【推荐1】It can be tough to pull kids away from their computers and mobile phones these days. While they’re playing games, wouldn’t it be great if they could be learning at the same time? Good educational apps offer fun challenges that teach specific grade-level skills. Here are four that combine fun and learning.

Understanding Math ($ 3. 99;iOS)

Understanding Math goes beyond basic comprehension to gain a deeper understanding of the whys and hows of math. The app tracks your child’s progress to determine strengths and weaknesses in different skill areas, and you can customize(订制)your child’s learning experience to suit the needs.

Word Creativity Kiti ($2. 99;iOS)

Word Creativity Kit aims not only to make creative writing fun but also build up grammar rules. The app presents a series of words from seven categories, such as space or fantasy. Kids add their own words to finish the complete thoughts that these words have inspired.

Barefoot World Atlas1($ 4. 99;iOS)

Barefoot World Atlas helps kids learn about geography and world cultures with a touch of the screen. Each region features a set of sub-topics, from wildlife and natural features to native people, landmarks, and architecture. These facts and illustrations are delivered in photographs, sounds, and hundreds of mini videos.

My Grades & Homeworki ($0. 99;iOS)

A combination of grades and homework tracker My Grades& Homework can help your child stay organized and on top of the progress in school. A convenient calendar and course list format and offer a glance at your child’s assignment schedule that he or she might not normally get from standard homework planners.

【推荐2】How to Become a Better Student

Maybe you are not a good student. You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so, however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to.

Plan your time carefully.

When planning your week, you should make a list of things that you have to do. After making the list，you should make a schedule(计划表) of your time. First arrange your time for eating，sleeping，dressing, etc. Then decide a good，regular time for studying. Don't forget to set aside enough time for entertainment. A weekly schedule may not solve all the problems，but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.

Find a good place to study.

Look around the house for a good study .Keep this place，which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room，free of everything but study materials. No games，radios or TV！When you sit down to study，concentrate on the subject.

Make good use of your time in class.

Take advantage of class time to listen to everything the teacher says. Really listening in class means less work later. Taking class notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

Study regularly.

When you get home from school，go over your notes. Review the important points that your teacher has mentioned in class. If you know what your teacher is going to discuss the next day，read the material. This will help you understand the next class. If you do these things regularly，the material will become more meaningful，and you will remember it longer.

Develop a good attitude about the tests.

The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. They help you to remember your new knowledge. The world won't end if you don't pass a test，so don't be overly worried．

There are other methods that might help you with your studying. You will probably discover many others after you have tried these.

【推荐1】Modern science proves that a healthy lifestyle matters much to how long you can live and how well you live.Here are some tips for you to form a healthy lifestyle.

Keep a scientific diet. Keep in mind that sugar can be removed (去除) from our diet completely.Over intake (摄入量) of sugar is one of the main reasons for getting fat.Over intake of protein (蛋白质) or fat and low intake of fiber can also lead to getting fat.We only need a few grams of protein to keep our body in order.

Be always in a good mood. There is a relationship between the mood and health.A good mood keeps you in high spirits.Thanks to the Internet,we can enjoy and learn much without going out.Take a look at some online shops and pick up some bargains,enjoy music and movies and chat with good friends.Just keep happy.

Enough sleep. Two studies show the reasons why teens and adults don’t have enough sleep.With teens,a major reason is mobile phone use;with adults,it’s work.Meanwhile,a third study of young children shows that lack of sleep in early life may lead to serious problems in future.Everyone needs at least 8-hour sleep to recover (恢复) from tiredness and the hurt caused by hard work in the daytime.

Proper exercise. Do exercise to keep away from fatness.Because of the quick pace of the modern life,you don’t have time to do exercise every day,but at least three times a week and 45 minutes each time.

【推荐2】A competition making up Versailles literature was launched on Sina Weibo recently. So what is Versailles literature?

Actually, the term has nothing to do with the French palace nor with literature. It came from The Rose of Versailles, a Japanese manga series about aristocratic（贵族化的）life at the palace of Versailles in France in the late 18^th century, and was coined by a Chinese influencer earlier this year. Known as humblebragging, it is a big takl disguised as a complaint. “I have too many houses. How can I decide which one to decorate?” and “I thought I lost weight this morning. So disappointed when I realized it was because I took off the huge diamond ring my boyfriend gave me last night” are some examples of Versailles literature. The intention is to show off --- usually things of materialistic values, yet one ought to pretend that’s not the point.

As the 19^th century English author Jane Austen famously wrote, “Nothing is more dishonest than the appearance of modesty.” The psychology behind humblebragging is to be recognized for one’s successes and be liked by others at the same time, according to scholars. In her article titled Why do people hate humblebragging? published in Psychology Today, psychologist Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne at the University of Massachusetts Amherst noted that humblebragging is a “strategy in pursuit of respect” because it draws attention to one’s accomplishments in a circuitous way.

However, studies on social media users show that humblebragging as a self-promotion strategy does not work. In the essay Humblebragging: A distinct and ineffective self-presentation strategy, the University of North Carolina researcher Ovul Sezer and Harvard University scholars Francesca Gino and Michael Norton concluded from their research that humblebraggers are perceived more negatively than straight braggers due to the former’s insincerity. “The critical factor differentiating the two groups of people is sincerity. People don’t like braggers, but they at least see them as more sincere than humblebraggers,” said Francesca Gino.

So, how can we annoy humblebraggers back? “Just pretend you don’t get whatever it is they try to show off,” a netizen advised. “And respond with genuine sympathy for their complaints.”

【推荐3】The idea that red means stop and green means go affects more than just traffic light colors in our lives. We have been taught from a young age that red means danger, while green means safety.

But why were those particular colors chosen for traffic lights? Before there were traffic lights for cars, there were traffic signals for trains. At first, railroad companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go and green to mean caution. But train conductors ran into a problem with the color white meaning go — bright white could easily be mistaken for stars at night. Railway companies eventually moved to the color green for go. It’s been that way ever since.

Red is the color with the longest wavelength (波长). That means that as it travels through the air, it gets diffused (分散) less than other colors, so it can be seen from a greater distance. For a real-world example, think about how the light turns red as the sun sets. Even though the human eye is most sensitive to a yellowish-green highlighter color, it can see red from further away. But this could happen by chance. It’s not clear whether that was chosen based on wavelength, contrast against green nature or natural connection of red with things like blood. It could be a mix of all three!

Yellow has a shorter wavelength than red but a longer wavelength than green. This means that red is noticeable the furthest away, yellow in the middle and green the least distance away — a helpful advanced warning for needing to slow or stop.

However, believe it or not, yellow was once used to mean stop. Back in the 1900s, some stop signs were yellow because it was too hard to see a red sign in a poorly lit area. Eventually, highly reflective (反光的) materials were developed, and red stop signs were born. Since yellow can be seen well at all times of the day, school areas, some traffic signs and school buses continue to be painted the color. Keep these safe driving tips in the back of your mind whenever you see a yellow light.

【推荐2】Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.

In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all whether rich or poor, clever or stupid, one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough: we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we would get terrible diseases in our towns.

In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we are educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability, and secondly, that we realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that it is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.

【推荐3】For many years there’s been a debate about rewarding our children. Does it work? Is it effective?

Some people think we should establish a standard with our kids and give them something for meeting this standard as a reward. Punishment is given out in much the same way, but it’s used when certain standards of performance,   behavior,   etc.   have   not   been   met.   Kids   will   often   become   more   dutiful   when   threatened   with punishment, and work harder when promised a valuable reward. The problem is what happens when you aren’t around.

To develop responsible, self-disciplined (自律的) kids, parents need to promote certain ideas. One of these ideas is that everyone pitches in (努力投入) and helps in your family, even if someone is not crazy about helping. Another idea is that there can be enjoyment in doing any task if we choose to make it so. When a task is for a worthy cause(our family can enjoy the house more because I helped clean it), and when parents are cheerful about their chores, this message can have a big impact.

This is how we help our kids develop a sense of responsibility. When our children develop this responsibility, they’ll be more disciplined, and they’ll control their emotions better. When we give rewards to our kids, we reduce the sense of responsibility. We also create children who may temporarily (临时) perform to a certain standard, but who aren’t likely to continue the performance without the carrot hanging in front of them．

“Rewards and punishment can change behavior for a while, but they cannot change the person who engages in the behavior, at least in the way we want, ”said AIfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards. “Good values have to be grown from the inside out. ’’Parents can help give their children a sense of shared responsibility and discipline which can last a lifetime. The real rewards that your children receive will be their readiness for the complex and demanding world that waits for them---a world that rewards those who have learned the secrets of discipline responsibility. So keep those shiny rewarding to yourself, and let your kids find their own rewards．