Chemistry Shapes - Makers Choice

Chemistry Shapes - Makers' ChoiceChemistry shapes, from the world of gourds to toy cars, can be found almost anywhere. The importance of using these shapes in your home could not be stressed enough! They bring about many benefits for you, your children and your pocketbooks.A gourd is a very versatile shape. You can choose from a variety of materials for your gourd. You can get them shaped from wood, plastic or even wooden beads. The only problem with these gourds is that the natural shapes of the wood won't last long if you leave it to weather and they will begin to decompose. To avoid this, many people use decorative gourds that are molded from plastic, ceramic or even marble.For children, there are many shapes of cars available for them to play with. There are toy cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, scooters, pedal cars, karts, flat trackers, ATVs, minibuses, planes, trains, boats, roller bladers, canoes, boomerangs, skates, surfboards, snowboards, biplanes, parachutes, motorized skat eboards, mini karts, kites, and many more. Many of these toys are made to look like real, living things, such as lakes, oceans, rivers, lakes, trees, mountains, hills, telegraph poles, sun, clouds, and so on.For the adult in the family, you have a plethora of shapes for your gourds. You can get gourds shaped from glass, metal, ceramic, marble, granite, or even porcelain. All of these gourds can be used for decorative purposes in your home. You can use the shaped gourds as table legs, stands, fountain bases, aquariums, window frames, kitchen accessories, houseplants, garden accessories, window boxes, dining tables, and many more. Because these products come in a variety of shapes, they can easily blend into your home decor.Shapes of gourds are ideal gifts for your kids. Children love them and play with them quite often. Some of the shape options are best used by the older kids, as they can get them playing and having fun with them while giving them gifts. For younger kids, they also give them a colorful alternative to the regular colored shapes of gourds, so that they get the opportunity to experience colors too. Even, some of the shapes are more suited for the taste of children, which is why, it's advisable that you consult a child psychologist before making your purchase.Gourds are perfect when it comes to food. When eating gourds, parents should make sure that the product is fresh and that the filling is made of quality ingredients. One must also be careful to wash the gourds. They can be very difficult to wash, so it's better to ensure that the product is clean before using it for cooking. In addition, if you don't eat the gourds, then the bacteria present in them can be passed on to you, the food, causing food poisoning.It's true that gourds are quite a versatile shape. They bring about many benefits to our everyday lives. From food, to houseplants, to toys, to decorations, to gifts for children, and so on, it's important that you have gourds. You'll never go wrong if you find the right shape for your needs!

Want to Do Better in School Develop Plans, Set Specific Goals, and Monitor Progress

Want to Do Better in School Develop Plans, Set Specific Goals, and Monitor Progress Improving Academic Performance It is natural to believe that most successful students either have an above average IQ or work very hard, or both. This is an almost universally accepted perspective. But I think it misses the mark by quite a bit. Students often succeed because of the choices they make and the actions they take. In other words, they succeed because of the strategies they employ. To learn more about the notion of success coming from “what you do” and not “who you are” check out this Harvard Business Review article by Heidi Grant Halvorson. In this article, we’ll describe three basic strategies for improving performance in school. Set specific goals Build a plan Monitor progress and adjust Set Specific Goals The more specific the goal, the better. Why? Because the more specific the goal, the clearer idea you’ll have in your head about what it means to reach it, and thus the better positioned you’ll be to plan out the steps required to achieve it. In other words, the more specific the goal, the more likely it is that you can develop a good plan of attack. Let’s use a simple example. You worked reasonably hard but got a C in your math class first semester, and your goal is to do better in the next semester. If you leave it at that, a C+ might represent meeting your goal, because that’s better than the “C.” The plan required to get a C+ vs. an A will be very different. That might seem obviously, but many people set the goal of “doing better in class” but really do wish they could get an A. They might be afraid to set a goal of getting an A, because they are worried they might fail. However, once you set that specific goal, you are ready acknowledge the steps you’ll have to take to get there. You are ready to develop a plan. Develop Plans When people are planning evenings out with their friends or events like birthday parties, etc. they find it natural to plan. They’ll make reservations, get feedback on restaurants, etc. and develop an outline of how the night will go. But for whatever reason, this is not the natural way that many people approach school. Perhaps it’s because teachers assign homework and announce timing for quizzes and tests, so the whole experience of going to school feels very structured and planned out for you. Although some specific classes are structured such that everything is planned out for you, it is a mistake to think that school in general doesn’t require a lot of planning on the part of a student who wants to be particularly successful. Success in school is about much more than working hard. So, what does it really mean to develop a plan in the context of performing well in school? Well, you can and should plan on multiple levels and these plans should be tied to your goals (see the previous section). You should have a high-level plan for how you approach high school or college (what types of classes will you take, what activities will you pursue, etc.), plans for each year, plans for each course (when will you study for the course, how will you get help, etc.), plans for upcoming tests (i.e., what material will you review, how long will you study, when will you study, etc.) and even plans for how you’ll complete your homework on any given night. Here’s an example of how to think about developing a college admissions plan. Monitor progress and adjust Once you’ve set a goal and mapped out a plan for achieving it, you need to develop a way to measure your progress. In the context of school, that should not need to be a difficult task. If you are in high school, many classes have many homework assignments, quizzes, and tests. So, a simple strategy is to just schedule the time to prepare for and complete all of these to the best of your ability, and then be honest about whether you are on track to meet your goal or not. If your goal is to get an A, you need to, obviously, get an A on a clear majority of these assignments. If you are missing half of the problems on your homework, you are not on track to get 95% of them correct on the next test. So, if you missed a day of class, and are sitting down to do your homework and are finding it particularly difficult, this probably means you are starting to fall behind. Don’t ignore this feedback. Similarly, if you bomb a relatively inconsequential quiz, don’t just tell yourself that it wasn’t worth too many points and doesn’t matter. If you are not understanding certain material in the class, this could start compounding into a situation where you are very far behind, and in danger of doing poorly on an important test, midterm, or final. Summary One common term you may have heard about as it relates to goals is that they should be SMART. Or, Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timebound. In this article, we’ve covered what it means to be specific, and of course to monitor progress, a goal must be “measurable,” which we also covered. A good goal is also actionable, meaning you can envision what to do to go after it. If you think about it, if a goal isn’t actionable, you’d have a hard time developing a plan of attack for achieving it. So, that ties in to our section on developing plans. A good goal is also realistic, meaning it’s something you really could achieve if you work at it. Finally, it needs to be timebound, meaning that you set a specific time by when you plan to have reached the goal. Here’s a good article on SMART goals. If you follow the simple three step process of setting specific goals, developing plans, and monitoring your progress, you’ll be on your way to better performance in school.

5 Reasons Why Students Should Take Art Or Music Lessons

5 Reasons Why Students Should Take Art Or Music Lessons 5 reasons to take art or music lessons after school The classroom offers students a great environment to learn about core subjects, learn to work in a group, and develop time management skills. Some schools offer extracurricular activities in the sciences, art, and music but most childrens creative experiences are limited to afterschool opportunities. One of the best things for young children to try includes music and art lessons. Creative subjects do all sorts of great things for young minds including the development of great problem-solving skills, thinking outside of the box, working as a team, and learning excellent social skills. Here are five reasons why students should take art or music lessons after school. 1.   promote creativity The most obvious reason to take part in art or music lessons is to promote creativity. Creativity helps keep kids happy and curious and can even help them improve their concentration for when they need to work on English and math. Many children are creative by nature but often lose this creativity as many other demanding assignments take up their time. Afterschool art and music lessons allow kids to discover paint, color, clay, melody, and rhythm and also make them feel happy and excited about learning. 2.   Diversified interests Another great reason for students to do an afterschool creative project is to diversify their interests. Many schools focus well on reading comprehension, writing, and math skills but todays student doesnt have as much of a chance to diversify their personal interests and explore what theyre really good at. Some students have an innate ability in the arts and music while others might learn a new skill or just enjoy their time in a hands-on environment. It’s not essential that kids develop a specific talent but just that they explore new activities and learn to share their new found creativity with others (READ: Los Angeles Tutoring Tips: 5 Study Habits That Help Every Student). 3.   Problem-solving Students who participate in creative extracurricular activities such as art or music can also learn great problem-solving skills. For instance, perhaps a student is trying to create a certain shade of green to paint with, but they only have yellow, blue, and red paint. There is a relatively simple solution to this particular problem but, a young kid will have to think about what they should do next. Once students learn these simple problem-solving skills, they can apply them to other creative projects as well as their academic activities within the classroom. A student who can problem solve can find a solution to any academic or career issue down the road our private San Diego academic tutors are here to help your child with his/her problem-solving skills. 4.   Socialization Students who participate in kinesthetic activities such as art also have the opportunity to socialize in a semi-structured environment. Students might play different parts in an orchestra or be involved in a group art project within their community. They might share materials and a workspace while creating their masterpiece. Kids wont have the same restrictions on behavior as they do in the classroom, but there will be some adult supervision so students can learn how to share, deal with different personality types, and have fun in this type of social situation. 5.   Reduce stress Reducing stress is a real issue for students of all ages these days. Art and music have been known to soothe anxiety and help stressed out students from K through 12 learn how to cope with difficult times. Whether a student is studying for an exam, applying to college, or trying to get through a challenging passage in a chapter book in the second grade, creative outlets help keep kids happy, calm and focused on the big picture. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write

Culturally Responsive Teaching Course Review

Culturally Responsive Teaching Course Review Teachers today hear a lot of talk about overcoming gaps in education - especially the cultural gap between students and teachers. As the students we teach grow more and more diverse, we know how critical it is to engage all of our students in ways that are culturally appropriate. While my teaching preparation program had dipped into some of the theories around culturally responsive teaching, it was pretty light on the practical side. Fresh out of teachers college, I was looking for a flexible professional development offering that would give me the opportunity to uncover best practices, learn new strategies and become better equipped to work with diverse students and parents. Despite the current emphasis placed on the importance of culturally responsive teaching, there was surprisingly very little in the way of professional learning opportunities out there on this very topic. Happily, an online search led me to discover Teach Away Professional Development and their new online course offering,Culturally Responsive Teaching: Connecting with students and parents of different cultures, centered on establishing cultural inclusivity in the classroom and school community. Culturally Responsive Teaching course overview Course name: Culturally responsive teaching: Connecting with students and parents of different cultures Time: 1.5 hours Course fee: $99 Delivery format: 100% online Assessment: Multiple choice exam and written assignment My verdict: Yes, this course is worth your time! Read on to learn more about my experience taking the course. What I learned from the Culturally Responsive Teaching course Professional development courses, in my opinion, need to offer concrete takeaways that teachers can implement in their classrooms right away. This online course offered me all this in the form of lesson plan structures, downloadable activities to help me reflect on my own practice, as well as simple tasks to help me build inclusivity through co-teaching and pedagogical documentation exercises. The course also taught me about the unseen aspects of culture which may play a role in establishing an inclusive classroom. These unseen aspects of culture, like variations in language patterns, tone of voice, facial and hand gestures, and beliefs about gender and sexual orientation impact the dynamics of the classroom. Culturally Responsive Teaching taught me how to carefully address these cultural differences with students and parents, instead of assuming that ignoring the differences makes the classroom a culturally neutral space. It also helped me to understand how to bring students’ families into the school community. In spaces where learners are not all included, we cannot say there is equal access to knowledge and education. Culturally responsive teaching: Bridging theory and practice This course is based upon ample research completed by renowned educational theorists. Notable theories and content highlighted came from Geneva Gay and Fred Korthagen, as well as other prominent researchers in the field of culturally responsive teaching. The best part about Culturally Responsive Teaching, though? It actually moved beyond theory and offered practical strategies for the classroom. For example, two popular concepts in education are pedagogical documentation and establishing critical thinking skills in students through inquiry-based activities. This course offered me easy takeaways to actually tackle these complex activities in the classroom, which hasn’t often been the case in other professional development courses for teachers I’ve taken before. The final assignment gives an outline to create a resource portfolio that would welcome parents and students to your classroom by focusing on cultural inclusion. Instructions are given to develop a lesson plan, resource list, framework and rationale for an area of focus. A comment I hear time and again from other teachers is that the last thing they need is another task piled on them at work. I get it, time is precious! Through this course, I learned that being a culturally inclusive educator does not mean you’re adding another task on top of what you already need to do. One thing to remember is to take the process of becoming culturally competent one step at a time. On the road to becoming a culturally competent teacher Culturally Responsive Teaching helped me realize my own biases and personal assumptions and where I had opportunities to grow professionally in terms of cultural inclusivity. Learning how to include all cultures and understanding differences even in our own countries means identifying what you know and do not know, and this course helps you to do this in a non-judgemental way. Geneva Gay, whose work is often cited throughout Culturally Responsive Teaching, states that schools’ values and actions are not culturally neutral, as one may believe. Everything from classroom discipline, to teaching, to the levels of student and teacher responsibilities reflect the dominant cultural ideology and can cause a disconnect between students’ school and personal lives. The course taught me that culture will be shaped around us and the interactions we have every day with students and their parents or guardians. Just as we teach numeracy and literacy, we must also teach students how to develop ethnic and cultural literacy. By providing information about history and contributions of ethnic groups in class, students will be included and committed to learning and participating in globalized settings. Overall, I would recommend Culturally Responsive Teaching to any teacher, regardless of the subject or grade you teach. It was reasonably priced, useful, easy to follow and - most importantly - relevant to my teaching practice.

Best Online Resources for Chemistry The best science web sites for chemistry help and learning chemistry for free

Best Online Resources for Chemistry The best science web sites for chemistry help and learning chemistry for free While one-on-one tutoring and instruction like we do here at Frog Tutoring is the best way to learn, online supplemental resources are great for any subject. This is especially true if you're stuck on one concept--which is easy to have happen in a chemistry class. Here are some free resources on the internet that are reliable and helpful.1. Khan AcademyKhan Academy is a website from Salman Khan who decided to create Youtube videos after tutoring his niece. He thought that it would be beneficial for people to learn in a practical manner and for all to see. Khan Academy is a great website for all math and science classes due to the in depth problems he goes into as well as the depth he goes into each subject. Khan breaks down each section in an easy to understand way which is extremely helpful for the visual part in chemistry. Now, there is a whole team who actually teach other subjects as well--business, finance, economics, and many more science courses.javascript:nicTemp();2. ChemTub e 3DThis website is great for understanding a bit more on how organic reactions work. The website gives a visual representation of each part of the reaction and show how the electrons move around during each step. This is good for visual learners who have trouble visualizing the mechanisms that go on in organic chemistry. The website also gives an explanation as to what happens during each reaction.javascript:nicTemp();3. MIT OpencoursewareIf you have a problem with the way your professor teaches, maybe you just need another lecturer. MIT opencourseware gives tons of course lectures in many subjects given at MIT. They prepare each lecture around more advanced chemistry courses that follows the class structure found in most universities. Why not learn from the smartest in the field?javascript:nicTemp();4. Interactive Periodic TableThis website gives you everything you need for a periodic table. It tells you the melting and boiling points to the electronegativity to even the amount of valence electrons. It even gives you a list of compounds where you can find everything you need. Everything is right at your fingertips without even looking at the back of a book over and over for your information.javascript:nicTemp();If you've tried these and are still stuck, contact a tutor in your area today by visiting the Frog Tutoring website. We even have pages for your city/area, and if you use the menu or search function. If you don't see a page for your city, don't worry--we have instructors nationwide and many of us also use Skype to help students at a distance. Happy learning!

Ask a Nerd! Writers Block - TutorNerds

Ask a Nerd! Writers Block - TutorNerds Ask a Nerd! Question: I always get writer’s block. What’s the cure? Brief: Writer’s block is very common but it can drain a lot of your time. This can become especially important if you are doing an in-class essay for an AP class or if you are limited to 25-30 minutes for your SAT or ACT essay. As an Orange County private English tutor, I recommend breaking up your writing process into two steps. Answer I once had a fabulous professor who told me to “just write” and worry about the rest later. I found his advice to be extremely helpful throughout the rest of college and beyond. Break your writing up into two steps: Writing and editing (READ: 5 Reasons Students Should Blog). Step 1 Just write. Write anything, anything at all. Write something that has to do with the subject. Write something that has nothing to do with the subject. If you are particularly stuck then write: “I don’t know what to write because I have writer’s block and I don’t really have a stance on whether or not authority figures are an important part of my life because I think it’s just a good idea to do as I’m told”. Oh wait, you just wrote a rough draft for your thesis on authority figures! See how that works? If you have something on paper, an Irvine English tutor can help you with step two but a tutor can do absolutely nothing with a blank page. I also like to call writer’s block ‘blank page syndrome’, because a blank page is really no help at all. Getting back to the point Write down anything. You can write about the weather or how you are annoyed that you have to sit down and write. The main idea is to get the brain started on its task and to cease avoiding the undertaking of essay writing (READ: Five Books to Help You Write Well). Step 2 Edit. Once you have a rough draft with tons of typos, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and sentence structure issues (remember this is part of a rough draft), you can move on to the editing process. Getting the content down is the most important part, and you have already completed that. You can edit on your own, edit with a study group or ask a tutor for help. If you are in an AP class or if the SAT exam is in your near future, then I recommend having a tutor look through at least some of your work to see if you are on the right track. Step 3 Time yourself. If you are planning to prepare for a timed essay then you need to practice getting your time down to at least 2-3 minutes under the clock. So, if you only have 25 minutes to complete an essay, then you should be able to finish in 22-23 minutes after a lot of practice. Timed writing is one of the most common problems for students as it is much easier to write, and write well when you have plenty of time. Master the first two steps and don’t start on step three until you feel entirely comfortable that your content and editing abilities are first-rate. A tutor can also help you with many strategies for speed writing (and speed reading). You can start by timing yourself using the quick-timer on your phone. Remember to practice in a place with little to no noise distractions (CLICK: Top Ten Tips For Timed Writing). Have a question for one of our nerds? Tweet it to us @TutorNerds. Give yourself the TutorNerds advantage by checking back often for the latest in our “Ask a Nerd” series. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us post about.

Organic Chemistry Tutor Mole to Mole Ratio

Organic Chemistry Tutor Mole to Mole RatioOrganic Chemistry Tutor Mole to Mole Ratio may refer to a certain school of thought, a formula for research and knowledge, a theme or a tactic in regards to various experiments. It can also refer to the only accepted way of determining the ratio of two or more molecules that come from the same molecule.The molecular formula can be found in some elementary textbooks. In actuality, the true basis is the ratio of base to free base (BA) which is determined by the following laws: 'Free' means uncharged; 'Bases' means molecules that are not charged; 'Determinant' refers to the ratio of the mass of the charged molecules to the mass of the uncharged molecules. A general formula would refer to that ratio.Molecule: Molecules are a group of atoms arranged in a specific position in space such as one atom is nearest the others. Molecules are generally called monomers. Molecules have existed since the beginning of time but are present today due to biologic al processes.Molecule Ratio: Molecules and Molecule Ratio terms that were previously associated with life. However, researchers and biologists still use the term 'molecule' to refer to the smallest unit of living matter.Law of Conservation of mass: One of the laws that govern the behavior of the universe as it relates to space and time is that the number of atoms in a molecule remains constant. Other laws of the universe include the conservation of energy, charge, spin, angular momentum, temperature, pressure, and even the speed of light.Molecule Mole Equation: This equation determines the ratio of Molecules to Molecules. Molecules are elementary particles made up of protons, neutrons, electrons, and quarks. They comprise the first building blocks of all matter. Molecules behave as atoms, which will be explained in a moment.Molecules include nuclei, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. Molecules are held together by bonds which are chemical bonds which are made of atoms, which has a much lower level of energy.