Dr. Linda’s School Success Newsletter | June 2011
In This Issue
Happening Now: Private Tutoring in all subjects, kindergarten through college; Regents, AP, SAT and ACT Prep, and College Advisement
Note from Dr. Linda: Summer Learning and Discovery
Summer Discoveries: New York’s Central Park
Summertime Learning Fun: Activities for Road Trips
Books for Young Readers on Road Trips
Family Fun: “The Adventures of Berticus Barns,” Part Eleven
Now It’s Your Turn: Let Us Know What You’d Like
Happening Now at StrongLearning.com
- One-to-one tutoring - all subjects, levels and grades in your home, at a convenient location near you or online. No contracts
- Educational Testing – learn how your child learns, to make schooling easier and more successful
- IEP Advisement - Helping parents with children with special needs
- Exam prep for Regents, AP, SATs and ACTs - Private or in Groups
- College Advisement - helping parents and college-bound students with college selection, essays, applications, and more
Contact Strong Learning for More Information at 845-628-7910
Register now for the following Small Group Courses offered by Strong Learning in Westchester and Putnam Counties, NY. Enrollment limited.
- Summer School: Schedule is published at Strong Learning. Please register early because each class is limited to 12 students.
- TACHS, ISEE & SSAT: Contact Strong Learning for information.
Register Today. Call Strong Learning at 845-628-7910
Note from Dr. Linda
Hi Parents, Grandparents, Teachers and Friends:
School’s out. Time for vacation, road trips, picnics, running through the sprinkler on hot afternoons and ice cream cones.
And let’s not forget Dad on his special day. Father’s Day is June 19. What kind of gift could your kids make him or their Grandpa? Even something as simple as a homemade card will be cherished.
In the newsletter this summer, I’ll be showing you ways of keeping your children learning and discovering even though it’s vacation time. You’ll find fun places to take your kids, plus activities and games that make learning fun.
This month it’s Central Park in New York City. And for those of you planning long road trips, I’ve got activities to help kids keep from getting bored while traveling. And these fun games and puzzles encourages learning along the way.
Last but not least, don’t forget the latest adventure of Berticus to keep you laughing.
Happy Father’s Day to all you wonderful, loving, giving, caring Dads (and Grandads).
Best wishes,
Dr. Linda
P.S. Help your children develop skills with Strong Learning’s Improve Your Study Skills, Memory Skills, Reading, Writing and Math Skills Workbooks. These workbooks offer advice and activities to improve basic skills. Appropriate for fifth grade and up. Order these books from our website.
Is homework a hassle in your home? Discover easy, effective strategies in Dr. Linda’s “25 Top Homework Tips,” a FREE mini-ebook. Subscribe now and you’ll also receive our weekly tips to help your child raise test scores, improve study skills, increase reading, writing and math abilities.
You’ll get the monthly “Dr. Linda’s School Success Newsletter” too. You’ll even receive the first chapter of our award-winning book, “Why Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids.” Sign up today and tell your friends, too.
Summer Discoveries: New York’s Central Park
Vacation is a time to explore, take trips and see new things. Some families like to explore close at home by just going to the park.
Central Park in New York City, one of our nation’s most famous parks, has lots of great activities just for kids. After your child has her picture taken in the head of this rabbit, head on over to the zoo.
You’ll find a petting zoo, the Acorn Theater and the Enchanted Forest with turtles, reptiles and birds. The “Woods and Water” exhibit designed for children tells about the flora and fauna of the park.
The park has fishing, a carousel, storytelling, marionettes and theater for kids, even lessons in how to sail model sail boats. And don’t forget just running around and playing.
Find out more about children’s activities in Central Park. And take a look at the interactive activities at the Tish Children’s Zoo in the Park.
Summertime Learning Fun: Activities for Road Trips
Without some planning ahead, long road trips can be boring for kids and exasperating for their parents.
Here are some tips to help:
1. Trip Director: Turn the tables on “Are we almost there?” Each night, look at the map and determine where you’ll end up tomorrow.
Have kids help figure out how far that is, how many miles you can go in one hour, how long you’ll spend at rest stops, where you might eat lunch. From this, they’ll get an estimate of how many hours it will take. You ask them “Are we almost there?” “How much longer?” “How soon will it be to our lunch stop.” They learn how to read maps with some math skills thrown in. Kids will each need their own watch.
2. Maps: If you belong to AAA, get Triptiks which make easy work out of map reading and keeping track of where you are. If you have two or more kids, copy the Triptik so each child has one. Bring along thick-tip markers to follow where you’ve been.
3. Games: Let kids make up their own road games. Play the license plate game to find as many different states as you can (parking lots at national parks are great places to find the ones you haven’t seen yet). Now ask your kids what game they can come up with that involves license plates and how they’ll determine the winner.
Find more road trip games
Books for Young Readers on Road Trips:
Road trips are a great way for kids to learn how to read a map while they’re also getting lessons in geography. And these trips can be fun family times for all kinds of activities from word games to story telling to spotting license plates.
Ultimate Sticker Puzzles: License Plates Across the States:Travel Puzzles and Games!
Rand McNally’s Kids’ Road Atlas includes road maps, state-by-state puzzles and road games.
Miles of Smiles: 101 Great Car Games and Activities by Carole Terwilliger Meyers includes an extensive collection of road trip games, many of which can be played aloud with parents and kids. The book also has great jokes and tongue twisters.
Family Fun: “The Adventures of Berticus Barns” by Brian Silbert
If you’re living with or teaching an ADHD kid who has grandiose ideas, but is also a disorganized, procrastinater, mind-wandering underachiever,” you’ll love Berticus. He represents all those children who don’t fit into school. I hope you enjoy this read-aloud story for the whole family.
Part Eleven: Berticus Decides to Run for Class President
When we left Berticus last month, he was about to think up a new Big Plan but got sidetracked by girls.
My attention back in the classroom, I realized that Ms. Vanderbeek was making an important announcement. She informed us that our grade would soon be voting for a new class president.
I was surprised to find that we already had a class president because I couldn’t recall ever voting for one. Her words then rang in my ears again like a gong. CLASS PRESIDENT, I thought. That’s it! My mind flooded with possibilities.
I could change our school, make new rules, gain respect and share my vision. Then I could run for local office. And then governor! And someday maybe I could even be the President of the United States! Politics was my true calling!
I was a natural born leader. I imagined what it would be like when Ms. Vanderbeek introduced me: “Please welcome to the podium, your new class president, the one, the only Berticus!” The kids erupted in applause as I took the stage.
“Thank you. Thank you. Please take your seats. I’m humbled by your support,” I said, as the room was now silent, anxiously awaiting my brilliant acceptance speech to begin. I peered ahead with pride, taking in the room, and paused for dramatic effect.
I threw my fist high in the air exclaiming, “Four score and seven years ago, I was just a kid. My father and mother brought me forth on this continent where I was born. We are a new school conceiving of Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all us kids are created equal!”
The class once again leaped out of their seats giving me another standing ovation and they cheered, “Berticus!… Berticus!…”
WHAP! Another spitball. I looked around the room. All the kids were laughing at me as I stood on my desk with my fist high in the air. Ms. Vanderbeek had a disapproving look on her face and said, “Berticus, I assume you would like to run for class president?”
Still feeling like I was in my daydream, I eagerly replied, “I would indeed Ms. Vanderbeek. I’d like to officially announce my candidacy for the presidency of our united class! I will bring wonderful and exciting new things to our class along with my vice presidential running mate, Thatch!”
Caught completely off guard by my announcement, Thatch spontaneously shot milk out of his nose. He didn’t even drink milk at lunch that day. That’s how surprised he was. Ms. Vanderbeek accepted my announcement for class president and then kindly asked me to get down off my desk.
I was well aware that on the outside, Thatch did not appear to be the vice-presidential type. I also realized he was not too vice-presidential on the inside either.
Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure exactly what Thatch was going to do to help my chances of winning. But, I knew this would be a great way for us to hang out and embark on a new adventure.
We had two weeks to prepare for the election.Well, we were actually told it was three weeks away but I anticipated putting off all the work until the last possible moment. So, I convinced myself that the election was only two weeks away in order to give myself ample time to prepare.
Not bad. Only five minutes into my campaign and I was already making presidential-like decisions.
I knew we were going to have a lot of work ahead of us, so I gave Thatch and myself the first week off. No need to jump right in.
I felt we needed to step away from things for a while, in order to get a fresh perspective on how to tackle this campaign. Of course our one week off turned into two. Which then turned into just shy of the three full weeks in which Thatch and I did nothing to prepare for the election.
I tried to be positive even though we now had only one night to organize our entire campaign and prep for the election. The next day we were to announce our campaign promises to the class and after that, all the candidates were to have a big debate.
Don’t miss the July “School Success Newsletter” where Berticus writes Amy a letter, he and Thatch finally have a meeting to figure out at least 100 campaign promises and during a practice debate, Berticus punches Thatch.
Now It’s Your Turn
Go over to Dr Linda’s Blog now and subscribe by email or RSS feed so you won’t miss anything. Leave a comment. I love to hear from you. Let me know what you’d like to see in the next newsletter and on the blog.
Thanks so much for all your emails, calls and comments.
Wishing all you terrific Moms and Dads and your kids a fun, relaxing (and educational) summer.
