Bonnie Carroll's Life Bites - Kids Kaleidoscope

Cody Chandler Hilton is on vacation this month
- his column will be back in June!

Santa Barbara, Calif. – Kiana Mosser, a 12 year old street painting artists from Santa Clarita, will create an original painting in tandem with square sponsor Marmalade Café at the XXIII Aniversario of I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, held below the steps of the Old Santa Barbara Mission on May 23, 24, 25, 2009. Visit: www.Imadonnari.com for details.

Miss Mosser began her street painting career at 2 years old when her parents bought her a square and a box of chalk. Since 2005 she has created original drawings in nine street painting events from San Diego to Santa Barbara, as well as her home town Santa Clarita. Recently at the Temecula Street Art Festival she created her largest painting, a 100 square foot work, done under brutal weather conditions, and she won “Best Youth” award; an award voted on by her fellow street artists. Her work can be viewed at www.kianamosser.com.

According to Kiana’s father John Mosser “We believe in encouraging our children Kiana 12, Ryan 10, and Melia 7 in pursuing their passions and developing their God given gifts as much as time and money allows. It is with this spirit that Kiana achieves – out of passion and love of the process, rather than aspiring for another feather in the proverbial hat.”

In 2008 Selwyn Yosslowitz and his son Shaun joined a group of event sponsors for the 22^nd I Madonnari Festival on behalf of Marmalade Café to accept a commemorative poster gift from Kathy Koury, Executive Director of Children’s Creative Project for their support in assisting with this important annual fundraiser that provides art materials and teachers to children in the Santa Barbara County. “We are proud to again participate in this special Santa Barbara event, and are thrilled to have talented Kiana Mosser creating her original art,” said Selwyn Yosslowitz, co-founder and partner, Marmalade Café.

Marmalade Café has restaurants in Santa Barbara, El Segundo, Rolling Hills Estates, Santa Monica, Malibu, Los Angeles (Farmer’s Market), Calabasas, Sherman Oaks, Westlake Village and Tustin, California. For information call 805-682-5246 or visit: www.marmaladecafe.com

Dealing with Children’s Expectations in Tough Financial Times and
Steps to Follow in Order to Support Your Child During This Difficult Economic Time

According to Lynne Kulakowski, LCSW:

“Be very aware that children are silent carriers of family financial? stress. Children of all ages listen to their parents’ conversations and? pay even closer attention to arguments where voices are sometimes raised ?and emotions are definitely heightened. This is why it is very important? to be honest with your children and address issues within the household ?on a regular basis. Not daily so it consumes their every thought but at? a weekly family meeting where children can ask candid questions and? receive appropriate, honest & useful feedback about the stress and/or ?changing climate of their home environment.??”

For Children ages 4-8: Provide simple responses such as, "Daddy seems a? little extra tired lately because he has a lot to do at work but you can? help by going to school every morning & learning something fun to tell ?me at the end of the day at our dinnertime together. You can also help ?Daddy (or Mommy, or Auntie or whomever the primary caregiver A.K.A the? bread winner or stressed out unemployed person of the household is) by? giving me extra hugs every day, that will definitely help me feel? better." Address the issue lightly but also re-assure them that their ?role is to continue on with their daily schedule. Encourage them to ?maintain their daily routine; structure & consistent daily schedules? are very important for young children during times of stress in their? home. Involve your partner/spouse/significant other with this process-if? your child views you as a united front it will increase their feeling of ?safety & security.

??For Children ages 9-13: Ditto above information PLUS try to make them ?part of the problem-solving process. "I'm sure you've seen the recent? news about a lot of people losing their jobs, well...Mommy is working? extra hard to make sure that our family gets thru this and you could be? a big help to me by clipping out coupons for grocery shopping, or you? could help wash the car because I am cutting back on extras and I always? like the way you clean my seats with the vacuum, you always seem to do ?such a better job than the shop down the block. Can you help Mommy find ?some new recipes on the Internet that we can cook together instead of? going out to dinner?" Encourage children at this age to be creative in? what they want to do for entertainment and it will distract them from? feeling helpless and/or worried about the stress within the home. If? they feel a part of the solution it will strengthen family bonds &?increase their overall self-esteem.? ?

For Children ages 14-17: This age group is probably more aware of the ?world crisis & especially more aware of what is going on within their ?own homes; given that fact & their individual need to gain independence ?from the family; speak openly & honestly about what they can expect from? you as their parent. "You know that Dad has lost his job but I also want? you to know that I am working hard on finding another one by sending out? resumes and I have 3 interviews already scheduled for the next two? weeks. In the meantime I'm wondering if you could help me out by taking? the bus to school on the days I'm not around to drive you in the? morning. I'm also wondering if you wanted to help distract me from? watching the News every night after dinner-maybe we can shoot some hoops? outside or take a walk to the park with your little brother-I could? really use the company right now." By NOT having the T.V. on every? night, it reduces the exposure that children & parents have to the media?& the feelings of despair that often accompany many people from watching? something they have no control over. Children may not be able to feed? starving children in a third world country but they can definitely spend? time with their parent outside of the home at their local library, park? or community center. Thus it is a win-win for everyone involved as it? promotes spending quality time together & reduces the stress of everyone ?involved.

On May 8^th in Orlando Florida, 228 brilliant 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders will battle it out for the title of

America

’s premiere MATHLETE® in the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS® National Competition – or as it is affectionately known – the national math bee! Did you know that actors Natalie Portman and Danica McKellar are serious whizzes at math? And we bet the characters in the hit series The Big Bang or Numb3rs would have competed in the MATHCOUNTS national championship when they were in school :)

The Countdown Round of the competition will be streamed live from the non-profit educational foundation’s web site at www.mathcounts.org between 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. EST so that math enthusiasts from around the world can be there when the winner is crowned.

8:45 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EDT (Most of the action is from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT)

Middle school Mathletes^® will race to answer such questions as, “The Norman High School Math Club has twice as many male members as female members. Twenty percent of the male members and thirty percent of the female members participated in a math contest. What fraction of those members participating in the math contest were female? Express your answer in a common fraction. (Answer 3/7)

WHO

Raytheon Company is the title sponsor of the MATHCOUNTS^® 2009 Raytheon National Competition

Molly Holloway, a mother of twin kindergartners in Bowie, Maryland, can’t understand why her children must take standardized tests every month in math, reading, social studies, and science.

“One of the teachers has told me that the kindergarten curriculum is what used to be the first-grade curriculum,” Holloway wrote. “What evidence do we have that this pushing is beneficial? While some children can handle the pressure, others cannot. One of my daughters struggles to keep up and hates school.”

A mother in Illinois writes, “In order to prepare kids ahead of time for the state tests, hard core curriculum must start in kindergarten. Our kids are not actually getting smarter. The scores are not increasing. And the rates of children with anxiety issues are increasing rapidly.”

Recent studies in New York City and Los Angeles confirm what these and other parents have observed: standardized testing and test prep have become daily activities in many public kindergartens. Teachers say they are under pressure to get children ready for the third-grade tests. The 254 teachers surveyed in the studies said they spent an average of 20 to 30 minutes per day in test-related activity.

The findings are documented in a new report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School, released on March 20 by the nonprofit Alliance for Childhood (www.allianceforchildhood.org). The authors, Edward Miller and Joan Almon, say that kindergarten testing is “out of control.”

High-stakes testing and test preparation in kindergarten are proliferating, as schools increasingly are required to make decisions on promotion, retention, and placement in gifted programs or special education classes on the basis of test scores. In New York City, for example, kindergarten children take a standardized I.Q. test to determine whether they qualify for “gifted and talented” classes. The city is also implementing a plan to test kindergarten, first-, and second-grade children as part of schools’ performance evaluations. The test scores are used to assign letter grades, A to F, to all of the city’s public schools. The grades are then used to determine rewards and punishments, including cash bonuses for teachers and principals and whether principals will be fired and schools shut down.

“Rigid testing policies do not make sense in early childhood education,” states the Alliance for Childhood report. “Standardized testing of children under age eight, when used to make significant decisions about the child’s education, is in direct conflict with the professional standards of every educational testing organization.”

Young children are notoriously unreliable test takers. They can do well one day and poorly on the same test on another day.

“A major problem with kindergarten tests is that relatively few meet acceptable standards of reliability and validity,” says the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “The probability of a child being misplaced is fifty percent—the same odds as flipping a coin. … Flawed results lead to flawed decisions, wasted tax dollars, and misdiagnosed children.”

The National Association of School Psychologists agrees, saying that “evidence from research and practice in early childhood assessment indicates that issues of technical adequacy are more difficult to address with young children who have little test-taking experience, short attention spans, and whose development is rapid and variable.”

It’s not just parents who are up in arms over the tests for tots. Anthony Colannino, a Waltham, Massachusetts elementary school principal, is upset that his kindergartners are now required to take fill-in-the-right-bubble tests. “Now we’re all the way down to 5- and 6-year-olds taking a pencil and paper test,” he told his local newspaper. “My students and others across the state are being judged on reading material above their grade level.”

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor early childhood education at Lesley University, said,
“The vast majority of kindergarten teachers now spend some time each day on testing and test preparation, an activity that would have been considered irrelevant and even harmful in the past.”

In Las Vegas, Nevada, kindergarten teachers report that last year they lost more than 30 days of school to mandatory assessments. They have organized to lobby the county school authorities to reduce the number of tests and “return to the implementation of developmentally appropriate standards.”

And a kindergarten teacher in Zanesville, Ohio, wrote to her local paper, “All we are doing is stealing childhood from innocent children. Shame on our government for making us be thieves. Shame on them for not listening to what children really need.”

Crisis in the Kindergarten calls for the use of observational and curriculum-embedded performance assessments in kindergarten instead of standardized tests. The argument that standardized testing takes less time and is therefore more efficient is called into question, argues the report, by the new data suggesting that teachers are now spending time each day prepping children for standardized tests.

The combination of unrealistic kindergarten standards and inappropriate testing results in two to three hours per day being devoted to teaching literacy and math in many of the kindergartens in the N.Y. and L.A. studies. As one Los Angeles teacher said, ““Our students spend most of the time trying to learn what they need in order to pass standardized testing. There is hardly enough time for activities like P.E, science, art, playtime.”

These practices may produce higher scores in first and second grade, but at what cost? Long-term studies suggest that the early gains fade away by fourth grade and that by age 10 children in play-based kindergartens excel over others in reading, math, social and emotional learning, creativity, oral expression, industriousness, and imagination, write the authors of the report.

The report makes the following recommendations to educators, policymakers, and parents for ending the inappropriate use of tests in kindergarten:

1. Use alternatives to standardized assessments in kindergarten, such as teacher observations and assessment of children’s work. Educate teachers in the use of these alternatives and in the risks and limitations of standardized testing of young children.

2. Do not make important decisions about young children, their teachers, or their schools based solely or primarily on standardized test scores.

What a perfect breakfast or anytime treat for kids. They come in plain or cinnamon and are easy to take along or to give to teething babies.

They are also perfect for big people who want a bagel snack with peanut butter or jelly, but only a tiny taste because they're on a diet. Lender's have been around since 1927,are available in most grocery locations, and have been a healthy favorite of generation.

They also come in regular for people who want the real breakfast bagel with their coffee or tea, or as a sandwich option for take-along lunches.

TIPS ON HOW TO KEEP YOUR KIDS SAFE:

Ride Safe!

Make sure your kids are secured in the appropriate child safety seat or safety belt for their age and size.
Kids should always be secured in the backseat.
Study both your vehicle owner’s manual and child safety seat instructions carefully
Swim Safe!

Always supervise young children near water, including pools, spas, toilets, bathtubs and buckets.
Insist your children wear personal floatation devices when out on boats, near open bodies of water or participating in water sports.

Wheel Safe!

Make sure your kids wear properly fitting helmets and other protective gear every time they ride their bikes, scooters, inline skates or skateboards.
Teach your children the rules of the road and practice obeying traffic laws with them.

Walk Safe!

Never let your child under age 10 cross the street alone. Teach children to obey traffic rules.
Make sure your kids wear retro reflective materials, and don’t let them walk alone at night. If they must walk at dawn or at dusk, make sure they carry a flashlight.

Play Safe!

· Always supervise your children at playgrounds or in the backyards. Make sure they play on a safe surface, such as mulch, rubber or fine sand.

· Make sure your kids wear the right, properly fitted protective gear when they practice and play team sports!

The Republic of Tea’s new LITTLE CITIZENS’ HERB TEAS, enjoyed hot or iced, is the first line of naturally caffeine-free, organic Rooibos based, Fair Trade Certified herbal teas for children. For every tin of LITTLE CITIZENS’ HERB TEAS sold, The Republic of Tea will contribute $1 to Room to Read, an organization that impacts the lives of millions of children in the developing world by providing the lifelong gift of education.

THE LITTLE CITIZENS’ HERB TEAS are Fair Trade Certified by TransFair USA. The collection offers three flavors, including: Strawberry Vanilla Red Tea, Tangerine Tea and Apple Cherry Red Tea This line is made from organic Rooibos (ROY-Boss) or Red Tea, a naturally caffeine-free, anti-allergenic herb from South Africa, recognized for remarkable antioxidant properties and as an aid to the immune system.

Room to Read, founded by John Wood in 2000, is a leader in providing educational opportunities to underprivileged children around the world. Room to Read was established based on the belief that education is crucial to breaking the cycle of poverty in the developing world. Please visit: www.roomtoread.org.