Tips to help reduce screen time for your kids

Screentime is the time spent in front of a screen. Anything that has a screen counts towards screentime, like televisions, computers, video games, and even cell phones. The more time that is spent in front of a screen, the less time is spent moving. Time spent watching TV takes time away from reading, playing and being active. Watching a lot fo TV can be bad for children's health and can effect the children's weight.

 The researchers found that children who spent the least amount of time watching television, using the computer, and playing video games had much lower blood pressure levels than those who spent the most time in front of a screen. There are more bad effects of spending more time in front of screen.

Preschoolers with TVs in their bedroom watch an additional 4.8 hours of TV or videos every week.
1 in 4 children under the age of 2 years has a TV in their bedroom.

According to 'The Kaiser Family Foundation':

"American children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV."

Tips to Reduce Screen Time

• Talk to Your Family: Explain to your kids that it's important to sit less and move more in order to stay at a healthy weight. Tell them they’ll also have more energy, and it will help them develop and/or perfect new skills, such as riding a bike or shooting hoops, that could lead to more fun with friends. Tell them you’ll do the same.
• Set a Good Example: You need to be a good role model and limit your screen time to no more than two hours per day, too. If your kids see you following your own rules, then they’ll be more likely to do the same.
• Log Screen Time vs. Active Time: Start tracking how much time your family spends in front of a screen, including things like TV- and DVD-watching, playing video games, and using the computer for something other than school or work. Then take a look at how much physical activity they get. That way you’ll get a sense of what changes need to be made. Use the Children's Screen Time Log (230 KB) to do it.
• Make Screen Time = Active Time: When you do spend time in front of the screen, do something active. Stretch, do yoga and/or lift weights. Or, challenge the family to see who can do the most push-ups, jumping jacks, or leg lifts during TV commercial breaks.  
• Set Screen Time Limits: Create a house rule that limits screen time to two hours every day. More importantly, enforce the rule.  
• Create Screen-free Bedrooms: Don’t put a TV or computer in your child's bedroom. Kids who have TVs in their room tend to watch about 1.5 hours more TV a day than those that don’t. Plus, it keeps them in their room instead of spending time with the rest of the family.  
• Make Meal Time = Family Time: Turn off the TV during meals. Better yet, remove the TV from the eating area if you have one there. Family meals are a good time to talk to each other. Research shows that families who eat together tend to eat more nutritious meals. Make eating together a priority and schedule family meals at least two to three times a week.  
• Provide Other Options: Watching TV can become a habit, making it easy to forget what else is out there. Give your kids ideas and/or alternatives, such as playing outside, getting a new hobby, or learning a sport. See more tips for getting physically active.
• Don't Use TV Time as Reward or Punishment: Practices like this make TV seem even more important to children.
• Understand TV Ads Placements: Seeing snack foods, candy, soda, and fast food on television affects all of us, especially kids. Help your child understand that because it’s on TV—or your favorite TV characters/actors eat or drink it—doesn’t mean a food or drink is good for you. Get your kids to think about why their favorite cartoon character is trying to get them to eat a certain brand of breakfast cereal.

Tips provided by: 'National Heart Lung and Blood Institute'

According to a survey statistics: Children ages 8–18 spend the following amount of time in front of the screen, daily:

• Approximately 7.5 hours using entertainment media
• Approximately 4.5 hours watching TV
• Approximately 1.5 hours on the computer
• Over an hour playing video games  

These data lie in stark contrast to the 25 minutes per day that children spend reading books.

Today's youth also have the following media in their bedrooms:

More than one–third have a computer, and Internet access
Half have video game players
More than two–thirds have TVs
Those with bedroom TVs spend an hour more in front of the screen than those without TVs

Health experts say screen time at home should be limited to two hours or less a day, unless it’s work- or homework-related. The time we spend in front of the screen could be better spent being more physically active (increasing our ENERGY OUT), and setting a good example for our families.

- Both scary and reassuring. Scary because it makes clear just how little we know about potentially harmful effects of 'tubes' on our brains, but reassuring that someone is finally asking the questions which so desperately need to be answered!"—Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., Educational Psychologist, Author of Endangered Minds and Failure to Connect

- "Well done.... An outstanding investigative movie that begins to present interesting questions about the true nature of television. It presents many compelling facts and questions about an activity that most people take for granted."—www.turnoffyourtv.com

Useful links and resoruces:

* Reviews of :The Tube: A Film by Peter Entell

* Web MD: “Screen Time Boosts Kids’ Blood Pressure”

Online useful resources for teachers and learning Part-1

I am writing these few posts about online resources (mostly free) for teachers. This series of posts about useful resources would continue till I gather most links to share with you, so subscribe to the blog to get updated posts, so don't miss the upcoming articles.

* The Really Big List of Classroom Management Resources:
Monmouth University graduate students worked hard for whole one week scouring the entire Internet, and this list is many of the best that cyberspace has to offer.

Link: The Really Big List of Classroom Management Resources

* The Really Useful List of Fill-in-the-Blank Web Tools for Teachers and Students:

If you are looking for ways to make good use of the Internet in your classroom then the treasure trove of mostly fill-in-the-blank tools may be just what you need to get started. It includes tools, forms, templates, checklists, and interactive activities that will enable you generate Web sites, lessons, puzzles, rubrics, projects, games and a whole lot more.

10 valiant members of the Monmouth University online course, ED 554 OL Modern Educational Practices, worked night and day to bring you an impressive list of practical tools and resources you might really use in K-12 classrooms.

Link: The Really Useful List of Fill-in-the-Blank Web Tools for Teachers and Students

* Blogging, Web and Wiki Tools: These tools can be used to create blogs, web pages/sites and wikis as well as provide interactivity, RSS feeds, forms web polls, etc through a range of widgets and plugins
Link: Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

Quotes about learning and education

These quotes are a  reminder for teachers who want to enhance their teaching all the time.

• The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves.-- Joseph Campbell
• Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.-- W. B. Yeats
• The objective of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.-- Robert Maynard Hutchins
• There is a brilliant child locked inside every student.-- Marva Collins
• A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.-- Henry B. Adams
• Information cannot replace education.-- Earl Kiole
• We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.-- Anonymous
• The kids in our classroom are infinitely more significant than the subject matter we teach.-- Meladee McCarty
• Teaching is not a profession; it's a passion.-- Unknown
• Your heart is slightly bigger than the average human heart, but that's because you're a teacher.-- Aaron Bacall
• Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.-- David M. Burns
• A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by encouraging a clever pupil, for the true discoverers are among them, as comets amongst the stars.-- Linnaeus
• A teacher effects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.-- Henry Adams
• Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.-- Mark Twain
• An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.-- Bill Bernbach
• Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.-- Aristotle
• It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.-- Alec Bourne
• It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.-- Aristotle
• Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten-- B. F. Skinner
• Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.-- Gail Godwin
• Education is the best provision for old age.-- Aristotle
• Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.-- Confucius
• The mark of a true MBA is that he is often wrong but seldom in doubt.-- Robert Buzzell
• If I were asked ... to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of Americans ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.-- Alexis de Tocqueville
• Children need models rather than critics.-- Joseph Joubert
• The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-trust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple.--Amos Bronson Alcott
• It is the responsibility of every adult... to make sure that children hear what we have learned from the lessons of life and to hear over and over that we love them and that they are not alone-- Marian Wright Edelman
• Education is more than filling a child with facts. It starts with posing questions.-- D.T. Max
• If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.-- Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.-- Abraham Lincoln
• It's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are our teachers -- they help us to learn.-- John Bradshaw
• It's not what is poured into a student, but what is planted.--Linda Conway
• It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.-- Albert Einstein
• Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner; put yourself in his place so that you may understand… what he learns and the way he understands it.-- Soren Kierkegaard
• If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.-- Thumper's father (Bambi 1942)
• A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him.-- James Baldwin
• That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends.-- Maria Callas
• A word as to the education of the heart. We don't believe that this can be imparted through books; it can only be imparted through the loving touch of the teacher.-- Cesar Chavez
• The highest result of education is tolerance.-- Helen Keller

More at: The Really Big List of Education Quotes & Links

So you want to be a great teacher?

I love to read and bookmark the teaching or learning blogs and whenever I am succeeded to find a site or blog I am happy to share it with my blog readers. Today's blog review is for teachers who love their profession and want to get useful information or suggestions from other experienced teachers to become great teachers.

'So you want to teach' is a teacher's blog who is trying to become a great teacher. Blog is loaded with useful articles. It includes the useful tips and ideas to manage classrooms, dealing with students, how to enhance your teaching etc.

Joel (the blogger) says: 'This blog is different -I strive to keep a personal atmosphere and writing style, while freely transferring practical information in meaningful and positive ways.'

He further says: 'I began teaching band in 2002. Though I had a lot of information, my classes were out of control. I was tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting.

I had had enough. I resigned from my school district right before spring break of my second year and made it my personal mission to learn to be a great teacher.

So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of my quest for educational excellence.'

Popular post section seems quite interesting and valuable for teachers as it includes:

• Top 5 (Plus 14) Character Traits Of Superior Teachers
• 9 Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick)
• 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers
• Are Classroom Rules Needed?
• How Do I Keep My Students Quiet?
• Fun Back to School Activities
• Habit 2: Classroom Habits
• New Teacher Survival Kit 

You can start browsing the site by going directly to the popular post titles or just click the 'Start' tab to go for 20 classic articles.

What are the situations when parents start annoying teachers?

I am a parent plus teacher and I can judge the situation when parents are not co-operative and make situation annoying for teachers. Parents can help teacheres following the rules and regulation established by the school authorities, as most of the conflicts happen because parents don't care about following it.

These are situations when parents start annoying teachers and they wished parents wouldn't do:
Bring their kids to school late
"When a child is late every day by more than 15 minutes, it takes them out of the routine and ritual of the morning," says Otis Kriegel, a veteran New York City teacher and founder of theK5.com, a website that provides tips for parents of elementary-school-age kids.
"If a child is struggling in class, either academically or emotionally, this is more detrimental to their success."
It's also not OK for kids to miss important school days — state tests, curriculum-related field trips and the like, Kriegel says. Also, please get your child back to school when classes resume after vacation (if you have to miss a day, he says, miss the last day before break).
Fail to stay on top of homework and class communications
Katje Lehrman, a kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles, urges parents to check their kids' backpacks every day. "Children often use their backpacks the way homeless people use shopping carts," she says. Chances are very good they contain notices, incomplete homework, toys that should stay at home, and other things. I've even found fruit decomposing in a backpack when it started to leak in the closet.
Have a 'Goldilocks' problem with homework — be too much or too little involved
Phillip Done, a teacher and the author of "Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind," says homework that's full of mistakes is OK. "If you do it for them and it comes back perfect, the teacher doesn't know what to work on," he says. "Better full of mistakes than perfect."
Just as you don't want to do your kid's homework, make sure you also encourage and monitor it, says Candice Broom, who's both a parent and a substitute teacher at an international school in Laos. And please, don't ask a teacher to assign more homework. That's just weird (and yes, parents do it).
Expect the teacher to do more than teach
Teachers are responsible for a lot of students. They are not responsible for, say, your child's jacket. "I often have parents e-mail or call and ask me to go to the lost and found to find their child's clothing," says Courtney Graham, a San Francisco-area teacher. "I even had a parent leave a message one morning right after school started to ask me to check to be sure her child's shoes weren't too tight, and if they were, to go down to the lost and found and find him a bigger pair to 'borrow.'"
Abuse e-mail or phone calls
Phillip Done knows a teacher who received more than 200 e-mails from a parent. Other teachers talk about receiving updates on, say, how many pieces of toast Elmer ate in the morning, and his resulting energy level — that sort of thing. E-mail is for letting the teacher know your child has a doctor's appointment, or that his lunch is in the office, Done says. If you want to talk about concerns you have with your child, make an appointment instead. (And yes, you can use e-mail for that.) Also, new technologies like Facebook are fun, but please don't "friend" the teacher.
* At our school we teachers offer a consult timing at late evening to discuss learning related matters but it is a very common practice that many parents call us just to know if tomorrow shool is closed or not? (They often don't check the diaries, notices or holiday routines)
Hijack the morning or afternoon
Teachers don't have free time right before and after school. They're readying the classroom, planning lessons and doing other vital things. That's not a good time to chat with a teacher about anything. If you need a meeting, or want to talk about something, arrange an appointment.
Behave badly at birthdays
Though most parents know not to celebrate their own birthdays in school, sometimes they throw parties for their kids that are disruptive. Julie Rebboah, a former teacher and president of Lightning Bug Learning, wishes parents wouldn't send cakes that need cutting, or jugs of juice that need to be poured. Presents and balloons are for the party at home. "And please don't be mad at me when we can't have a full birthday party at school," she says. "My job is to teach, and the kids are at school to learn."
Wait until the last minute to ask for assistance
If your child needs individual tutoring before a test, or has an academic problem that needs to be solved, don't wait until the last minute. Dr. Richard E. Bavaria, Sylvan Learning's senior vice president for education outreach, cringes when he sees that happen. "Any time adults wait to alleviate an academic problem, the child is ill-served," he says. "When you suspect a child is having a problem, get help right away before the child's learning and confidence are affected."
Believe the worst about a teacher or school
In his 40 years as an educator, Bavaria has heard his share of crazy rumors — that there's a suspension quota a principal has to fill, or the biology teacher makes kids dissect live frogs. He and other teachers urge parents to assume good intentions on the part of the school.
Forget who the teacher is serving
Some parents devour the teacher's time and energy not because their student is in need, but because the parents feel in need of TLC. As warm and wonderful as many teachers are, they are not a parent's support system.
Putting yourself in teacher's shoes would bring solution to these annoying situations.
Fortunately, most parents are considerate and understand that teachers are juggling a lot, several teachers told me. In case you've been accidentally annoying, don't fret. You can make up for it.
 
Sources (with the courtesy of): By 'Martha Brockenbrough'-10 Things Parents Do to Annoy Teachers -MSN 's 'Moms Home Room'

A nutrition and health blog from a padriatric nutrition mom -Beyong Parent'

During writing review for 'preschooler mom' I came across another nice blog 'Beyond Parent' which is from a registered Dietitian and Certified Lactation Counselor. Debra has got a Master's Degree in Public Health. Her nutrition specialties include perinatal nutrition, pediatric nutrition, breastfeeding, and food allergies.



'Beyond Parents' is a parent blog dealing in nutrition and health of children.

'The goal of Beyond Prenatals is to encourage and empower women to learn more about nutrition during preconception, pregnancy, and early childhood...and to go "beyond" prenatal vitamins in striving to create healthy families.'

As the blogger is herself a padiatric nutrition specialists it is obvious that you may get useful tips and suggestions regarding child and kid's food, health etc.
It seems that she is also a working and busy mom, so there are not frequent articles at the blog but the advice and useful information you can get from the blog is worth to check.

You can also follow her at 'twitter' or get subscription of the blog to get updated post news.

A blog for mothers of preschoolers with tips and resources

I love to share the resources I find during my browsing the net. It is a pleasure for me to discover good stuff, good blogs with useful tips, and resources. Being an educator at a primary school and dealing with reception stage children (4 years to 5 year old), I am in need of more ideas and tips to adopt for my own classroom. I prefer to bookmark blogs which are created with personal touch and experience. 'Preschool mama' is one of those blogs which I have subscribed to get updates of next articles.

'Preschool mama'  is a wonderful blog sharing resources for mothers of preschoolers. The blog is created by a former Montessori preschool teacher and mother of a kid.

What you can find at the blog?

• Blog has a lot of stuff to help you give your child an edge, enhance his learning and reading skills, and boost self esteem.
• You can find resources, easy tips and how tos for fun activities and crafts projects. 
• Get advice on dealing with common preschooler health and nutrition issues.
• Simple and easy ideas for arts and crafts that combine creativity with a great bonding experience for you and your child.
• Resources to help with potty training and bed wetting issues, ways to enhance socials skills and encourage independent thinking, and a lot more.

The blogger says:
'You’ll find all the stuff that’s worked for me, the well meaning tips that didn’t, and the tricks I wish I’d known when I was raising my son.
You’ll also find advice, inspiration and motivation for you, the PreSchool Mama, without who this blog wouldn’t exist.'

Start seaching the sites from 'Best of preschool mama' page where you can find posts covering all the topics essentail for the skill or persoanlity development of your child.

Note: Unfortunately blog is not being updated since two years, but still there is good stuff at the blog.

How we can successfully recycle at school?

How can we recycle and save our money, resources and environment?
Teachers can teach their children to reduce resource consumption, reuse where it is possible and utimate result is that there is less wastage and rubbish. We can learn to recycle objects near and around our classroom, and school.

 

Recycling is only one of the things we can do about waste. It is about the 3Rs -

1. reduce resource consumption
2. maximise resource reuse
3. increase the percentage of waste they recycle

How we can successfully recycle at school:

 

Reduce

• Rather than asking pupils to start a new page for each piece of work, get them to rule off below previous work and continue on the same page.
• Develop strategies that encourage your children not to throw written work away as soon as they make a mistake.
• Cut the amount of paper used by your school through greater use of I.C.T., both in lessons and for administration.
• Cut down on photocopying. Ask yourself whether it is the best way of presenting the information to your class. Would using Powerpoint or an OHP be better? If you do need to photocopy, do it double-sided whenever practical.
• Is it necessary to print everything that's done in the I.C.T. room out onto paper? And if so, could it be printed double sided?
• When sending home letters, combine information into one letter rather than sending three separate letters. Ensure that families only get sent one copy and consider whether it is feasible to send information by other means e.g. e-mail.
• About one fifth by weight of most schools' waste consists of food. If your school has a lot of food waste, could this be because pupils are being given portions that are too big or that they are being given things that they don't want to eat?
• Talk to the people who do the catering for your school about buying food with less packaging on.
• Aim towards 'waste-free lunches' for those who bring a packed lunch. Encourage children not to bring more food than they can eat and to use reusable bottles and flasks for drinks instead of individual cartons or cans. They could also be asked to use reusable airtight containers for snacks and packed lunches instead of disposable wrappers.
• Give careful thought to what is sold in your school tuck shop, both in terms of healthy eating and the amount of waste produced. Reduce the number of crisp packets in your school bin by having crisp-free days and generally limiting the number of packets eaten per child, promoting fruit as a healthier alternative.
• For parties at Christmas and the end of term, use washable plates and cups instead of disposable ones made from paper and plastic.
• Save money by sharing infrequently used resources with other nearby schools.

Reuse

• Always use both sides of a piece of paper, before you recycle it or throw it away. Make sure that every classroom has a 'scrap' paper tray and put paper that has only been used on one side into this, rather than putting it straight in the bin or sending it off for recycling. The paper can then be used for 'rough work' or at wet playtimes. Another good place for one of these scrap trays is by the photocopier!
• Reuse items of waste in art work, and use plastic pots for growing seeds, etc. Reuse old paper which cannot be written on any more to make papier mache models or your own recycled paper.
• Provide children with reusable 'sports bottles' that can be cleaned out and refilled every day.
• Ask your office staff to reuse envelopes by sticking a label over the old address. This will save money as well as reduce the number of envelopes thrown away.
• Collect in photocopied worksheets and store them so that they can be used again in subsequent years. This will save you work too!
• Hold a bring and buy sale to raise money for your school to which people can bring old clothes, toys or books for someone else to buy and reuse.
• Request that teachers reuse paper when changing classroom displays
• Make use of rechargeable batteries and refillable print cartridges.
• More than 80 scrapstores exist throughout the UK to take in scrap materials to be used in work with children. Join your local scrapstore and persuade your 'after school club' to do the same.
• Don't just throw old school furniture in a skip. Find out if anyone else can make use of it first. Many projects exist to pass unwanted furniture to voluntary groups and people in need and there are also similar schemes for computers.
• Give old tools from the school workshops to Tools for Self Reliance who can refurbish these before sending them on to developing countries.

Recycle

• Not surprisingly, the main material thrown away by schools is paper, which makes up at least quarter of their waste. Contact the recycling officer at your local council and ask them to provide your school with a paper recycling bin or equivalent. Then, set up a system of paper collection from each classroom which can be taken to the main recycling bin at the end of each day or week. Also ask them if they are running a Yellow Woods Challenge so that you can recycle Yellow Pages directories.
• Set up a composting scheme or a worm composter for food & green waste, including all the staff's tea bags and fruit scraps. Again your local council's recycling officer may be able to help here. In some cases, compost bins can be provided to schools free of charge.
• If your school has a drinks vending machine, put a bin next to it to collect up old cans for recycling. You can even join schemes which will enable you to make money from these for your school. For more information on these, see 'What your school can do about waste' on the Waste on the Web page of this site.
• Cardboard milk cartons can also be recycled. Wash them out after use and store them for collection.
• Encourage your school to buy and use recycled paper and other recycled products. Doing so may mean that in the short term you pay higher prices for some goods but in the long term it will increase demand and lower prices. A number of websites containing information about recycled products are listed on the Waste on the Web page of this site.
• So remember to reduce, reuse and recycle your waste. It is much better to reduce waste in the first place as then there is less to deal with. Reusing things is the second best option as it saves you buying new things. After you have reduced and reused as much as you can, recycle.

The last thing that should cross your mind is to throw it in the bin!

 

Useful links:

 

* 'Online resources for recycling'

 

* 'Recycle Zone' a site for schools, children and teachers to help them learn about recycling. It is part of Waste Watch website, located at : www.wastewatch.org.uk