Friday August 24, 2001
Back-To-School Story Ideas
I know you are planning a lot of back-to-school coverage. I hope these ideas will help you.
Extra Curricular Overload — School is about to open and with it comes the barrage of extra curricular activities. Talent shows. Science projects. Homework. Dance class. Basketball practice. Violin recitals. Book reports. When is enough too much?
Homework help — My two favorite sites are About.com and BJ Pinchbeck’s Homework Helper.
A parent’s guide to algebra-how to help your kid
How busy parents can stay involved in their kid’s schoolwork. This is a very important story.
Tips on curing first year at college homesickness.
Here is one I like and will use this year — little love letters for lunchboxes. You can buy the note cards or make them up yourself.
Make sure your kids eat something before school. Here are some ideas: Do a story on the importance of breakfast and learning. According to the American Dietetic Association, “Children who eat breakfast are less likely to miss class, be tardy, or report they are sick than children who miss the morning meal.”
Breakfast eaters also score higher on tests and have better concentration and muscle coordination. Kids who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight, too. Unfortunately, a recent survey found that as many as 30 percent of 8 to 13-year-old children do not eat breakfast every day.
Here are tips on what parents need to know and do before school starts.
From CNN — This piece includes items on homeschooling, shopping, college savings, and computers.
From USA Today — This article looks at shopping for back-to-school supplies online.
McGruff the Crime Dog has advice for kids.
Talking to your kids about bullies.
Adjusting to the school schedule again —Tips for parents and kids from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
School bus safety.
School Zone Speeding — Remind drivers that school is back in session and to slow down.
The U.S. Department of Education Back-to-School site.
Grade 3.5
I remember the fourth grade. I remember it because it was so darn difficult for me. I also recall my oldest daughter hitting the “4th grade wall.” It is the year when kids learn cursive writing, multiplication and the homework gets heavy.
CNN.com says: “Nearly 500 struggling students who haven’t learned enough to advance to the next grade will start school this fall in “half-grades.” They will be 3.5, 5.5 or 8.5 students instead of fourth-, sixth- and ninth-graders. School officials said the program makes St. Paul the first district in the nation to advance students incrementally. “It is the only (program) of its kind that we know of,” said St. Paul schools spokeswoman Christine Wroblewski, adding that the district’s research showed that only Florida had an even similar policy of incremental advancement.”
Faith Based Prison
The Miami Herald has an interesting story today about special faith groups in prison.
“They don’t swear, fight or otherwise misbehave. They hold each other accountable to a strict code of conduct. They eat and work with other inmates, but after they have finished their daily prison chores, they retire to a dorm set apart just for them. They attend special motivational, parenting, self-improvement and religious classes and services. The evening classes are taught mostly by a cadre of church-based volunteers, some of whom will help inmates make the transition back into real life when their sentences have been completed.”
The Herald says, “Faith-based dorms are part of the increased emphasis toward “transitioning” inmates more successfully and safely back into society, said state Corrections Secretary Michael W. Moore. The Legislature has set aside $600,000 for the five new faith-based dorm programs, part of nearly $5 million in new money for transition services. At the heart of the program are dozens of volunteers such as Raymond and Carrie Williams, who serve as counselors, mentors, tutors and sounding boards.”
Nebraska Tries to Ban Loud Truck Brakes
No doubt you have heard the sound–a loud muffler sound from an 18-wheeler as it slowed down. It is called an “engine brake“and lots of communities and now the entire State of Nebraska, tied of all of the noise, are trying to ban them. But, as you can imagine, there are problems. Truckers like engine brakes because they save on the replacement of expensive wheel brakes.
The Omaha World Herald says, “About one-third of Nebraska’s cities and villages have outlawed the use of engine brakes, said Lash Chaffin, director of the League of Nebraska Municipalities’ utilities section. The brakes, which make a loud staccato sound if not properly muffled, use the engine’s power to slow a truck much as a car engine does when the driver downshifts. State Sen. Don Preister of Omaha said he introduced LB 1361 after getting complaints from residents along I-80, which was rebuilt through Omaha in the late 1990s. Trucks would use their engine brakes as they negotiated lane detours, he said.
-How these brakes work
-why truckers like them
Jacobs Vehicle Systems of Bloomfield, Conn., is concerned about the number of communities across the country that have enacted ordinances banning engine brakes.
“We don’t believe communities should have the right to ban a legal product,” a company spokesperson said. “It’s almost as ludicrous as saying if a town doesn’t like red trucks they should ban red trucks.”
Police and the Hard of Hearing
Here is something I never really thought about. How do police interact with the hard of hearing, especially in tense situations?
Police in Michigan are learning that it can be acceptable — even beneficial — for a driver to make hand gestures in an officer’s face. That’s the case when a motorist is deaf or hard of hearing. Michigan police departments are being sent two training videos advising officers on how to interact with people who are deaf and with motorists who are armed under Michigan’s eased concealed weapons law.
How important is this?
The Detroit News says, “There’s a lot of misunderstanding when people think they’re communicating with each other, when they’re really not,” said Dave King, a state police administrator. For instance, police may feel a deaf person is fleeing when he or she may not have heard a police car’s siren. An officer may fear a deaf motorist is reaching for a weapon when he or she actually is grabbing a pen and pad.
