The wait is over! Our Green Ivy Summer 2012 Workshop Schedule is now available to view on our website. We offer many wonderful workshops for Middle School and High School Students in a range of different subjects. Each workshop is done in small group setting to maximize the individualized experience for each student. Because space is limited in each workshop, they fill up fast; so if you are interested in signing your student up, don’t hesitate! Sign Up Today!
Weekly Workshop Highlight: Intensive SAT Prep Workshop
This 3-week, Intensive SAT Prep course is a fun, interactive introduction to the three sections of the SAT Reasoning test – Critical Reading, Math and Writing. With a maximum of SIX students per workshop, students learn the basic strategies for each section and then take a full-length practice test at the end of each week to determine their personal baseline. After the workshop, students can elect to continue to work with tutors one-on-one and focus on their own personal areas of growth.Sign Up Here
Workshop Dates:
June 11th – June 29th 10am-12pm Mon-Thurs, 9am-1pm Fri
July 9th – July 27th 10am-12pm Mon-Thurs, 9am-1pm Fri
July 30th– Aug. 17th 10am-12pm Mon-Thurs, 9am-1pm Fri
Mary Carskadon is a well known Brown University professor and researcher on sleep issues and adolescents. In this short clip from NBC Nightly News, she gives some insight on teenage sleep challenges, as well as some interesting suggestions. This clip is short and informative, and a great conversation starter about sleep with your pre-teen or adolescent.
Do your children have trouble sleeping? What are some things you have done to help improve your child’s sleep patterns?
Our office usually gets a few phone calls at the beginning of the semester from parents who are interested in knowing more about our services. Their students have struggled with executive functioning skills in the past, and the parents have heard about the success of students we work with and would like some more information. And then, sometimes, they say something like, “Well, Johnny is doing fine right now, but by mid-semester he usually has missing homework/ messy binders/stressed out parents/all of the above. He promises that this semester will be different, so we’ll let him try it out on his own and call if it doesn’t work out.”
Now, I am ALL for students figuring it out on their own, and becoming proactive agents of their own success, but there are two potential problems with this philosophy:
Same tune, same results.What is being changed behaviorally that will ensure that results will be differently this time? Most people want to be the best versions of themselves, and many pre-teens and teenagers who struggle with organization and time-management struggle with how to develop . Or don’t want to admit that their parents might know something. Either way, if you want your child try to do it on their own, make sure to have a collaborative meeting and come up with strategic ways that things will be different this time.
Making a mountain out of a molehill.When a student starts working with us at the beginning of the semester, they can get a fresh start with different tools or approaches. As new challenges appear (upcoming math test, biology project) we can work to come up with organizational solutions. When students come in mid-semester having already dug themselves a hole, and it becomes even more challenging to move forward.
If you know that your child has struggled with executive functioning skills in the past, treat a new semester as a new opportunity. We all need extra support sometimes, especially when trying to make behavioral changes, and that is okay. And before the semester reverts into old habits, see what you both can do to make positive changes.
Our Green Ivy Holiday Children’s Book Drive was a such an incredible success! As you can see we received many wonderful books for children of all ages from the generous and wonderful people in our community. We had fifth grade teachers and parents and individuals students go through their bookshelves and find wonderful books to donate. We are so excited and grateful for the outpouring of support, and know that these books will be given to the Children’s Book Project, which will re-distribute them to many deserving kids throughout the Bay Area.
We would like to thank all of the amazing people who took time out of their busy holiday schedules to donate books this year, and we appreciate all the parents, teachers and children in the community who spread the word.
Happy New Year from our Green Ivy family to yours – May 2012 be amazing for you and everyone around you!
So far, we have received many wonderful donations to our Green Ivy Holiday Book Drive benefiting The Children’s Book Project. The support from the community has been amazing!! Just today, we received books from a local 5th grade class 0 we could not be more excited that they wanted to get involved. We would like to say thank you to everyone who has taken time out of this busy holiday season to help out a great cause.
If you would like to get involved, there is still time to donate those new or gently used books that you may have around the house. To learn more about The Children’s Book Project and Green Ivy’s Book Drive, Click Here to read the recent article from the Los Altos Town Crier. We are accepting donations of new and gently used books from now until December 21, 2011!
We all know that it can be a difficult task finding those last minute gifts for the teenagers in our lives. Here are a few ideas that just might make your search a little bit easier….
Today, we have so many distractions and challenges that often make the simple act of reading to a child seem to be a luxury. But, in truth, the intimacy and interaction of reading is not something that can be replicated by a computerized doll or iGadget reading device.
It’s no surprise that so many statistics show that children who are read to or read with regularly have better long-term educational outcomes. Researchers from London University’s Institute of Education found that children who are read to every day at age three are much more likely to be flourishing in a wide range of subjects by age five. A longitudinal study from the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development showed that students whose parents read to them regularly during their first year of school remained ahead in reading skills at the age fifteen.
Even within our affluent San Francisco Bay Area, there are many children whose families do not have access to regular children’s books. If we want to promote better educational outcomes, we all know that early interventions are key. Providing the opportunity and access to children’s books is one of the simplest and most thoughtful ways of allowing our future leaders to develop a life-long love for reading and learning.
This holiday season, Green Ivy Educational Consulting is having a holiday book drive to benefit our local Children’s Book Project. From now through December 21, 2011, please bring your new or gently used children’s books to our office at 302 Main St. Suite 201 on the second floor above the US Bank Building. If you are buying books for your own children or young relatives, consider buying two copies and donating one. If you are cleaning out your older children’s bookshelf, consider dropping off some gently used titles in our book donation box. The books will be distributed to the local schools, community centers and homes of children who are in need.
Even though the students I work with today on the college application process are almost done, I personally left my applications to the last minute. And those final few days were far from pretty. In those days, we had to mail our applications in through snail mail – there was no online submit button. And so, my mother, bless her heart, was standing at the post office multiple times in the final days before January 1.
It is my hope that no one recreates those haphazard last few days of December in my high school senior in their own lives, but I am all too realistic. I was honored to be asked to write a guest post for the College Admission: From Application to Acceptance Blog, and wrote about how to get oneself organized for that final lap of college applications. Hopefully, if you are getting those final few applications ready for submission, these few tips will make the process a bit easier and less stressful.
Educators have long known the benefits of using hands-on activities to demonstrate scientific concepts, yet many of the labs students do in middle and high school only provide a small glimpse of the scientific endeavors pursued by researchers. A recent New York Times article entitled “Unleashing the Scientist in the Student” illuminates just how valuable a hands-on scientific experience can be for middle school students who go into the forests of Staten Island to study salamander populations. These students not only had the opportunity to learn about salamanders but also got a peek at what a career in ecology might entail.
While a few lucky students who take AP Environmental Science get to experience the fun of hands on biological field research, very few students get to observe the scientific phenomena they study outside the classroom. Because students mainly associate the sciences with long problem sets and lab reports, they often get turned off from pursuing it more in the future. Experiments and experiences that get students out of the classroom, like the one described in the article, can help students see the more practical, everyday value of a science education.
Whether or not your student is in a science class that has hands on components, there are many ways to engage with science outside the classroom in a fun way and perhaps even inspire future scientists. The Green Ivy staff recently went on a group outing to San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a GREAT place for students to see the physics in action (http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/). If you see your student struggling with physics, the Exploratorium could be a great way to help them visualize the concepts their teachers struggle to communicate and give them a chance to have fun with material that is otherwise often dry and conceptual.
There are many other ways to engage with the sciences in the Bay Area besides a trip to the Exploratorium. A visit to any one of the many state parks like Big Basin may also afford students an understanding of tree growth or invasive species. Similarly, a trip to Ano Nuevo State Park can give students an idea of what behavioral and population biologists study through a tour of the colony of elephant seals that lives there (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=523). Late fall and early winter are especially good times to visit as the seals are very active then.
To stave off the humdrum feelings many students have towards their science classes, have them take a break from the computer and get out and experience science!
It’s October, and that means this school year is in full swing. While the days grow shorter students’ work loads are doing the exact opposite, and that means it’s more important than ever that they take care of themselves. While many students understand the importance of organization and getting enough sleep, many forget to monitor their eating habits as they race to fill the voids that are their adolescent stomachs, and this can lead to a lack of energy when it is needed most. Whether for a test, sports match, or evening study session, it is important for students of all ages, but most of all the constantly ravenous teenagers, to keep their energy levels up so they can focus and succeed.
Basics of fueling your brain and body:
1. Don’t skip meals
Every meal is important, the body needs a constant supply of nutrients to keep everything running efficiently.
2. Eat a good breakfast
This may seem redundant as it is a meal, but the importance of eating a good breakfast to properly start your day cannot be stressed enough! Its impossible to concentrate at 9 am on a math quiz if you haven’t eaten anything since 12 hours before.
3. Eat healthy snacks throughout the day:
Some students can’t make it to lunch before their hungry, others feel their stomachs growling in the afternoon or after school. Rather than ignoring these rumblings, listen to your body and eat something substantial and healthy. For athletes, it is incredibly important to be eating throughout the day. Its impossible to go to practice and perform well on the field if you skipped lunch or ate a greasy heavy lunch full of fatty foods.
4. Eat foods that are high in protein and complex carbohydrates:
This applies to both snacking and regular meals. Most junk food is loaded with fats and simple sugars, which are not only bad for you but will also lead to a blood sugar crash. Complex carbohydrates and proteins supply more lasting levels of balanced energy to keep the body going strong.
Examples of healthy snacks:
Corn chips and salsa
Ants on a log (celery, peanut butter and raisins)
Apples and almond butter
Whole grain pita and hummus
Homemade trail mix (store bought is often loaded with fats and sugars!)
