PERCY BERNARD WILLIAMS | Sexual Predator | Miami, FL

PERCY BERNARD WILLIAMS

DOB:

12/15/1952

Reported Address:

928 NW 65TH ST Miami,Florida

Additional Information:

Predator Flyer

Jeffrey Lee Scott | Sexual Predator | MIAMI, FL

Jeffrey Lee Scott

DOB:

09/30/1964

Reported Address:

6690 NW 18TH AVE, MIAMI,Florida

Additional Information:

Predator Flyer

Firefighter of the week – Chaplain Mychal Judge, O.F.M.

Holy Name Province
September 8, 2009

Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, died Tuesday, September 11, 2001 in a hail of falling debris near the World Trade Center. He became the first officially recorded fatality following the attack. Father Mychal was 68.

Born in Brooklyn, NY on May 11, 1933, Robert Emmett Judge was the son of two Irish immigrants from County Leitrim. As a young boy, he watched his father die after a long illness. To help his mother and two sisters make ends meet, he shined shoes in Manhattan, ran errands and did odd jobs, before being called to his Franciscan vocation at age 16. He then entered St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, NY, and graduated in 1954 after completing the first two years of college.

He was received into the Franciscan Order on August 12, 1954 and the following year, on August 13, professed his first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as stated in the Rule of Life of St. Francis of Assisi. He professed final vows on August 20, 1958.

He was ordained to the priesthood on February 25, 1961 at the Franciscan Monastery – Mt. St. Sepulchre, Washington, DC. He spent a year of pastoral formation at St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, Mass., before his first assignment 1962-66 as an assistant at St. Joseph’s Church, East Rutherford, NJ. He also served as an assistant at Sacred Heart Church, Rochelle Park, NJ from 1967-69. In 1969 he came to St. Francis of Assisi Church, New York City, as local moderator for the Secular Franciscan fraternities.

In 1970, he returned to St. Joseph’s Church, East Rutherford, NJ, as coordinator of the parochial team ministry of Franciscan friars. After six years, he was appointed in 1976 as assistant to the president at Siena College in Loudonville, NY, serving until 1979. He then became pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in West Milford, NJ. In 1985 he undertook a one-year theological sabbatical at the Franciscan house of studies in Canterbury, England.

Upon returning in the summer of 1986, he was appointed an associate pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church, New York City. At the friary there, finding many “Michaels” on the staff, he decided to change the spelling of his name to Mychal. Only a few days after arriving at St. Francis, he responded to a call to celebrate Mass in the hospital room of New York police officer Steven McDonald, who had been critically wounded during an investigation of a youth in Central Park. Father Mychal and the McDonald family soon became devoted friends. Among their good-will travels, Father Mychal accompanied Detective McDonald on visits to Northern Ireland in 1998, 1999 and 2000 to encourage reconciliation.

In 1992, upon the death of Fr. Julian Deeken, OFM, a Franciscan friar who had served as one of the Catholic chaplains for the New York Fire Department, Father Mychal accepted an invitation to serve temporarily in his place. Fr. Mychal was named chaplain officially in 1994 to serve the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

When TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff from New York in July 1996 and fell into the Atlantic off Long Island, Father Mychal helped counsel the families and friends of the victims every day for three weeks and worked to arrange a permanent memorial at the site. He had since returned every summer to offer a memorial service and comfort the families.

Over the years, Father Mychal won the hearts of the firefighters and their families by his charismatic Irish personality and warm Franciscan outreach to them in all their needs – baptisms, weddings, funerals, hospital visits – wherever and whenever he was sought. He was also active in a diverse ministry to various groups throughout the Metropolitan area.

More than 2,800 people attended the Mass of Christian Burial for Father Mychal on Saturday, September 15 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan. Father Mychal was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, NJ. He is survived by two sisters, Erin McTernan and Dympna Jessich.

Copyright 2002
Reprinted with Permission
The Franciscans Communications Office
Holy Name Province
New York, NY

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

Source Mychals Message

Officer of the week – Detective Joseph V. Vigiano

Remember September 11, 2001
Angels Among Us

Detective Joseph V. Vigiano
Shield 4511
ESS-2
September 10,2001

Detective Joseph V. Vigiano
Shield 4511
ESS-2
(recovered)

Maybe there was something in the water.

For some reason, perhaps a dozen men who came of age during the 1970’s and 80’s in Deer Park, N.Y., developed an appetite for civic duty. They became New York City police officers and firefighters in their professional lives, and volunteer firefighters with Engine Company No. 2 in Deer Park in their personal ones. They called it the Deer Park Connection, and Firefighter John Vigiano and Detective Joseph Vigiano, two of the tightest brothers you could ever find, were among the best-liked and most accomplished members.

Both followed the unwritten manual on growing up right in Deer Park, said their father, John Vigiano, a retired captain in the New York City Fire Department. They were active in sports. They became Eagle Scouts. They hatched pranks that were wicked in their creativity but gentle in their impact. “They never embarrassed me,” said Captain Vigiano. “They were good fathers, good husbands and they were good men.”

John Vigiano, at 36, was older by two years, though his brother never let him forget that he was also four inches shorter and maybe 30 pounds lighter, too. John was the quieter of the two, and spent as much time as possible with his two young daughters, his father said. He was a terrific hockey player (and rabid Rangers fan) and he would occasionally rent out an entire rink for his family, his brother’s family and a few other friends.

Joseph Vigiano, who was known as Joey, loved to mug for the cameras and played lacrosse on the Police Department team, said his wife, Kathy, a fellow police officer. On the job, he was commended for his bravery: he survived being shot on three different occasions. At home, he taught his two boys how to build derby cars of pine. Eventually, he was going to do the same with his youngest son, now 6 months old.

For now, the Vigianos are collecting anecdotes and tributes from friends and relatives on a new Web site, www.vigiano.com. Here, presumably, is one of the last stories: On the Sunday before Sept. 11, Kathy Vigiano returned home after the first game of the season in her soccer league, bruised and tired. She was prepared to make dinner, but instead, she saw that her husband had fixed prime rib, Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, and broccoli with cheese — while watching their baby, too. All this from a guy who had previously insisted that he only knew how to make spaghetti sauce.

– The New York Times 12/29/2001

Source: NYP Angels

National Zoo – Bald Eagle

By FNZ
Sept. 12, 2009

Order: Falconiformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus/Species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus

The bald eagle’s scientific name (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) means “white-headed sea-eagle.”
Eagle

Description

The adult bald eagle is a striking dark brownish black bird with a white head and tail. Juvenile birds are a mottled brown with white blotches. They do not obtain the full distinctive plumage of the adults until they are four or five years old. Bills, legs, and feet are a deep yellow.

Size

Second in size only to California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) and about the same size as golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), bald eagles dwarf most other North American raptors. Their wingspans range from six and a half to seven and a half feet, while body length varies from about three to three and a half feet. Bald eagles weigh from six to eight pounds. Females are larger than males and have a slightly longer wingspan.

Life Span

Bald eagles have lived up to 48 years in zoos, although their life span in the wild is likely far shorter.

Distribution and Habitat

Bald eagles occur from Baja California and Florida north to Newfoundland and Alaska. Within this area, they are nearly always found near water, along rivers, lakes, or the sea coast and coastal marshes, reservoirs, and large lakes. They also pass over mountains and plains during migration. The northern and interior populations may migrate to open water in the winter months.

Bald eagles breed in much of Alaska (where they are most common), Canada, the Pacific Northwest, along the East Coast, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf Coast, around the Great Lakes, and in other areas with sufficient water and wildlife. The birds winter along the coasts and across much of the U.S. Some reach northwestern Mexico.

Near Washington, D.C., bald eagles have increased around the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. They nest at several sites around the Capital Beltway, and have been seen flapping over the National Zoo.

Although unique to North America, the bald eagle’s closest relatives live in other parts of the world. These include the African fish-eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) of sub-Saharan Africa and the white-tailed sea-eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) of Eurasia.

Diet

Bald eagles are predators. They have several adaptations that fit them for that role. They have excellent eyesight and the frontal setting of their eyes gives them excellent binocular vision as well as peripheral vision.

The eagle has a strong, hooked beak with which it tears food, but it uses its powerful, taloned feet to capture prey. Bald eagles prefer fish, which they often capture by swooping down and snatching them from the water’s surface. Another successful technique is to wade in the shallow water catching fish with the bill. They also take birds, especially waterfowl, and occasional mammals.

In addition to eating other animals such as ducks, muskrats, and sometimes turtles, they eat carrion willingly, and are notorious for robbing osprey of their catches. Eagles will wait on a favorite perch for an osprey to return to its nest with a fish in its talons for its own young, then harasses the smaller raptor until it is forced to drop its prey for the eagle to retrieve.

National Zoo Diet

The Zoo’s bald eagles eat dead rats and chicks sprinkled with a vitamin and mineral supplement.

Behavior

Bald eagles spend hours perched in trees overlooking water, their keen eyes alert for feeding opportunities. When not fishing, they sometimes steal food from ospreys, pursue injured or healthy waterfowl, or settle in for a meal of roadkill or fish chopped up in turbines at dams (including Maryland’s Conowingo Dam).

Reproduction

Southern bald eagles remain on or near their breeding territory throughout the year and probably mate for life. More northern birds may migrate long distances over the winter months and it is unknown whether pairs remain together during migration. Initiation of courtship depends on the latitude. Southern birds may begin courtship and nesting activity in the late fall or early winter, while it is more common for northern birds to court and nest in the early spring. Copulation occurs on branches or other secure perches and is preceded by tail pumping and wing flapping displays by the male.

Eagles construct their nests near water in tall trees or on cliffs using large sticks. The nest is lined with twigs, grasses and other soft materials. Each year, a pair works together to build a large stick nest high in a tree or on a cliff.

Sometimes a pair reuses the same nest for years (such as a pair that nests at Great Falls, Maryland). In Florida, bald eagles nest almost year round; they begin nesting from March to May in other areas. Since these nests are used year after year, they may become very large.

Bald eagles lay two, occasionally three, eggs that are incubated by both parents, in turns for 34 to 36 days. Often only one chick survives, but if food is plentiful they may rear two or occasionally three. Young birds fledge after 12 weeks and remain with the parents for another month.

Conservation

When the bald eagle was adopted as our national symbol in 1782, there were between 25,000 and 75,000 birds nesting in the lower 48 states. Illegal shooting, habitat destruction, lead poisoning, and the catastrophic effects of DDT contamination in their prey base reduced eagle numbers to a mere 417 pairs by 1963. Legal protection began with the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and continued with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 and the 1978 listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The single-most important regulation affecting bald eagle recovery may have been the banning of DDT for most uses in the United States in 1972.

In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service down-listed bald eagles from endangered to threatened in most of the United States. They were never listed in Alaska, and had been already been listed as threatened in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Washington. In the 17 years since they were declared endangered in most of the country, bald eagles have undergone a strong increase in numbers and an expansion in range. Private organizations, state, and federal agencies counted 4,450 occupied nesting territories, a ten-fold increase from the 1963 low.

Though the recovery has been spectacular, bald eagles remain threatened by illegal shooting and loss of habitat due to wetland drainage and human occupation of waterfront areas. Lead poisoning from shot ingested when feeding on carrion was a major problem prior to the phasing out of lead shot for waterfowl hunting in 1991. Large quantities of lead remain in the environment. Over the winter of 1994-95, 29 bald eagles died in Arkansas and nine died in Wisconsin from an unknown toxic agent. In the past 15 years the National Wildlife Health Research Center has diagnosed more than 100 cases of poisoning in bald eagles. Many of these cases are believed to be intentional poisonings through illegal use of pesticides and other restricted chemicals such as strychnine. DDT breakdown residues remain in the environment and continue to cause reproductive problems for eagles in many parts of the country.

Zoo Eagles

The Zoo houses two bald eagles in the Bald Eagle Refuge exhibit in Valley Trail, arriving from Tennessee in 2003. The flightless eagles living in this exhibit were discovered injured in the wild. The female was recovered in Alaska and the male was rescued in Pennsylvania.

A Few Bald Eagle Neighbors

osprey

(Pandion haliaetus): Ospreys are more agile hunters than eagles, hovering then diving for fish, while the larger eagles pick fish out of the water just as they reach the surface. Eagles sometimes snatch ospreys’ fish in mid-air acts of piracy.

mink

(Mustelavison): This nocturnal, wandering mustelid (member of a group including mink, weasels, and ferrets) hunts muskrats, fish, and other wildlife along many waterways frequented by bald eagles.

snapping turtle

(Chelydraserpentina): This large, mud-colored turtle lurks in freshwater wetlands, ambushing fish, ducklings, and other small animals. It also eats aquatic plants.

By saving bald eagle habitat, we protect these and many other animals.

References:

Final Rule to Reclassify the Bald Eagle From Endangered to Threatened in All of the Lower 48 States. Federal Register 1995 (Volume 60, Number 133, pp 36000-36010)

Johnsgard, P. A. 1990. Hawks, Eagles, & Falcons of North America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Newton, I. 1990. Birds of Prey. Facts on File, New York.

Snyder, H. and N. Syder. 1991. Birds of Prey: Natural History and Conservation of North American Raptors. Voyageur Press, Hong Kong.

Source National Zoo,American Eagle Foundation

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

Grade 1 English

By Alexis Burling
September 9, 2009

Grandchildren develop their mastery of reading and storytelling, as teachers make literacy fun.

   

The first priority for most first-graders in the fall is learning how to adjust to a longer school day. Early in the year, many teachers focus on hands-on group activities rather than individual projects, to keep minds engaged and bodies active. Since first-graders are still learning to master the most rudimentary elements of reading and writing, many classroom activities are done orally, and it’s not uncommon for first-grade teachers to use songs to involve students in a lesson or story. After students gain the ability to recognize and write all the letters of the alphabet in upper and lowercase forms, they learn to decipher words both by sounding them out phonetically and by using context clues. As children begin writing, sentence structures are kept simple, and students are encouraged to focus on organizing their thoughts in a clear, succinct manner before they put pencil to paper. In the second half of the year, they will move to more complex texts and begin writing paragraphs.

Lost Children. In first grade, there can be a wide gap between children who can read and/or write and those who haven’t yet mastered those skills. Teachers can get overwhelmed trying to address their students’ wide-ranging needs and can inadvertently gloss over crucial “how-to” lessons that struggling students need in order to accommodate those who are more advanced. School reading specialists can help, but many children run the risk of getting turned off by reading at this critical point and ending up left behind.

• One popular first-grade classroom activity is “Readers Theater,” in which students read aloud from scripts based on popular stories, myths, and fairy tales. Suzanne I. Barchers’s Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers (Teacher Ideas Press, 1993) is an excellent tool for increasing fluency and promoting creative expression, and you can have fun acting out the scenes at home.

• Did your grandchildren ever get in trouble for chewing on books when they were little? They’ve got nothing on Henry, a boy who gobbles up entire books! Kids will love Irish author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers’s ingenious picture book The Incredible Book-Eating Boy (Philomel, 2007), and you’ll appreciate the lesson that reading books is even better than eating them.

• Clifford the Big Red Dog is one of America’s most beloved pooches — and he has a knack for helping children develop their reading skills. For a great collection of literacy games and interactive stories for early readers, invite grandchildren to join you on a visit to Clifford’s website.

Pictures Speak Louder than Words. You can find plenty of gorgeous picture books on bookstore and library shelves. But there’s still room for a new one — one that you create with your grandchild. Gather the art supplies you’ll need to get their creative juices flowing (first-graders love glitter), help them come up with a simple, wordless story, and you’re ready to make publishing history. If coming up with a brand-new story idea is too challenging for kids, they can give a favorite book a new spin. When they’re done, children can sharpen their story-telling and literacy skills by “reading” their wordless book to others.

Cultivate a Cozy Corner. Learning to read isn’t always easy. But as you may be well aware, everything gets easier with the right amount of back support. Work with your grandchildren to create their very own reading nook in your house. Fill the space with beanbags, comfy pillows, and a throw blanket in case it gets chilly. Then make a rule that whenever they are in their nook, it’s reading time, and they aren’t to be disturbed — unless, of course, you’re bringing them a mug of hot chocolate.

To Be Continued. Anything you can do to boost your first-grader’s confidence makes a big difference. Show them that you value their imagination and voice by reversing roles and letting them tell you a bedtime story, one that continues every night you’re together. They can populate their tale with make-believe characters or members of the family. After they get the story going, suggest a cliff-hanger ending before lights out, leaving them with the challenge of picking up the narrative when next you meet. Then say, “To be continued,” give them a kiss and hug, and jot down the main points of the story so you can both revisit it another night.

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

Source Grandparants

Grandparents Day

by Rich Thomaselli
September 8, 2009

A look back at the history of Grandparents Day as the 30th annual celebration takes place on September 13

Check out our coverage of the 30th anniversary of National Grandparents Day 2009.

It all sounded so official in 1979, with words and phrases like “whereof”‘ and “hereunto” and “joint resolution.”

But when President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation creating a National Grandparents Day, little did anyone know how it would grow. At the time, Carter said the holiday would recognize “the importance and worth of the 17 million grandparents in our nation.”

Barely a generation later, there are now more than 70 million grandparents in the United States.

That’s a lot of recognition.

And a lot of gifts, cards, and flowers, too.

On September 13, 2009, Grandparents Day will reach its 30th anniversary. Like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it’s a time for family celebration, and a chance to honor the important role grandparents play in children’s lives.

Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, an Oak Hill, W. Va., housewife, founded the holiday. McQuade had worked with senior citizens for many years and her original idea for the holiday was not only to recognize grandparents but also to bring attention to the needs of people living in nursing homes.

She began her campaign locally in 1970, eventually drawing the attention of U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph (D., W. Va.), who was instrumental in lobbying Gov. Arch Moore to establish a statewide day for grandparents. Moore did just that in 1973, the same year that Randolph introduced a Grandparent Day resolution in Congress.

Randolph’s resolution bounced around both houses of Congress with no action for several years, until McQuade and her supporters turned to the media for help with their efforts. The added pressure paid off, and in 1978 Congress passed legislation declaring the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. Carter signed his proclamation on September 6, 1979, and the first Grandparents Day was celebrated three days later.

In 1989, the U.S. Postal Service honored McQuade with a commemorative envelope bearing her likeness to acknowledge the tenth anniversary of the holiday. McQuade, sadly, passed away last year at the age of of 91. She was the mother of 15, the grandmother of 43, and the great-grandmother of 15.

In that original proclamation, Carter wrote that because grandparents “are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.”

Today, though, an increasing number of grandparents have actually assumed daily responsibility for their grandchildren. According to AARP, 4.5 million children are being raised in households headed by grandparents. For those kids and millions of others, grandparents create special relationships and impart lessons that last a lifetime. As Carter wrote, “Grandparents are our continuing tie to the near-past, to the events and beliefs and experiences that so strongly affect our lives and the world around us.”

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

About the AuthorRich Thomaselli is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines. Find his musings on life, pop culture, news, and sports at richthomaselli.blogspot.com.

Source: Grandparents

Math Music with Young Children

By Eugene Geist
Kamile Geist
Sept. 9, 2009

The idea that literacy learning begins at birth is widely accepted in the field of early childhood. In fact, literacy programs are mandated by state and federal agencies in Head Start programs. What many people don’t realize, however, is that infants, toddlers and preschoolers are also learning math from everything around them – most importantly from music! From birth to the age of five, young children may not be able to add or subtract or use other formal mathematics the way an older child would, but their interaction with a stimulating environment leads them to build the basics of math even without direct teaching.  How can a child learn without being taught?  Well, it is the way the human mind is designed.  When a child uses their own ability to learn and think about their surroundings, they naturally begin to build an understanding of mathematics.

Math and Music

One of the best and most effective tools to promote this early mathematical thinking is through the use of music and musical activities in the classroom.  However, it is not necessary to use songs to teach specific skills such as counting or addition.  In fact, research suggests that these practices may even get in the way of the child’s own thinking process.  Instead, teachers need to look at how music affects children and how the basic elements of music, such as the beat, rhythm and patterns within the melody or words,  can stimulate mathematical growth in areas such as spatial reasoning, sequencing, counting, patterning, and one-to-one correspondence.

Take for example, the song “BINGO” (which contains a pretty elaborate patterning activity and even some counting).  Think about how children replace the letter of the name with a clap in each round of the song.  Think about the relationship that a child makes when they have to complete that simple task, and think about how music helps to scaffold that ability.  Additionally, music is an activity that children frequently will spontaneously and independently sing during free time.  We have seen children singing “BINGO” and counting their claps while playing on the playground.

Teachers, without realizing it, may already be using some of the elements of music in their everyday interactions with children.  For example, elements of rhythm are one of the ways to make predictable books, predictable.  Children can anticipate the rhythmic pattern and that helps them to remember the words to a familiar story.  Another example is patterning activities.  Preschools and Kindergartens are rife with manipulatives that support interaction with objects and patterning.  However, the very first patterning activity that a child encounters is musical.  When a parent or teacher comforts a crying child they may pat, rock or bounce the child using a steady beat or a rhythmic pattern.  They may even sing them a simple song while they do this.  A steady beat and rhythmic pattern are prime examples of patterning activities and a very early introduction to mathematical concepts.

Using a Steady Beat

Steady beat activities such as clapping or marching help the child understand numerical relationships such as one-to-one correspondence and even the concept of “more.” Toddlers may not yet know numbers, but they understand “more.”  For example, if you clap once and then you say, “Can you clap more than I clapped?” a toddler will most likely clap more than once.

Using Rhythm

Rhythm can help children to develop patterning abilities and make one-to-one correspondence relationships between the rhythm, beat and the words to the song. They can repeat, predict and extend rhythmic patterns easily. For example in “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” the teacher can sing “With a moo moo here” and the child can repeat and even extend the pattern of the song by singing “and a moo moo there” with little effort. (Editor’s Note: For an activity that helps make the connection between music and math, please see sidebar.)

Putting it Together

With a basic understanding of steady beat, rhythm, and melody teachers can incorporate these musical elements into their ‘normal’ teaching strategies for promoting emergent mathematics. Children can create, reproduce and extend patterns and explore one-to-one correspondence using steady beat, rhythm and melody.  These three components can be used alone or in combination to create both simple and complex patterns for children to explore and interact with in a developmentally appropriate manner.

With children under the age of five, our goal is not to teach formal mathematics or to teach children to memorize their numbers or “math facts,” and songs do not need to just be memory aides or a way to teach a child how to count to ten.  The goal for using music to support mathematics should be to provide infants, toddlers and preschoolers with a stimulating and interactive environment.  Next time you are looking for a way to engage children’s mathematical mind, try a song – any song, and then ask the children to talk about the beat, rhythm, tempo or melody.  We think the children will surprise you with what they already know about mathematics through music.

Materials needed: Felt board, Cut out felt ducks (1 big one and and at least nine small ones), hand drum (optional)

Procedures:

1. Sing the song to the tune of the “Adams Family” theme.
2. Keep a beat while singing by clapping your hands or beating on a drum.
3. Place the mother duck and her little ducks all around the felt board.  The number doesn’t matter.  Whatever you want to start with will be fine.
4. Sing the following song to the Adams Family theme. Where you see (Chant), have children say, rather than sing, the words/numbers.

(SING)
How many ducks? clap clap
How many ducks? clap clap
How many ducks? How many ducks? How many ducks? clap clap

(CHANT)
Let’s count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

(SING)
How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks?  How many ducks?  How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)

(CHANT)
What does mother duck say to get them back in line?
Quack    Quack     Quack  Quack  Quack
(Keep repeating (Quack) until a child in the group places the ducks in a line behind the mother duck)

(SING a little slower to allow time for the students to fill in the blank)
How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks? ( SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks?  How many ducks? How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)

(If all children can’t say the number, go back to the “let’s count” line)Repeat the song, placing different number of ducks on the feltboard.

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

Source: Scholastic News Online

Girls Grow Up Fast

By Deborah Swaney
September 10, 2009

When did 7 become the new 16? For today’s young girls, the pressure to look and act hot is greater than ever. Here’s help cooling things down.

The job description for parent says you prep yourself for the dicey stuff kids are likely to ask for. So I was ready for the day my daughter would beg for a fashion doll of notoriously unrealistic proportions, or even for one of those skimpily dressed Bratz dolls. Instead, last fall my 7-year-old freaked me out a whole different way-by begging for a bra. “Two girls in my class have them,” she argued.

Skeptical that she’d gotten her facts straight, I checked out a local children’s store. Yikes! They had a whole assortment of flirty bras and panties perfectly sized for second-graders. Staring at those crazy underthings, and at the body-glitter tubes on the counter, something creepy dawned on me. Today’s girls don’t just want to own a hot-looking doll, they want to be one.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so shocked. After all, my daughter and her friends are more likely to worship teen heroes like Troy and Gabriella from the High School Musical movies than to expend energy adoring cuddly cartoon characters like the Care Bears. And these same kids are the ones shaking their little booties when the Pussycat Dolls come on the radio, singing, “Don’tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”

Clearly, something’s going on, so much so that the American Psychological Association (APA) recently convened a task force on girls’ sexualization. “There’s a real syndrome happening, and it’s picking up speed,” says Eileen L. Zurbriggen, PhD, who chaired the APA group. “Even little girls are now feeling they should look and act alluring.” Her committee found that this is harmful to girls on several levels.

“The core issue is what they feel valued for,” Zurbriggen explains. “It’s as though factors like whether they’re smart or funny or kind or talented at something like sports or art get erased.” And their self-esteem suffers for it. “The images their idols present are so idealized, most girls can’t attain them. That makes them feel bad about their own bodies, and this can eventually lead to anxiety and depression,” Zurbriggen says. Preoccupation with their “hot-o-meter” score can even hurt their school performance. “A girl’s mind becomes literally so full of worries about how she looks and what other people are thinking, she doesn’t have enough energy left to focus on learning,” says Zurbriggen.

How did things get that way, and what can parents do to counteract the situation? For answers, we have to look beyond the kiddie lingerie aisle.

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

Source Parents

Sticky Situation – Shoplifting

By Scholastic News
Sept. 10, 2009

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