October is - National Bullying Prevention Month - Wear Orange on October 25th!

Click on the sentence below to get more information form PACER's website:
Sponsored by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center

More than 1 out of every 5 students report being bullied

National Bullying Prevention Month is a nationwide campaign founded in 2006 by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center. The campaign is held during the month of October and unites communities around the world to educate and raise awareness of bullying prevention. This campaign has grown from an initial week-long event to a worldwide effort with thousands of individuals participating in multiple activities throughout October.

Hundreds of schools, major corporations, and many celebrities have joined the movement. Take action and show that you care about kids being safe at school, while online, and in the community.

Unity Day 2017, Oct. 25! Wear and Share Orange!

Together against bullying — united for kindness, acceptance and inclusion.

Make it ORANGE and make it end! What are your true colors when it comes to showing that you care about preventing bullying? Come together in one giant message of hope and support, wear and share orange to color our nation, and even the world, visibly showing that our society believes that no child should be bullied. Learn ways to get involved.

Wear Orange: Make a statement!

“ORANGE provides a powerful, visually compelling expression of solidarity,” said Paula Goldberg, Executive Director of PACER Center. “When hundreds of individuals in a school or organization wear orange, the vibrant statement becomes a conversation starter, sending the unified message to kids to know that they are not alone.”

October - Dyslexia Awareness Month

Dyslexia Awareness Month



From NILD:

What is dyslexia?

“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

– Adopted by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. This Definition is also used by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

People with dyslexia often have average to superior intelligence. Many are gifted in math, science, fine arts, journalism, and other creative fields. A list of such people would include Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Winston Churchill and many others who have changed the course of our world. However, their tremendous strengths are offset by noticeable weaknesses.

Some of the signs associated with dyslexia include:
• Difficulty learning to speak
• Trouble learning letters and their sounds
• Difficulty organizing written and spoken language
• Trouble memorizing number facts
• Difficulty reading quickly enough to comprehend
• Trouble persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments
• Difficulty spelling
• Trouble learning a foreign language
• Difficulty correctly doing math operations

– International Dyslexia Association

These difficulties stem, not from a physical problem with the eyes or ears, but rather from the basic neurological functioning of the brain. Psycho-educational batteries of formal and informal tests are used to determine patterns of strength and weakness as compared to intellectual ability. Testing not only helps identify dyslexia, but NILD uses formal and informal testing data to determine the best kind of instruction for each learner.

Can those with dyslexia be helped?

Yes! Every human brain is created with a unique pattern of strengths and weaknesses. We each have certain areas that make sense to us easily as well as areas of difficulty that require outside explanation and extra effort to understand. NILD Educational Therapy® is a direct, language based intervention with over 40 years of success for students with dyslexia. Our focus is to strengthen the underlying causes of learning difficulties rather than simply treating the symptoms. Our therapy is individualized and aims the intervention just above the student’s level of functioning and raises expectations for performance. Our therapeutic, cognitive-based intervention unlocks learning potential and transforms defeated learners into competent, confident individuals.

Be sure to check out the Dyslexia resources at the SERC Library at https://serc-verso.auto-graphics.com/mvc/  type in dyslexia in the search box in the middle of the top banner.  In addition, check out the SERC Library LibGuide on Specific Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia.

Next Week is .... Banned Books Week!

From www.bannedbooksweek.org

About

The Banned Books Week Coalition is a national alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read. The Coalition seeks to engage various communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy, and the creation of programming about the problem of book censorship. The 2017 celebration will be held September 24 - September 30.

In addition to our sponsors, Banned Books Week received generous support from Penguin Random House and DKT Liberty Project.

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The Top Ten Challenged Books of 2016 are:

1. This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
   Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, drug use and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes
2. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
   Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint
3. George written by Alex Gino
   Reasons: challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the “sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels”
4. I Am Jazz written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
   Reasons: challenged because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints
5. Two Boys Kissing written by David Levithan
   Reasons: challenged because its cover has an image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to include sexually explicit LGBT content
6. Looking for Alaska written by John Green
   Reasons: challenged for a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation”
7. Big Hard Sex Criminals written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky
   Reason: challenged because it was considered sexually explicit
8. Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread written by Chuck Palahniuk
   Reasons: challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being “disgusting and all around offensive”
9. Little Bill (series) written by Bill Cosby and and illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood
   Reason: challenged because of criminal sexual allegations against the author
10. Eleanor & Park written by Rainbow Rowell
    Reason: challenged for offensive language

More information on banned and challenged books is available on the American Library Association website.

Learn with SPLASH at Yale!

This semester for 7th-12th graders, Splash will take place on November 11th, 2017. This is an exciting opportunity to promote learning in a fun environment! Our teachers lead classes in all subjects, ranging from particle physics to cookie science to improv comedy. Our classes are taught on the historic Yale campus by passionate students. Participants are encouraged to fill their day with incredible classes of their choice! For more information, please visit our website, yale.learningu.org. Students who are interested in the program should make an account on our website. They will then receive updates as we approach student registration, which will occur in mid-October. We work to promote and encourage student agency and self-direction at our programs, so to that end we ask educators and parents help us by having students decide independently whether or not to attend, as well as choose their own courses if they come. 

Thank you, Splash at Yale Team The Splash at Yale Team yale.learningu.org Splash at Yale on Facebook

More Free Webinars - September 12th and September 28th

SPONSORED BY:

 

Register Free ofCharge!

Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk: Modeling, Questioning and Encouraging Language Development with AAC

90 MINUTES

Tuesday,
September 12, 2017

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Central Daylight Time

This webinar will present research-based techniques and strategies to increase communication for individuals using a speech generating device (SGD) via communication partner education.

Participants will learn about communication and communication characteristics common to both partners, how to increase communication by modifying their own behaviors, six techniques to incorporate into everyday communicative contexts, and two strategies to use within a shared book reading context.

PRESENTER: Melissa Malani, Ph. D., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL

Register Free of Charge

Participants must register to receive confirmation and login instructions.

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SPONSORED BY:

RegisterFree of Charge!

AAC in Early Childhood: Myths & Realities

90 MINUTES

Thursday, 

September 28, 2017

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Central Daylight Time

(CEUs are available for this sponsored webinar) 

AAC itself is a complex field, and implementing speech-generating devices with very young children requires a high level of training and technical expertise. This webinar will provide a foundation upon which participants can continue to develop their skills and knowledge base with this special population.

Specifically, this webinar will focus primarily upon use of high-tech speech-generating devices with children 1-3 years of age.

Participants will learn to identify and respond to common myths related to AAC use in early childhood; sub-topics will include alternative access (focusing on eye-tracking technology), iOS language systems and establishing goals for using AAC for the first time.

PRESENTER: Andrea Schario, M.A., CCC-SLP

Register Free of Charge

Participants must register to receive confirmation and login instructions.

Participation in these free, sponsored webinars is limited to the first 100 log-ins.

FREE WEBINAR - But...You Do Have To Register!

    

Alan November on Leveraging Opportunities in First Weeks of School

LEARN MORE

Please join us for a free webinar as education thought leader Alan November discusses the valuable opportunities that exist in the first days and weeks of the school year. What: Alan November on “The First Five Days” When: Tues. 09/19 @ 12:00 Noon ET / 9:00 AM PT Listen in as November builds upon ideas that include: Empowering students and preparing them for a global economy by helping them develop tools and networks for support How a focus on information literacy, student roles and global collaboration can set the stage for a year of engaging and self-directed learning Can't make the live webinar? Don't worry. You can still register for the event and a recording will be emailed to you when available.

Happy Labor Day!

It is hard to believe that school has started and 

Labor Day is Monday!

For more information on Labor Day check out these links:

History of Labor Day | United State Department of Labor

Labor Day - Holidays - HISTORY.com

Labor Day in the United States - Time and Date

Labor Day - Wikipedia

And just something a little different, in case you are going to hit the stores:

6 things to avoid buying over Labor Day - CBS News