Category: Parent Interests

Halloween is days away and what better way to spend it than with some fun and educational pumpkin activities.

Whether you’re still in need to pick the perfect pumpkin, or if it’s already starting to decompose on your porch (oops!) there is so much to learn from these bumpy, round, and bright vegetables.

Here are seven ways you can get you can celebrate pumpkin season with your early learner this fall:

1 – Measure your pumpkin

Have your child make a dot on the pumpkin with a marker. Using a flexible measuring tape or piece of string, start at the dot and wrap it all the way around the pumpkin. If using string, have your child hold their finger at the marker, then line up the string with a ruler.

Record your measurements and see which pumpkin is the roundest. You can even measure the height, too!

2 – Line up pumpkins by size

Get a whole variety of pumpkins and have your child line them up from big to little. Make it tricker by adding in pumpkins of all different shapes and weight.

3 – Counting seeds

After you’ve separated the seeds from the gooey inside, let them dry out (or roast them!) and use them for all kinds of learning activities.

From counting charts:

To color sorting:

There are endless ways to use these perfect-sized learning tools.

4 – How do pumpkins grow?

A pumpkin patch is the perfect place to explore how plants grow. Walk your child through each stage a pumpkin goes through before it is ready to be picked. Maybe even save some seeds for your own garden.

Here is a helpful book to get you started:

5 – Bake a pumpkin pie

Learn how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch! Baking is a great way to introduce measurements and other math skills. Plus, the satisfaction of seeing a pumpkin transform into an edible form is so exciting to behold. Your child will get to taste something of their own creation.

Here is a kid-friendly recipe:

6 – Weigh your pumpkin 

Have your child stand on a scale and write down their weight on a piece of paper. Then, have them hold the pumpkin and weigh themselves again. Subtract their own weight from the weight with the pumpkin to get the pumpkin’s weight.

You can weigh the pumpkin by itself to see if their math is right.

7 – Why do pumpkins rot?

Pumpkins don’t keep their beautiful shape forever – especially after we carve them. Make an outdoor science project on your front porch by studying what happens to a pumpkin when it decomposes. Take pictures each day, make notes and have your child use other senses like touch and smell to make observations.

By Shelly Koren

A significant element of our lives that greatly affects our ability to excel in school and focus is frequently ignored by students; this is of course food. We interact with food every day from pizza day on Tuesdays to grabbing a burger after class because food gives us energy to progress in our day.

Although we may not notice how our eating habits affect our capabilities, a new study published in the Journal of School Health maintains that your diet can significantly affect your academic performance. This study discovered that students who replaced unhealthy saturated fats with fruits and veggies were able to gain a higher average on academic assessments.

It is not surprising that the food we digest ends up affecting our energy output and so it is important to eat well especially as a student. Experts claim that the brain is an essential part of learning and it has to be healthy in order to do so. They claim that with poor nutrition or inadequate hydration the student’s ability in the classroom will decline accordingly.

University of Waterloo Health Services establish that eating healthy does not mean eliminating all food you enjoy, but balancing between the healthy and the unhealthy.

In addition to healthy eating, Philippa Norman, a writer for Healthy brain for Life has shown that it is important to eat throughout the day because food provides the body with energy. If you do not have the schedule that can accommodate consistent eating, Norman suggests that having snacks in a bag will help to stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent the student from becoming incredibly hungry and filling up on unhealthy food.  She also emphasizes the importance to eat breakfast lunch and dinner, and make sure that students eat something every four hours.

“Eating regularly and choosing healthy portions of nutritious foods means having more mental and physical energy, feeling good about yourself and enjoying better health”

 

What students eat impacts not only their behaviour and energy, but also how well they are able to succeed academically, so it is important to eat healthier foods to provide nourishment for the brain.

By Shelly Koren

It is a common problem for teens to avoid sleeping as much as they should, which ultimately takes a toll on how they behave at home, with their friends, and their ability to retain information at school. This could be for numerous reasons, for example the student may have been unable to manage their time wisely and is now scrambling to finish their assignments, or they could be using social media websites, which also happens to keep them awake.

Regardless of the reason the issue of sleep amongst students is a prevalent one, as members of the Student Health Advisory Council claim that students are one of the most sleep-deprived populations, particularly university and college students. In fact in comparison to previous generations, students go to sleep later and attain less sleep per night than ever before.

The recommended amount of sleep for an adult is about eight to ten hours in order for them to remain alert throughout the day. A study by the Journal of Adolescent Health using 1120 students found that only 30 percent of the participants slept at least eight hours a night, which is the minimum recommendation for young adults in school.

The topic of insufficient sleep is discussed by Roxanne Prichard, a psychology professor at the University of St. Thomas, claiming that, “Students underestimate the importance of sleep in their daily lives. They forgo sleep during periods of stress, not realizing that they are sabotaging their physical and mental health.”

 

She goes on to explain how not getting enough sleep can weaken your ability to concentrate and solve simple problems. Lack of sleep also serves as a dysfunction because it affects the ability to remember, therefore making it impossible to focus in class. It also becomes exceedingly difficult to memorize key points for a test.

 

Sufficient sleep is essential not only for young adults, but throughout one’s life because it allows the brain to rest, and prepare itself for the next day. It is therefore important to sleep enough from a young age in order to achieve the best work that you can.

It is difficult to accept that after grade 3 the shining comments from teachers turns into a solid grade that can determine how your child is doing in school. Any parent knows that a bad grade has the capability of altering your mood for the day, and even weaken your confidence for that subject. While a grade does not evaluate your child’s worth as an individual, it is exceedingly important to watch out for report cards, and help your child to develop any weakness that reveals itself during their time in school.

Because of the pressures that arise once the report card has been handed out, Lisa Huffman, the assistant professor of educational psychology at Ball State University establishes that it is important to remain supportive, while still incentivising good hard work. Lisa says that offering money as a reward can elevate the pressure to maintain high marks, leading to anxiety. Instead she states that it is good to surprise your children for doing well with some sort of activity to share the success.

Lisa also establishes the importance of keeping the lines of communication open with both the teachers and your child. In discussing the mark with your child you can discover what it is that is giving them a hard time, and what they can do to improve their work. Going to the teacher will allow you to hear both sides of the problem; perhaps your child forgets to do their homework, or is easily distracted in class. These are issues that your child won’t notice, and so it is important to reach out to the teachers.

Of course your child’s report card does not necessarily mean that they are not putting in all of their effort, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. If this is the case it is important to take action by finding the best math tutors and the best English tutors that will able to assist in those subject’s.

Lisa establishes the importance of discussing every report card, both the good and bad to show your child that it is possible that they have weaknesses that they can improve, and also that they are excelling in other subjects. Children who become obsessed with their grades may develop anxiety and establish unhealthy habits that cause them to stay up all night trying to perfect their work. As a result it is important to set realistic goals for your child so they are aware of what they are capable of in a short amount of time, and how it is imperative to not cram work into one sitting.

For further information on finding the best Math and English tutors, please contact The Tutoring Expert.

 
By Shelly Koren