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First Hanukkah Thanksgiving

Seth Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving 2013 fell on the first night of Hanukkah and it was the first time since 1888 that it fell on Thanksgiving day. The next time will not be for 79,000 years. A group of students and their teachers shared this once in a lifetime event in a video titled, “The First Hanukkah Thanksgiving,” Unfortunately that video is no longer available to Kids Speak for America. In it’s place we would like to share with you The Story of Hanukkah. Hanukkah 2015 begins on Sunday December 6th and ends on Monday December 14th.

Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish holiday also known as the Festival of Lights and Feast of Dedication. This holidy is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev, coinciding with late November to late December in the secular calendar. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E.

Hanukkah is around Christmas time and in the United States, many parents give their children presents, put up Hanukkah light displays and banners, and celebrate in a number of ways.

Filed Under: Historical Events Tagged With: Elementary, Hanukkah, Holidays, Kids, School, Students, Thanksgiving, Video

Christopher Columbus Video by 8th Graders

Seth Leave a Comment

Christopher Columbus Video for Kids

This Christopher Columbus video was made by a group of 8th graders. We first shared it on Kids Speak for America in 2010 and it is just as good today. This is not only a good video for kids but parents also enjoy watching it. This group of kids and their teach made this Christopher Columbus video using clay. Watch it and learn more about Columbus, not only for Columbus Day but also for any day.

Filed Under: Historical Events, Historical People Tagged With: Christopher Columbus, columbus day, School, Students, Video

Living American Flag

Guest Writers and Submissions Leave a Comment

The living American flag, “Whose broad stripes and bright stars,” a site to behold as 6,902 American school children clad in red, white and blue ponchos formed the largest living American flag on September 9, 2014, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of “The Star Spangled Banner,” written by Francis Scott Key’s in September 1814. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Historical People Tagged With: America, Kids, Kids Speak, School, United States, US Flag

Ideas for Improving American Public Education

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American students have received a quality education but there is room for improvement.

The 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test of math and reading, which U.S. fourth and eighth graders take every two years. Those results, released in October 2019, also found that U.S. achievement hasn’t progressed over the past decade and, for low-performing students, was the same as 30 years ago.

The international test administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

In 2009 the tests showed that American students ranked 31st in Math, 23rd in Science, and 17th in Reading when compared to student test takers from 65 countries. The test requires critical thinking and reading comprehension because the questions in all three areas involve word problems about real situations. The mediocre results suggest that American students have opportunities to improve test scores.

What the next testing will show may not look good with many of our nations schools closed as a result of the Coronavirus Epidemic.

students

Many remedies for upgrading America’s schools have been suggested, including revising curricula, remodeling schools, adding electronics features to classrooms, and numerous other improvements. However, most of the suggested remedies suffer from being expensive, logistically difficult, or politically resistant.

On the other hand, there are several changes that would help to improve the American education system and the scores of American students relative to international students that are much simpler and more straightforward.

First, American parents can do a more effective job of helping the public schools and improving their children’s educational performance. Too often American parents feel that supporting their children’s education means attending concerts or games, driving students on field trips, bringing snacks to class, helping with fund raising events, and checking homework. American parents may be the best in the world at doing those things and more in support of schools, but, unfortunately, those things are not the most effective way to support the education of their children.

One of the best activities that a parent can do with their young children is to read to them and to be seen reading. Communicating the joy of reading and helping children become lifelong readers is extremely valuable. Reading with their children also gives parents the opportunity to talk about the ideas and values in the stories and how they apply to real life. When the children are older parents no longer need to read to them, but they should continue to talk about real ideas and values. Parents can talk about the issues in the family, the school, the community, the state, and the nation. This is the type of activity that will help to encourage students to become thinking young adults and prepare them to be wise adults. The benefit to their school work and their testing will be an increase in the student’s ability to think critically and to solve real world problems.

A second remedy to the public education system is to upgrade the selection of teachers. Currently, there are a large number of colleges and universities offering degrees in public school teaching, and the result is that there are far more new teachers each year than are needed. The solution is to decrease the number of colleges and universities that offer a teaching degree and to increase the requirements to be accepted into a teaching degree program. Currently at many colleges it is possible for a student who graduated in the bottom half of their high school class and who are maintaining a C average in their college courses to be accepted into a teaching degree program. A teaching degree should be much more difficult to obtain.

Colleges could upgrade their standards to accept only those students who graduated in the top third of their high school class and who maintain a B average in their college course work into a teaching degree program. At the same time, colleges could increase the rigor of the education department teaching program so that the end result would be fewer but far higher quality teachers being granted a teaching certificate. The prestige of being a teacher would likewise be elevated to the level of being a doctor or an engineer. The benefit to the public education system would be that there would be more highly educated and highly trained teachers in the classrooms able to teach and inspire students to become good critical thinkers.

With these simple but significant changes, American students would not only score higher on international tests but they would be better prepared to address the problems of the world.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: America, College, Education, Kids, School, Teacher, United States, USA

Noah Lamaide an American Kid

Seth 2 Comments

Noah Lamaide is a 12 year old American Kid and lives in Wisconsin. Noah really does speak for America at his website called Noah’s Dream Catcher Network. I really like Noah’s website because it is not about him. This is a website where Noah takes up a cause to help other people which is something all of us should do. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Money Tagged With: America, Kid, Kids, Kids Speak, Money, School, USA, Video

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Articles

  • What is Presidents Day?
  • Happy Thanksgiving
  • Veterans Day
  • Memorial Day a Day of Remembrance
  • Independence Day
  • Flag Day and the Flag of the United States
  • 9-11 Let Us Not Forget
  • Why We Celebrate Labor Day
  • Martin Luther King Was Republican Video
  • United States Accepting Syrian Refugees
  • First Hanukkah Thanksgiving
  • Lonely Soldiers During Thanksgiving
  • Columbus Day World Event
  • Christopher Columbus Video by 8th Graders
  • The Medal of Honor Not a Game
  • Presidents Day in Mrs. Munger’s Class
  • John F. Kennedy Assassination
  • Living American Flag
  • National Grandparents Day
  • Ideas for Improving American Public Education
  • Why Sen. Guillory Became a Republican
  • 10 New Year’s Resolutions Parents Would Like Kids to Make
  • 1st Grade Christmas
  • Pearl Harbor Attack Remembered
  • Meet the Young Marines
  • Noah Lamaide an American Kid
  • Final Landing Shuttle Atlantis Video
  • Atlantis Final Journey with Video
  • Obama’s Solution to Gas for Your Car
  • Trash is Cash
  • Salute to our Arm Forces
  • Endeavor Spacewalk to MIR
  • Space Shuttle Endeavour Last Flight
  • Voting Issues for Kids
  • Spring Break Fun
  • School Science Fair
  • Kids Need to Know About President Reagan!
  • Young People In Egypt Protesting for Democracy
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. was Republican
  • Paying National Debt
  • Bulls Eyes and Cross Hairs on Arizona
  • Christina Taylor Green 9-Year-Old Arizona Shooting Victim
  • Should Our Troops Go or Stay
  • Have A Great 2011
  • Are Kids Dumber Today Than in the Past?
  • Dumb and Dangerous or Just Dumb?
  • Merry Christmas United States Merry Christmas Military
  • Trillion Dollar Explanation
  • Lame Duck Congress
  • The Meaning of Christmas
  • Hiroshima Connection to Hawaii
  • Pearl Harbor Proclamation by Pres. Roosevelt

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presidents day

Presidents Day: Not Just a No School Day Presidents Day is not just a day off from school or work. On Presidents Day became a national holiday in 1879. First celebrated on Washington’s birthday it was later changed to the third Wednesday of February. Today, we celebrate all Presidents that have led our nation. This […]

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