With winter here, take time to ensure your little ones are protected from the icy effects of winter.  I've logged onto a great site that offers precautionary information on preventing  icy hazards.  Kid's Health site offers more information on keeping your child's well-being in tip top shape.  Log on today for other health related topics when you need them.

With the first day of winter coming tomorrow, it’s a good time to review
some precautions to keep kids safe when outdoors.  Topics
covered include winter attire, frostbite, winter sports such as sledding or
ice-skating, first aid kits and what to do in case of emergency. - Courtesy of net Trekker

Is there a flight enthusiast in your family?  Then you need to log onto WayBack, Wright Flight.  This page will grant you any information you need on the Wright Brother's flights.  There's Buzz, People to Know, and a Joke Space.

The Age of Flight begins with the Wright brothers’ first successful controlled flight
near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903.  Learn the inspiration behind
Orville and Wilbur Wright's research and success in powered flight. Pictures of
the brothers and their work, as well as a reasonably detailed essay, commemorate
this world-changing event.  It’s interesting to find out how important pigeons
were to the development of airplane wings.

New novels have been placed on the FREE Book of the Month section here at Academic Learning Coach.  Do be sure to check through these listings as you won't find better deals anywhere else!  Books are hand picked to ensure quality.  Keep checking as new editions are added each month.  Free Book of The Month

Does your child love to draw?  Does he find peace and reprieve doing visual art?  Well Flock Draw is the site for him/her.  This site is completely free and uses an online whiteboard to allow for graphic color art.  As an added bonuses, you child can draw with a buddy online.  You'll just love this site!

Flockdraw is a free to use online whiteboard based painting & drawing
tool. It makes it easy to draw online free with multiple people for fun or
business. You can have unlimited people in a room and the drawing updates in
real time. Uses different colors, shapes and text. Start drawing
now!

Get in the Christmas spirit with these top 10 websites.  If these don't promote holiday spirit, nothing will!  Grab your little loved ones or, a nice hot chocolate and treat yourself to a little Christmas spirit before the day unwinds.

NorthPole.org
 
1.  It's the North Pole, so it must have something to do with Christmas(rumour has it that's where Santa Claus lives). Visit Santa's Workshop, take part in a Christmas story, play games, and visit the toy shop.

How Christmas Works
 
2. Good questions:Let's say that on December 20 you were to meet a friendly space alien. That is, let's say that his space ship discreetly drops him off in your back yard while you are looking out your window. You walk outside to meet the visitor, and you find out he's a pretty nice guy. His name is Gorg, he is wearing a costume that makes him look passably human, he speaks reasonable English, and he explains that his goal is to spend a week on the planet to learn about its people. He asks if you would consider being his guide for the week, and you decide to take on the job. So you take Gorg around and start showing him your town. Since it is December 20, one thing is for sure -- Gorg is going to ask about Christmas. And he is going to ask a LOT of questions, because Christmas is a pretty complicated.  What do you say?

Kids Domain Christmas
 
3.  Education and games all about Christmas, plus recipes and
films.

Merry-Christmas.com
 
4.  You'd expect a site called "Merry Christmas" to be fun, and here are
more games, MP3s of Christmas carols (like the well-known "Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella"), recipes, films, stories and traditions.

Holidays.net Christmas
 
5.  A great big red page of stories, Christmas computer  wallpaper, games, and more. All in a long line.

Christmas Around the World
 
6.  Santa's Net has brought together information about how different nations traditionally celebrate Christmas, plus how they say "Merry Christmas".

All Recipes Christmas
 
7. Here you'll find recipes for chocolate chip pumpkin bread, baked ham and other meats, gingerbread, biscuits, chocolate, and more. My stomach's rumbling just looking at the page...

Christmas Crafts
 
8. How to make a paper bag reindeer puppet, paper plate angel, stars, handprint wreath, snowman, tree, or even polyhedra ornaments! Plenty of craft activities for smaller hands.

A Victorian Christmas
 
9. Lots of stories and information about how the Victorians celebrated
Christmas, including decorations, entertainment, cards, gifts, and crafts. Loads and loads of information here.

Ugly Christmas Lights
 
10.  And one thrown in to make you laugh. "This site is here to show those houses where the residents are likely celebrating a happy holiday,
but have no sense of decency in how they choose to celebrate. We will show the garish, the ugly, the weird. For your own sake, and the sake of your neighbours, do not try this at home."

















 

If you are not familiar with NORAD, you must acquaint yourself this evening, especially if you have little ones.  NORAD tracks Santa throughout the day today and evening until Santa has delivered all his presents to everyone around the world.  This site has interactive videos that allow your child to see all the different areas in the world as he drops off presents. What a great geography lesson in the meantime!

NORAD, headquartered in Colorado Springs, is the
bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace
and maritime defense of the United States and Canada. NORAD, created by a 1958 agreement between Canada and the United States, provides advanced warning of impending missile and air attacks against its member nations, safeguards the air sovereignty of North America, and maintains airborne forces for defense against attack. - Taken from NORAD Homepage.

I know when my child was an online learner; one of the greatest concerns was maintaining optimal health with exercise.  Staying at home can cause health concerns as students are not actively engaged in walking throughout the day to burn needed calories.

Powered by Discover Education, Energy Balance promotes ways to help young people achieve a healthy weight through energy balance.  The curriculum allows parents to promote lesson plans, resources, and videos aligned to state standards for grades K-5.  Each module includes background information and tips that help parents, as well as dynamic activities and engaging Discovery Education digital media.  Family and community extension resources are also included to enrich existing curriculum. 

Be sure to click on the family’s link!

Eduteacher.net is a free resource for teachers, students, and parents that focuses on using FREE web tools in at home or in the classroom.  This site is definitely going to be marked as a favorite in your bookmarks.  The site has reviewed more that 1,200 tools and includes more than 45 videos including how to use them as an enrichment guide.

It recently launched "edu Teachers Change the World," a charity campaign in which each visitor to the site donates a penny to an aid organization.  What a great way to teach citizenship! 

Markkit Highlighter is the easiest way to highlight texts on Web pages.  When you finish highlighting, you get to link and share it with others.  Many of you "online readers" may find it difficult using a highlighter to highlight those important parts you're reading on that PC or Laptop screen.  But, help is on the way!

You can highlight ANY text in ANY web page.  Markkit is a web2.0 text highlighter. Drag'n'Drop the markkit yellow pen into your browser toolbar. Whenever you want to highlight text in a web page, click on the markkit bookmarklet. Markkit works 
only with Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Apple Safari.

All you have to do is drag and drop into your browser key bar!  Check out Markkit's one minute video and see if this will work for you.