Great Summer Reading List for Colorado Elementary School Students

The summer is a great time for your students to relax, but all that downtime can result in a phenomenon called the summer slide. Studies show that students lose up to 20% of the academic gains they made in the previous year.

Encouraging reading is a great gift to give your students. They will sail through all those high school and college texts and with every book, they are learning new facts and improving their reading, writing, comprehension and communication skills while expanding their vocabulary. Help your student to get ahead this summer with these enthralling reads.

Poop by Nicola Davies, 2007. A wonderful fecal adventure through the many ways in which animals poop. This is a fun, engaging, scientific exploration of the animal kingdom through the same fart-joke humor your students no doubt already enjoy.

The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (2007). Hugo is an exceptional boy who can fix just about anything. Orphaned at a young age, Hugo finds an ‘automaton’ built by his father who shared his inventive spirit. Hugo is sure that if he is able to repair the robot, it will write a message from his father. This is a wonderful book about the incredible bravery and indomitable spirit of youth. Don’t be surprised if they can’t put this book down!

Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (1992). Ramona has an entire series of books that deal with the inevitable conflicts of young life. In this novel, Susan’s bouncy curls prove irresistible to Ramona who can’t help but pull on them.

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (2003). This is a gripping recount of how the son of migrant farmers leads a 300-mile march for worker’s rights. It’s a truly touching tale that explores the real bravery and incredible resolve of one of the greatest champions of non-violent protests. A great way to learn about a pivotal historic figure.

Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng (2004). Molly’s rather dull existence is transformed by the discovery in her local library of a book that teaches her how to hypnotise. She leverages her new-found talents to get the life she’s always wanted until her efforts are thwarted by a criminal mastermind. If your children love Roald Dahl or J.K. Rowling, then they will love this book.

Dogku by Andrew Clements (2007) is a great way to introduce your students to the haiku. This is a sweet story about a stray dog who finds a loving home. Each page is written in a haiku format and beautifully illustrated.

Atomic Ace (He’s Just My Dad) by Albert Whitman (2004). A truly funny tale of how superhero Atomic Ace deals with family life. Great comic book-style illustrations give the book a hybrid feel and make this a great choice for the visual student who may be a reluctant reader.

Don’t let learning take a vacation this summer! Get all your favorite stories at your library and encourage your students to participate in the library activities.

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Can Wearing Headphones Damage my Child's Hearing?

Ah! The unparalleled tranquility that means you don’t have to listen to One Direction anymore. Headphones do bring some welcome peace and quiet to your household and most teens enjoy listening to music on their smartphones, but when music is played too loudly through headphones, it can result in permanent hearing loss.

According to a study by the Journal of American Medical Association, hearing loss in teens is “30% higher than it was in the ’80s and ’90s”. The study estimates that about 1 in 5 (that’s 6.5 million) US teens suffer some hearing loss from listening to loud music on their headphones.

While you may feel like your hearing is being damaged when your children turn up the volume, you are far safer than when music is played loudly through a headset. The proximity of the transducers to the eardrums is what poses the danger here. Hearing is made possible by tiny hair cells in the cochlea that convert vibrations into electrical signals that travel to the brain. These tiny hairs naturally die out as we age, but can be permanently damaged by too much vibration.

Loud music (or other noise) can result in two kinds of damage. Sensorineural damage occurs in the inner ear when hair cells are negatively affected by loud noises. Each group of hair cells is used to hear a particular frequency of sound. When they die off, that frequency can no longer be heard. High frequency hair cells are the most sensitive and they are the first to succumb to damage. This means that most adults can’t hear frequencies between 3 kHz and 6 kHz.

You can test which frequencies you can no longer hear by following this link. http://digg.com/video/how-good-is-your-hearing.

Tinnitus is a more serious condition in which the hair cells suffer permanent damage. Here the hair cells register vibrations even if there is no sound which results in a persistent buzzing sound.

How loud should headphones be?

Here are the recommended daily doses of sound that the ear can safely manage.

90 dbA  8 hrs

92 dbA  6 hrs

95 dbA  4 hrs

97 dbA  3 hrs

100 dbA 2 hrs

102 dbA 1.5 hrs

105 dbA 1 hr

110 dbA 0.5 hr

115 dbA 0.25 hr or less

Encourage your children to practice caution when they are playing music loudly. While it may be okay for very short periods of time, it could result in damage or permanent hearing loss. Listening to loud music while walking, biking or driving can compromise your ability to pick up dangers in your surrounding environment.  As a general rule, advise your kids to always keep volumes below 70%.

 

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