Winter Break December 24, 2012- January 4, 2013

the

KIDS The Hope Institute Learning Academy after school program

After School Students are

preparing for the upcoming

Winter Break

Students in the after school program have been

visiting many new fun and exciting websites to

generate ideas for family fun over the winter break.

In this edition of The Kids newsletter, we would

like to share some of the websites we visited, tasty

treats to make as a family, fun outdoor activities

and other ways to stay productive, healthy and

happy.

Remember Remember

Read a book a day

with your family.

Remember

Keep a reading log

or journal for you

to use at school

and one for your

family at home.

W I N T E R 2 0 1 2

Read a book a day

by yourself.

THE KIDS WINTER 2016

2

Kid Magazines and their fun websites

more about the American Girl books.”

Nahim said the Boys Life website is “fun

because I get to do cool stuff like play games

and watch videos. I played games like dark

dungeon.” Nahim has read Boys Life

magazine and visited the website before.

There are online editions to many of our

favorite magazines. Do a quick search on your

favorite search engine to find the electronic

version to explore with your family.

Nahim played a couple of games from

Nickelodeon. He played Turtle Toss and

thought it was pretty cool. To play, you have

to catch the turtles and throw them into the

basket. Nahim said the game was easy to play.

Fayha visited Nick Jr. for the first time, with

the help of Justina and Alana. Fayha watched

videos and played games.

Fun Winter Sports and

Activity ideas

Snowboarding Skiing Snowball fights

Ice skating Sledding Snow angels

Building snow castles Building snowmen

Looking for a fun way to burn some energy and get

outdoors over winter break? Check out these fun

activities suggested by the after school students.

If you’re looking for some fun activities in

print or electronic format, then read a great

kid friendly magazine like American Girl or

Boys Life. Since our school has access to the

online version, we checked them out at

http://www.americangirl.com/index.php

and http://boyslife.org. Read below to find

out what some of the after school friends

had to say about visiting the online versions:

Anna said “it’s very cool and I really like to

play on it sometime in the future. I really

liked the game about going shopping.”

Anna has read the American Girl books

before and even has an American Girl book

at home.

Loriena says the American Girl website “is

very fun because I got to play a lot of

different games. I love to play the American

Girl games on the computer or the iPad.”

Loriena has never read the American Girl

books before, and now “she wants to know

THE KIDS WINTER 2016

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Poisson Rouge is a website that was recommended to Ms. Thurston by Mr. Dusenbery. Mr. Dusenbery shared this website because it is great for building

mouse skills and attention to detail. There are many interactive elements to explore throughout the website, and it changes frequently. Ms. Thurston shared this website with her friends at the after school program. Evan thought this website was excellent "because I got to play different music games." Evan has visited this

website before. Peyton also visited the Poisson Rouge website and said it "was awesome because I liked the piano keys game and the castle activity." You can play games and activities in a variety of languages like French, English and

Spanish. The after school program also recommends checking out Leading to Reading by Reading is Fundamental. This website is great for the whole family because it provides songs, nursery rhymes, finger plays, games, videos and many other interactive activities.

Family Friendly Websites

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Holiday Recipes for the family

From Nick Jr. at http://www.nickjr.com/recipes/all-shows/seasonal_winter-holidays/all-ages/index.jhtml

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do over break with your whole family, try making a special treat

together. We found some great recipe ideas from Nick Jr. A very helpful feature from the recipes at Nick

Jr. is that it provides the full ingredient list, directions on how to make your treat and the nutrition facts.

Evan and Loriena helped find some family fun holiday recipes to make over the winter break.

Recommended reading Need a few recommendations for good fit books to read over vacation? Well, we have some

suggestions for you! Not only do we recommend that you take advantage of the many titles at the

Chicago Public Library, but also to read electronic books through We Give Books.

Early Readers

We Give Books

THE KIDS WINTER 2016

Fiction Chapter Books

Non Fiction Books

Please visit the We Give Books website to read free books. Many of the titles are brand new and the site is easy to navigate because you can search by author, title, genre, featured, classic and recently added. The books are bright and clear so they are easy to read the words and see all the details in the illustrations. The after school students spent a few minutes navigating the We Give Books website. Payton would read some of these books over break because she likes the website. Payton would like to read Snowman All Year and Llama Llama Holiday Drama. Evan also checked out the We Give Books website and he said, "it was great" even though he wanted to find more sports books. Evan went on to say that he thought it was good but he "couldn't believe that not all the books were free." Evan wanted to be able to read all of the books without joining the site. Please make sure you have permission from Mom or Dad at home before joining any website.