velocityconf: RT @OReillyAnimals Advice, please! Elephant Listening Project asks for ideas/solutions/help with 3 practical problems http://t.co/Y90YP3maoz

Apple has released iOS 17.7.1 and iPadOS 17.7.1 for iPhone and iPad users who are not running iOS 18, which was just updated to includes support for Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1. The software updates include important security fixes, making them important updates to install if you’re still running the prior major ... Read More

Apple Intelligence is here on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and while the system requirements are strict, the Apple devices that are new and powerful enough to use the AI tools now gain some really fantastic features. We’re going to show you six helpful Apple Intelligence features and uses that you’ll find beneficial to your workflow, ... Read More

The second beta versions of iOS 18.2, MacOS Sequoia 15.2, and iPadOS 18.2 are now available for users participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. The new betas continue to focus on additional Apple Intelligence features, expanding beyond the writing tools, smart replies, and summary features what was initially introduced in iOS ... Read More

The third betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and MacOS Sequoia 15.2, are available for beta testers of Apple system software. The latest betas continue to emphasize on new Apple Intelligence features, including ChatGPT integration, Genmoji custom Emoji creation, Image Playground for AI image generation, and more. These new AI features are in addition to ... Read More

We hear a lot about diversity and inclusion these days, often as it relates to books for young readers. Just as publishing for children and teens has evolved over the years, so has adults’ perception of youth and what is appropriate for them.

Teachers can use evidence-based strategies for delivering vocabulary instruction to improve reading comprehension and vice versa by integrating literacy across content areas. These should engage students in active processing, which is essential to student learning and retention.

Every year, educators worry about “summer slide,” the potential for learning loss when children are not in school. This issue is more pronounced among low-income families who don’t have access to summer camps or other enrichment activities. One way to battle summer slide is through reading for fun, which is associated with many academic and health benefits, including strengthening the brain, increasing ability to empathize, reducing stress and building vocabulary.

Pandemic academic recovery in both reading and math is lagging notably behind pre-COVID achievement trends for students in grades 4-8 during the 2022-23 school year, according to a new report by NWEA analyzing MAP Growth test scores of 6.7 million students across 20,000 public schools. Third-graders were the only group who saw improvements, and they were slight, according to NWEA, an educational research organization recently acquired by learning technology company HMH.

Parents of kids with ADHD often say their kids miss social cues, such as when peers are bored, hurt or offended, according to Amori Mikami, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada. “It can lead to a lot of outbursts or temper tantrums or whining and complaining or arguing with the friend,” she said. Mikami researches peer relationships, specifically focusing on children with ADHD. Additionally, she developed a parental friendship coaching (PFC) model where parents of elementary school-age kids can learn to support their child in making friends.

The science of reading, while typically villainized for solely advocating phonics, is misrepresented as a phonics program, while really, it is a body of research that informs the most effective way to teach decoding and language comprehension. The definition of the science of reading, provided by The Reading League, is “the vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing.” The term “science of reading” does not equate to phonics. That term does not equate to comprehension.

A new FutureEd report, The Reading Revolution: How States Are Scaling Literacy Reform, tells the story of how Mississippi, Tennessee and other states at the vanguard of the reading revolution have redesigned reading instruction and raised student achievement in thousands of public schools through bold, state-level leadership. These states have addressed every aspect of early literacy, from how teachers and prospective teachers are trained to the curriculum they use, how students are assessed and whether children are retained rather than promoted to the next grade.

I’m writing this for all the parents out there: Don’t leave your child’s reading success to chance. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I was one of those parents. Sure, my wife and I read to our son every night, and we had plenty of books, newspapers and magazines around the house. Our local public school spent a lot of time on literacy too, but I cringe now as I look back on how they did it. They taught kids to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words using pictures, the first letter or other context clues.

Folk tales are meant to be flexible things, open-source stories infinitely moldable to the needs of teller and era. That’s the wonder of them — and of “The Skull,” an old Tyrolean yarn distilled to its droll essentials and marvelously reimagined by the Caldecott medalist (and national treasure) Jon Klassen. Klassen’s version, accompanied by a generous helping of his odd and beautiful illustrations, follows a young girl named Otilla who, one snowy night, “finally” runs away from home. She becomes hopelessly lost in a deep, dark forest.

The itinerary on my 13-day Norwegian cruise was too packed. Spending only two of the 13 days at sea left me exhausted, even as a seasoned cruiser.

With the fall season in full swing, a Business Insider reporter decided to make three cozy, comforting meals in a Crock-Pot.

Morgan Stanley analysts say Tesla will surge if it can expand to be an AI giant, which may be more likely if Elon Musk exerts influence in a second Trump term.

If Trump's proposed 60% tariff against China is enacted and the country responds aggressively, it could pressure some of America's largest companies.

Bond yields spiked aggressively as investors awaited Wednesday's inflation data for October.

Shopify's surge added fuel to Canada's strong market rally, helping its benchmark index cross 25,000 for the first time.

A tech recruiting firm left a database unsecured that exposed emails, passport numbers and partial SSNs of job seekers, a security researcher says.

Trump has started filling key White House roles, starting with Susie Wiles as his chief of staff.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, under Donald Trump's administration, Trump said.

Soldiers and police were patrolling Mozambique's capital Maputo early on Thursday ahead of a planned protest against election results seen by the opposition as fraudulent.

We want readers to make connections between books and their own lives and the world around them. Connecting real experiences for kids with literary ones is something that I’ve found also helps readers value books and knowledge. And it is so much fun to extend the pages of a story into a real-world activity!

First grade can bring a lot of changes! Even if your child had a great kindergarten year, there can be lots of new routines and expectations for first graders that can feel really different for students (and families). Here’s what you need to know.

Over the past decade, parent advocacy groups led a grassroots movement resulting in most states adopting dyslexia-specific legislation, with many states mandating the use of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach to reading instruction. Orton-Gillingham is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive approach to reading for students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities (WLRD). Evidence from a prior synthesis and What Works Clearinghouse reports yielded findings lacking support for the effectiveness of OG interventions.

Texts classified according to guided reading levels (GRL) are ubiquitous in U.S. beginning reading classrooms. This study examined features of texts across three grade bands (kindergarten, early first grade, final first grade) and the 10 GRLs within these bands. The 510 texts came from three programs with different functions in beginning reading instruction: core, intervention, and content areas.

When we’re asked to switch to explicit, systematic instruction, many teachers worry that we’ll no longer be able to tailor our teaching to the students in front of us. Calls for whole-class phonics instruction lasting 30-45 minutes, for example, summon fears that our  students will be bored by concepts they already know or aren’t yet ready for.

Teacher question: Can you provide clarification on how to promote shared reading in the structured literacy era and how that differs from shared reading in the balanced literacy era. I would think a teacher could certainly initially read the text aloud to students to model fluency and expression, but then must ensure students can get the words off the page and reread by decoding the words, rather than parroting the teacher or memorizing the shared reading text that may be a rhyme/song that is catchy. Shanahan's response:

Sure, some airlines let you work in a free stopover. But Turkish Airlines goes one step further and offers up a free city tour on a stopover as short as six hours. Maybe getting into a shuttle bus and tooling around Istanbul after seven hours on an Airbus isn’t your cup of tea, but if […]

Sometimes our WordPress plugin users need to create an Admin user account for their sites. In this tutorial I will share a small PHP code with you that can be used to create a WordPress Administrator user to your site. Alternatively, you can also create a WordPress admin user via MySQL. You will need to […]

The post Add a WordPress Admin User Account via PHP appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.

Many blog owners have recently started to monetize their websites by selling physical or digital products to their loyal customers from their sidebar. If you have a loyal following, perhaps you run a small blog from a WordPress website, there is no reason why you cannot try to make a little side cash by creating […]

The post Adding PayPal Payment Buttons to Your WordPress Sidebar Easily appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.

  Background When my son was nearing 14 years, I mentioned to him that I read James Clavell’s epic novel Shogun  (1136 pages) around the age of 15 i.e. his age. Reading a book like Shogun at age 15 is admittedly not typical reading for a 15-year-old. But I have always been an avid reader [...]

Nvidia might have some serious competition in the AI chip space coming. Amazon is now seeking to bring its own… Continue reading Amazon readies new AI chip to compete with Nvidia

The post Amazon readies new AI chip to compete with Nvidia appeared first on ReadWrite.

Meta is taking the European Union a little more seriously, as the EU has requested the US-based company to put… Continue reading Meta and the EU butt heads again amid changes to ads

The post Meta and the EU butt heads again amid changes to ads appeared first on ReadWrite.

The Central American nation of El Salvador currently holds nearly 5,932 Bitcoin (BTC), and sits on over $93 million of… Continue reading El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption is paying off: $93M unrealized profit

The post El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption is paying off: $93M unrealized profit appeared first on ReadWrite.

Elon Musk could have a role in Donald Trump’s White House, and this could mean stricter AI standards. It’s no… Continue reading Musk and Trump’s relationship could lead to tougher AI standards

The post Musk and Trump’s relationship could lead to tougher AI standards appeared first on ReadWrite.

A family in Brackenfell, Cape Town, is looking for their missing teenage son, whom they last saw on Saturday morning heading to visit a friend in the area.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola threw diplomacy out the window on Tuesday and responded angrily when he was asked whether South Africa and the ANC were "protecting its friend" Frelimo in troubled Mozambique.

Scientific tests confirm rivers and dams have been poisoned by the raw sewage dumped by the municipality in the Bloubankspruit and Crocodile Rivers, killing aquatic life and destroying businesses and livelihoods.

A formal disciplinary process, or lack thereof, around the suspensions of two high-ranking officials at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has pitted Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Pamela Nkabane against NSFAS administrator Freeman Nomvalo.

When Ebrahim Rasool returns to Washington in December as South Africa's ambassador, one of his primary goals is to reposition Pretoria as a "moral superpower"

Gauteng legislature secretary Linda Mwale has signed a sweetheart agreement with Nehawu to let 32 employees accused of defrauding the institution off the hook.

A minimal design, compact size, and true HEPA filter make Sharp's FPK50UW Air Purifier an affordable clean-home solution for travelers.

The post Why We Made a Home Air Purifier Part of Our Travel Lifestyle appeared first on Vagabondish.

Iif you're a new owner or just bought your first travel trailer, these are the must-have travel trailer accessories that may not have occurred to you.

The post Travel Trailer Accessories You Absolutely Need (Read This BEFORE Your First Trip) appeared first on Vagabondish.

July was a big month for model releases: There are new large models from Mistral and Meta, smaller multilingual models from Mistral and DeepL, another Mistral model that specializes in code generation, and a small version of GPT-4o. The security world saw another software supply chain disaster when CrowdStrike released a bad software update that […]