Great find: middle school website

Hi all,
Had to get this on the blog before I completely forget- things seem so, so busy right now and my mind is going in too many directions but I was messing around this weekend and came across a site that has so many amazing articles for parents and teachers...
check out www.middleweb.com and follow the link to the blog run by Tom Saunders called "lessons learned in the Middle".
The article that particularly drew me in was the one posted that was written by Mary M. Alward about adolescents and sleep. It is called, "Adolescents, Sleep and Learning", and it suggests that most of today's adolescents are chronically sleep deprived. This means that, among other things, their memory, judgement, creativity, immune system and ability to learn are impaired which causes irritability, depression and lack of emotional control. Fascinating!
Considering the finger tip technology that most of our children are bombarded with and the number of students who have that technology in their bedrooms it is not surprising that they have trouble 'winding down'.
The article also provides some suggestions for how to help including making sure rooms are dark, removing technology from bedrooms, establishing patterns around sleep that are followed during the school week and allowing only two or three hours sleep in on the weekends. I know, I know easier said than done but...the information is worth a read.
Ther is also a great article about 'over-parenting'. The term is 'helicopter parents' and it has become a huge issue in our society.
Anyway, see what you think. :)
FYI have been preparing a newsletter for Monday. Until then...
Mrs. J.