Save While Shopping for School and Office Supplies

Notebooks, Post-it notes, pens, pads – it’s that time of the year again. Waiting around for those crazy, last-minute, 10-notebooks-for-a-dime specials could slash your spending, but there’s lots more you can do to save big. ShopSmart magazine shares their list of nine tips to make the most of back-to-school sales this August:

Save While Shopping for School and Office Supplies

1. Take inventory: Chances are, you already have some of the things you need in your home office.
2. Stick to your list: It makes sense to get a jump on the stuff you know you need (think filler paper and pencils), but wait for the school’s list to do the bulk of your shopping.
3. Consider swapping: If the search of your desk drawer turns up things you no longer have use for, swap them for things you do need. Call other moms, or go to Swapmamas.com. Click on School & Office to see listings from people who have stuff and people who need stuff.
4. Skip taxes: Many states offer tax-free shopping days in August to encourage spending on clothes. You might find information about your state by searching the Internet with your state and “tax holiday 2010.” Some states extend the discount to supplies and computers.
5. Buy in bulk: Warehouse clubs are great places to load up, but so are online stores like RaymondGeddes.com and DiscountSchoolSupply.com – just remember that shipping costs can add up if you don’t order in bulk.
6. Consider refurbs: Whether you need a laptop or your kid needs a fancy graphing calculator, refurbished or opened but unused products can save you hundreds of dollars. Check Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com/outlet, and SonyStyle.com/outlet.
7. Automate savings: Sign up at ShopItToMe.com to get an alert sent to you when there’s a sale on those expensive sneakers your son just has to have or those shoes you need for work.
8. Be strategic: Shopping the sales at a lot of stores could save you big bucks, but it’s a huge waste of time. Instead, search circulars online at YahooCircularCentral.shoplocal.com and SundaySaver.com. Then shop at stores with price-matching policies, such as Staples, Target, and Walmart.
9. Go to school: Ask whether your child’s school has a supply program where you buy one box with everything your kid needs for the year. Staples claims its SchoolKidz program offers savings of 20 to 50 percent.

Information courtesy of the September 2010 issue of ShopSmart

Tips for Back-to-School Reading and Beyond

Research shows that parental involvement in developing their children’s love of literature is critical to raising lifelong readers. As family schedules are reorganized to begin the school year, now is a great time for kids and parents to be sure they incorporate reading into their daily routines.

Below are some fun and practical ways to make reading a normal and natural part of family life and encourage kids of varying ages to get reading-ready as they head back to the classroom and prepare to dive into books all year long.

• Book graffiti wall – Put up a piece of poster paper and label it the “Great Book Graffiti Wall.” Have your children draw a pattern on the paper to make it look like a brick wall. Then encourage them to draw pictures and write recommendations based on the books they have read or are reading.

• Record your child’s favorite book – A cassette recorder is one way to enable younger children to enjoy a favorite book again and again. Grandparents, parents, older brothers, or sisters can record their favorite stories on tape or the whole family can join in and play different characters.

• Read around the world – Help develop geography and reading skills by making a faux passport and a copy of an oversized world map. Each time you and your child read a story about a different part of the world, color in that country on the map and stamp the passport. Continue the activity by doing research on the countries, reading the newspaper and watching the news.

• Share your stories – Telling stories from your personal life is a fun way to teach values, pass on family history, and build your child’s listening and thinking skills. Your child might someday want to write the stories down in a book for a class project.

• A special nook – Create a special place for you and your child to read. It could be a favorite chair, a couch, a child’s bed, or outside under a tree or by a lake.

• For all ears – Read aloud to your children, even after they’ve learned to read on their own and are attending school. Young readers enjoy listening to many books that they can’t yet master and teenagers like to hear old favorites. Encourage kids to describe the pictures or take turns reading aloud with you. Even though kids may also read books in class, spending additional time reading their favorite literature with you is also important.

• Regular intervals – Set aside a special time each day that you and your child devote to reading. Before bed, at breakfast, and before dinner are common times for many families with busy school and activity schedules. For example, your child can read to you while you wash the dinner dishes or you can read to your child from the newspaper as she eats her breakfast. Even if it’s only 15 minutes a day, you’re encouraging lifelong reading.

• Caught in the act! – Show your child that reading just isn’t for the classroom. Let your kids catch you reading whenever possible. Try making a game of it. One way might be to create “I caught you reading!” coupons. Each time they “catch” a family member reading they present them with a coupon. At the end of each week, hold a drawing to award a family member with a prize.

• A library of her own – Build your child’s affection and respect for reading by helping her create her own personal library. Designate a space on a bookshelf or a special box for books. Add new books to the collection by either getting books already finished by an older child or by going to the bookstore together.

• Everyday opportunities – Newspapers, magazines, hardcover, and paperback books may be obvious reading choices, but don’t dismiss road signs, menus, billboards, cereal boxes, and lots of other everyday items. Read aloud anything with words and present reading as a way to discover the world.

Source: Reading is Fundamental. For more tips on encouraging your child to read, visit www.rif.org.

RIF and Macy’s have teamed up to create Book a Brighter Future, a national partnership to raise awareness and support of children’s literacy. Through July 31, Macy’s customers can give $3 and receive a coupon for $10 off one purchase of $50 or more at any Macy’s store nationwide. All proceeds will benefit RIF, the nation’s oldest and largest literacy non-profit. http://www.bookabrighterfuture.com/

Keep Kids’ Math Skills Sharp All Summer Long

Summer is a time when children are at risk for losing gains in math learning if they are not offered educationally sustaining math activities. It’s also a time when children’s TV viewing increases. Parents should explore ways to boost kids’ exposure to math over the summer through fun activities, web games, and hands-on activities.

I encourage parents and children’s organizations to help children overcome the summer slump in math. Here are some fun things you can do to avoid this summer slump and give your kids a leg up on math for the fall.

Money, Money, Money!

Kids are always on the lookout for ways to earn money during the summer months. You can hone their math skills by helping them set a goal for the total amount they want to earn, and make a chart or graph to track weekly progress. Encouraging them to budget an amount for saving as well as spending is another way to engage them with money math.

How Far? How Many? How Much?

As parents, we get asked these questions often enough, but how often do we turn them back to our kids and share a brief math moment? If we say, About how far (how many, how much) do you think it is? and then suggest ways to estimate, we can help them recognize those times when an answer that is ‘close enough’ is actually ‘good enough!’ Estimation (or making an informed guess) is a useful math tool any time a precise answer isn’t necessary to solve a problem.

Going to the Game? Guess My Player!

Number puzzles are a fun summer pastime, and you can make them up on the spot at a ball game. Take turns picking a player’s number and making up clues to see if the other person can figure out who it is. For example: “My player’s number is an even number. It is more than 10, less than 15, and is a multiple of 3.”

Get Active!

Summer is a great time to help kids develop good habits around physical exercise. As parents, we can help our kids choose a type of exercise they enjoy (swimming, riding bikes, hiking), and then set performance goals—bike or hike a certain distance in a given amount of time, or swim a set number of laps—to try to reach by the end of summer. The trick to success is to agree on an exercise schedule, and use a chart or graph to keep track of progress after each session. Keeping track helps kids measure progress, keep them motivated, and even predict how long it will take to reach their goals.

The Waiting Game: What’s My Rule?

Everyone spends time waiting, whether it’s at the doctor’s office, in line at the supermarket, or sitting hungry at a restaurant. Before kids get cranky, here’s a fun and simple math game that helps build algebraic thinking skills while beating the boredom! Player A picks a number between 0 and 10 and says it out loud. Player B silently picks a secret rule (plus 3, for example, or minus 2), applies the rule to the number, and says the new number out loud. Keeping that new number in mind, player A says another number, player B silently applies the same rule, and gives player A the new number. The play continues until player A has enough information to guess the rule.

Cyberchase offers fun episodes, web games and hands-on activities and events and free, fun resources to strengthen children’s math skills over the summer. Visit Cyberchase online at www.pbskidsgo.org/cyberchase

or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/cyberchase to access sneak peeks at the new episodes, fan events, exclusive behind-the-scenes videos, photos and more related to the Cyberchase Summer Challenge. Watch Cyberchase on your local PBS Station.

About Cyberchase

Cyberchase – the daily animated math series on PBS KIDS GO! – is produced by THIRTEEN in association with Title Entertainment, Inc. and WNET.ORG. Executive producers are Sandra Sheppard, THIRTEEN’s Director of Children’s and Educational Programming, and Frances Nankin. Ellen Doherty is senior series producer. Major funding for Cyberchase is provided by the National Science Foundation, Ernst & Young LLP, Northrop Grumman Corporation and PBS. Additional funding is provided by The Volckhausen Family.

By Frances Nankin, Executive Producer/Editorial Director, Cyberchase

Summer: The Season For Reading

Summer’s here and you’ve started making your annual checklist: Sunscreen? Check. Sandals? Check. Beach towels? Got ‘em. But while you’re going over the must-haves for the season, don’t forget the single most important thing your kids will need: something really great to read.

While relaxing on the beach with a good book is one of life’s most delicious pleasures, study after study has shown that reading is one of the most essential things that kids can do when school’s out. A 2002 report from National Summer Learning Association states that children lose approximately two months of learning over the summer, meaning that come September, teachers will spend those first few weeks re-teaching kids what they already learned the year before.

“Motivating children to read throughout the summer is essential to building lifelong readers,” says Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s largest children’s literacy nonprofit. “And reading is the doorway to all other learning.” With that in mind, how do you convince your kids to build reading time into their summer plans? Fortunately, RIF has come up with a number of ideas to help you make this summer a season of reading.

• Combine activities with books. Going to a baseball game? Head to the library and check out a biography about your child’s favorite player. Is summer camp on the agenda? See if the camp has a blog you can follow.

• Lead by example. Show kids that you love to read by picking up the newspaper each morning or sharing about something you’ve read, and they’ll understand that reading is important to everyone.

• Relax the rules. Summer is a time when children can read what, when, and how they please. Don’t set any requirements, and don’t force kids to read something they’re not interested in.

• Visit the library. It’s got thousands of books and audiobooks to borrow, computers to use, and magazines to leaf through. Make the library your “go-to” destination for the summer.

• Think outside the book. Recognize that reading can happen in many formats, from eBooks to magazines to online read-along stories. Check out www.rif.org/kids for great read-alongs and other fun games and activities designed to keep kids reading.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to this: read. Read together, read separately, read anywhere, read everywhere. It’s the surest way to make certain that your kids will start the school year off right.

Rebecca Burton is a writer/editor at Reading Is Fundamental and has been working in the children’s literacy field for the past twelve years. She loves to read, travel, and hang out on the back porch with her husband and their two-year-old daughter.

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