K5 Learning Blog

Newly released 2012 scores from the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA), an exam given every three years to 15 year-olds around the world in reading, math and science, show that US students ranked in the middle of the global pack of 65 countries. These are sobering results, as this shows little progress from previous years and some call it a stagnation of the US education system.

The US math score were lower than the OECD average (of which there are 34 countries participating) of 494 at 481. Canadian students scored at an average of 518.
The US science literacy score was 497, close to the OECD average of 501. Canadian students scored at an average of 525.
The US reading literacy average score was 498, again close to the OECD average of 496. Canadian students scored at an average of 523.

The US was outranked by previous top performers, including Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Finland, and has been outperformed by new rising stars, including Ireland, Germany and Poland.

For more detailed information and debates on PISA, I would suggest the following reading:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/us-test-scores_n_4374075.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/03/key-pisa-test-results-for-u-s-students/

 http://www.pisaday.org/about/

Are you looking for things to do with the kids over Thanksgiving?  This tried and tested kitchen experiment is sure to bring squeals of laughter. The trusted baking soda volcano.

It’s a Volcano

This is a non-toxic experiment, which adds to its appeal.  Just make sure you give it plenty of space as it’s messy. In this experiment, carbon dioxide gas is produced, which is also present in real volcanoes. Pressure builds up inside the plastic bottle until the gas bubbles out of your table-top volcano.

There is so much more to your kids’ education than dropping them off at school in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon.  Teachers can only do so much.  Research shows that when parents are actively involved in their kids’ academics, their grades, behaviour at and attitude towards school improves dramatically.  So what things can parents do to help their kids have success at school?

Read to Your Child

Make reading part of your daily routine – bedtime is usually a good time.  Reading to your child fosters an interest in, and acceptance of, reading.  As they grow older, have your kids participate more – at first, picking out words, and later reading segments to you.

Yesterday I was talking to a mom, whose child is in the same class as my daughter.  She was venting her frustration at her son’s lack of focus – how it takes him 20 minutes to find a pencil, and then an hour to finish a math worksheet.  She was also frustrated at how little he gets done in class, work that then gets sent home for him to finish.  Our kids are now in grade 5 and time management skills and learning to focus are key for them to get through the school year successfully.

But it’s not easy.  Our kids live in a world full of distractions.  When we were kids our world was not that cluttered with distracting noise.  Sure, we had TV and we listened to music, but today there are the added “screen time” distractions of tablets, cell phones and all the noise they deliver and reactions they call for: text messaging, instant messaging and twitter are disruptive attention grabbers.  Multi-tasking and mental juggling is becoming the norm, and it’s not just our kids that are sucked into this world – we do it too.

So what can we do to help our kids focus? Here are some tips: