Why Use Interactive Notebooks

We all know that people learn in different ways. Some people learn better by watching others, some learn better by reading, and some learn by doing. No matter what way you learn you can use an interactive notebook.

Interactive notebooks are created by each person individually. They can be created in a number of different ways using a number of different techniques. You should create them based on your needs.

You can make an interactive notebook for information regarding maps, ads, history, timelines, and politics. When you create notebooks for these types of suggestions, you will learn so much. You design them in a way that will help you learn.

These pieces are perfect for projects, study guides, and reports. They can be created by children and adults. You are not limited to the subject matter or content either.

All you need to get started with your own interactive notebook is colored pencils, crayons, highlighters, pen or pencil, binder or notebook, paper, glue, scissors, and information on your subject.

If the information you gather is something you can cut apart, you will want to cut out the information that is important to what you are studying. If you can’t cut them out, you will want to make copies of the information. Once you have these pieces cut out, you will need to glue them to the right side of your notebook or paper. On the left side you will
take notes and add information that is important to what you read in the pieces
you glued.

You will want to write these in your own words and use pictures and other information that will help you remember what you read. Use charts, diagrams, graphics, and drawings that will remind you of what you read as well.

If you are creating your interactive notebook for a report or project, you may want to do your writing on notebook paper first so you can write it the way you want and make any necessary changes. Once you have it worded the way you want, you are ready to put it to print in your notebook.

These notebooks are also great for classroom projects. You can create them and share with the class or you can use them as a report based on the information provided by the teacher. These are also a great guide to use as study material for semester finals or tests.

If you use these in a classroom setting you will want to use information provided by the teacher on the right and then the students can add their own information on the left. The teacher can provide handouts, notes, and pictures. Students can take their own notes based on the information discussed in class. The students can research even further to come up with more information that can be included in the notebook.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember what you read, but using interactive notebooks will help you. You have the ability to create them in a way that makes sense to you and is in line with your learning style. They are fun to make and make learning easy.

For more great tips visit my site and download my free report at http://www.els4kids.com

source for pic is http://interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com/ISN+Pictures

"4 Simple Steps To Understanding the Benefits Brain Training" by Colleen Bain

Yes, you have done it all for your child. You've braved the overwhelming IEP meetings, you've even done the multiple tries with the tutors. You've offered your child millions of incentives to please just try a little harder and catch up to their peers. You've tried to re-teach your child a full day of learning once they get home from school but you are so burnt out you can't go on like this much longer. The good news is that brain training can help your child and your family regain their sanity .... fast! Read these simple 5 steps to understand the benefits of brain training.

Step 1: Understanding why Children Need The Gift of Learning

Seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report from Promise Alliance, 2008.

Our nation is recognizing and trying to take action to help our children become educated and creative contributing members of society. However, our children are dropping out because they can or they are bored. The U.S. Dept. of Education states that 80% of learning difficulties are from weak cognitive skills. Our children just give up by the time they get to High School. They are not able to keep up because they do not have the ability to learn easily and efficiently.


"When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the Promise Alliance.

Step 2: Recognizing a Child Can Become A Lifetime Learner

An important part of education must be to assess every child for their cognitive ability and not the average of their cognitive skills (IQ). Our children deserve the right to education and why shouldn't that include making sure the child has the ability to learn? Well, until that happens, we must recognize that, as parents, we can take control and give our child the gift of learning. Science has proven to us again and again that our brains can change. These changes in the brain are what give our children the ability to learn. Your child's brain can create new pathways while strengthening their cognitive abilities. If your child is given this chance, then reading and learning will improve and become easier.

Step 3: Train your Child's Brain Frequently and with Intensity

Science tells us that with consistent intensity and challenge, our brains will change. This is known as neuroplasticity. Brain training programs should use a methodology that allows for individualization, immediate feedback, adaptation, intensity, variation, levels of complexity and enjoyment. A child must be trained with a certain methodology and motivation to allow for neuroplasticity to be successful. When the child is engaged and motivated, chemicals are released in the brain that allows learning to stick and be successful.

Step 4: Train the Key Cognitive Skills needed to learn

Since all cognitive skills are integrated - meaning they impact each other - and drive a child's ability to learn, these skills should be trained at the same time. Brain training should be set up to target your weak skills but be able to train all necessary cognitive skills.



If you want more information on how ELSKs Student Transformation System will help your child learn easily and efficiently read more on my website now.

Blessings and Brain Power,

Colleen

Learning Skills 101 – Visual Processing

Learning Skills 101 – Visual Processing To Review: So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request. Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing our learning skills. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention, and Working Memory, Processing Speed and included Visual and Auditory Processing. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life. Last week we tried an exercise from Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child. Dr. Gibson is the creator of Processing and Cognitive Enhancement (PACE) and Master the Code (MTC). This week we will discuss visual processing in a bit more detail. Visual processing relates to the brain’s processing to make sense of information taken in through the eyes. This is different from the mechanics of the eye that would lead to glasses. Visual Processing issues usually impact a child so they will find anything requiring spatial relations (keep in the lines, ordering the math problems on a paper within the space, not bumping into objects when they walk, etc.) a big challenge. Reading and math are two subjects where accurate perception and understanding of visual processing is important. For example, spatial relationships are very important. Both Math and Reading rely heavily on the use of symbols I Most students I work with have this area impacted to a point. Some students are more severe than others. Visual processing issues will impact the child’s reading ability and thus academics. Math and Reading are the two subjects that are directly impacted. Examples of how difficulty with visual processing could pose a challenge would be discerning between the many symbols within both subjects. Within reading, words must be perceived as separate units, directionality in reading left to right, similarly shaped letters of “b”, “d”, “q” and “p”. The importance of being able to perceive objects in relation to other objects is often seen in math problems. To be successful, the person must be able to associate that certain digits go together to make a single number (14), that others are single digit numbers, that the operational signs (+,x,=) are distinct from the numbers, but demonstrate a relationship between them. The only cues to such math problems are the spacing and order between the symbols (LD Online, 2008). Additionally, just being able to space and shape the flow of the equations to the space on the paper can be a challenge for students where they require graph paper to complete the work. When you have visual processing difficulties, visual motor integration is often a spillover effect. This is the ability to use visual cues (sight) to guide the child's movements (LD Online, 2008). This refers to both gross motor and fine motor tasks. Often children with difficulty in this area have a tough time orienting themselves in space, especially in relation to other people and objects. These are the children who are often called "clumsy" because they bump into things, place things on the edges of tables or counters where they fall off, "miss" their seats when they sit down, etc. This can interfere with virtually all areas of the child's life: social, academic, athletic, pragmatic. Difficulty with fine motor integration effects a child's writing, organization on paper, and ability to transition between a worksheet or keyboard and other necessary information which is in a book, on a number line, graph, chart, or computer screen. A funny story with visual processing weaknesses goes back to when I became certified and licensed in Processing and Cognitive Enhancement (PACE). First, I have to give you the background to the story. When I arrived in Colorado Springs for my week of training, I admit that I was probably the biggest doubting Thomas in the room. I came to Colorado because I wanted help for my children, especially Shannon who sustained cognitive injury from her autoimmune disorder. The Gibson Family, creators of PACE and MTC, picked up on my doubts. Perhaps it was because all I kept asking was “where’s the data?”, “Where’s the Research?” Read More Parents: If your child is having difficulty with reading and comprehension or learning in general, there is a solution. ELSK provides research based programs that provide measurable results in as little as 12-24 weeks. Studies on the incredible results are available for your viewing. I provide services for children with learning challenges and specialize in students with reading and comprehension challenges. Your child will enjoy learning with much less effort. Go to my website today for more information. ================= Colleen Bain has been awarded Professional of Year 2009 by Cambridge Who's Who for her work within Special Education. She has a Masters in Special Education. She is licensed in the state of New Jersey in both elementary and children with disabilities. Colleen has been married for 16 years and has been blessed with two children with special needs. She has over eleven years of experience with special needs and over 20 years business experience. As the owner of Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids, Colleen provides intensive one-on-one cognitive training to individuals ages 8 and older to strengthen all of their learning skills. She specializing in children with reading and comprehension challenges.

Learning Skills 101 - Auditory Processing

To Review:
So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request.

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing some exercises from Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child. Dr. Gibson is the creator of Processing and Cognitive Enhancement (PACE) and Master the Code (MTC). This is one of the programs at the core of The Enhanced Learning Skills System.

Auditory Processing is really an important underlying mental skill. This week I wanted to provide you with some background details around this one mental skill. The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders states the following on Auditory Processing:
Auditory processing is a term used to describe what happens when your brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around you. The "disorder" part of auditory processing means that something is adversely affecting the processing or interpretation of the information.

Children with Auditory Processing issues often do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even though the sounds themselves are loud and clear. Read More.

Parents: If your child is having difficulty with reading and comprehension or learning in general, there is a solution. ELSK provides research based programs that provide measurable results in as little as 12-24 weeks. Studies on the incredible results are available for your viewing. I provide services for children with learning challenges and specialize in students with reading and comprehension challenges. Your child will enjoy learning with much less effort. Go to my website today for more information.

=================

Colleen Bain has been awarded Professional of Year 2009 by Cambridge Who's Who for her work within Special Education. She has a Masters in Special Education. She is licensed in the state of New Jersey in both elementary and children with disabilities. Colleen has been married for 16 years and has been blessed with two children with special needs. She has over eleven years of experience with special needs and over 20 years business experience. As the owner of Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids, Colleen provides intensive one-on-one cognitive training to individuals ages 8 and older to strengthen all of their learning skills. She specializing in children with reading and comprehension challenges.

Learning Skills 101 - Can You Spell Washington Backwards?

So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request.

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the three types of attention. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention, and Working Memory were seen as necessary cognitive skills for students. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life.

Remember, we said that Working Memory works with attention to make it possible to process information that is given to us. Working memory is needed for math, reading, comprehension, test taking and follow directions.

This week, I would like for you to try two simple exercises that come from Dr. Ken Gibson's book, Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child.

These following exercises will help you begin to understand how all of your cognitive (learning) skills work together to help you be successful in learning. First, as fast as you can, spell your first name out loud.
Let's examine the cognitive skills it took to complete this simple task. To do this, Input came as you read or heard the instructions, "Spell your first name out loud." As a part of Automatic Processing, you gave Attention to the request, held it in your Working Memory, and began to Process it. You then chose to respond to it. You made the internal, executive Decision that this was an easy request; one that you didn't really need to
think about, because you already had the answer stored in your Knowledge Bank. You drew the appropriate information (the spelling of your name) directly from your Knowledge Bank, and spoke it as Output without hesitation. This enabled you to handle this exercise quickly and easily because it was previously Known or familiar information.

Now try this: as fast as you can, spell the last name of the first American president backwards. Again, Automatic Processing enabled you to receive Input; you had to read or hear, attend to, process, and remember the request. But this time the answer wasn't automatic-instead, you made the internal, executive Decision that something about this request was New or unfamiliar. You needed to think about it using one or more of your Higher Thinking skills. You had to come up with a plan of action (using Logic and Reasoning). Your plan may have been to create a mental image (using Visual Processing) of the word "Washington." This may have required you to repeat the name a few times to hear the separate sounds (using Auditory Processing) and then retrieve the letter codes (using Long-Term Memory) that represents those individual sounds before creating the word image and calling out the letters (as Output). Using all these skills, you laid down an imprint in your Knowledge Bank. Repeating this activity a number of times would allow you to spell "Washington" more automatically and make the task of spelling other words backwards much easier.

So, how did you do overall? I want to leave it at that for this week and pick up more next week.


The good news is after a student works with the Enhanced Learning Skills System, they will have strengthened all of their cognitive skills. ADHD symptoms, that are cognitive based, disappear to the point the teachers and family take notice. Recognize that there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Call me at (908) 285-8352.

For more information on the article you just read, you can email or visit my website.

Learning Skills 101 - Did You Spell Washington Backwards?

So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request.

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the three types of attention. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention, and Working Memory were seen as necessary cognitive skills for students. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life. Last week we tried an exercise from Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child.

The exercise demonstrates how all of the major cognitive skills work together we you learn. How did you do with trying to spell the name of the first American president backwards as fast as you could? I explained how this task required you to use higher learning thinking skills. Logic and Reasoning, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing and Long-Term Memory were used for this exercise.

Dr. Gibson's Book points out how weakness in any of these mental skills might affect performance:

• If Attention is weak you may have never fully heard the request.
• If Short-Term Memory is weak you may have forgotten the request before you responded, maybe needing the request repeated.
• If Processing Speed is slow the request may have seemed too complex, requiring the need to have it repeated.
• If Logic and Reasoning is weak you may have failed to come up with a solution.
• If Auditory Processing is weak you may have been unable to unglue sounds in "Washington."
• If Long-Term Memory is weak you may have been unable to remember letters that represent the sounds in "Washington."
• If Visual Processing is weak you may have been unable to create a picture of the word in your head.
  

The point is that if any one of these cognitive skills is weak it will hinder your performance.

Your child may be experiencing similar "breakdowns" of processing while learning because one or more cognitive skills are weak. The best way to find this out is to have your child's cognitive skills tested. The good news is after a student works with the Enhanced Learning Skills System, they will have strengthened all of their cognitive skills. ADHD symptoms, that are cognitive based, disappear to the point the teachers and family take notice. Recognize that there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Call me at (908) 285-8352.

Next week we will begin to discuss visual and auditory processing.

For more information on the article you just read, you can email or visit my website.

Learning Disabilities - 5 Steps to Improve a Child's Academic Success in Reading and Math

Once parents observe their child having learning challenges, they may want to dive a bit deeper into the underlying causes. Having the neurologist or the pediatrician diagnose is not sufficient in most cases. Additionally, when a neuropsychological test is completed the average Intelligence Quota (IQ) will not provide all the answers. By following these five steps, parents can help their child lessen the negative impact of their learning disabilities and improve academically.

Step 1: Determine the Underlying Causes of the Learning Difficulties

Parents can choose to have their child tutored for specific academic areas of concern. If the tutoring is provided for a few sessions and the student is able to become independent without the ongoing need of the tutor, then it is possible that lack of or poor instruction is the root cause. However, if some brief tutoring does not solve the problem than this is a red flag that the problem is beyond poor instruction or not enough instruction. If learning problems cannot be quickly resolved with tutoring then usually there are weaknesses in underlying learning skills.

Step 2: Understand the Learning Skills Required for Success

Learning skills all work together to produce great results. If, for example, a car has a bad transmission, then putting premium gasoline into the tank will not produce successful results. Our brains have an active processing system which requires many learning skills to be strong at all times. First, the brain requires attention and memory skills when attempting to receive information. As additional input is received, other learning skills are activated to assist in processing the data. Next, visual processing is needed for discerning and analyzing input. Additionally, auditory processing is used to review, process and discriminate sounds. We cannot leave out logic and reasoning skills to focus on problem solving requests as in Math. Reading comprehension skills are integrated to deal with listening and reading activities. Finally, each skill will play a part in processing almost every input. Therefore, the degree of strength in these individual learning skills will impact the ability of the active processing system to handle information. If a person's skills show some or several weak areas, then the overall learning process will not be accurate, fast or efficient.

Step 3: Assess Which Learning Skills Need to be Strengthened

One way to objectively measure a person's strong points is through standardized testing. First, the most common testing approach is using achievement tests. These tests measure how well a child is doing academic not learning skills. Another popular choice are intelligence tests. These tests measure the strengths of the underlying learning skills. Unfortunately, intelligence tests provide an average intelligence scored based on all the measures of the learning skills. They will not give the individual measures of learning skills necessary for reading, math calculations or comprehension. Parents can look at the individual test scores and compare them to their child's grades with each academic subject and discover which underlying learning skills need to be strengthened.

Step 4: Explore How to Strengthen the Weak Learning Skills

Cognitive Training is one of the fastest growing markets. Studies prove intense, challenging procedures completed one-on-one will strengthen weak learning skills without any regression. As a child progresses through a procedure, tasks are added requiring greater attention and forcing new skills to become automatic. Research studies have shown a child will gain an average over 3.6 years improvement in all deficient skills within 10 weeks! This type of training requires working with a certified trainer at least 5 hours a week for 12 weeks. The programs offer a variety of choices to work through to completion. The child, trainer and parent(s) all have a role to play in this type of therapy. The programs are not academic in nature and the children enjoy themselves. The results show great improvement but the children will notice the differences themselves without needing an assessment. They can list one to several noticeable changes a week that contribute to an improved academic and social life.

Step 5: Make your Decision
If your child has difficulty learning which impacts their self-esteem, school success, parent-child relationships then you should consider further investigation into cognitive therapy. There is plenty of studies and research results to back up the programs. A child can compensate for only so long when trying to avoid weak learning skills. Eventually, the child will run out of options. Help is available to your child through cognitive therapy.

By following the five steps outlined in this article, parents can understand that learning challenges are complex but manageable. They do not necessarily go away. However, with proper advances in science, there are alternative methods proving to be successful. Children with learning challenges are now creating new neuropathways to enable faster more efficient processing. By completing a cognitive therapy program, children lives are being changed. With new neuropathways and stronger learning skills, children once considered out of synch can now become active participants in the overall learning process.

For more information on the article you just read email colleenbain@comcast.net or visit our website http://www.els4kids.com Colleen Bain has a Masters in Special Education. She is certified in special and general education. She has been married for 16 years now and been blessed with two children with special needs. She has over 11 years of experience with special needs and over 20 years business experience. As sole proprietor of Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids, Colleen provides intense one-on-one intensive cognitive training to individuals ages 6 and older. Copyright © Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids 2008