It is Tuesday, August 18, 2009, and we are having open house. There are lots of kids here with their families. They are so excited about their new classes and teachers for the year that I can hear it in their voices. We are having a great time visiting and getting to know everyone.
Teachers have their rooms decorated to welcome the students and their families. They have done an excellent job!
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new teachers to our school and our new principal, Dr. Stephanie Nehus. I hope you all have a chance to visit with them and will get to know them. Our faculty and staff slogan for the year is "We Are Family." We at Langston consider you our family too, please stop in and see our school. We would love to have you.
WELCOME BACK!
Have a great day!
Donna Smith
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Looking Back at February
Hi, my name is Shakiem and I visited the robotics class. It was interesting. I saw racing cars, talking, and building Robots. Some of the cars were like a 3-wheeler and one with two windos back and front of the cars. They learned Robotics! Written by Shariemk.
What a busy month in third grade. They wrote non-fiction books. In math they were practicing for there math test and they did it over elapsed time. They beat the whole school district on their writing test. They read and they wrote 5 paragraph essays. And also in math they learned about temperature. This is how they did it. They put a thermometer outside in the morning and when they come back from a field trip or from outside they would send someone back outside to get it and the person who they sent outside when they bring it back in they would read the thermometer together and then the teacher would call on someone to write the answer on the board. And that is what happened in third grade. By: Jamesa, your reporter.
In first grade Mrs. Hatfield's class was working on spelling words. They must have done a great job! They have also been doing reading groups and AR tests. Those first graders are smart as can be! For black history month they read about Wilma, Martin Luther King, and Harriet Tubman. They have been doing awesome work don't you think? By Lachaunda Tidwell
What a busy month in third grade. They wrote non-fiction books. In math they were practicing for there math test and they did it over elapsed time. They beat the whole school district on their writing test. They read and they wrote 5 paragraph essays. And also in math they learned about temperature. This is how they did it. They put a thermometer outside in the morning and when they come back from a field trip or from outside they would send someone back outside to get it and the person who they sent outside when they bring it back in they would read the thermometer together and then the teacher would call on someone to write the answer on the board. And that is what happened in third grade. By: Jamesa, your reporter.
In first grade Mrs. Hatfield's class was working on spelling words. They must have done a great job! They have also been doing reading groups and AR tests. Those first graders are smart as can be! For black history month they read about Wilma, Martin Luther King, and Harriet Tubman. They have been doing awesome work don't you think? By Lachaunda Tidwell
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
All About Me - Kenny
My names is Kenneth. I'm nine years old. I'm about 4 1/2 ft. tall. My eyes are dark brown and shoe size is 5 U.S. I lift weights with my dad at the fire station. I help them on Saturdays.
I was born in 1999 in Hot Springs. I live in an apartment.
One of my hobbies is football on offense. I am a running back, wide receiver, and center. On defense, I am a tackle.
I hate baseball. I hate pumpkin pie. I really hate getting sick!
In the future, I want to be a famous football player, to be a billionaire, and to have four children. I also would like to have a beautiful wife.
I was born in 1999 in Hot Springs. I live in an apartment.
One of my hobbies is football on offense. I am a running back, wide receiver, and center. On defense, I am a tackle.
I hate baseball. I hate pumpkin pie. I really hate getting sick!
In the future, I want to be a famous football player, to be a billionaire, and to have four children. I also would like to have a beautiful wife.
Monday, March 9, 2009
All About Me - Student Autobiographies
Hi, my name is Justine. I am ten years old and I am in the 4th grade. I go to Langston Magnet School. I have nice teachers. Their names are Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Telles, Mrs. Greene, and Mrs. Spainhour.
I was born on September 15, 1998. I have a twin sister and her name is Jasmine. My mom's name is April. My other sisters' names are Carrie and PayPay.
Some of my favorite things to do and some of the things I like are playing soccer, practicing cheerleading, and having friends at school.
What I want to do in the future is to still have my friends and have a family. I would like to be a mother to a baby girl some day, and I want to get married.
I was born on September 15, 1998. I have a twin sister and her name is Jasmine. My mom's name is April. My other sisters' names are Carrie and PayPay.
Some of my favorite things to do and some of the things I like are playing soccer, practicing cheerleading, and having friends at school.
What I want to do in the future is to still have my friends and have a family. I would like to be a mother to a baby girl some day, and I want to get married.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sarah, Plain and Tall
After school tutoring is going great! We just finished reading a book called Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricial MacLachlan and the students really enjoyed it. They created Bloom's balls to help them understand the story and the historical period in which it was set. They did an outstanding job on the projects. I will have pictures up shortly along with the activity that explains what they did.
If you haven't read the book yet, it is well worth your time. Jacob is a lonely man who lost his first wife in childbirth. He has two children to raise in pioneer Kansas and has no opportunity to meet others as they live so far out in the prairie on a farm. Read to find out what Jacob has to do to find a wife for himself and a mother for his children. The book is written from one of the children's point of view.
Have a great day!
Donna
If you haven't read the book yet, it is well worth your time. Jacob is a lonely man who lost his first wife in childbirth. He has two children to raise in pioneer Kansas and has no opportunity to meet others as they live so far out in the prairie on a farm. Read to find out what Jacob has to do to find a wife for himself and a mother for his children. The book is written from one of the children's point of view.
Have a great day!
Donna
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My Favorite Book by Isaac
I like Harry Potter because he is the best ever. He knows how to fight. He is a king of the wizards. Harry can tell everybody what to do because he is the best wizard ever.
You need to read Harry Potter and see what he does at Hogwarts!
Isaac
You need to read Harry Potter and see what he does at Hogwarts!
Isaac
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
New Research on Reading and Technology
Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis?
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) — As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.
Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science.
Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said.
How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as reading and classroom discussion?
"No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops."
Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media, she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for example.
"As students spend more time with visual media and less time with print, evaluation methods that include visual media will give a better picture of what they actually know," said Greenfield, who has been using films in her classes since the 1970s.
"By using more visual media, students will process information better," she said. "However, most visual media are real-time media that do not allow time for reflection, analysis or imagination — those do not get developed by real-time media such as television or video games. Technology is not a panacea in education, because of the skills that are being lost.
"Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary," Greenfield said. "Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. Students today have more visual literacy and less print literacy. Many students do not read for pleasure and have not for decades."
Parents should encourage their children to read and should read to their young children, she said.
Among the studies Greenfield analyzed was a classroom study showing that students who were given access to the Internet during class and were encouraged to use it during lectures did not process what the speaker said as well as students who did not have Internet access. When students were tested after class lectures, those who did not have Internet access performed better than those who did.
"Wiring classrooms for Internet access does not enhance learning," Greenfield said.
Another study Greenfield analyzed found that college students who watched "CNN Headline News" with just the news anchor on screen and without the "news crawl" across the bottom of the screen remembered significantly more facts from the televised broadcast than those who watched it with the distraction of the crawling text and with additional stock market and weather information on the screen.
These and other studies show that multi-tasking "prevents people from getting a deeper understanding of information," Greenfield said.
Yet, for certain tasks, divided attention is important, she added.
"If you're a pilot, you need to be able to monitor multiple instruments at the same time. If you're a cab driver, you need to pay attention to multiple events at the same time. If you're in the military, you need to multi-task too," she said. "On the other hand, if you're trying to solve a complex problem, you need sustained concentration. If you are doing a task that requires deep and sustained thought, multi-tasking is detrimental."
Do video games strengthen skill in multi-tasking?
New Zealand researcher Paul Kearney measured multi-tasking and found that people who played a realistic video game before engaging in a military computer simulation showed a significant improvement in their ability to multi-task, compared with people in a control group who did not play the video game. In the simulation, the player operates a weapons console, locates targets and reacts quickly to events.
Greenfield wonders, however, whether the tasks in the simulation could have been performed better if done alone.
More than 85 percent of video games contain violence, one study found, and multiple studies of violent media games have shown that they can produce many negative effects, including aggressive behavior and desensitization to real-life violence, Greenfield said in summarizing the findings.
In another study, video game skills were a better predictor of surgeons' success in performing laparoscopic surgery than actual laparoscopic surgery experience. In laparoscopic surgery, a surgeon makes a small incision in a patient and inserts a viewing tube with a small camera. The surgeon examines internal organs on a video monitor connected to the tube and can use the viewing tube to guide the surgery.
"Video game skill predicted laparoscopic surgery skills," Greenfield said. "The best video game players made 47 percent fewer errors and performed 39 percent faster in laparoscopic tasks than the worst video game players."
Visual intelligence has been rising globally for 50 years, Greenfield said. In 1942, people's visual performance, as measured by a visual intelligence test known as Raven's Progressive Matrices, went steadily down with age and declined substantially from age 25 to 65. By 1992, there was a much less significant age-related disparity in visual intelligence, Greenfield said.
"In a 1992 study, visual IQ stayed almost flat from age 25 to 65," she said.
Greenfield believes much of this change is related to our increased use of technology, as well as other factors, including increased levels of formal education, improved nutrition, smaller families and increased societal complexity.
The Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles, has received federal funding from the National Science Foundation.
Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles.
ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) — As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.
Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science.
Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said.
How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as reading and classroom discussion?
"No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops."
Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media, she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for example.
"As students spend more time with visual media and less time with print, evaluation methods that include visual media will give a better picture of what they actually know," said Greenfield, who has been using films in her classes since the 1970s.
"By using more visual media, students will process information better," she said. "However, most visual media are real-time media that do not allow time for reflection, analysis or imagination — those do not get developed by real-time media such as television or video games. Technology is not a panacea in education, because of the skills that are being lost.
"Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary," Greenfield said. "Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. Students today have more visual literacy and less print literacy. Many students do not read for pleasure and have not for decades."
Parents should encourage their children to read and should read to their young children, she said.
Among the studies Greenfield analyzed was a classroom study showing that students who were given access to the Internet during class and were encouraged to use it during lectures did not process what the speaker said as well as students who did not have Internet access. When students were tested after class lectures, those who did not have Internet access performed better than those who did.
"Wiring classrooms for Internet access does not enhance learning," Greenfield said.
Another study Greenfield analyzed found that college students who watched "CNN Headline News" with just the news anchor on screen and without the "news crawl" across the bottom of the screen remembered significantly more facts from the televised broadcast than those who watched it with the distraction of the crawling text and with additional stock market and weather information on the screen.
These and other studies show that multi-tasking "prevents people from getting a deeper understanding of information," Greenfield said.
Yet, for certain tasks, divided attention is important, she added.
"If you're a pilot, you need to be able to monitor multiple instruments at the same time. If you're a cab driver, you need to pay attention to multiple events at the same time. If you're in the military, you need to multi-task too," she said. "On the other hand, if you're trying to solve a complex problem, you need sustained concentration. If you are doing a task that requires deep and sustained thought, multi-tasking is detrimental."
Do video games strengthen skill in multi-tasking?
New Zealand researcher Paul Kearney measured multi-tasking and found that people who played a realistic video game before engaging in a military computer simulation showed a significant improvement in their ability to multi-task, compared with people in a control group who did not play the video game. In the simulation, the player operates a weapons console, locates targets and reacts quickly to events.
Greenfield wonders, however, whether the tasks in the simulation could have been performed better if done alone.
More than 85 percent of video games contain violence, one study found, and multiple studies of violent media games have shown that they can produce many negative effects, including aggressive behavior and desensitization to real-life violence, Greenfield said in summarizing the findings.
In another study, video game skills were a better predictor of surgeons' success in performing laparoscopic surgery than actual laparoscopic surgery experience. In laparoscopic surgery, a surgeon makes a small incision in a patient and inserts a viewing tube with a small camera. The surgeon examines internal organs on a video monitor connected to the tube and can use the viewing tube to guide the surgery.
"Video game skill predicted laparoscopic surgery skills," Greenfield said. "The best video game players made 47 percent fewer errors and performed 39 percent faster in laparoscopic tasks than the worst video game players."
Visual intelligence has been rising globally for 50 years, Greenfield said. In 1942, people's visual performance, as measured by a visual intelligence test known as Raven's Progressive Matrices, went steadily down with age and declined substantially from age 25 to 65. By 1992, there was a much less significant age-related disparity in visual intelligence, Greenfield said.
"In a 1992 study, visual IQ stayed almost flat from age 25 to 65," she said.
Greenfield believes much of this change is related to our increased use of technology, as well as other factors, including increased levels of formal education, improved nutrition, smaller families and increased societal complexity.
The Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles, has received federal funding from the National Science Foundation.
Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles.
ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm
Friday, January 23, 2009
TGIF
This has been a very exciting week! We have a new President and Vice President of the United States and new Congressman. Our students have been studying how our government works. We also have be reading about President Obama, Vice President Biden, and their families. The students have learned about biographies and autobiographies.
Next week, I will be showcasing some of the autobiographies that they have written. They are very proud of their work. I hope that you will look in next week and review what they've done. Leave them a comment, it would really encourage them.
Be safe and have a great weekend!
Donna Smith
Next week, I will be showcasing some of the autobiographies that they have written. They are very proud of their work. I hope that you will look in next week and review what they've done. Leave them a comment, it would really encourage them.
Be safe and have a great weekend!
Donna Smith
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Another Favorite
My favorite story is Tarzan. This is my favorite story because it has fun and harmony and lots of action going on. My two favorite characters are Tarzan and Cheetah. Tarzan is my favorite character because he is strong and brave. My second favorite character is Cheetah. He is a monkey who is funny and cool. I recommend this book for everyone who likes harmony, monkeys, and people who swing through the trees.
Read it and have fun!
Kenny
3rd Grade
Read it and have fun!
Kenny
3rd Grade
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Inauguration Day
Wow! What a day. I was so caught up in the inauguration day activities that I forgot to write in my blog. My niece was in Washington, D.C. for the event. She went with a school group from Gurdon, AR who were there for the Close Up Program. It allows students from all over the country to watch Congress while they are in session so that the kids get a better understanding of how our government works. She was standing in a roped off area and was able to get a good view of the stage and the activities there. Regan was also invited to one of the ten inaugural balls. When she gets back, I will have pictures to add to the blog. I also plan to interview her and have her come and speak to my students about the inauguration. I am very excited for her. What a memory!!!!
Have a great day!
Donna Smith
Have a great day!
Donna Smith
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