in reports and projects that are clearly not the work of someone their age. Teachers are happier with work that is less perfect, but clearly the child's own work. What matters isn't the final result; it's letting a child have ownership of the project.

6. Raise a Good Reader: Even if your child isn't a natural-born bookworm, you can encourage him/her to love literature. Keep reading together, even if you kid can breeze through a book on his/her own. Reading aloud can expand his/her vocabulary, and your chats about the book will help him/her understand and enjoy more. But, you might want to shelve books that sseem way over his/her head. It's tempting to push literary limits, but the goal is understanding and enjoyment.

7. If the Teacher Deserves a Good Grade, Give Him/Her One: Teaching isn't easy, and there are days when a kid has a tantrum, or a teacher feels like crying because a parent speaks too harshly. So why not e-mail or call when you child enjoys a class even or says something nice about the instructor? And, If you feel the teacher is doing a good job, let the principal know. Volunteering is another way to demonstrate your enthusiasm and support, even if you only have time to help out once a year. It shows your child, and his/her teacher, that you really care about his/her education.

8. The Teacher's on Your Side – Give Him/Her the Benefit of the Doubt: A lot of parents go into attack mode when their child complains about a teacher, or they take the problem to the principal, so the teacher feels blindsided. Parents need to talk with the teacher and get all the facts before they react.

9. There's a Secret to Better Grades: Let this year's teacher know, early on, an struggles your child had the previous year such has struggling in math or trouble getting homework turned in. Also, check the school district's or teachers' websites in order to stay on top of your child's assignments, grades, test dates, scores, and more. Find out what resources there are for you, and use them.

Off to China...

Kids Are Quick

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America .
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
____________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I'.
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'
_________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
______________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE: No, sir. It's the same dog.
___________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when
people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher

New Block for the Kid

If you have kids that love to build, and they're
not ready for Legos, yet, get them some
Fisher Price Trio Building Sets

There are preschool sets for 3-5 year-olds...

Intermediate sets for ages 4-7...

And more challenging sets for the 5-9 crowd...

BONUS #1:
The cubes in all the sets are interchangeable
so a child can build anything they want...


Bonus #2:
The cubes in the sets can be used
as math manipulatives, too!!

Now go out and buy some...

Magna Tiles

If your kids didn't get this for Christmas,
get it for them for their birthdays...

Great Speech

I enjoyed President Obama's speech about education and responsibility he gave today for the nation's school children...

Thank you, Mr. President for editing the controversial content!

Are You Smarter Than A Pre-Schooler?

Is the bus traveling to the right or left?

Can't make up your mind?

Look carefully at the picture again...

Still don't know?

90% of pre-schoolers in the United States
who were asked, gave this answer...

The bus is traveling to the left.

When asked why they thought the bus was
going left, they answered, "Because you
can't see the door to get on the bus..."

ME, TOO!!

Let the 2009 Games Begin

NAMiTS

A fun and educational word games for kids of all ages
for families, classrooms, and travel...

NAMiTS Original - ages 4 to 100

The 5 national award winning game of creative brainstorming for answers to open-ended questions such as Name things that... fly. Over 165 different categories on 22 waterproof, tear-proof cards, gathered on a cable-lock ring. Great for anytime kids must spend time waiting — car, errands, appointments, restaurants...

NAMiTS Junior - ages 3 to 8

Language-building game for fun on the go. Created in collaboration with a reading and learning expert. Contains over 150 categories like Name all the things you would see at the circus, and Name all the things that have a button. Builds skills proven to benefit reading and school success. Consists of 24 durable waterproof, tear proof cards on a cable-lock ring. Developed as a tool for parents and teachers to support language development in children, this Junior game builds specific skills that are proven to benefit reading and school success.

Each color section of NAMiTS Junior builds a different set of skills:
Yellow Section - Wired for Words: develops vocabulary. The more words children hear determines how many words they will know and use.
Blue Section - Opening Windows to the World: encourages use of more complex language, stimulates extended conversations, and takes the child out of the here and now.
Red Section - Structured for Sound: focuses on awareness of letters and sounds.
Green Section - Digging and Discovering: Promotes opportunities for rich discussions on topics of science and our world.

Research-Based: The content for this Junior game was developed using Scientifically Based Reading Research done by Harvard Graduate School of Education in their Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development. Of all the factors included in the study's analysis, the strongest predictor of children's literacy development was support for literacy in the home.

Building Language Together: The Home-School Study is the basis for Building Language Together (BLT), a family literacy project. BLT informs parents about the best ways to support their child's learning. It allows parents to become directly involved in activities that help foster specific language skills that support literacy development.

Families Make a Difference: Parents are the first and best teacher a child can have. No one person knows a child better, cares more deeply for that child, or has more at stake in their healthy development.

Proven Benefits: NAMiTS Junior provides a fun, interactive way for parents and teachers to build skills critical to future reading and academic success. Play the game and watch the child's vocabulary grow!

NAMiTS Challenge

An extra challenge NAMiTS version of the original game of think. Players brainstorm answers to NAMiTS questions like Name things that crumble, and Name things that are unlikely. Over 165 different categories included on 22 colorful, durable waterproof and tear proof cards gathered on a cable-lock ring.

Get your NAMiTS games here for $9.95
or, at Amazon for $8.49
or, at Day's Market in Provo for $6.95
Day's is open regular hours today...

No Child Left Behind

If you have children you have probably heard of the Federal Government’s No Child Left Behind Act [NCLB]. If the rules and regulations of No Child Left Behind were implemented in school athletic programs, this is what football would be like:

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and must win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be help accountable. If, after two years, they have not won the championship, their footballs and equipment will be taken away until they do win the championship.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time even if they do not have the same conditions and opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents.

ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!

3. Talented players will be asked to work, on their own, without instruction. This is necessary because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren’t interested in football, have limited athletic abilities, or whose parents don’t like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept on the 4th, 8th, and 11th games. It will create a New Age of Sports where every team is expected to have the same level of talent, and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private teams that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to play with bad football players.

Else Ford – Business Dept. Spanish Fork High School