We have said it hundreds of times over the years…family food prep and meal time are very important. Cooking with your children teaches them so many academic lessons; basic math, measurement, telling time, safety, cause and effect, cooperation and the list goes on and on. In addition it teaches them about food, making healthy choices balancing their food groups and trying new things.  Eating meals together is even more essential to your whole family. Numerous polls show that almost everyone agrees how important family meal time is. However, in today’s age of crazy schedules, hand held devices and segmented media programming too many of our families go their separate ways at meal time.

If logic and common sense can’t convince families to prioritize meal time, statistics could do the ...

EDUCATION PLUS DEVELOPMENT

The premature death of the whole-child approach in preschool

Rich curriculum is not incompatible with a playful pedagogy

Andres S. Bustamante, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Research shows that an emphasis on memorization, rote procedures and speed impairs learning and achievement.

By Jo Boaler, Pablo Zoido on November 1, 2016

In December the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) will announce the latest results from the tests it administers every three years to hundreds of thousands of 15-year-olds around the world. In the last round, the U.S. posted average scores in reading and science but performed well below other developed nations in math, ranking 36 out of 65 countries.

We do not expect this year’s results to be much different. Our nation’s scores have been consistently lackluster. Fortunately, though, the 2012 exam collected a unique set of data on how the world’s students think about math...

Reila Zimmerman, M.S., CCC-SLP

Licensed Speech and Language Pathologist

318 Main Street, Millburn, NJ 07041

973-467-0085

rzslpnj@gmail.com

Here is a helpful guide published by American Speech and Hearing Association.  Please contact me for additional information.

Know the Signs of Speech and Language Disorders

Signs of common speech and language disorders in adults and children between birth to 4 years of age, an important stage in early detection of communication disorders.

Children: Signs of a Language Disorder

Does not smile or interact with others (birth and older)

Does not babble (4-7 months)

Makes only a few sounds or gestures, like pointing (7-12 months)

Does not understand what others say (7 months-2 years)

Says only a few words (12-18 months)

Words are not easily ...

We are at a loss for an opinion on this product.  However, in general the thought of any manmade “energy” running around a baby’s head makes us very nervous….

“With a temperature sensor built into the pacifier’s silicon teat, Pacif-i™ transmits temperature data via Bluetooth Smart (sometimes referred to as Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth Low Energy) to a free app on an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. The app determines when the temperature is the most accurate and then time-stamps and plots the temperature data in a graph.  Via the app, parents can record when medication was administered, set-up alerts/ reminders and share the data with carers and medical professionals.

Pacif-i™ also features an in-built proximity sensor that allows parents to monitor the pacifier’s location and so b...

At SuperKids we love social media and the internet because they keep us in touch with one another and with our growing super kids, even after they graduate. We adore following their successes as they grow to celebrate every new event. Our website even has an alumni page where parents can share their kids’ first days of school, holiday pictures and special events. This bonds our community and keeps us together, even as we graduate or move to faraway places.   HOWEVER, as a parent my heart sinks a little every time I see elementary-age and younger children with internet and social media sites – or when I see adult sites that mock our children by posting pictures which shed them in negative, albeit sometimes humorous, light.

At SuperKids we feel it is our duty to instill in our children ...

Million Dollar Babies: Why Infants Can’t be Hardwired for Success

NY TIMES

By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS  MARCH 1, 2015

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. — On Monday morning, a few hundred students will file into classrooms at Bloomfield Middle School, open laptops and begin a new standardized test, one mandated across New Jersey and several other states for the first time this year.

About a dozen of their classmates, however, will be elsewhere. They will sit in a nearby art room, where they will read books, do a little drawing and maybe paint.

What they will not do is take the test, because they and their parents have flatly refused.

A new wave of standardized exams, designed to assess whether students are learning in step with the Common Core standards, is sweeping the country, arriving this week in classrooms in several states and entering the cross hairs of various polit...

The Daily Caller

by Blake Neff, Contributor

In 2014, teachers were upset about excessive standardized tests, women were upset about campus sexual assault, kids were upset about gross school lunches. Republicans were split over Common Core, Democrats divided over teachers unions.

Here are five education-related issues to watch in the New Year.

1. Common Core The multistate education standards will continue to dominate the education debate.

After peaking in participation with 46 states, 2014 saw the tide for Common Core start to recede for the first time, as Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina all repealed the standards and moved to replace them with new ones, while Missouri and North Carolina created panels that could end in the replacement of the standards as well.

Don’t expect the fi...