Acorn Pumpkins

By Family Fun
Oct. 31, 2009

Total Time Needed:

30 Minutes or less

Want a festive decoration that won’t clutter up your porch? Try a patch of mini pumpkins small enough to fit in your child’s hand.

Materials

• Acorns
• Orange acrylic paint
• Brown acrylic paint
• Black permanent marker

Instructions

1. Remove the caps from a handful of acorns.
2. Coat each one with orange acrylic paint, adding a bit of brown to the acorn’s point for a stem.
3. Let the paints dry, then add a jack-o’-lantern face with a black permanent marker.

Tips:

Warning:
As several FamilyFun readers who made this craft found out, some acorns are infested with weevils. The weevils feed on the nutmeat while they develop over the summer, and when the acorns hit the ground in the fall, these insects know it’s time to start chewing their way out and into the ground — or your home. Reader Janie Foster offers a solution: before you start the project, bake the acorns in a slow oven to kill the weevils. Just be careful not to burn the acorns!

Source: Family Fun

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

Witch’s Hat Calzones

By Better Homes
Oct. 31, 2009

Prep: 35 minutes
Bake: 8 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 3.5-ounce package sliced pepperoni
• 1/2 of an 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup finely shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 8-ounce packages (16) refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon water
• Finely shredded or grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
• Dried Italian seasoning (optional)
• Crushed red pepper (optional)
• Pizza sauce, warmed (optional)

Directions

1. Reserve six to eight slices of pepperoni; set aside. Chop remaining pepperoni slices.

2. In a small bowl, stir together chopped pepperoni, cream cheese and the 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese until well combined. Set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease an extralarge baking sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, unroll each package of crescent-roll dough. Separate dough into individual triangles. Place half the dough triangles on the prepared baking sheet. Place about 1 tablespoon of the pepperoni-cheese mixture in the center of each triangle. In a small bowl, stir together egg and water. Brush edges of triangles with some of the egg mixture. Top with remaining triangles. Press triangle edges together to seal. Brush dough with egg mixture. Fold short edges of the dough triangles up, forming a hat brim. Prick the dough a few times with the tines of a fork.

4. If desired, sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and/or crushed red pepper. Cut reserved pieces of pepperoni into small stars, crescent moons, and/or small diamonds. Press onto dough for decoration. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with pizza sauce, if desired. Makes 8 calzones

Source: Better Homes

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

Spider Hatchlings

By Family Fun
Oct. 29, 2009

Total Time Needed:

2-3 Hours

This is one egg that trick-or-treaters will scramble to get away from: an orb of hatching spiders hanging from an entryway ceiling or a door frame.

Materials

 

• White glue (we used a 7 5/8-ounce bottle)
• 2 bowls
• Plastic spoon
• Balloon (we used an 11-inch size)
• Cheesecloth cut into 12 or so 3- by 18-inch strips
• Pin
• Clear fishing line
• Plastic spiders (available at www.orientaltrading.com)

 

Instructions

1. Empty the glue bottle into a bowl. Then fill the bottle halfway with water, shake it to dilute any remaining glue, and add the contents to the bowl. Stir the mixture well.

2.Inflate the balloon to about 9 inches tall and set it aside in another bowl.

3. Individually dip the cheesecloth strips into the glue, gently squeeze out the excess fluid, and spread the strips flat on the balloon. Cover the balloon this way, leaving 3 or 4 small gaps (as shown) and a 1 1/2-inch opening around the knot for tying on the spiders later. Let the glue dry, rotating the balloon occasionally to speed the drying process.

4.  Pop the balloon with a pin and remove it.

5. Tie a loop for hanging the egg at one end of a long piece of fishing line. Near the top of the egg, insert the other end of the line through the cheesecloth, then reach inside and pull it out through a nearby gap and tie a spider to it. Gently pull the line back until the spider comes to rest against the inside of the egg, thereby securing the line.

6. Use more fishing line to create strings of spiders. To tie them to the egg, thread one end of the line through the cheesecloth and out a gap, knot the line, and pull the knot back inside the egg. Attach more spiders directly to the egg simply by poking 2 or 3 legs through the cheesecloth.

Source: Family Fun

 

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

Glenn’s Christmas Sweater For Kids

Glenn’s Christmas Sweater For Kids

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
October 30, 2009

If you loved Glenn’s Christmas Sweater, you will love this one just for kids.  As he described on his radio show that he read it to his kids, when he first wrote it without the pictures. His two kids kept on requesting it over and over.

I decided to test his words, not that I didn’t believe him. I took it to a group of children in my neighborhood. I couldn’t leave; I had to read it over and over again. I was there for three hours. It brought tears to my eyes that there was a book that kids wanted to hear. And they didn’t even know that it was teaching them a lesson. Some of the kids even ask me to help them learn how to read it themselves.

If you have not got it, I am telling you that it is a must book to read to your children. This is one that kids will want to hear every night over and over again. You don’t have to read it just for Christmas. It can be read anytime.

I am going to let Glenn describe what the book is about in his own words:

We would like to know how your children reacted  and learned from it. You can contact us at dan@goldcoastchronicle.com . And we will publish them.

by Glenn Beck

On Christmas Eve, Eddie shook his snow globe one last time and placed it on the dresser beside his bed. He watched the snowstorm swirl and thought about the one gift he wanted most for Christmas—a new bicycle.

Adapted from the #1 New York Times bestselling novel by Glenn Beck, The Christmas Sweater shares a young boy’s story of hope and redemption as he searches for the true meaning of Christmas. With the whimsical Grandpa by his side, Eddie takes a magical journey reminiscent of A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express that leads him to appreciate the simple things in life: family and love.

The picture book edition of The Christmas Sweater is a beautiful holiday treat from Glenn Beck that you’ll share with your family again and again.

Source: Glenn Beck

Teachers Say Texting Can Be Good for Teens

By Jeff Elder
October 30, 2009

Texting, a favorite and seemingly instinctive activity for teens, has loomed over education and parenthood for several years. Many adults felt like it would mash proper English into the ground and was a distraction from serious learning.

The average number of texts by U.S. teens 13-17 has reached 2,900 a month, according to Nielsen, the media and marketing information company. And The New York Times reported in May that physicians and psychiatrists fear texting is taking a toll on teens’ sleep patterns and ability to think for themselves.

But now some teachers in Charlotte and nationwide are seeking to harness its power and making peace with it. Researchers back this new approach with new evidence that texting teaches some positive language skills, and pragmatists argue that a war on texting is unwinnable.

Make a place for the giant thumb, these experts argue. In the words of teacher Annie McCanless of Providence High School, “It’s here to stay.”

McCanless, a civics teacher and swim coach, believes texting has become “an established part of teens’ lives” and can be used as “a real tool as opposed to a hindrance.”

Alan Vitale, who teaches journalism at Renaissance School at Olympic High, says, “Some teachers are actually embracing it,” and “the students really appreciate you meeting them at their level.”

None of the teachers, experts or even students interviewed by the Observer disputes the dangers presented by obsessively sending text messages on mobile phones: Some students text too much, text in inappropriate places (like the classroom), text in troubling ways (such as suggestive “sexting”) and text at times that are unhealthy (such as all night). But some teachers see positive aspects of texting.

One long-held fear about texting has been that its shortcuts such as OMG (for “Oh My God”) seep into teens’ language use, along with mangled, abbreviated and simplistic syntax. Yet despite much coverage of this in the press, researchers and teachers dispute it.

“Writing is good. Writing is expressing thoughts. Expressing thoughts is good. We just don’t like their modality,” argues Larry Rosen, an author and researcher at California State University Dominguez Hills whose upcoming book is titled “Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn.” Rosen and four colleagues surveyed more than 700 teens and aggregated multiple studies in the new study “The Relationship between ‘Textisms’ and Formal and Informal Writing Among Young Adults.”

The study found that texting may actually help teens’ writing in informal essays and many other writing assignments. In a conversational essay about happiness – which asked “what does it mean to be happy?” – teens who used more texting shortcuts performed better than colleagues who did not.

The popular press has reported much on “textisms” entering students’ schoolwork, Rosen says, “but research shows it’s very, very rare.”

“I definitely concur,” says Jim Scott, an English and journalism teacher at Myers Park High School. “They’re thinking in language terms,” he says, noting the positive aspects of texting. “Kids are far better at mode-shifting. People talk about texting abbreviations seeping into the language. I hear it in the press. I think that’s fear. I don’t think it’s research-based.”

The education blog www.edu topia.org reported in May 2008 that some instructors, including former N.C. Teacher Of The Year Cindi Rigsbee of Orange County, have asked students to translate passages from classic literature to texting-speak to demonstrate a comprehension of language and the differences in context. This is in line with one of the findings of Rosen’s research: Texting-speak is not a mangled form of English that is degrading proper language, but instead a kind of “pidgin” language all its own that actually stretches teens’ language skills.

There are negative impacts of too much texting, including a finding in Rosen’s research that it can hurt students’ performance in the most formal types of essay writing, a key component of some testing.

Joe Ehrman-Dupre, a Myers Park senior, echoed the thoughts of other Charlotte students on texting: “I think teachers are worried that cell phones are a distraction from learning, but I think they can be an important tool as well…. Texting encourages homework completion, because I get at least two or three texts each night from friends asking what the homework for ‘x’ class was.”

The Observer asked Ehrman-Dupre and other Charlotte teens on Facebook for their thoughts about texting.

Emily Moore, a senior at Northwest School of the Arts, agreed, posting: “I think texting can be very helpful when it comes to homework. It’s an easy way to know if something is due if you forgot, or to ask questions about something I don’t understand. I have had many texting conversations over homework before.”

jelder@charlotteobserver.com

Source: Charlotte Observer

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

Kids Watch too much TV

By Matea Gold
October 29, 2009

More than an entire day — that’s how long children sit in front of the television in an average week, according to new findings released Monday by Nielsen.

The amount of television usage by children reached an eight-year high, with kids ages 2 to 5 watching the screen for more than 32 hours a week on average and those ages 6 to 11 watching more than 28 hours. The analysis, based on the fourth quarter of 2008, measured children’s consumption of live and recorded TV, as well as VCR and game console usage.

“They’re using all the technology available in their households,” said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen’s senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy. “They’re using the DVD, they’re on the Internet. They’re not giving up any media — they’re just picking up more.”

The increase in consumption is in part the result of more programming targeted at kids, she said, including video on demand, which is particularly popular among young children who like to watch their favorite shows over and over again.

“When I was a kid, I had Saturday morning cartoons,” McDonough said. “And now there are programs they want to watch available to them whenever they want to watch them.”

The findings alarmed children’s health advocates, who warned that increased television watching is linked to delayed language skills and obesity. A 2007 study by researchers at the University of Washington found that babies who watched videos geared to them learned fewer vocabulary words than infants who never watched the videos.

When kids are plunked in front of a screen, they’re also missing out on critical opportunities to learn from their parents and develop imaginative play, experts said.

“I think parents are clueless about how much media their kids are using and what they’re watching,” said Dr. Vic Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“The biggest misconception is that it’s harmless entertainment,” said Strasburger, who has written extensively about the effects of media on children. “Media are one of the most powerful teachers of children that we know of. When we in this society do a bad job of educating kids about sex and drugs, the media pick up the slack.”

The academy recommends no screen time for children younger than 2 and less than an hour or two for those older than 2.

“There are some extraordinarily good media for kids,” he said. “But even the best — ‘Sesame Street’ for 5-year-olds — kids shouldn’t be watching five hours a day. They should be outside playing. They should be having books read to them.”

The new data from Nielsen comes on the heels of the news that the Walt Disney Co. expanded its refund offer for its “Baby Einstein” videos after pressure from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which complained to the Federal Trade Commission about claims that the videos are educational. On Monday, Susan McLain, general manager of the Baby Einstein Company, issued a statement saying the company does not make such claims and that the refund offer is not an admission that the company misled parents in its marketing.

Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said the way infants are exposed to media shapes their future relationship with television.

“Once you start hooking babies on media, it’s harder to limit it,” she said. “If we start children early in life on a steady diet of screen time and electronic toys, they don’t develop the resources to generate their own amusement, so they become dependent on screens.”

Networks that program specifically for children discounted the potential negative effects from the report’s findings.

“Our programming for 2- to 5-year-olds is totally educational programming, and has been widely praised by advocates, widely praised by educators,” said Dan Martinsen, a spokesman for Nickelodeon, the network behind such popular kids’ shows as “Dora the Explorer,” “Wonder Pets,” and “Blue’s Clues.”

Kids ages 2 to 5 spent an average of 3 hours and 47 minutes a day watching television in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 3 hours and 40 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Nielsen. Older children watched an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes a day, up from 3 hours and 17 minutes.

In 2008, children spent 97% of their screen time watching live TV, although those ages 2 to 5 are increasingly watching shows through digital video recorders or DVDs. Younger kids also watch more commercials in playback mode, viewing 50% of ads, compared with the 44% watched by children ages 6 to 11. The data is based on Nielsen’s national sample, which includes 6,700 kids ages 2 to 11.

 

Editor’s Note : You can contact her at matea.gold@latimes.com. Times staff writer Dawn C. Chmielewski contributed to this report.

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

Copyright © 2009,

 

Source: The Los Angeles Times

Who Were Our Presidents? Part 13

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Oct. 30, 2009

Editor’s Note: How many of us along with our children? Know who our Presidents were and what they have done in Office.

Each week we will pick a President and tell you about them and their Accomplishes.

We hope that you will enjoy this series. And let us know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

 

13. Millard Fillmore 1850-1853

 

In his rise from a log cabin to wealth and the White House, Millard Fillmore demonstrated that through methodical industry and some competence an uninspiring man could make the American dream come true.

Born in the Finger Lakes country of New York in 1800, Fillmore as a youth endured the privations of frontier life. He worked on his father’s farm, and at 15 was apprenticed to a cloth dresser. He attended one-room schools, and fell in love with the redheaded teacher, Abigail Powers, who later became his wife.

In 1823 he was admitted to the bar; seven years later he moved his law practice to Buffalo. As an associate of the Whig politician Thurlow Weed, Fillmore held state office and for eight years was a member of the House of Representatives. In 1848, while Comptroller of New York, he was elected Vice President.

Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the Compromise of 1850. He made no public comment on the merits of the compromise proposals, but a few days before President Taylor’s death, he intimated to him that if there should be a tie vote on Henry Clay’s bill, he would vote in favor of it.

Thus the sudden accession of Fillmore to the Presidency in July 1850 brought an abrupt political shift in the administration. Taylor’s Cabinet resigned and President Fillmore at once appointed Daniel Webster to be Secretary of State, thus proclaiming his alliance with the moderate Whigs who favored the Compromise.

A bill to admit California still aroused all the violent arguments for and against the extension of slavery, without any progress toward settling the major issues.

Clay, exhausted, left Washington to recuperate, throwing leadership upon Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. At this critical juncture, President Fillmore announced in favor of the Compromise. On August 6, 1850, he sent a message to Congress recommending that Texas be paid to abandon her claims to part of New Mexico.

This helped influence a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the Wilmot Proviso–the stipulation that all land gained by the Mexican War must be closed to slavery.

Douglas’s effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore’s pressure from the White House to give impetus to the Compromise movement. Breaking up Clay’s single legislative package, Douglas presented five separate bills to the Senate:

1. Admit California as a free state.
2. Settle the Texas boundary and compensate her.
3. Grant territorial status to New Mexico.
4. Place Federal officers at the disposal of slaveholders seeking fugitives.
5. Abolish the slave trade in the District of Columbia.

Each measure obtained a majority, and by September 20, President Fillmore had signed them into law. Webster wrote, “I can now sleep of nights.”

Some of the more militant northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the Fugitive Slave Act. They helped deprive him of the Presidential nomination in 1852.

Within a few years it was apparent that although the Compromise had been intended to settle the slavery controversy, it served rather as an uneasy sectional truce.

As the Whig Party disintegrated in the 1850’s, Fillmore refused to join the Republican Party; but, instead, in 1856 accepted the nomination for President of the Know Nothing, or American, Party. Throughout the Civil War he opposed President Lincoln and during Reconstruction supported President Johnson. He died in 1874.

Source: White House

 

Editor’s Note: Todays’ homework: We would like to know some of President Millard Fillmore’s accomplishments as President.

If you can give us some, you can win a prize. You can contact us at dan@youngchronicle.com

Medal of Honor Recipient – U.S. Army Major William E. Adams

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Oct. 28, 2009

Each week we at the Chronicle will be honoring one of these true heroes.

We will call it Medal of Honor Recipient of the Week.

We hope you will join with us to honor these true heroes. Who have given us the greatest sacrifice that one could give their life, to save their fellow soldiers?

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

This Week’s Hero: U.S. Army Major, A/227th Assault Helicopter Company, 52d Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade, William E. Adams

Place and Date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 25 May 1971

Entered Service at: Kansas City, Missouri

Born: 16 June 1939, Casper, Wyoming

Citation:

Maj. Adams distinguished himself on 25 May 1971 while serving as a helicopter pilot in Kontum Province in the Republic of Vietnam. On that date Maj. Adams volunteered to fly a lightly armed helicopter in an attempt to evacuate 3 seriously wounded soldiers from a small fire base which was under attack by force.

He made the decision with full knowledge that numerous anti-aircraft weapons were positioned around the base and that the clear weather would afford the enemy gunners an unobstructed view of all routes into the base.

As he approached the base, the enemy gunners opened fire with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. Undaunted by the fusillade, he continued his approach determined to accomplish the mission.

Displaying tremendous courage under fire, he calmly directed the attacks of supporting gun ships while maintaining absolute control of the helicopter he was flying. He landed the aircraft at the fire base despite the ever-increasing enemy fire and calmly waited until the wounded soldiers were placed on board.

As his aircraft departed from the fire base, it was struck and seriously damaged by enemy anti-aircraft fire and began descending. Flying with exceptional skill, he immediately regained control of the crippled aircraft and attempted a controlled landing. Despite his valiant efforts, the helicopter exploded, overturned, and plummeted to earth amid the hail of enemy fire.

Maj. Adams’ conspicuous gallantry, intrepidity, and humanitarian regard for his fellow man were in keeping with the most cherished traditions of the military service and reflected the utmost credit on him and the U.S. Army.

Source: US Military

MITCHELL ROMERO

Case Type: Family Abduction
DOB: Dec 31, 2005	Sex: Male
Missing Date: Oct 16, 2009	Race: Hispanic
Age Now: 3	Height: 3’0″ (91 cm)
Missing City: DENVER CITY	Weight: 50 lbs (23 kg)
Missing State : TX	Hair Color: Black
Missing Country: United States	Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1133494
Circumstances:The photo on the left and the photo in the center are of Mitchell. He may be in the company of his father, Mario Romero. A felony warrant was issued for Mario on October 16, 2009. They may be traveling in a 2004 maroon GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle with Texas license plates 43WFX6. CAUTION IS ADVISED.

Missing Kids

MARIO ROMERO
Companion

Case Type: Family Abduction
DOB:Dec 27, 1975	Sex: Male
Missing Date: Oct 16, 2009	Race: Hispanic
Age Now: 33	Height: 5’7″ (170 cm)
Missing City: DENVER CITY	Weight: 205 lbs (93 kg)
Missing State : TX	Hair Color: Black
Missing Country: United States	Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1133494
Circumstances:The photo on the left and the photo in the center are of Mitchell. He may be in the company of his father, Mario Romero. A felony warrant was issued for Mario on October 16, 2009. They may be traveling in a 2004 maroon GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle with Texas license plates 43WFX6. CAUTION IS ADVISED.

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