education

IT TURNS OUT too much lazing around during the warm summer months can add up to some big losses in learning - as much as 2 months of literacy skills gained during the school year.

KTD Contributor Jessica Cochran has a look at some of the numbers behind the “summer slide.”

Learn more by visiting SummerLearning.org, and by reading Daniel Hernandez's report: Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation published in April, 2011.

This story originally featured in Show 32: Summer Reads.

Just because it's summer vacation doesn't mean kids should close up the books for the next three months! Especially when there are so many fun reading-related programs happening.

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: Joining KTD Host Shana Sheehy in the studio are two youth services librarians from the Anchorage Public Library system. 

• Jane Henriksen Baird and Susan Sommers tell us about how to keep your families and kids of all ages reading all summer long. They fill us in on the Anchorage Public Library's many summer programs.

FEATURED STORIES:

- Summer reading loss - It turns out too much lazing around during the warm summer months can add up to some big losses in learning - or to be specific: as much as two months of lost literacy skills that were gained during the school year. KTD Contributor Jessica Cochran reports on the causes and the numbers behind the “summer slide.” [Full story]

- When I Was Young: My favorite childhood book - From Nancy Drew to Grimm's Fairy Tales, adults tell KTD Producer about their favorite childhood reads. [Full story]

- Summer food programs - Susannah Morgan, executive director of Food Bank of Alaska is back to tell us about the lunch programs they'll be offering to low-income kids this summer when school is out. [Full story]

Originally featured on the Kids & Volunteering show.

The Chugach School District which includes the areas of Whittier, Tatitlek and Chenaga Bay as well as a large extension school service throughout Alaska makes service-learning a graduation requirement for its students. Each year, no matter the grade level, every student must participate in a volunteering effort - like the one pictured below.

Head teacher at the Whittier Community School, Stephanie Burgoon shared these photos with us. She writes: "Each year, the Whittier Community School students and staff work together to clean up trash in the community and plant flowers in pots to distribute throughout the town."

In the clip below, Stephanie shares with producer, Sarah Gonzales, how her students - from Kindergarten to graduation - are making a difference in their small community, and also throughout the country!

If you follow the latest parenting or science news you've heard about the incredible ways that children ages 0-5 are capable of learning. During this crucial time it's parents and caregivers who can do so much to teach their little ones. Today we're exploring the amazing world of infant and toddler learning and the ways in which we can all help them explore, discover and learn about the world around them.

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: Joining KTD Host Shana Sheehy in the studio are two guests.

• Mike Hanley is the Commissioner of the Dept of Early Education and Development.

• Shirley Pittz is the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Coordinator at the Alaska Office of Children's Services.

DID YOU KNOW? You can foster of love of reading in your little ones by signing them up for the Alaska Imagination Library. They'll receive one book a month from birth to age 5 (that's 60 free books!).

FEATURED STORIES:

- Helping Kids Start Strong - Best Beginnings is a statewide movement that aims to spread the word that parents can teach their little ones ages 0-5 at home - just by reading, singing and talking to them. Executive Director, Abbe Hensley, spoke with KTD Producer, Sarah Gonzales, about the work they’re doing in over seventy communities throughout Alaska to help very young children learn. Check out their website for family early learning activity guides.

- Alaska's Standards for Arts Education - Along with reading, writing, math and science, Alaska has state standards for the Arts. Studies show that in art-rich settings school attendance rates are higher and kids report more positive feelings about school. KTD Contributor Jessica Cochran speaks with artists in the schools and reports on some of the programs designed to increase access to the arts in Alaska schools.

-When I Was Young: Remembering Kindergarten - Even if you don't remember the name of your kindergarten teacher, chances are you have at least one strong memory of when you started school. Kristin Spack asked a few adults what they recall of their early school days for this installment of “When I Was Young”. [Full story]

THE ANCHORAGE SCHOOL District has made disaster preparedness a priority. Many of the schools are certified as safehouses and are stocked with supplies to house students and neighbors in the case of an emergency.

Gardner Cobb, the district's Director of Security and Emergency Preparedness spoke with KTD Producer Sarah Gonzales.

This story was originally featured in Show 17: Emergency Prep & the Big Bad World.

IN SCOTT MCKIM'S 6th grade applied technology class at Begich Middle School, students are using computers and power tools to build catapults and design buildings. They are learning via the Anchorage School District's new STEM approach to teaching Science Technology Engineering & Math.

KTD Contributor Jessica Cochran spoke with Mr. McKim (who provided these photos of his class hard at work), and with Michael Fenster, the district's STEM curriculum coordinator about how middle school students are making the connections between these four fields through hands-on learning.

This story originally featured on Show 23: Education & the Iditarod.

March in Alaska is here bringing with it more sunlight, hints of Spring and of course - The Last Great Race which has been inspiring fascination in people of all ages for years. But did you know that the Iditarod also inspires classroom lessons in math, geography, science, reading, technology, history, social studies and the arts? It's true! There's nothing like dogs to get kids all over the world interested in learning.

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: To talk about the educational opportunities provided by the world's biggest sled dog race we invited

• Diane Johnson is the Education Director for the Iditarod Trail Committee.

• Herb Brambley is the 2010 Target Teacher on the Trail, to share the many lessons they've learned, developed and taught from the Iditarod trail. (See a slideshow of Herb's trip.)

FEATURED STORIES:

- Competing in the Junior Iditarod - Every year teenage mushers from all over the US and Canada ages 14-17 compete in the Junior Iditarod. Seiji Takagi, a 14-year old freshman at South Anchorage High School, spoke with Alaska Teen Media Institute's Ishmael Streever for Kids These Days! before the race about what it's like to be a teenage musher preparing to run his first Junior Iditarod! [Full story]

- Teaching STEM in the modern classroom - The Iditarod is being used to creatively educate children all over the world, while here in Alaska contributor Jessica Cochran takes a look at a new way educators are approaching Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) in the modern classroom. (Hint: it involves power tools and marshmallows!) [Full story]

-KTDontheGO: Awesome race viewing - Erin Kirkland, brings us another fun-filled installment of KTDontheGO, this time it's all about when and where to experience the best of the Iditarod with the whole family.

Every year the Anchorage School District puts on an alternative fair. During this event all the (you guessed it!) alternative programs are featured - from optional schools to charter schools to language immersion. Linda Carlson, Director of Elementary Education for the ASD explains what parents can expect to learn.

Here are two additional clips from this week's show on School Choice. Missy DeRivera, a teacher with the Chugach Homeschool Program, explains how their curriculum's "Standards Based System" works, and how technology is being incorporated into homeschooling.

Both clips are after the jump (to listen click "Read more...")

THERE ARE MANY options for educating kids in the Anchorage area – even within the public school system. Where your kid goes to school affects more than just their education – it affects who their friends are and where you find community. Within the Anchorage School District, 28% of students don’t go to their neighborhood school. They attend a charter school, or a special program within the ASD – language immersion, open optional or Montessori, for example.

KTD Contributor Jessica Cochran spoke with educators and administrators in the Anchorage School District, as well as with Claire Smrekar who studies school choice and communities at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, to learn about the by-products of a rich school choice environment.

This story originally heard on Show 22: School Choice.