Innovative Learning Solutions

TASC September eNews: A New Generation of Apprentices

The latest e-newsletter from The After-School Corporation focuses on a new approach to after-school programming for high school students: demanding apprenticeships that go well beyond job placement to offer tangible rewards such as credits or paid work, and the chance to build real world skills.

 Across the country, after-school and youth organizations are developing teen training and apprenticeship programs that engage the most vulnerable high school students in work that excites them, puts them in touch with career masters, and helps them envision that kind of mastery in their own futures. These apprentices typically undergo intensive training not only in the skills they need to do their jobs, but in general life skills: be responsible, be on time, and communicate when there’s a problem. They bond with peers from other schools, making friends with similarly committed kids. And they form strong relationships with adults, many of them youth development professionals who can help kids through challenges at school and at home.

 To learn more about these programs, view the multi-media article on the The After-School Corporation’s Web site: http://www.tascorp.org/section/resources/articles/apprentices/.

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From the National Center for Learning Disabilities

The school year is in full swing, and parents and educators alike are seeking outside support to ensure that students have all the opportunities they need to succeed. Not sure how to begin?  To help you with this often confusing and frustrating search, NCLD is pleased to announce the launch of their new and improved Resource Locator.

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We Can!™ stands for Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition. We Can! is a national education program designed for parents and caregivers to help children 8-13 years old stay at a healthy weight.

Parents and caregivers are the primary influencers for this age group. We Can! offers parents and families tips and fun activities to encourage healthy eating, increase physical activity and reduce sedentary or screen time.

It also offers community groups and health professionals resources to implement programs and fun activities for parents and youth in communities around the country.

Four of the National Institutes of Health have come together to bring you We Can! The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Cancer Institute have combined their unique resources and activities as part of We Can!

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/whats-we-can/index.htm

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Good resource for Afterschool too!
Time Out Fuels Classroom Performance (they do not mean sitting in time out!)

This is a great resource from the National Wildlife Federation.

Time Out Fuels Classroom Performance

For kids these days, back to school sometimes means back indoors. In fact, the opposite should be the case—National Wildlife Federation WF has compiled vast research connecting the dots between classroom performance and time outdoors. 

The new parent and teacher guide, called TIME OUT: Using the Outdoors to Enhance Classroom Performance shares the science behind developmental gaps, nutrition and physical activity implications, and offers solutions to connect the indoor generation back to nature.

The guide is available through NWF’s Be Out There campaign.
The report also features Green Hour’s Top 10 ways to Be Out There — even after school starts!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

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