Did you know that today, besides being Valentine’s Day, is International Book Giving Day? The mission of International Book Giving Day is to get new, used, or borrowed books in the hands of as many kids as possible.
Three simple ways to participate International Book Giving Day
1. Give a Book to a Friend or Relative
Is there a child in your life who would enjoy receiving a book on February 14th? In lieu of or in addition to a card or box of chocolates, choose a good book from a bookstore or public library. Do not underestimate the value of a library book lovingly selected and wrapped in pretty paper.
2. Donate a Book(s)
Wrap up a box of children’s books that your kids have outgrown and get them in the hands of children who could really use a book or two. Donate your books to your local second hand store, library, children’s hospital, or shelter. Alternatively, donate your books to an organization working internationally to get books in the hands of kids.
Newton Community Service Center has a literacy program that gives books and tutoring to kids who don’t own any books. You can drop off books at:
492 Waltham Street, Newton, MA 02465 | (617) 969-5906
3. Leave a Book in a Waiting Room or Lobby.
Choose a waiting room where kids are stuck waiting and there are few to no good books available. Purchase a good book, and deposit your book covertly or overtly in your waiting room of choice. The goal here is to spread the love of reading to kids, so choose a fun book, nothing controversial.
My Mom Friend Meredith is starting Literacy Enrichment classes for 1st graders and advanced Kingergarteners. I met her in preschool and I think she’s terrific!
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What is it? Literacy Time is an enrichment program for your First Grader or academically advanced Kindergartener. I will use my 8 years of experience as an elementary and preschool teacher, tutor, parent educator, and college level professor to enhance your child’s love of learning to read and write.
This is a worksheet and workbook free zone! There is no MCAS influence to contend with, although the methods used to teach reading and writing in this program will most definitely benefit your child’s future academic achievements across the curriculum. The philosophy of Literacy Time is that children learn to read and write through authentic literature experiences and ample opportunities to put pen to paper with no outside pressures. Reading and writing should be fun. Our ultimate goal as parents and teachers is to instill a love of reading and writing in each child.
What is the format? Literacy Time will be held in my bright and spacious kitchen and dining room area at 50 Playstead Road in Newton Corner. We will meet once a week for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The session will last for six weeks with a start date on Wednesday, January 18th and end date of Wednesday, February 29th. The time will be 3:30-4:45. There will be a maximum of 6 children in each session. (Disclaimer: Luke may or may not participate bumping the ratio to 7:1 upon my discretion, depending on the needs and dynamic of the group). All materials will be supplied. An additional session may or may not occur in March, depending on interest level and success of the program, with times, days and fees possibly varying. This session, the introductory fee will be $120 per child.
I am CPR certified and have a BS in Elementary Education and MS in Educational Psychology. I am not a stranger to you: you know my behavior and safety expectations for my own kids and the kids who visit my home. My home is pet free and smoke free.
What will my child do during Literacy Time?
3:30 Meeting: Each session will open with a short meeting. I will share the pen with the children as they help me fill in the afternoon message on my easel. They will be learning phonics without even knowing it in an interactive and fun way.
3:40 Shared Reading: Next, we will have a group Shared Reading experience using quality children’s literature and Big Books from my personal library. We will be word detectives: taking special note of interesting vocabulary, sentence structure, and punctuation. We will observe illustrations and use them to make meaning from text.
3:50 Writer’s Workshop: After being inspired by the book we read, the children will have an opportunity to become authors and illustrators themselves through a Writer’s Workshop. Each child will have their own folder and a nice chunk of time to write freely. I will float from child to child conferencing with them and showing them the “book way” or “grown up way” of translating their invented spellings. Together, we will pick words out of their own writing to focus on as their “Word Study” words (more explanation below). Every child will have a chance to share their writing at the end of each Writer’s Workshop. They will consider questions, comments and compliments from their peers to improve their writing during our Author’s Share portion of the session. Every child will practice their skills as a listening audience and utilize their speaking voice to learn how to make constructive suggestions to their peers.
4:20 Word Study: We will then turn our focus into a hands-on and sensory- based opportunity to practice the previously mentioned “Word Study” words. This is an updated and more research based approach to the traditional spelling test method. Word Study is the method being taught in the best teaching colleges today. Children will work with their “spelling words” that are meaningful to them. These are words that we picked out together from their own writing. They were words they actually needed and wanted to use during Writer’s Workshop. We will use such materials as shaving cream, corn meal, wiki stix etc. to practice our words.
4:40 Poems and Songs: Finally, we will wind down our session with collectively interacting with fun and seasonal poems and songs back around the easel.
How do I sign up? Please let me know if you are interested as soon as possible by emailing me at meredithandrews13@gmail.com or by calling 617-332-2752. Spaces will fill on a first come first serve basis. Checks should be made out to Meredith Andrews. Please do not send your child sick. In the event of inclement weather, we will follow the Newton Public School’s closing system and make up the session at a later date.
Open house for JCC Kaleidoscope Creative Arts & Science Camp will be held on Sunday, February 12 at the Leventhal-Sidman JCC (333 Nahanton Street) in Newton from 2-4pm. Meet the camp director and staff and learn how children in entering grades K-11 will make friends and spread their creative wings at JCC Kaleidoscope Camp. Art, drama, science, cooking, dance, music, games, sports, swimming, fishing, boating and more. Two to eight week program with flexible registration. Visual Arts and Theater Arts Intensive programs available for children entering grades 6-11. Bus transportation available to and from Brookline, Framingham and Wayland. Host of the 2012 Consortium of Boston Area Children’s Theatre (CBACT) Festival. For more information, visit bostonjcc.org/kaleidoscope or call 617-558-6523. No charge for camp fair. Open to the entire community. A program of the Ryna Greenbaum JCC Center for the Arts.
Natick SEPAC 1st Annual Special Needs Resource Fair
Learn about some of the great special needs resources
available to Metrowest families in a relaxed, free,
easy-to-navigate forum. Meet with owners and therapists
for a wide range of great resources including:
• Therapeutic Yoga and Horseback Riding
• Occupational Therapy
• Social Groups
• Neuropsychologists
• Financial Planners
• Adaptive Sports
I had no idea that some of these well known authors were or currently are Newton residents. I think all of us in book clubs, both adult and child, could get some great ideas from these local authors (and I bet if you ask really nicely, you just might be able to get them to come to your book club. Personally, I have had Mitali Perkins and Karen Day come to my daughter’s book clubs and both were FABULOUS!!! And gracious, and charming, not to mention wonderful with children!!). If you are reading this and you don’t live in Newton, there is always Skype!
Feel free to leave a comment to talk about your favorite author or book below (or missing from list). I am quite sure that I have accidentally left off some Newton authors. If you know of any, please leave a comment and I’ll add to the list. If I didn’t include a particular book for an author, please leave a comment about that too. I didn’t do the entire body of work for prolific authors (it’s a prevent-carpal-tunnel-thing). Thank you!
p.s. Thank you to Capability:Mom for the assist on this post!
Click on any image of book to examine or purchase at Amazon.
Picture Books (Emilie Boon, author and illustrator)
Just Illustration (Emilie Boon, author and illustrator)
Susan Callisto is pushing thirty and taking stock. Before she traded financial security at a Boston law firm for sandals and jeans in Waltham, she specialized in real estate law. Now she has reinvented herself as a political consultant for ordinary people seeking low-level office. Her income may be dicey, but Susan loves her new life—until her sometime boyfriend, Detective Lieutenant Michael Benedict, dumps her without a goodbye. Not one to mope, Susan uses humor and perpetual motion to push away the pain.
Susan’s new world is one where politics can turn deadly and even love may not survive. So when local high roller Charles Renfrow offers her a huge retainer to advise his political campaign, Susan is wary. Why would a scientist stalking the human genome want to be mayor of a small Massachusetts town? Finding the answer takes Susan through a maze of toxic secrets including those floating around Renfrow’s biotech company. On her way to confront him, Susan instead finds the body of his beautiful assistant. Assigned to the case, Michael reenters Susan’s life.
When Michael’s suspicions settle on Roddie Baird, yet another, and favorite, of Susan’s clients, Susan elbows her way into the investigation. She hopes to prove Michael wrong. As she probes—and lays her own life on the line—Susan uncovers a crack in everything….
p.s. Adult Medical Advice/Advocacy (Jerome Groopman)
Technically Dr. Groopman lives one town over in Brookline, but my Mom Friend Nancy works for him and raves about what a nice guy he is so I snuck him in. How Doctors Think is supposed to be a wonderful book.
To view any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.
This is the Thousand Cuts Fitness Program from Zen Habits that is geared for very busy people who think they don’t have time. Well … now you do. This is a DIY program (i.e. FREE!) that makes exercise something that you squeeze in minute by minute until it becomes part of your life. I know that we are all so busy in Newton that it can seem daunting to squeeze in one more thing, especially for yourself. Another determent may be cost. And not everyone is comfortable in a gym setting. This is simple, easy, and free! You can DIY and do it at home. It’s for yourself so you can keep those New Year’s Resolutions or make a new one right now! Go ahead, you can do it!!
Here’s how it works:
1. Right now, do something that only takes 1 minute. It might be a few pushups, bodyweight squats, an attempt at a pullup, a few lunges. You have time to do 1 minute.
2. In an hour or so, go for a walk if you can. If you’re in decent shape, make it a fast walk. Add some hills for challenges. If you’re not in good shape, just walk. Later, add some spurts of fast walking.
3. Later in the day, do a few more 1 minute activities.
4. Gradually build the 1 minute activities into 2 or 3 minutes. Then 4 or 5 of them. Add more of them throughout your day.
5. As much as you can, turn the activities into play. Throw your kids around. Run through a park and climb trees and benches. Race people. Play a sport.
6. Get a pullup bar for your home. Every time you walk by it, try to pull yourself up. If you can do pullups, do a few, or 10, every time you pass the bar.
7. Get a kettlebell. Swing it a few times a day.
8. Run places. Walk places quickly.
Always be active. It’s not hard, if you do it in tiny bits. You can’t say no to 1 minute, or even just a few seconds. And if you do a thousand of them, you’ll be fit.
Fitness is a part of my life now, but it wasn’t when I started. I did it in little bits, without designating a certain time as “workout time”. My whole life is workout time.
My husband is getting back in shape with Fitness Together in Auburndale. So far, he’s really enjoying the strenuous workouts. He received this helpful newsletter about making healthy choices with substitution ideas for off-limits foods: white rice, white sugar, fried foods, white bread, and creamy salad dressing. I know that you all know this, but sometimes a reminder is helpful.
The New Year has begun. How are your fitness resolutions holding up? Please comment!
Do-Not-Eat #1: Anything Fried
Fried food is loaded with fat and calories while offering zero nutritional value. It’s a lose-lose! Sure, fries and chips TASTE good, but healthier items also taste good. Just say no to the deep fried items on your menu. You’ll be thinner, healthier and won’t have greasy fingers.
Try This #1: Broiled
If you simply must have a French fry, then make them at home in your oven. Use sweet potatoes, as these are a more complex carbohydrate. Cut into matchsticks, drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil along with a dash of salt, then place in your oven on broil. Mix every 5 minutes until the fries are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.
Do-Not-Eat #2: White Bread
White bread products have zero nutritional value and are quickly converted by your body into sugar. So you may as well eat a cupcake. Even breads that are technically wheat, but are as soft and smooth as white bread, should be avoided. Don’t be afraid to discard the bread from your sandwich or to push away that bread basket. Your waist will shrink and you’ll lose that bloated feeling that high carbohydrate meals give you.
Try This #2: Sprouted Grain Bread
If you must have bread, then stick with sprouted. Sprouted grain bread is a lot easier on your digestion and is packed full of nutrients. Two delicious brands are Food For Life’s Ezekiel bread, and Manna Organics. Sprouted grain breads are often kept in the freezer section since they don’t contain preservatives to prolong shelf life.
Do-Not-Eat #3: Creamy Salad Dressing
You were so good to order a salad, but then you ruined it by drenching the salad in fattening creamy dressing. Just a few tablespoons of creamy dressing contain more than 20 grams of fat and hundreds of calories.
Try This #3: Vinegar Dressing
Salad dressing is meant to lend flavor to the salad, not fat and calories. Vinegar-based dressings pack amazing flavor in with minimal fat and calories. You can even mix your own dressing at home. Take high quality vinegar, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper, your choice of dried herbs, and a bit of olive oil.
Do-Not-Eat #4: White Rice
I’m sure by now you’ve heard that white rice is not a healthy choice. Just like white bread, white rice has zero nutritional value – other than calories. Fiber and vitamins have been removed and the glycemic load will quickly prime your body for storing fat.
Try This #4: Brown Rice
Brown rice has three times the amount of fiber, more B vitamins as well as other nutrients, won’t sky rocket your blood, and will keep you feeling fuller for longer. That should be enough to convince you to swap your large pile of white rice out for a small pile of brown rice.
Do-Not-Eat #5: White Sugar
Sugar and high fructose corn syrup are the epitome of anti-fitness food. Nothing will destroy your progress, expand your waist and plummet your energy levels like sugar will. If you only take away one do-not-eat food from this article please let it be sugar.
Try This #5: Fruit
Don’t turn to artificial sweeteners to get your sweet fix, instead turn to nature’s wholesome source of sugar: fruit. Eat organic fruit that is seasonal and locally grown. Stay away from dried fruit and fruit juices, as these are high in simple calories.
The Woven team is looking for a Senior DevOps Engineer to join our Copley Square-based development team. We are the company that brought you the litl webbook, a computer that lets you enjoy the web without worrying about anything else and winner of numerous national and international awards. We’re now looking to bring multiple consumer photography applications to market.
You will work with our product teams to build a secure, robust, scalable backend platform for our mobile and web applications. You will have the opportunity of developing a robust backend architecture to manage massive amounts of data and leverage it to deliver a compelling experience to users. You will have the flexibility to both develop software as well as operate it in a large-scale environment. If you believe that development and operations work best when they work together, then this position is for you!
Skills & Requirements
Experience developing web-based applications using Python and/or Flask
Experience with Linux system administration and automation tools such as puppet, chef or cfengine
Experience developing, tuning and administering NoSQL databases such as MongoDB or Redis
Excellent system-level design ability
Experience building highly-available and scalable systems
Ideally you have built systems-level tools and back-end infrastructureservices
Experience with monitoring and alerting software such as nagios, zabbix, munin, cacti, etc.
Production level experience using Rackspace Cloud and/or Amazon EC2 is desirable
Strong understanding of load testing strategies and best practices
About Us
We’re a small technology company with big ideas. Located in Boston, we also have people in London, Brazil, the Greek Isles…you get the idea. Our 60 person team consists of software developers, hardware engineers, industrial designers, user experience experts, graphic designers, evangelists, logistics gurus, and top-notch customer support. An unlikely mix, perhaps, but what we have in common is passion for creating compelling user experiences. Our four-year pursuit has been continually fueled by enthusiasm and excitement about our diverse set of projects. The results are always simple, useful and delightful.
I hate to tell you how many tutors I hire for my 3 kids. It’s a little embarrassing because it’s quite a lot but I do use tutors to teach my kids things that I can not and/or to help them when they don’t want my help. I am known to do a long, investigative search to find the right match for my kids so I decided to share my Rolodex of Newton Tutors, Teachers and Coaches. I am sure there are other wonderful ones out there. Will you share? Please do by leaving a comment and I’ll update the list.
Requests for Referrals:
— My Mom Friend Melissa is seeking a Voice coach for her 6th grade daughter.
— My Mom Friend Penny is seeking a piano teacher for her 4th grade daughter.
p.s. A great source for an academic tutor: hire from a school that your child doesn’t attend. Ask your teacher for referrals!
Best Academic (Math but also other subjects) Peer Tutor: Lily Skerjl (email me for her info, she’s an 8th grader and she tutors my 6th grader)
Best Math or Reading Tutors for Boys: Hire teachers from Fessenden School
Best Spanish Tutor: Spanish by Martha.
Best Mandarin Chinese Tutor: Stella Pan (email me for her info, no website)
Cynthia Carpenter for Reading:
I’m a “retired” Brookline, Lexington, and Concord and New York City teacher, with 30 years experience teaching grades Pre-K through high school. In addition to having taught in elementary classrooms and as a middle and high school English teacher, I’m a certified Reading Specialist (providing consulting to teachers, direct support to students, and doing diagnostic testing.)
I have a Master’s + 70 post-grad credits in Education, Comparative Literature, and Art History, and my classrooms have served as placement sites for many student teachers. I am especially interested in multicultural teaching, received a Lowell Scholarship to study Linguistics at Harvard, and am listed as an “executive functioning” specialist on the Concord SEPAC website.
Come to For Kids Only for a Valentine’s Day celebration. There will be singing, dancing, arts and crafts, face painting and much more. Snacks will be provided.
Members: $15 for first child, $10 for each additional child.
Non-Members: $20 for first child, $15 for each additional child.
Prior registration required as it fills up fast! Please RSVP to Lisa Romano, FKO Manager at lromano@mp-sportsclub.com
GIVEAWAY: 3 Day Membership Pass to The Sports Club/LA in Boston near Theater District. Please leave a comment to win. I have 3 to give away!
I just saw the Museum of Science of Boston’s presentation on weather for 5th graders today and I remembered how difficult it was for me to help my fifth grader figure out how to study for her weather unit. I spent hours googling weather terminology to help her with flashcards but then, trying to put together all the casual relationships was confusing, even to me.
While that weather presentation was fresh in my head, I thought I’d capture it and have also added links and video to help kids really understand these concepts.
p.s. I was pre-med in college so I never actually studied the weather. Please leave a comment to add to this or to make corrections. Especially you, George, from the Museum of Science. Thank you! Also leave questions if anything is confusing and I’ll keep adding to this.
p.p.s. I am adding a great post by Doodles and Jots about Clouds. She has cloud photos, cloud types diagram, & companion art project.
What Causes Weather: Heat, Air Pressure, Wind and Moisture
Heat: is from our sun. The light energy from the sun converts to heat energy when it hits the earth.
The tilt of the planet affects how much heat an area on the planet receives and this is also why we have seasons. Because the earth is sphere, when it is tilted the light energy in the middle of the planet is spread out a smaller distance than the top or the bottom (depending on angle of the tilt). The same light energy which converts to heat energy upon hitting the earth means less heat for a larger area versus a smaller area. [see link for explantory video]
Air pressure: is the weight of the Earth’s atmosphere pressing down on everything at the surface. Explaining Air pressure video from The Weather Channel. Watch to learn how air pressure is caused by heat (more heat is less pressure because molecules spread out so air rises, and less heat makes molecules squish together so pressure falls.)
The relationship between air pressure and heat. Cold air is more dense (has a greater weight per unit volume) than warm air. If the air is unconfined and heated — as would be the circumstances in the atmosphere — the density of the gas decreases (i.e. gets lighter). This is because the molecules in the air spread out when heated, causing air pressure to decrease. Think of a hot air balloon. Heating the air causes the air balloon rise because the heated air is lighter than the colder air around it.
The relationship between air pressure and weather. Air has weight, and a barometer measures the changes in air pressure above. When a high-pressure area is in control, the air sinks. Sinking air inhibits the development of clouds. When the air sinks, more force pushes down toward the ground, so the barometric pressure increases. Conversely, when a low-pressure area moves in, the air rises, cools and condenses out moisture, which forms clouds and precipitation. Since a rising column of air above weighs less, the air pressure falls.
As the sun heats the ground or ocean, warning them, the air near the ground or ocean warms and becomes less dense. As this happens the air begins rising, which lowers the air pressure at the Earth’s surface.
Very cold air, on the other hand, can create large areas of high pressure because cold air is more dense (heavier) than warm air. The Earth’s highest surface air pressures are found in masses of very cold air over places such as Siberia.
The relationship between air pressure and wind. Air pressure and wind speed are related: as air pressure drops, wind speed increases.
Wind: is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. See video below to learn how changes in air pressure from high to low pressure cause wind.
Moisture: water can exist in three different states: solid, liquid, and vapor.
Water droplets form from warm air. As the warm air rises in the sky it cools. Water vapor (invisible water in the air) always exists in our air. Warm air holds quite a bit of water. For example, in the summer it is usually very humid. When enough of these droplets collect together, we see them as clouds. If the clouds are big enough and have enough water droplets, the droplets bang together and form even bigger drops. When the drops get heavy, they fall because of gravity, and you see and feel rain.
A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air.
How are Clouds Formed? All air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can’t hold as much water vapor as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud.
Humidity: is the amount of moisture in the air. The relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air as a percentage of the most moisture that could be in the air at a certain temperature. If the air has half the amount of moisture it could have then the relative humidity is 50%.
Dewpoint: Another popular expression of humidity is the dewpoint. This is the temperature that the relative humidity will be 100% when air is cooled. When air cools the relative humidity will increase. It will continue to increase as the air cools until it reaching the saturation point. Morning dew is common in humid places in the morning. This occurs from air cooling to the dewpoint and further cooling results in condensation.
Climate versus Weather
Mountains and Climate: The temperature on mountains becomes colder the higher the altitude gets. Mountains tend to have much wetter climates than the surrounding flat land.
Oceans and Climate: the ocean responds very slowly to changes in the seasons, causing it to have a moderating effect on climate (i.e. water is harder to heat or cool than land so it affects the weather around it). The sea makes winters in coastal regions a bit warmer and summers near the coast a bit cooler than they are farther inland. . Notice how coastal cities have milder winters and more pleasant summers.
On a smaller scale, the sun heats up land faster than nearby water, causing the air over land to begin rising sooner than air over the ocean. As rising air over the land creates lower air pressure, cooler air from over the ocean flows in to replace it, creating a sea breeze.
Climate versus Weather: The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere “behaves” over relatively long periods of time.
More Terms
Barometer: A barometer measures atmospheric pressure.
Barometric Pressure: another term for air pressure or atmospheric pressure. Air pressure is also called barometric pressure because barometers are used to measure it.
Atmospheric Pressure: or air pressure is the force exerted on you by the weight of tiny particles of air (air molecules).
Molecule: Molecules are small particles that make up all living and non-living things. They are made up of even tinier particles called atoms.
Temperature: Temperature is a degree of hotness or coldness the can be measured using a thermometer. It’s also a measure of how fast the atoms and molecules of a substance are moving. Temperature is measured in degrees on the Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin scales.
