Newsletter

Veiw the text version below or download the PDF version here. (To download to your computer Windows - right click and choose save target to disc. Macintosh right click or Contol-Click and choose download link to disc)

Current articles:
1. Gathering Tools for Learning
2. What is an interactive learning border?
3. Development goals tied to Math and Science TAKS
4. Knowledge Integration Project - Nature through the Seasons
5. Overview of Room Development Plan
6. Notices and Requests

From the Founder...
Gathering the Tools for Learning

What do you do when your child asks you something about the world we live in? When they ask you about gravity, or motion, or the seasons, or why there is day and night - are you at ease telling them about Copernicus? Kepler? Galileo? And Newton?

A child’s curiousity and enthusiasm will drive them to ask a million questions. Do you feel prepared to answer their questions? Or is it easier to put them off, and tell them it has been a long time since you studied a certain subject? Would a deeper understanding of the basics help us all find respite from the problems of the day, and help us be more useful to our children?

As a parent, I am always looking for a good way to explain the most basic questions to my own children. When asked a question, I am often confronted with a gap or memory lapse from the education of my youth. And I find myself scrambling to come up with the right information so that I don’t give my child just enough to confuse him. So where is that basic knowledge when I need it.?

For the past three years, the Onebranch team has been pondering this question, during our search to find useful books, videos and websites that effectively present the basics in science and mathematics. We’ve found some good resources, but we have wanted a place to consolidate what we have found, and make it accessible to all of our children.

So, we at OneBranch have become committed to creating a place where some of the most essential knowledge could be accessed easily, with interactive explanations and pointers to books and useful resources.

We want to pull our resources together and build a virtual place, designed with a high priority on useability - to augment the efforts at improving proficiency throughout the nation. This kind of interactive library could be a useful tool to add to community literacy and academic enrichment programs. It could be useful to students whose first language is not English, and to foreign-language parents of bilingual children. We would also love to reach out to adult learners and reluctant readers who are embarrassed to say what they don’t know.

It seems to me, that as members of our community, as parents, and as educators, we can and must significantly impact the quality of information and ideas our children receive. And I have a hunch that information and ideas with just the right mix of curiosity and enthusiasm, can lead to innovation that will further enhance our life and our ability to do productive work. All of us at Onebranch - the Board of Directors, the Development Team, The Volunteers, and the Advisors - are anxious to hear from parents, teachers, principals, librarians, and students. We hope you will get involved in our effort to make the Onebranch Interactive Library a valuable place for accessing information essential to our lives and our children’s future.

We know we have a long way to go! Please join us. The value of your experience will enrich the journey, and perhaps shorten the process.

Lisa Westbrook