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Exploring OklahomaNatural History in Norman

The winter chill may limit outdoor activities causing kids to get a little squirmy. Use the opportunity to take

kids on an indoor educational adventure instead. The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History located at the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman is a great sensory experience for kids and parents.

Permanent ExhibitsThe Museum is a research division of the University of Oklahoma, housing over seven million objects and specimens in 12 collections. Permanent exhibits include specimens of archaeology, ethnology (the study of human cultures and societies) and Native American Languages.

The Hall of Ancient Life features fossils and articulated skeletons of the world's largest Apatosaurus and Saurophaganax maximus, a fearsome predator unique to Oklahoma.

The Hall of the People of Oklahoma traces the 30,000-year history of the Native people

of Oklahoma. Exhibits begin with the earliest archaeological evidence and travel through time to an examination of what it means to be Native American in Oklahoma today. The entry walls are covered in handprints made by representatives from 26 of Oklahoma's 39 federally recognized tribes.

Current ExhibitsNew exhibits are showcased regularly. On display through January 18 are two unique exhibits:

• DrawingtheMotmot:AnArtist’sViewofTropicalNaturetakes the visitor on a journey through the tropical rainforests of South and Central America as seen through the eyes and words of nature artist, Deborah Kaspari. A Motmot, according to the exhibit, is a colorful bird with long racquet-tipped tail feathers found in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. Kaspari’s colorful paintings are showcased along with her paper and pencil sketches. Video clips and sound effects help the visitor experience Kaspari’s time in the forest.

• DarwinattheMuseumuncovers the man behind the famed and sometimes controversial author and theorist, Charles Darwin. His personal works including books, illustrations, maps, manuscripts and letters are exhibited, revealing that Darwin was a respected botanist, geologist, global traveler and thinker in addition to being considered the founder of evolutionary theory.

Upcoming ExhibitsIf you are an early planner, take note of these upcoming exhibits for spring and summer:

• StoriesinFiberandClay:BasketsandCeramicsoftheSouthwest will run February 6 through May 2. Baskets and ceramics made by Southwestern Native American communities including the Navajo, Hopi, Tohono O’odam, Western Apache, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Santa Domingo and Acoma Pueblos will be exhibited. Historic pieces from the Sam Noble museum and contemporary works from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art will be showcased in a single venue.

• Chocolateis a fun and delicious exhibit that will be showcased May 15 through September 6. Developed by the famous Field Museum in Chicago, visitors will experience the history of chocolate beginning with the discovery and use

of the unique cacao seeds by the ancient Mayan civilization in Central America nearly 1,500 years ago. Chocolate lovers will continue their travel through time learning how the Aztecs used the valuable seeds as money in the 16th century until today’s current use of chocolate as a delectable, worldwide commodity.

When you are done exploring, the museum’s Redbud Café is a relaxing place to fill those grumbling tummies (closed Mondays). Souvenirs of your trip can be purchased at Excavations, the museum’s store.

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History’s exhibits are all exceptional sensory experiences filled with hands-on learning tools, sound effects and fantastic visuals to keep even the squirmiest kid interested. The museum is located at 2401 Chautauqua Avenue in Norman. For more information about the museum, call 405-325-4712 or visit their website, snomnh.ou.edu.

Karen Mitchell, a lifelong resident of the Oklahoma City metro area, lives in Edmond with her husband, Mark, teenage son, Ryan, and one spoiled Welsh Corgi. Daughter, Megan, attends OSU in Stillwater.

Kids playing in simulated dinosaur dig in the Discovery Room at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Motmot portrait by naturalist and artist, Deborah Kaspari, courtesy of Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Dinosaur photo courtesy of Oklahoma Tourism Department.

Watch DOGS WATCHDOGS(DadsofGreatStudents) is a father involvement initiative of the National Center for Fathering that organizes fathers and father figures in order to provide positive male role models for the students and to enhance school security.

The program began in Springdale, Arkansas when concerned father Jim Moore decided to take a proactive stance against violence after a middle school shooting in nearby Jonesboro in 1998. Today, more than 1,500 programs in 36 states and New Zealand participate in Watch DOGS.

The goal of Watch DOGS is to help every school in America be positively influenced by the committed involvement of fathers and father figures in the lives of their children and students. The program invites fathers, grandfathers, uncles and other father figures to volunteer for a day (or more) at their child’s school. Volunteers participate in monitoring the school entrance, assisting with unloading and loading of buses and cars, monitoring the lunch room, or helping in the classroom with a teacher’s guidance by working with small groups of students on homework, flashcards, or spelling.

Carla Smith, Principal of Surrey Hills Elementary School in Yukon, calls the Watch DOGS program one of the things she is most proud of in her school. “I think Watch DOGS provides a great opportunity for men who want to get involved, in a way that might fit better than PTO or Helping Hands,” Smith explains. Surrey Hills has participated in the Watch DOGS program for three years and the number of men involved continues to grow each year. “I think the biggest benefit is that the students can see that there are other adults who care about them and know that they are truly important.”

In 2003, program participants from all 50 states were surveyed. The results showed that 89 percent found that the Watch DOGS program proved to be a valuable tool to promote a safe learning environment for students. Centennial Elementary School in Edmond has participated in the program since the school’s inception three years ago. Today, one or two Watch DOGS can be seen in the school each day, with more than 100 dads having a presence in the school throughout the year. “We love having them here,” says Kimberly Frank, Assistant Principal. “It is one more set of eyes to notice and comment on positive behavior and it communicates to these kids that school is an important place to be.”

Learn more about the Watch DOGS program at the National Center for Fathering's website, Fathers.com.

What Kids are Readingby Lisa Carpenter

Tiredofyourkidsnotevenbreakinginthebinding on books you purchase or borrow from the library for them? Get the real story on what books kids enjoy, from beginning to end, by taking a peek at What Kids Are Reading: The Book-Reading Habits of Students in American Schools, 2010 edition.

The report, from Renaissance Learning and a follow-up to the original 2008 report, provides detailed information about the books kids are actually reading—from cover to cover—by grade, gender, subject area and reading achievement level. The report includes lists of the most widely read books for first through twelfth grades—by all students, by low- and high-achieving students, and in areas such as nonfiction and subjects spanning the curriculum.

Key findings include:

• Book selection can be heavily influenced by trends. The influence of pop culture can be seen in the book choices of students in all grades. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid titles, by Jeff Kinney, dominate the top positions in grades 3-6. Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series takes over the top spots in grades 7 and up.

• Contemporary “classics” remain high on the youngest and oldest readers’ lists. Beyond the trendy titles, many of the same popular titles with a lasting presence are popular, including many titles by Dr. Seuss and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. In the middle grades, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet are top reads. In spite of the strong showing by the Twilight series, high-school students continue to read modern classics, such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

• Nonfiction is largely missing from the most-read lists. Except for a strong showing in the books widely read by struggling readers, especially in grades 4 and 5, nonfiction is mostly absent. To shed light on which nonfiction titles appeal to kids, this year’s report includes lists of the Top 10 most-read nonfiction titles by boys and girls in grades 1-12.

To read the full report—and to learn what books to pick up next time you visit the bookstore or library—visit renlearn.com/whatkidsarereading.

Healthy OklahomaTheOklahomaHealthImprovementPlanaddresses improving health outcomes, addressing children's health, tobacco use and obesity. Also addressed are the issues of social factors such as poverty, education and access to proper health resources.

“Current national state health rankings place Oklahoma at 49th. We find this unacceptable,” said State Board of Health President Barry Smith. “We recognize that Oklahomans face a variety of barriers to good health due to poverty, lack of insurance, limited access to primary care, and risky personal health behaviors associated with diet, physical activity and smoking. Even so, Oklahoma’s citizens deserve the same opportunities for improving their health as their neighbors in other states.”

Two-thirds of Oklahomans are either overweight or obese, with Oklahoma ranked as the 6th worst state for adult obesity. Oklahoma’s prevalence rate for smoking in 2008 was 24.7 percent. “The transformation of Oklahoma to a healthy state will not be possible until we have major reductions in tobacco use, increase our physical activity, and make better food choices,” Cline emphasized.

“It’s really quite simple: eat better, move more and be tobacco free.”

The Oklahoma Health Improvement Plan is available for viewing online at ok.gov/health/documents/OHIP-viewing.pdf.

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Dear TeacherQ&A With the Experts

Motivating Your ChildrenParents:Somanyofyoulamentthatyourchildrenarenotmotivatedtodowellinschool. You may even brand your children as lazy. This usually is not true. However as children get older, their passion for learning often seems to shrink. It happens for some because they have failed repeatedly at school tasks and no longer see any sense in trying. And it happens for many young teens because of the distractions of biological changes, emotional concerns, and social and peer pressures. Plus, some unmotivated children may never have learned that school success takes time and effort. The loss of motivation can also be fueled by insufficient support in a new school or by an increased workload and expectations to which students haven’t yet adjusted.

As children get older, it seems to become more difficult to motivate them to do well in school. Of course, part of this job belongs to your children’s teachers. Children are more motivated to learn in classes where the work is challenging, yet achievable and where they see how the skills that they are learning can be applied outside of school. And many schools motivate their students by having an atmosphere that stresses learning.

Parents also play an important role in developing, maintaining, and rekindling their children’s motivation to learn. Because of the importance of children valuing learning for its own sake, our New Year’s resolutions this year deal with ways you can help your children be motivated to learn.

• Resolve to be a good role model. Let your children see that you put forth your best effort in completing work and meeting obligations.

• Resolve to show your children that you are interested in their school work.

• Resolve to help your children succeed in school by contacting teachers whenever your children encounter any difficulties in learning to find out how they can be helped.

• Resolve to offer sincere praise to your children based on their effort and improvement at school.

• Resolve to find tasks in and out of school that your children can succeed in to build an “I can do it” attitude.

• Resolve to use rewards infrequently to encourage your children’s motivation to do school tasks.

• Resolve to find your children’s strengths and to build upon them.

• Resolve to teach your children how to set goals and to work hard to achieve them.

How to Improve Children’s Reading Fluency

Question: What is fluency? My daughter is in eighth grade and her whole class was just tested. The results came home that she was not a fluent reader. How can this be improved? – Needs FluencyAnswer: Reading fluency is the ability to read material quickly and accurately. Children who are fluent readers can focus their attention on understanding what they are reading because they do not have to concentrate on recognizing individual words. The reverse is true for less fluent readers. If your daughter is able to improve her fluency, she will at the same time improve her comprehension.

Until recently, fluency was a neglected reading skill. Now, more and more attention is being focused on it in the classroom. It has been discovered that the best way to improve fluency is for students to read aloud. It is not through more silent reading. Unless your daughter is currently in a reading class, she is not likely to get much help at school to increase her fluency.

Fortunately, you can help your daughter improve her fluency. Read a short bit of text material to her. This gives her a model for how the passage should sound. Then have her reread it aloud to you. Provide assistance, when necessary. Next, have her reread the passage until she can do so quite fluently. Three or four times are usually sufficient. Also, you can read a passage to your daughter. Then, read it aloud together three to five times. This doesn’t have to be done on the same day. Your daughter will not become a fluent reader overnight. However, she definitely will become a more fluent reader if you and she frequently do repeated oral reading. These same techniques can be used to help beginning readers become more fluent readers. There are more techniques to help struggling readers on our Web site in Resources under “Skill Builders.”

Writing Skills Can Be Improved

Question: Is there a way that I can improve my 9-year-old daughter’s writing skills? She is a brilliant reader, but her writing skills are

below average according to the teacher. She never is “in the mood” to write even on my laptop. – No WriterAnswer: The secret for children becoming better writers is for them to write a lot. Unfortunately, writing simply does not appeal to many children. Poor handwriting skills may stop some from writing. Others may not be able to think of anything to write about. Teachers have had great success in getting children to write by having them write briefly in a journal every day. They can even supply the topic.

Your asking or even requiring your daughter to write every day is not too likely to be successful in improving her writing unless she is motivated to do so. Talk to her about how being a good writer leads to future success in school. Plus, when you read to her, talk about such things as how the author describes the characters and the setting as well as begins and ends a story. This will teach her more about writing. Another approach would be to have a relative write a brief e-mail to her every day with the expectation of her responding. Grandmothers can be especially good at this.

Too Much Computer Time for Preschooler

Question: My 3-1/2-year-old son is exceptionally bright. He loves everything electronic. He can use the computer by himself and turn on the television. I’m excited that he’s so bright but worry about how much time he spends playing on the computer. Is an hour every day too much time? He also watches television for at least another hour. – Electronically InclinedAnswer: Using a computer at such an early age has its good and bad points. Your son will definitely learn computer skills faster and may improve his small motor skills. He also will have access to loads of educational material. On the other hand, if your child is using the computer primarily for activities with little educational benefit, it is a waste of his time.

Preschoolers need real-life experiences in