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Reconnecting to the Earth: Reclaiming Our Relationship to Nature and Ourselves by Aaron Hoopes, Ozark Mountain Publishing, 112 pages. $13. If there s a silver lining to be found in the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, it s that Vermonters are spending more time outdoors and finding myriad reasons to embrace nature. According to a University of Vermont Gund Institute for Environment study released on December 16, 2020, Vermonters especially women have significantly increased time spent on outdoor activities such as walking, gardening and wildlife watching due to COVID-19. What does this newfound appreciation for the outdoors mean for our mental, emotional and physical wellness?
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SAN MATEO, Jan. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/
IXL Learning, the K-12 personalized learning platform used by 11 million students, has been approved by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) for use under two statewide initiatives. Schools and districts in the state can now support blended learning with IXL and implement the Real-Time Diagnostic to assess students knowledge levels in math and reading. IXL serves approximately 67,000 students in Rhode Island, which accounts for more than 40 percent of learners in the state.
IXL s Real-Time Diagnostic pinpoints each learner s grade-level proficiency in math and English language arts. With anaccurate portrait of every student’s abilities, IXL can provide smart skillrecommendations to help you target individual needs every day.
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When he was assistant superintendent of schools in Meriden, Miguel Cardona the state’s new education commissioner would take new teachers on a tour of the city’s neighborhoods.
He did it because he wanted the teachers to understand the diversity of their students from those living in half-million dollar homes to those from housing projects.
“The experience motivated the teachers to get to know their kids better,” Cardona said, “and be more actively involved in the community as new teachers.”
Born in a housing project in Meriden to parents who moved here as children from Puerto Rico, Cardona, 44, believes strongly in family and community as well as in the potential for each child to be successful.
Fiction still a dominant force in the movement to strengthen childhood reading
Jay Mathews, The Washington Post
Dec. 12, 2020
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Children s books stacked in a home in Washington D.C.photo for The Washington Post by Amanda Andrade-Rhoades.
I like fiction. I even know some talented people who make money composing it. But as a nonfiction writer, when I go into schools I am sad that the books students choose to read are almost always fiction.
A child thinks: Nonfiction? You mean textbooks. Ugh.
That s supposed to be changing. The Common Core State Standards, which have had a marked effect on teaching lately, say nonfiction is essential. Children need a steady diet of it to accumulate the background knowledge that will allow them to recognize more words as they learn to read.