Words can be as sharp as a sword

You've heard the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." As a kid when someone would say something mean I remember saying that to them to try and brush off what they had just said. Words may not physically give you a broken arm or leg, but they can do so much more damage to us mentally. I think the reason words today can be even more hurtful is because of the social media aspect that comes into play. Now not only are words spoken, but they are written and can never be erased, as digital footprints can last forever.

For the past year my daughter who is in middle school has been harassed by another girl in her class. The student likes to make fun of her. She talks about her looks and her smile and just about anything she can think of. The girl goes out of her way to be mean. My daughter told me about it at the end of last year and I kind of brushed it off. My daughter has good self confidence, so she knows it's not true and has continued to take it this year and would laugh it off. My daughter isn't one to be mean back and hates for kids to get in trouble, so she didn't want to say anything. After talking to a friend about the situation, I finally realized I needed to do something. I wasn't doing what was right for my daughter and there could be other students getting harassed by this child.

Even though physically my daughter wasn't being hurt, after awhile kids can only take so much. I talked to the school about the situation. My daughter is fine, and the other child was talked to, so I am hoping the situation is resolved.

What's interesting is in the past few days I have heard the message about how words can be like a sword, they do hurt and can cause damage mentally. This past month my pastor's sermon in church has been about how our tongue is one of the most powerful weapons. They can do good, but they can also do harm, and we need to be careful how we use our words. Also, in my daughter's health class they have been talking about bullying and how words hurt.

October is National Bullying Awareness month and as parents we need to talk to our kids and remind them just how much what they say can do for both good and bad and tell them to think before speaking mean things to others. If our child is being bullied they need to let us know and as parents, we should handle it right away. I know I learned a lesson and I am also am teaching my daughter to stick up for herself more. I should have done something sooner. I am fortunate the situation didn't get of control. Our kids can be nice but shouldn't be taken advantage of. If you want to learn more about more about prevention of bullying and how kids can identify bullying and stand up to it safely, go to www.stopbullying.gov.

Know what your kids are being taught and have discussions

Today's world is so different than when I went to school. I think the biggest differences are the internet and social media. Our youth today have so much technology and in an instant they can Google something, send a text or take a photo of something or someone and sometimes not realize the consequences of their actions.

My daughter, Randi is in eighth grade and one of the classes she has to take for eight grade is health. Students in Pinellas County School's have to take health for a semester in sixth grade and in eighth grade. Most kids take health at school, but my daughter is taking it online through Pinellas County Virtual School. One of the topics recently was suicide. I have such mixed emotions about teaching suicide, even though I know suicide prevention needs to be taught. Sometimes I think it can also have the opposite affect and put ideas in kids heads.

Because Randi takes the class online she doesn't have people in a classroom setting or the teacher really to have discussions about what she sees and hears. Luckily she talks to me about her online classes. Recently she was crying after watching a video her teacher had assigned. It was a real life suicide video created by a girl who took her life after being bullied. Her name was Amanda Todd. The video wasn't the actual suicide, but it was a video the seventh grader had done with flash cards and words about her life and about the one mistake she regretted doing on social media with friends and how she was then was bullied. It was about why she didn't want to live anymore. At the end of the video it showed her wrists with cuts. It was very sad and a little much for an eighth grader to watch alone. The end of the video shows the words "I have no body. I need someone." Randi told me, "Mom, I wish I could have been her friend. I would have been her friend." It just breaks my heart for this young middle school girl who felt she had no one. I can't even imagine what her family is going through.  

I was glad Randi told me about the video and how she was feeling after seeing it. We talked about it and I told her how no matter what happens in life, nothing is worth killing yourself over. It also gave me a chance to discuss social media and let her know that we need to be careful about what we put online. The girl in the video made a mistake by taking photos of herself without clothes on and it was out on the internet. Kids need to know what they post is out there and a lot of times can't be erased.

I know the class gets into how to try and prevent suicide and what to say to a friend who may be thinking about it, so I do think kids need to know this. They also need to know tomorrow is another day and it will get better.

I really try to stay on top of Randi's online classes, but sometimes it's hard to know everything that's going on in the classes. Parents if your kids are taking online classes know what they are studying and viewing. I don't think we can ever be too careful about what our kids are being taught. Discuss with your kids their classes and what they are learning. I know sometimes what my kids are being taught in school doesn't always agree with my way of thinking. It's a way for you to have discussions about topics and to listen to your kids and also for you to give your kids advice on situations.

Just remember to instill in your kids your values and let them know how much you love them every day. They need to hear it. Today's world is tough for young kids and if they don't get it from you they will get it from somewhere else. As a parent, it is our responsibility to help our kids and be there for them.

Hoping for the best

(2/14/18 update to this story...we fnally won the lottery!!!)

Thousands of applications have gone in recently for the Pinellas County District Application Program. This program is done once a year where parents can put an application in to the school of their choice for Magnet, Fundamental or Career Academy for  the following year. It's a lottery system and this year on February 14, parents go back and log into their application and see if they were one of the lucky ones to get in. This application program has been going on for years at least as long as my two girls have been in school and they are 12 and 13 now. The problem is there aren't enough seats for every student to get their first choice, so the district does it by a lottery system.

This year, I asked how many applications were put in for the schools in Pinellas and was told 11,215 unique students completed the application. That's a lot of students!

Some of the schools around our area where parents want their children to go to are the fundamental schools like Madeira Beach Fundamental and Osceola Fundamental High. These schools are highly sought after by parents because there are almost no discipline problems at fundamental schools because if there is a discipline problem the student is not allowed to go to that school anymore. Also parent involvement is mandatory at fundamental schools. There is also a stricter dress code for students. This year there were 1,414 total applications for Madeira Beach K-5 and 1,106 for Madeira Beach 4-8 grades. 

You could almost make another school for the amount of students that want to go to this school. I remember trying to get my kids into Madeira Beach Fundamental when they were in elementary school. One time we were 450 on the list and one time number three on the list. We never got in and after a few years of trying, I decided I liked the school we were zone for which was Seminole Elementary and didn't want to move them.  I am also very happy at their middle school which is Osceola Middle.

I hear great feedback about the fundamental schools from parents and from teachers. Teachers love working at fundamental schools. My brother-in-law Mark works at Thurgood Marshall Fundamental and says it's so nice to not have the discipline problems you would have in the regular schools. Most teachers who are at fundamental schools don't want to leave. Plus parents are involved with the school because they have to be or their child can't attend the school. Obviously parents don't mind or we wouldn't see the numbers we are seeing to get into these schools.

Osceola High Fundamental is another school many parents try to get their children into for high school. This year there are 1225 applications. The school has a good reputation in the area and was the first fundamental high school in Florida and one of only a handful in the country.

My oldest daughter Randi is going into high school next year and it's a big decision of where you want your child to go their four years of high school. In my opinion a school has a big impact on kids from the teachers to the staff to the other students. I want my child going to the school I think is best suited for them. I am thankful for this application process, I just wish it wasn't a lottery system.  A new school is opening up this year in Seminole I think would be the perfect fit for Randi. It's called Tech High. This school is smaller with 150 kids only being accepted for the freshman class and has exactly what she wants to do as far as a career. They offer a vet assisting program. They also offer other programs to like building trades and construction design, commercial and digital arts, electricity, game and simulation programming and nursing.   The school is being built right now and will be ready for the 2018-2019 school year. It's seems like an ideal place for my daughter, but there are 715 applications for just a few spots. I am praying and crossing my fingers she will get in.

If you are a new parent or new to the area, you should really look into all the options you have as far as schooling for your child. I only highlighted a few schools, there are quite a few more with different opportunities for kids. There are so many choices today. A lot more than when I went to school. Parents do need to be involved though because if you aren't you will miss the opportunity to at least apply.

If you did apply don't forget on February 14-21 to log on and see if your child got into the school of their choice. You must go online and accept your invitation to the school if you received an invitation. If you don't accept it, you lose your spot.

Even Pre-K3 and VPK students can put an application in. They have until February 2. For more information about the District Application Program log onto the Pinellas County School website at www.pcsb.org or click here to go directly to the student reservation system.

Good luck!!!  

Simple ways for you to help raise money for your child’s school

Did you know there are several ways you can raise money for your child’s school just by just shopping and it doesn’t cost you anything? It’s true, as you head to the stores to do back to school shopping here are a few simple ways parents can help schools earn extra income. Some of the ideas are things you may already have at home and could be throwing away, not knowing it’s worth actual money.

Have you seen those small little labels on some of your boxes of food? They are called Box Tops. Since 1996, America schools have earned more than $800 million dollars from Box Tops for Education by collecting those labels. My daughter’s elementary school earned $1,600 cash last year and more than $29,000 over the years.  Schools can receive 10 cents for every box top collected. Start looking at you food boxes more closely and start clipping the box tops. If you don’t save the box tops, it’s like throwing 10 cents out the window.

If you have a printer at your house or your office, start saving the empty ink cartridges. Did you know that every “used” ink cartridge is worth at least $2? You can recycle up to 10 ink cartridges each month. Not only are you raising money for your child’s school, but you are also recycling. You can recycle the ink cartridges locally at any Staples or Office Depot Office Max. There’s also another great way to make your school money by using Funding Factory. This is a way for your school to collect recyclable empty printer cartridges for money. You can register at www.FundingFactory.com. Since 1997, organizations have raised more than $35 million in cash and rewards.

Office Depot Office Max also offers a program called Give Back to Schools, where 5% of your qualifying purchases can go back in free school supplies to the school of your choice. It’s very easy, all you need to do is sign up.

Do you shop on Amazon? If you do, start shopping on www.smileamazon.com, it’s the same as shopping at Amazon, but a percentage of what you spend can go to your child’s school. It’s not a huge amount it’s actually 0.5 percent, but it can add up. More than $54 million has been given to charities over the years. If your school is not registered, let them know so they can register. This is an easy way to raise money.

How many of you use the computer to look up things? I know I do. I discovered by using www.GoodSearch.com as your search engine, you can raise money for your school. It’s simple and easy to do. Every search you do, GoodSearch.com will donate a percentage of your purchases to your school.

It’s great to see businesses willing to help our schools, but we as parents need to make sure we are doing our part by participating. It only takes a minute to clip a box top, cut a label or charge our search engine on our computer. If each family helps we can make a difference in our children’s education.

 

Kids put on live newscasts at school

Students from Seminole Live on the set of News 10 WTSP

My daughter Graci is in fifth grade and part of the news team at her elementary school called Seminole Live! It's made up of about 10 kids who work together every weekday morning before school begins to put on a five minute newscast for the entire school at the beginning of the school day. Their newscast includes: activities going on at the school that day, the weather, sports, a word of the day, students birthdays and the school breakfast and lunch menu. Each student has a job and they work together to put on the live newscast each morning.

One student is the main anchor, a few of the students report on the different segments of the news and the others are behind the scenes running the teleprompter, camera and making the graphics.

Graci was one of the main anchors.
 This photo taken on her birthday.

I have had the pleasure of watching several of the students newscasts this past year and I am so impressed by this group of kids. They do have a wonderful teacher, Jarnae Pope, who is in charge of the kids and the newscast.  She's there to oversea everything and help with any technical issues that may come up, but other than that the kids are doing it all themselves.

As a person with a background in television news, it's incredible to see this opportunity for students. It brings me back to my days of being a reporter and anchor at a television station. I wish we had a morning news crew when I was in school. It's way for students to get first-hand experience in a possible career.

Seminole Live crew!

Students outside
News 10 WTSP

Recently the students were able to go on a field trip to one of the local television stations News 10 WTSP.  A friend of mine who is a manager and has a community segment on the news at WTSP, Kathryn Bursch, gave the kids a tour of  the station. It was a  great experience for the kids because most had never been to a real television station. They were able to go behind the scenes of the station including the newsroom and the studio. They even watched the noon news live in the studio, which was their favorite part of the tour.

Graci interviewing
Meteorologist Ric Kearbey.

They also meet the anchor  and several of the weathermen working that day. It gave the kids a better understanding of what a real studio was like and how things worked in front of the camera and behind the camera.

Here is anchor Ian Reitz in front of the
green screen reading the news.

 Having experiences like this at such a young age can help influence kids in career directions and give students something to strive for as they get older. I know most schools today in the Tampa Bay area do have newscasts for their schools put on and run by students.

At my daughter's school, at the end of the school year the kids in fourth grade who have good grades get to choose between being a patrol at the school or being part of the news for their fifth grade year . It's something the kids have to look forward to when they go back to school in the fall for fifth grade. It not only motivates the students to do well in school, but is giving them  tools for possible careers in the future.  Who knows one of these kids may be the next big anchor for the national news! 

**More photos from WTSP and the field trip.

Students practicing in front of the green screen.

Randi on the news desk of News 10 WTSP

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is yet to come.

When my two girls were born, people would always say your kids will grow up before you know it. This year, I think that just happened. My youngest daughter Graci who is 11, will be going to middle school in the fall. All this month, students in fifth grade are invited to tour the middle school they will be attending  and meet some of the staff and teachers.

I had the opportunity to check out my daughter's school with her along with hundreds of other fifth grade parents and their kids.  It truly was an eye opener and realization of yes, my daughter is growing up. I think most parents who have kids going into sixth grade will agree, it is a big step up. For some reason even though it is just one grade up from fifth grade, the transition into middle school is more than a grade level. Most students who go to middle school attend a new school and are no longer the oldest kids on campus, now they are the youngest. The other big differences are students have lockers and switch classes. As an adult, have you ever had the common locker dream, where you couldn't remember your combination? If you haven't you're lucky. As far as classes, my daughter will go from having one main teacher in fifth grade to having seven teachers in sixth grade.

Kids aren't the only ones in for a change. I know I am going to miss my daughter's elementary school especially the teachers and staff. This is a new chapter for me as a parent. For the past eight years, I have been dropping off  and picking up at least one of my daughters at the same school. What makes my kids elementary school even more special to me is, I attended it when I was younger. I am also going to miss volunteering at the school and chaperoning on field trips. One of my daughter's favorite things is when I eat lunch with her at school. I don't get to do it as often as I like, but I know Graci loves it because she asks me all the time to come to school and eat with her.  In middle school, you can't eat lunch with your kids. I don't think the school lets you and it's middle school, you just don't do that anymore.

At least there are a few more months of elementary school and summer before my daughter actually becomes a middle schooler. I know time won't stop and before I know it my kids will be going off to college. I really try to enjoy the days I have with my kids. I had someone tell me recently their child was in college and they were coming home for spring break and she couldn't wait to do her child's laundry. I laughed, but know it's so true. I think Mother Teresa said it best when she said,  "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is yet to come. We have only today. Let us begin." 

Little girl turns birthday party into helping feed hungry kids

Rebecca Synder, 7, sits among the canned goods she collected
at her birthday party for the Pack-A-Sack 4 Kids program

I love when I hear about or see good things kids in our community are doing. I think it's important to highlight what's right with our youth instead of dwelling on the negative things.

A few weeks ago a friend's daughter, Rebecca, had a party for her seventh birthday. She asked her mom if on the invitation they could ask people to bring canned goods and other non-perishable items to her birthday to help kids at schools who go hungry on the weekends. I was really impressed a young child would think about helping other kids who are less fortunate. 

How would a 7-year-old know about kids being hungry? Rebecca sees and helps her mom pack 50 bags of food for local elementary school children every week at Faith Community Church. Her mom is part of a women's Bible study who have adopted kids from Bardmoor Elementary and Orange Grove Elementary School and who bring food to the schools so the kids can take the bags home on the weekends.

It's hard to imagine, but little kids in elementary school are going hungry on the weekends in Pinellas County. During the week, these kids are able to get some food with the free or reduced breakfast and lunch programs, but when school isn't in session they go hungry.

I didn't realize this until a few years ago when I was introduced to the community outreach program of United Methodist Cooperative Ministries/Suncoast called Pack-A-Sack 4 Kids. This program works with the school boards in Pinellas, Manatee and Pasco counties to provide food to children who desperately need it on the weekends.

The women's Bible study at Faith Community Church is just one of the many organizations helping provide food to children at local schools. I know first- hand it takes a lot of coordination and contributions from others to help make this program successful.

At Faith, one of the ladies who heads up the ministry is Barbi Pierson. She not only organizes the donations and coordinates the packing of the bags, but she is also a phenomenal coupon shopper. Let's just say a dollar goes a long way when Barbi shops. Each bag of food purchased ends up being about $3 per kid and includes items that have a long shelf life like cereals, peanut butter, crackers, condensed milk, canned fruit etc.

Recently holiday bags were packed for the kids with extra food, so when the kids are out of school for the Thanksgiving break they will have food during the week. The food Rebecca collected at her party helped fill those bags. It takes a community to make projects like this work and it's inspiring to me to see kids doing good deeds and being a part of the community at a young age.

If you want to help or donate to this program email Barbi Pierson at barbi1759@aol.com. 

Kids and Cell Phones: What is the right age for your child to have a cell phone?

Big news....our daughter got a cell phone. Yes, we finally gave in and decided our middle school daughter could get a cell phone. We purchased it a few weeks before school started so she could get use to it. Of course she knows how to use a cell phone better than I do. I usually am the one asking her for help with my phone.

I guess we were the last ones to get our 11-year-old a cell phone, at least that's what she tells us. I remember last year, when she was in fifth grade she told us everyone in her class had a cell phone except for two students and she was one of them.

I guess my biggest question and one I know my friends have is when do you get your child a cell phone? In today's society cell phones are the pretty much the norm for people. According to statistics I have read more than 90 percent of adults have a cell phone and 56 percent of children ages 8 to 12 have a cell phone and 77 percent of teens between 12 and 17 have cell phones.

I think the answer to the question about when a child should get a cell phone really has to do with the child and how responsible they are and why they need a phone.

For my family, middle school was the right time to for my daughter to have a phone. We don't have a home phone like families today. My husband and I both have cell phones, so it is nice to be able for her to have a phone if she were to be left alone at the house. It is also beneficial to be able to text her that I am at the school in car line ready to pick her up. I could also text her if I am running late or if another family member is going to pick her up from school. It will also be good for her to be able to call me when an after school activity is over. I remember when I was a kid and would use the pay phone to call my parents to come and get me after I was finished with an after school activity. I don't think too many schools have pay phones any more. I also think having a phone is helpful because when she goes to a friend's house she can call me if she needs me for any reason.

What I see as a problem is that cell phones today are more than a phone that makes a phone call. Today's cell phones can have internet and texting. How much of this do you allow your child to have? Plus it can be expensive to add internet and texting. I know cell phone plans come in all different kinds of packages, so make sure you get the right one for your child and your family.

You need to monitor your child's cell phone activity and set ground rules. You want to also make sure you talk to your child about staying within data limits, avoiding inappropriate content and any type of privacy risks and cyber-bullying. You should tell your child not to text anything including pictures that they wouldn't care if it was on the front page of the newspaper. If your child is driving, make sure they know not to talk or text while driving. Also make sure if there is a lock screen on the phone you have the password or code. If the phone has internet, you can use safe search tools or download apps. I also told my daughter no using the phone to call anyone before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. Cell phones can be great and a great line of communication for you and your child, but you want to make sure the phone is used appropriately and for the right reasons.

Middle School, A Whole New Chapter for Kids and Parents

School is about to begin...and in my house there is excitement and nervousness. This year my oldest daughter will go into sixth grade. I can't believe how my little girl has grown up...especially this past year.  It seems like just the other day she was starting kindergarten. She was learning how to read, write and tie her shoes.

It's a whole new chapter for not only my daughter, but for my husband and me. Sixth grade for most kids is middle school, which means a new school, new teachers and new students. It also means I have a lot more real life issues I have to talk to my daughter about. Middle school is not elementary school. Today's middle school students deal with sex, drugs, alcohol, bullying, suicide, rape and more.

So how much do our kids need to know about these life issues to be ready for middle school? As a parent I want to prepare my daughter, but I also don't want her innocence gone. I want my ten-year-old to be a ten-year-old.

Still, I think it is important to talk to her about all these issues. I don't have to go into details, but I do need to talk to her so she knows what's right and wrong. If I don't do it someone will and I want her to have my same values and morals. Like most kids today, my daughter knows a lot more about these issues than I did when I was her age. I think kids know more because of television and the internet. What years ago was once taboo to show or talk about on television is now common practice.

And the Internet is a whole new media. It is great in some ways, but in other ways it scares me especially with young kids. There is so much out there and if you aren't careful misspelling a word can lead to a pornographic site.

As parents we have to really pay attention to our children especially when our kids are in middle school. This is a time in their life when they can be influenced by others. We need to pay attention to what they are learning in school, on social media and from friends.  I think it's important to have open lines of communication with your kids, so they can talk to you about anything. It is hard being a parent, let me re-phrase that, it's hard being a good parent. You have to invest time into your kids. The problem is if you don't do it when they are first experiencing these real life situations, you may never get to do it. They grow up so fast and before you know it they are 18 and off to college.

Students look grown up, practice life skills at Enterprise Village

This school year has just flown by. I can't believe summer is here already. My oldest daughter is graduating from fifth grade this year. A milestone in school, as next year she will be in middle school. It seems like just the other day she was in kindergarten. I bet some of you are thinking the same thing as your child is graduating from pre-k, elementary, middle, high school or college.

As part of the fifth grade curriculum, the kids get to go on an all day field trip to Enterprise Village. It is located in the Stavros Institute in Largo. Enterprise Village has been around since the 1980's and is a self-contained economic education program providing a hands-on learning experience for students. The kids spend 6 weeks in their classroom learning economics including how to write checks, use a debit card, keep a checkbook register, apply for a job and work with a group. When students go to Enterprise Village they put what they learned into action.

I was a parent volunteer. As a volunteer, we had to go for about an hour of training before the students arrived so we could help them throughout the day. What was interesting is some of the parent volunteers had gone through the program in school when they were in fifth grade.

I was amazed at the whole operation and impressed by the students at how serious they took their jobs. The layout of Enterprise Village is like a shopping mall. There are about twenty plus businesses in the village. Some of the businesses included: Home Shopping Network, Tampa Bay Times, McDonalds, Bright House networks, UPS, City Hall, Bank of America, Salvador Dali Art Center, Waste Management, Pinellas County Utilities and United Giving.

The students had to apply for their jobs in school before coming to Enterprise Village, so they knew where they would be working. My daughter was so excited because she was one of the disc jockeys for Mix 100.7. As a disc jockey she played the music throughout the day for everyone at Enterprise Village and announced commercials for all the businesses. The commercials were written ahead of time at school by the students who worked at each business. She also took song requests from students and played their songs. The students took 3 breaks throughout the day, received paychecks and had the opportunity to be consumers and make purchases at the other businesses.

Students were able to see that it took several people working together to run a company. The students were given Enterprise Village money for working and could spend it at the stores. They had to deposit their pay checks at the bank. I think that was the moment I knew my little girl was all grown up. When I looked across the room and saw her with her purse in hand standing in line to deposit her check. My heart sank, as I thought to myself how mature she had become.

After the kids deposited their checks they could purchase items at stores that sold merchandise. The kids each had a lunch break where they received lunch at McDonalds. Each student had a job, some were gathering stories as reporters for the Tampa Bay Times, others were reading meters for the power company, others delivering packages for UPS, there were television anchors on the Bright House station, some students were live on television selling items for the Home Shopping Network. One of the students was even Mayor of the city. The day was a great learning experience for the kids to understand what it is like to be a part of society. They even had to give money to charity.

At the end of the day, students working at the Tampa Bay Times put out a newspapers full of stories from the students and from the interviews the reporters did that day. This was truly amazing to me to see a six page paper full of stories completed in one school day. They did a wonderful job! The newspapers were sold for $.25 and most students saved money to purchase the paper.

Overall the kids learned a lot and most said it was their best day ever. Teachers also said it is one of their favorite field trips for the kids because of all the skills the students learned and they were able to put them to use.

The Stavros Institute also offers a program similar to this for high school students called Finance Park. I look forward to my daughter going on that field trip. If you want to learn more about Enterprise Village or Finance Park or maybe you want to volunteer,  log onto their website by clicking here. 

Ways to keep your kids learning during the summer

School will be out soon and it’s important to keep our kids minds active during the summer. Here are some ways that I have been able to keep my two girls ages 8 and 9 learning while schools out. I try and make summer learning fun.

One of the places we like to start our summer off is at our public library. We go there to find out what programs are offered during the summer. The library is a great place to keep your children engaged in reading because of some of the incentives they offer to the kids for reading.  It is free to get a library card and your child can have their very own card. I know my girls love having their own card to check out books. If you haven’t been to a public library lately, most have a special section of the library for younger children with computers and crafts.

Each library has unique programs for students over the summer.  Most public libraries in Pinellas County run their programs from June 15^th - August 9^th.  A weekly program during the summer at Seminole Community Library is the reading with the dogs program. “This is where students are one on one with therapy dogs. Last summer it was very successful,” said Jill Storm, Youth Services Supervisor at Seminole Community Library.

One of my girl’s favorite programs in the past at the Seminole Library has been the Wonderful Wednesdays. This is where each week special guests come entertain the kids. In the past there have been magicians, balloon artists, musicians and more.

 Elementary school students who enjoy science can try e-magination which is where students get to do hands-on science experiments and have fun doing crafts. For the younger kids ages 3-6, on Monday nights at 7 p.m. there’s Slumber Stories, where children can come in their pajamas and read stories and do a craft.

Another great way to keep kids reading over the summer is with the Reading with the Rays program. Kid can pick up their Reading with the Rays game card at the library. Your kids will need to read a certain number of hours each week and as they read they move around the bases. After the get around all of the bases, they can turn their playing card in for a free ticket to a Rays game. My girls have done this the past few years and knowing they get to go to a Rays game if they read is fun for them.

If you are looking for camps to send your kids to, there are several that are fun and geared toward learning. St. Petersburg College, College for Kids Summer Camp offers unique summer programs starting June 9^th  and running through August 1^st.  College for kids has been around for 36 years. I remember going when I was a kid. They offer affordable camps for kids in elementary, middle and high school. What’s nice about this is you have credentialed teachers and there are nine different locations throughout Pinellas County where the camps are held.

 They also have before and after care. For incoming 10-11^th graders there is a weeklong camp offered for free called Career Pathways Academy. This helps students think about career choices. www.spcollege.edu/c4k or call 727-341-3000.

Another fun camp in Seminole is Bauder Elementary School’s 13^th annual Summer Science Camp. This is a weeklong camp from July 14^th-17^th . It is hands-on science activities, computer technology and arts and crafts. This is for K-5^th grade and runs from 8:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m. Bauder teachers are the camp counselors.  If you are interested call Bauder’s office at 727-547-7829.

University of South Florida’s Continuing Education offers beginning reading programs throughout the county. Students meet once a week for five weeks for two hours. The cost for these classes is around $350 including materials.  You can find out more at usf.readingprograms.org or call 1-800-978-9596.

If you want to have your kids do some learning at home on the computer, the Pinellas County School Board’s web site www.pcsb.org offers quite a few learning programs on their web site. It is called Beyond the Classroom. “Our expectation is that students will spend a minimum of 30 minutes each week during the summer for grades K-2 and 60 minutes grades 3-5 in each application on the Beyond the Classroom web site. The purpose is to extend their learning from the school year,” said Pat Lusher, Director of Digital Learning for Pinellas County Schools.

 Lusher says students will need to have their Pinellas County School student username and password to log in. “Some of the most common sites are Ticket to Read, ST Math, FCAT Explorer and BrainPop.com,” said Lusher. This summer they will be adding a program for students to check out eBooks on their mobile devices or computers at home from several of their digital libraries. It’s called My Digital Backpack. There will be incentives for student participation to encourage students to become fluent readers.

Even though students are on summer vacation, make sure they don’t take a break from learning. Kids can have fun and learn at the same time.

Half Price School Tuitions

Hi all! I thought I would post a great deal that Salem Communications is offering to families for next year's tuition. Your child can receive a private education for Half the regular price!

You can find out more by clicking here.  You will find schools all across the Tampa Bay area on the list.

You can also call 813-349-8232. This is for new incoming students only.

Taking the bullying lesson a little too far

I don’t know about you and your kids, but my kids- especially my fourth grader- have been inundated with the bullying topic lately.

I know it is a serious issue, but sometimes I think we can overdo something and it can have a negative effect.

In less than a month at my daughter’s school she has been a part of a week-long anti-bullying campaign that included dress-up days, a five-week program called Peacemakers from the organization called Casa, or Community Action Stops Abuse, where an instructor comes into the classroom for an hour a week and talks about bullying and other issues. The most recent was an hour long music program called Didgeridoo Down Under which talked about anti-bullying.

You would think we have a bullying problem at my daughter’s school, but they don’t. It’s just the hot topic and buzzword right now.

I don't usually watch the evening news with my kids around, because it's usually about violence and things I don't want my young kids to hear about. but the other day I had it on, and there was that horrible story about the little 12-year-old girl who committed suicide because of being bullied at school.

My 9-year-old stopped what she was doing. Somehow she heard the reporter say the word “suicide” and knew about that story. I asked her how she knew about it because I have never talked about it. I have never talked about it, and I really didn’t want her knowing about something like that, because I thought she was too young.

She said they talked about it at school in her Peacemaker’s class. I was kind of surprised and asked her what was talked about. To my dismay, I was shocked and mad at what my daughter told me happened in this Peacemaker’s class.

My daughter told me the Peacemaker instructor talked about bullying and in her presentation there was a fake person made out of paper that she wanted the kids to come up to and say something mean and then rip off part of the paper. Most of the kids in my daughter’s class did not want to say anything mean, but the Peacemaker instructor said she strongly encouraged them to come up and do it. She said they had a choice, but pretty much pressured them into doing it.

My daughter was one of those kids who didn’t want to do it, but ended up going up to the do paper person and telling it she didn’t like her new haircut. Most kids ended up saying something mean even though they didn’t want to. There were two kids that absolutely didn’t want to do it. At the end of the presentation the instructor told those two kids they were the only ones who weren’t bullies. She gave them a reward and the others had to write apology notes to the paper person.

My daughter told me she felt terrible. She said she only did it because she felt like the instructor was a teacher and she had to listen to her. 

The instructor then asked the students how they thought this made the paper doll feel when it was bullied. My daughter said the answers the kids gave were "sad," "mad," "angry," "upset" and "wanted to run away." The instructor said there was one more answer they were missing.

This is where the word suicide came up. Something I don’t think kids in fourth grade need to know. A message that was meant to be good, in this instance, was not.

I ended up calling the organization that presented the program and they told me it may have been presented wrong by the instructor.  I talked to the principal of my daughter’s school who said she would talk to the presenter and by no means should fourth graders be taught about the word suicide or influenced to do something they didn’t feel was right.

This was an opportunity for me as a parent to talk to my kids about what had gone on in school. I talked to both of my daughters and told them if ever they don’t feel something is right that they don’t have to do it, even if it is a teacher, instructor or adult telling them to do something.

 As far as the word suicide, I talked to my fourth grader about it even though I think she was too young to know about that just yet.

My advice to all parents is to communicate with your kids. Ask them about their day, about their friends and what’s going on in their lives. There are serious issue and topics that need to be addressed with our kids in and out of school, we need to be careful though in how we address these issues.

Where did the summer go?

The summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It seems like every summer goes faster and faster. I thought maybe it was just me, so I asked a few friends if they thought this summer just flew by and they agreed. I am trying to figure out where the time goes.

As I started thinking about the summer just flying by, I realized my kids are growing up so fast. They are moving up another grade level this year. It’s hard to believe that my oldest daughter is going into fourth grade. In my mind it seems like just the other day she was born. My youngest or my baby isn’t really a baby anymore; she is going into second grade.

I remember the first time I took my oldest daughter to school. It was preschool. I thought it was going to be hard for her, but I think it was harder for me to let go. She was almost four.  She went to the preschool at our church and was in the VPK program, short for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten. It’s a state funded preschool program. I remember thinking three hours a day, five days a week is just such a long time to be away from my daughter. By the end of the year, those hours and days went by quickly. Before I knew it, she was graduating from VPK.

After VPK I had another first with my daughter, kindergarten. It was the first time going to school all day. I had a hard time leaving my daughter, but my daughter had a harder time letting me go. It was awful the first few weeks of school. My daughter cried every day for me not to leave her. She had a wonderful teacher, so it wasn’t that. She just wanted me to be with her. After a few weeks it got better. It’s just a transition kids have to go through, some more than others.

First, second and third grades weren’t so hard leaving my daughter. Each year it has gotten easier. I think I am more relaxed because I know the school more and I know the teachers better. As a parent, it’s hard letting your kids go to school when you watch the news and see school shootings and kids being bullied. You want to protect your kids, but most of us can’t be at school with our kids and we just have to just trust that they will be safe.

I would say it gets easier with the second child and it does, but I still have had my moments. I remember leaving my second daughter for the first time at preschool and just bawling my eyes out. I was sad because I knew she was the last one I would have go to preschool. Just like with my oldest daughter everything is a first, with my second daughter everything is the last.

I still keep asking myself, “Do I really have a fourth grader and a second grader?” Moms my best advice is if you have young kids, make sure you take the time to enjoy them. You can’t get years back and you can’t make time go any slower. I’ve tried by telling my girls they can’t grow up, but it hasn’t worked yet.

Parent/Teacher Conference

By contributing writer and teacher Ree Shapiro

Conferencing with your child’s teacher can be a nerve racking experience.   I am nervous when I go to my children’s conference, and I know what to expect! 

Most teachers want the conference to go as smoothly as possible. Teachers really do not like to give bad news. Many of the academic policies discussed are beyond a teacher’s control.  Teachers follow either State or County guidelines when assigning grades.  Student expectations are extremely strict and must be adhered.

One of the most difficult conferences to have is when a child qualifies as a potential retainee.  Teachers know how scary that is for parents to hear.  This is especially difficult in kindergarten.  Who wants to hear that there child may fail kindergarten?!

Usually though, if this was a possibility, for a child in any grade, your child‘s teacher would have been preparing you for this earlier in the school year.  At your fall conference, the teacher may have expressed concern about your child’s lack of progress or slow progress.  The teacher may have given you skills to work on with your child, or discussed how your child would be given extra help at school.  If your child’s initial assessment scores were low, your child may have been put on a progress monitoring plan.

Even with all this help, expectations are high and your child may still have difficulty meeting them. 

Teachers must decide by late February whether a child has a possibility of being retained and then that child must be made a potential retainee.  There are guidelines to help us with this decision but it can also be a judgment call. 

If your child is identified as a potential retainee, the teacher will have you sign a paper stating this fact.  The teacher should also explain that even though you sign the paper this does not mean your child will be retained.  The term potential is a little misleading.  It means that there is a possibility that your child can be retained, not that they definitely will be.  

Many times a student will blossom in the spring and will all of sudden catch on.  I have had this happen before.  It is always wonderful when that happens.

Try not to enter your child’s conference on the defensive, but do ask lots of questions!  Especially questions on how to help your child’s progress.  Most (I would almost say all) teachers want your child to do well.  Honestly, teachers feel  so wonderful when a struggling student “gets it.”

Go into your child’s conference with the attitude that you and the teacher are a team.  Strategizing together is the best way to help your child succeed.

The Survey Says.....

(Article by contributing writer Ree Shapiro, a teacher in Pinellas County)

Throughout the school year many teachers like to send out parent surveys.  A survey may be sent a couple of times a year or more, depending on the teacher.  I like to send out a survey sometime toward the end of January.  This is the halfway point in the school year.  The answers to the survey let me know what I should focus on in the second half of the school year.

My surveys consist of questions based on family expectations.  I ask questions such as: How do you feel about the progress your child has made this year?  Do you feel there is good communication between the classroom and home?  How do you feel about my expectations for your child this year?  How do you feel about the monthly homework? Family projects?

Some parents may feel anxious about putting their name on the survey, so I make the name optional.  It does make it more helpful to have a name on the survey especially if you have academic concerns.  If you phrase your answers in a positive way most teachers are happy to help solve any areas of concerns families may have.

I always find the answers on the surveys very informative.  Last year I was surprised how many surveys stated that they would like to see more family projects assigned during the school year.  I increased the amount of family projects I assigned and kept that change through this school year.  I will be interested to see how families respond to the survey this year, especially where family projects are concerned!

If your child’s teacher sends home a survey, please take a few minutes to fill it out.  Teachers really want the input and use the information to help enhance your child’s school year.