Help Kids Making Learning Fun

 

By Jackie Fitzpatrick
Sep. 10, 2009

 

When Judy Grigg Hansen saw our recent request for ideas on making learning fun at home, she thought of her father.

He had a game for everything,” she says. To reinforce social studies, he would lead his seven children in a round of current-events hopscotch. To teach math, he’d cook up a make-believe stock market game. “My dad just loved to learn–he still does–and he passed that on to us,” she says. Judy, now a mother of five, has followed her dad’s lead, with similar games.

More than 500 parents who wrote to us have found ways to blur the lines between home and school, to make sure the classroom isn’t the only place to learn. Some have tried to sneak troublesome subjects into their kids’ favorite games; others have simply made the process of asking questions and finding answers an everyday ritual. What works best? Nearly every parent suggested this: Keep learning playful. The biggest hits, they told us, are ideas that don’t have the feel of homework but are simply new ways to have a good time together. In this package we have compiled our favorite ideas.

 

Editor’s Note: Jackie Fitzpatrick is a freelance writer who lives with her husband and two children in Milford, Connecticut.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

 

Source: Family Fun

Jazz Up School Supplies

By Family Fun
Sep. 13, 2009

For Jennifer Jones and her 10-year-old daughter, Lauren, getting ready for school each year means spending a few late-summer afternoons getting crafty. The Montgomery, Illinois, pair start by picking a piece of back-to-school gear, then set to work embellishing it. Past projects include covering a white metal lunch box (purchased from orientaltrading.com) with stickers, and decorating a plain black messenger bag from an army surplus store with iron-ons and fabric paints. “It’s a special activity that we can do together.

We have fun hunting for that perfect item and coming up with ways to turn it into a keepsake,” says Jennifer, who makes sure she adds her own handiwork to the project. “Having such a personalized article makes it easier for my daughter to strike up conversations with potential new friends, since someone always asks to see her masterpiece. It helps her adjust during the first days of school every year.”

 

 

REHEARSE THE NEW ROUTINE

 
To help Logan, age 7, and Megan, 5, tackle the transition back to class, the Potts family of Toms River, New Jersey, gets accustomed to the fall schedule ahead of time. During the last weeks of vacation, they begin to shift into school mode, setting their alarms, then eating breakfast and dressing by the time the bus will arrive. They set the stage for handling homework too, establishing an afternoon study time for reading, crafting, or conducting fun experiments. Says mom Sandra: “By the time the academic year kicks off, Logan and Megan are already in the swing of things at home.”
GET TO KNOW YOUR TEACHER (AND VICE VERSA)

Brooke Rodgers and her son Logan fend off jitters by sending a “get to know me” letter to Logan’s new teacher on the first day of class. The letter lists a few fun facts about the Manchester, Pennsylvania, first grader, such as his favorite foods, colors, sports, and animals. But the really interesting part? Brooke also includes a similar survey for the teacher to fill out and return. “Knowing that his teacher is a real person with likes and dislikes just like him really helps Logan get through those first few days.”

Source: Family Fun

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

 

By Parents
Sept. 11, 2009
 

Makes: 6 servings Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 18 minutes

 

Ingredients

8 ounces orecchiette pasta

1-1/4 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed

2 medium-size yellow squash (about 6 ounces each), cut in half horizontally and sliced into 1/2-inch half-moons

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 bunch broccoli rabe, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Grated Parmesan cheese for sprinkling (optional)

 

Directions

1. Cook the orecchiette according to package directions. Drain and return pasta to the pot; keep warm.

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crumble sausage into skillet, breaking up large pieces. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until no longer pink. Stir in squash and increase heat to medium-high. Cook squash 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes; cook 1 additional minute. Add the broccoli rabe and broth and cover. Cook 2 minutes, then remove cover and stir. Cook another 2 minutes or until broccoli rabe has wilted and is tender.

3. Add sausage mixture to pasta pot and stir to combine. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Source: Parents.com

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Hearty Split-Pea Soup

 

by Molly O’Neill
Sept. 12, 2009
 

We used smoked pork hocks for this version but we usually make this soup when we’ve had ham on the bone. We’ve also made it with smoked turkey wings. The smoked flavor is what’s important,” Belle and Liv Gerasole say. “A vegetarian version of this can be made with vegetable stock, smoked tofu, or smoked setan.”

 
 
You’ll need:

1 pound of smoked meat
2 stalks of celery — chopped
1 large onion — chopped
2 medium-size carrots or 1 large carrot — cut in slices
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic — chopped
10 black peppercorns or 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
A bag of split peas
A little adult help

 

Equipment:

 
A cutting board
A large pot or a crock pot
A colander or sieve
A pair of tongs
A slotted spoon
A timer

1. Put the smoked meat in the large pot and cover with water. Add the celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, pepper, garlic, and bay leaves. Don’t add any salt. Smoked meat is cured with salt and that will be plenty.

2. Bring the water to a boil then turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for 2-3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone.

3. Ask mom or whoever is helping you to please take the bone out of the pot. Use the tongs to fish out any blobs of fat you might find. Now you have a good, rich broth. Broth like this can be the start of a number of recipes, not just pea soup.

4. If you let the broth cool at this point, you will be able to skim the excess fat out of the soup. The best way to get the most fat out is to let the broth stay in the refrigerator overnight. Fat is lighter than water and will rise to the top and solidify, so you will be able to lift it off the surface of the soup by sliding the edge of a big spoon underneath.

5. While the soup is reheating, empty the bag of split peas into the colander and rinse them under running water. As you are turning them over with your hands, check to make sure there are no tiny stones. It’s rare to find one, but check just in case, because the machine that sorts the split peas can’t always catch them.

6. Add the split peas to the broth. You will cook these for about 1 hour or until the soup gets thick. The first part of the hour the soup will take care of itself, but as the peas cook they will begin to crumble and the soup will get thicker, so you will have to stir it more and more often to make sure it doesn’t burn. This is where the timer comes in.

7. Set the timer for 20 minutes and take it with you so you know when to come back to stir the soup. When you reset the timer, set it for 5 minutes less each time. At the end of the hour you should be stirring the soup about every 5 minutes, so don’t get involved in a game of Nintendo.

8. As the stock starts to get thick, spoon out a little, let it cool, then taste it. If the soup is too salty you can add a raw potato cut in quarters. The potato will soak up the salt. You can leave the potato in the soup or fish it out with a slotted spoon.

9. The soup will be finished when it is thick and creamy. If you are using tofu or setan for your protein, add it last and stir the soup until the tofu or setan is heated through.

Yield: Makes 12 to 14 servings.

 

 

Editor’s Note: You can serve the soup in a tureen or in individual bowls. Some cultures say that if you find the bay leaf in the bottom of your bowl you should expect a letter. Maybe we should update that to a text message.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Source: Grandparents Spatulatta

Warning About Swine Flu Vaccine

 

by: Dr. Mercola 
September 12, 2009

The swine flu vaccine has been hit by new cancer fears after a German health expert gave a shocking warning about its safety.

Lung specialist Wolfgang Wodarg has said that there are many risks associated with the vaccine for the H1N1 virus. The nutrient solution for the vaccine consists of cancerous cells from animals, and some fear that the risk of cancer could be increased by injecting the cells.

The vaccine can also cause worse side effects than the actual swine flu virus.

Sources:  Bild.com August 21, 2009   Reuters August 22, 2009

Socio-Economics History Blog July 15, 2009   Mercola.com

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Thought of the Day – Remembering 9/11

by Former Pres. George W. Bush
Sept. 11, 2009

 

America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.  None of us will ever forget this day.  Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.
               – George W. Bush
                  43rd President of the United States
                  September 11, 2001

 

 

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Volunteer NY Firefighter Honored for 911

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
September 11, 2009

Editor’s Note: We at the Chronicle along with millions of Americans, will never forget what happened September 11, 2001.

Today we will be honoring those heroes, families that have lost their love ones.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

by Newsmax
Sept. 11, 2009

JERICHO, N.Y. — A volunteer firefighter who died helping to rescue people from the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been awarded the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor.

Lawmakers presented Glenn Winuk’s relatives with the medal Monday in his Long Island hometown.

Winuk was a 40-year-old lawyer and longtime volunteer Jericho firefighter who raced from his Manhattan office into the trade center. He died when the south tower collapsed.

The Justice Department initially didn’t recognize Winuk as having died in the line of duty because he hadn’t been on regular duty since 1998. The agency dropped its objections in January 2008, making him eligible for the medal and a $250,000 death benefit.

The award was given to the relatives of 442 other public safety officers killed in the terror attacks.

© 2009 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: Newsmax

9/11 Children All Grown Up

by WSJ
September 11, 2009

Editor’s Note: We at the Chronicle along with millions of Americans, will never forget what happened September 11, 2001.

Today we will be honoring those heroes, families that have lost their love ones.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

It is eight years since 9/11, and here is an unexpected stage of grief: fear that the ache will go away. I don’t suppose it ever will, but grieving has gradations, and “horror” becomes “absorbed sadness.” Life moves on, and wants to move on, which is painful for those who will not forget and cannot be comforted. Part of the spookiness of life, part of its power to disorient us, is not only that people die, that they slip below the waves, but that the waves close above them so quickly, the sea so quickly looks the same.

I’ve been thinking about those who were children on 9/11, not little ones who were shielded but those who were 10 and 12, old enough to understand that something dreadful had happened but young enough still to be in childhood. A young man who was 14 the day of the attacks told me recently that there’s an unspoken taboo among the young people of New York: They don’t talk about it, ever. They don’t want to say, “Oh boo hoo, it was awful.” They don’t want to dwell. They shrug it off when it comes up. They change the subject.

This week, in a conversation with college students at an eastern university, I brought it up. Seven students politely shared some of their memories. I invited them to tell me more the next morning, and was surprised when six of the seven showed up. This is what I learned:

They’ve been marked by 9/11 more than they know. It was their first moment of historical consciousness. Before that day, they didn’t know what history was; after that day, they knew they were in it.

It was a life-splitting event. Before it they were carefree, after they were careful. A 20-year-old junior told me that after 9/11, “a backpack on a subway was no longer a backpack,” and a crowded theater was “a source for concern.” Every one of them used the word “bubble”: the protected bubble of their childhood “popped.” And all of them said they spent 9/11 and the days after glued to the television, watching over and over again the footage—the north tower being hit by the plane, the fireball. The video of 9/11 has firmly and ineradicably entered their brains. Which is to say their first visual memory of America, or their first media memory, was of its towers falling down.

I’d never fully realized this: 9/11 was for America’s kids exactly what Nov. 22, 1963, was for their parents and uncles and aunts. They were at school. Suddenly there were rumors in the hall and teachers speaking in hushed tones. You passed an open classroom and saw a teacher sobbing. Then the principal came on the public-address system and said something very bad had happened. Shocked parents began to pick kids up. Everyone went home and watched TV all day, and the next.

Simon, a 20-year-old college junior, was a 12-year-old seventh-grader at a public school in Baltimore. He said: “It’s first-period science, and the teacher next door, who was known to play jokes on other teachers, comes in completely stone-faced and says a plane has hit the World Trade Center, and no one believes him.” Simon didn’t know what to believe but remembered reading that in 1945 a plane had struck the Empire State Building, and “the building stayed up,” so he didn’t worry too much.

“At lunch time the vice principal comes up and he explains that two planes had hit the World Trade Center and one had hit the Pentagon and the World Trade Center was gone, and I never—when you have your mouth agape it’s never for anything important, but I remember having my mouth agape for a minute or two in complete and utter shock. I went to my art period and I remember my art teacher sitting there with her hands on her face just bawling, she was so frightened. My mom picked me up, and I remember walking with her, and I’m saying ‘This is Pearl Harbor.’”

Nine-eleven, he felt, changed everything for his generation. “It completely destroyed our sense of invincibility—maybe that’s not the right word. I would say it made everything real to a 12-year-old. It showed the world could be a dangerous place when for my generation that was never the case. My generation had no Soviet Union, no war against fascism, we never had any threats. I was born when the Berlin Wall came down. It destroyed the sense of carefree innocence that we had.”

Juliette, also 20 and a junior, was in eighth grade in Great Falls, Va. “I think the kids were shocked,” she said. “The major question was how could this happen, who would do that—like, how does something so crazy happen? What I had is a sense that it was going to be one of those days of which 30 years down the road, people would ask me, What were you doing on that day, where were you on 9/11?—that my children would ask me. And so I set myself to remembering the details.”

I told her that it is interesting to me that no great art has yet come from 9/11. The reason may be that adults absorbed what had happened, and because we had absorbed it, we did not have to transmute it into art. Maybe when you are still absorbing, or cannot absorb, that’s when art happens. Maybe your generation will do it, I said.

She considered this. “There’s always the odds that something much more horrible will happen that will really shake us out of our torpor, that will wake us she said.

The attack was not only an American event. Robbie, an 18-year-old freshman, was 10 and in primary school in England. “We were near the end of school. There were murmurs from teachers about something happening. I remember going back home, and my mum had both televisions on with different news channels. I remember the tower and the pillar of smoke. The big pillar of smoke was very vivid to me, and my mother trying to explain the seriousness of it. I think 9/11 brought us bang slap into the 21st century. I remember when the millennium came people said ‘new time, new world,’ but 9/11 was the ‘new time, new world.’ I understood it was something big, something that changed the world.”

Then he told me that after we had talked the previous evening, he’d had a dream. “I was back in my old school in England, and in front of me I could see the city of Bristol, nothing distinct, but big towers, big buildings. And I could see them crumbling and falling. There was a collective fear, not just from myself but amongst everyone in the dream. I remember calling in the dream my mum, and saying ‘Are you safe, are you safe?’ I think this perhaps shows that after 9/11 . . . as a small child you felt safe, but after 9/11, I don’t think I personally will ever feel 100% safe. . . . I think the dream demonstrates—I think the dream contained my hidden feelings, my consciousness.”

He remembered after 9/11 those who rose up to fight terrorism. Even as a child he was moved by them. There are always in history so many such people, he said. It is always the great reason for hope.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Remembering 9/11 – Story Tellers

By Elizabeth Llorente
Sept 11. 2009

Editor’s Note: We at the Chronicle along with millions of Americans, will never forget what happened September 11, 2001.

Today we will be honoring those heroes, families that have lost their love ones.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

For almost a year after the September 11 terrorist attacks, journalist Maria Alvarez spent nearly all her time at Ground Zero, chronicling for the New York Post the horrors she witnessed firsthand around the towers before they collapsed, and then the grim and gripping aftermath. She watched the heroics and selflessness of emergency responders, the grace and dedication of those who searched for remains, and the remarkable ethic of those who cleaned up amid the dangerous toxins. When the cleanup of the site ended, so did her assignment—and her sense of purpose.

“It was very hard. All my purpose in life for all those months after September 11 came to a halt,” says Alvarez, who came from Bolivia as a young child. “I got assigned to another story, a big trial in Connecticut. I thought, ‘That’s good, it’ll help me forget.’ But it wasn’t the same anymore. I had an insatiable appetite to write about 9/11. I felt anything [else] I was doing was meaningless.”

Now Alvarez, 49, is once again telling the story of September 11 and the heroism she witnessed that day and in the months that followed. But this time she is telling the story as one of nearly 150 volunteers who conduct guided tours of the Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center.

The volunteer walking tour program began in 2005, a year before the Tribute Center opened. The first group of 17 volunteers guided groups interested in learning about the history and impact of the World Trade Center around the perimeter of the site. Today’s volunteers, who go through training and commit to conducting between two and nine tours a month, engage visitors during walking tours and in the museum’s galleries by sharing  their own personal experiences—of survival, loss, and healing—directly related to that fateful day.

“Our volunteers allow the Tribute Center to provide a rare opportunity for visitors to learn through oral histories,” says Tracy Grosner, volunteer program coordinator. “Each individual perspective is different. These personal experiences put a human face on the overwhelming events that shocked the nation and the world.”

More than 40 percent of the visitors to the Tribute Center are international, and of the six languages in which audio tours are offered, Spanish is the language most frequently requested, says Grosner.

Juan Alamo, a 70-year-old volunteer who was born in Cuba, was sworn into the U.S. Army on September 11, 1961, and recalls the many deals he had sealed over the years at the North Tower’s Windows on the World restaurant as a top financial officer of various major investment firms.

“I love this country, everything it did for me,” he says. “This was a horrendous act that was perpetrated on our country. I had to help out.”

He decided to volunteer as a tour guide, encouraged by the hope that he says will come with the rebirth of the area. “There’s rebuilding, a renaissance going on there,” he says. “This country was able to put it back together. There’s hope, there’s tomorrow.”

Source:  AARP

Remembering 9/11 – Eagle Scouts Build Memorial in Florida

By Shelby Fallin
September 11, 2009

This week communities across the country are honoring the memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Jeff Cox, a 15-year-old Eagle Scout from Windermere, Florida, wants to give people in his community a way to honor those victims every day. He decided to bring a piece of the World Trade Center buildings to his hometown for a memorial.

“I remember I was in second grade and I really didn’t know what was going on,” Cox said of the attacks. “Then seeing these two huge buildings falling down on TV—it was like a scary movie, and I never really liked scary movies.”

On September 11, 2001, four consumer airplanes were hijacked and intentionally crashed in a terrorist attack on the United States. Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centers in New York City. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth plane was headed for the White House, but crashed instead into a field in Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people died in the attacks. Many of those people were firefighters and police officers—first responders—attempting to save people from the wreckage.

The young Eagle Scout’s older brother is a local firefighter who was recently wounded in the line of duty. Cox said he wanted to honor the firefighters and other first responders, as well as the memories of all the people who died that day.

To put his plan in action, he first did some research. Cox went online and found that the Port Authority of New York City had preserved pieces of metal from the World Trade Center buildings. He then approached the Mayor of Windermere, Gary Bruhn, to see if the town would be interested in having a memorial.

“I thought it was a tremendous idea,” Bruhn said. “We have a lot of requests for projects. This is a project that will stand the test of time and generations.”

The Port Authority gave Cox several choices. He finally chose a 650-pound beam that was recovered from the destroyed buildings. The Port Authority keeps remnants from the attacks in Hangar 17 at JFK Airport in Queens, New York.

The next problem was how to ship such a huge hunk of steel from New York to Florida. Cox started looking for sponsors and volunteers to help. It didn’t take long. UPS has agreed to sponsor some of the cost of the shipping and local engineers have volunteered to design the memorial.

The town of Windermere donated a piece of land where the memorial will be placed. The city is helping Cox find someone to donate a spotlight.

Cox hopes to have the memorial finished by the end of the year. He is planning a dedication ceremony on February 20, 2010.

“The town of Windermere is celebrating its firefighters and policemen that day and I thought that would be a great day to dedicate the memorial, too,” he said.

Mayor Bruhn agrees.

“It will be a constant reminder of those firefighters and first responders not only on 9/11 but beyond that,” Bruhn said. “They serve our community and put their lives on the line everyday.”

The memorial is not just for Windermere residents, but all of Central Florida as well, the Mayor added. “I think it will touch a lot of people to see steel from the actual towers.”

You can find out more about the artifacts being preserved in Hangar 17 at JFK airport in New York from a report written by Kid Reporter Juliette Kessler in 2007. Kessler, who was also in second grade when the attacks occurred, was in school only a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Six years later she toured the hangar and remembered her experiences from that day.

Source: Scholastic News Online

Editor’s Note: Shelby Fallin is a member of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps. We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

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