Weekly Media Roundup: February 6, 2019

Viroqua, La Farge After-School Programs Join Forces for New Journaling Activity, Lacrosse Tribune (Wisconsin)

A new initiative in Wisconsin called the After-School Journal Buddy Program aims to improve students’ literacy abilities and social skills at the same time. The program will pair afterschool program students from two adjacent towns and assign them the same eight picture books to read. The students will send journals back and forth about the books they are reading and then meet at a picnic featuring a local children’s book author. “It fills both of our goals of getting the kids to read, but not in a school-like way," Coordinator Mary Mulvaney-Kemp told the Lacrosse Tribune.

Hey Kid! You've Got the Power!, Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)

Each year, students in the Teen BLOCK (Building Leadership Opportunities, Community and Knowledge) afterschool program in Massachusetts develop their leadership skills through service-learning projects centered around a social issue they select. To create space for broader discussions, the program recently hosted its first RevoYOUTHtion youth conference. Students in grades seven through 12 gathered to discuss issues ranging from mental health to racism, and March For Our Lives Boston organizer Vikiana Petit-Homme served as the keynote speaker. “It was an engaging and enlightening experience that connected me to my peers at a revolutionary level,” student Sydney Cheboryot told the Lowell Sun. “I delved into my own mind to cement and change opinions through others’ information.”

Club Helps Students Develop Green Thumbs, Laughlin Nevada Times (Nevada)

In 4-H afterschool programs in Laughlin, Nevada, students cut and transplant ivy plants, learn about the benefits of various soil options and make new friends in the process. In addition to building students’ interest in science, the programs aim to teach teamwork and communication as students collaborate on hands-on projects. “We are not duplicating what the kids are doing in the classroom; we are supplementing it,” instructor Will Douglas told the Laughlin Nevada Times. “So, when the kids are in science and are learning about botany, they can come here and apply it.”

Minneapolis Teacher Uses Brain Games to Hone Students' Focus, Star Tribune (Minnesota)

Wearing Velcro-strap sensors that can detect brain waves, children in the “Focus for Success” afterschool program in Minneapolis attempt to focus for as long as possible to control the movements of fish in a computer game. The program uses NASA-inspired neurofeedback video games as well as coloring, journaling and mindfulness activities to teach students to concentrate on tasks for longer periods of time. Second-grade teacher Brianna Jensen created the program to help students improve their academics and behavior in a fun, unique environment. “The idea is that by participating in those activities, then the kids are slowly making changes to how their brain acts and how their body responds so that during the school day it will transfer to academics and into the school setting,” Jensen told the Star Tribune.