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December 2015Northern EditionServing Gratiot,Isabella & Clare

Counties

Kids’ World News www.kidsworldnews.org Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2015

Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 2

Snowy weather, jingle bells, twinkling lights, and candy canes are all signs that December has arrived! It’s the last month of the year and there is certainly a feeling of anticipation in the air. People are busy

making plans and preparing for the holidays, also known as the “hus-tle bustle” of the holiday season! Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are all holidays celebrated in December, where songs, decorations,

candles and giving gifts are part of their beautiful traditions.

Kids and teachers are especially excited to have time off from school this month. What are you going to do over your break?

Kids’ World News wishes you the happiest of holidays this December, and a wonderful time sharing the joy of the season

with your family and friends!

Happy Holidays to all!

Hi Kids!Thanks! To All Of Our Sponsors Who Are Helping Us To

Provide Great Information To Kids And Parents

If you would like to see Kids’ World News at your school or if you would like to be one of our proud sponsors, please call 989-429-4259 (e-mail:chris@kidsworldnews.net). If you would like tosubmit an article from your school (limit 150 words plus high resolution jpgs), e-mail: debi@kidsworldnews.net Kids’ World News is designed to give exposure to all area schools, recognition of students and staff members. We welcome imput from all our area schools. We do however, reserve the right to edit.

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Pictured are Mrs. Chadwick’s 2nd graders in front of Larson elementary school. Henry’s Tree Service has once again volunteered to string the lights. We appreciate the community support for our school. Please enjoy the lights as you pass by Larson this Holiday Season.

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Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 3

Let It Snow!Decorate With

Snowflakes!How does a snowflake form? Snow crystals

form in clouds when the temperature is below

the freezing point. They are created when water

droplets freeze on tiny ice particles. When an ice

crystal drops through a cloud, it bumps and hits

other crystals which causes each snowflake to

form into a unique complex design. There are no

two snowflakes that are exactly alike. Decorat-

ing with snowflakes is a fun way to make the win-

ter season and holiday times special.

Follow the step by step directions to create

your very own snowflakes. Try making several to

hang and a few to share with your family and

friends.

What you will need:

Paper towel tube, ruler, scissors, glue, ribbon.

To decorate:

Glitter, paint, pipe cleaners, buttons or beads.

Contributed by Rebecca Nechuta of KidzArt

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M U S E U M Formal dress is encouraged!

Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 4

If you get a clear glass of tap water and look closely at it, can you guesshow old it is? The water in your glass may have fallen from the sky as rainjust last week, but the water itself has been around almost as long as theearth has! Our earth has a limited amount of water and that water keeps cy-cling around and around. That’s what we call “the water cycle.”

This water cycle is made up of four main parts.

The Water Cycle

Evaporation: Evaporation iswhen the sun heats up water inrivers, lakes, and the ocean andturns it into vapor or steam. Thewater vapor or steam leaves theriver, lakes and ocean and goesinto the air. With evaporation,we also have transpiration.What is that? Plants transpire.Transpiration is the way bywhich plants lose water out oftheir leaves. Transpiration givesevaporation a bit of a hand ingetting the water vapor back upinto the air.

Condensation: Water vapor inthe air gets cold and changesback into liquid, forming clouds.This is called condensation.You can see the same sort ofthing at home... pour a glass ofcold water on a hot day andwatch what happens. Waterforms on the outside of theglass. That water didn’t some-how leak through the glass! Itacutally came from the air.Water vapor in the warm air,turns back into liquid when ittouches the cold glass!

Precipitation: Precipitationoccurs when so much waterhas condensed that the aircannot hold it anymore. Theclouds get heavy and waterfalls back to the earth in theform of rain, hail, sleet orsnow.

Collection: When water fallsback to earth as precipitation, itmay fall back into the oceans,lakes and rivers, or it may end upon land. When it ends up on land,it will either soak into the earthand become part of the “groundwater” that plants and animalsuse to drink or it may run over thesoil and collect in the oceans,lakes and rivers where the cyclestarts all over again.

1. Evaporation

2. Condensation

3. Precipitation

4. Collection

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Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 5

Hello! We have exciting news to cover at Morey Mon-tessori! Many of our students have been participating in the 25 mile running club during recess. The students run the 1/4 mile track and check off their laps moving from a 5

their shoe laces. After 25 miles, our principal, Mr. Johnson

November 25th at 2:30 we are inviting the community and families of our Running Club members out to run a celebra-tion mile while the whole school cheers!

Christmas is right around the corner, so you better get ready for Santa. To begin preparations, every house needs some sort of Christmas tree. Make sure your Christmas tree has bright lights and lots of ornaments. Next your house needs to be seen through the night with some Christmas lights. Have your guardian hang up your Christmas lights on your house while you help in untangling the lights. After your lights are up you may put up more decora-tions if you would like. Next, it’s always nice if you make your family some homemade presents and wrap them up. Don’t forget to put the name of the person you are giving the gift to on it. Place your presents under your Christmas tree.

About two weeks before Christmas it’s time for you to send your letter to Santa. Your letter should include the gifts you would like to get from Santa this year and should be written in your neatest hand-writing with your name at the end of your letter. Put your letter in an envelope and

your envelope. Have your guardian also send your letter to Santa. Santa may send you a letter back, but he is a very busy man and has lots of work to do, so don’t expect a letter back from Santa. When it is Christmas Eve, you must make some Christmas cookies for Santa. When it is just before bedtime, put out your cookies on a plate with a glass of milk. Set them near your chimney, or if you don’t have a chimney set them near your Christmas tree. Then go to bed and enjoy your Christmas presents in the morning. Remember to always be good throughout the year and be helpful. Have a Merry Christmas!

What are your family’s Holiday traditions? Do you watch movies, build a snow--

ing one present on Christmas Eve. We also have a Holiday dinner, and we go for a hike with my dogs. However, other people around the world have different traditions. For example Jamaicans paint their houses, hang curtains, and prepare Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. In Argentina the weather is al-ways warm around Christmas time, so they prepare in early December or late November; they decorate

If you travel to Egypt during Christmas, you will see that only around 15% of people are Christians.

December 25. As you can see everyone celebrates in different ways. It doesn’t matter what you do as long

Do you love chocolate? Many people in today’s world love chocolate, but what they don’t know is that chocolate may be going extinct! The demand for chocolate is so high that companies can’t keep up. In 2013, the world ate about 70,000 tons of chocolate more than chocolate makers could produce. Two com-panies predict that by 2020, the world will eat about 1 million tons more chocolate than people can produce! That’s a lot of chocolate. In addition to the world’s want, the countries producing the cocoa beans that are used to make chocolate are having problems with dry weather and plant diseases that lower the production of chocolate. Also, the rising demand for dark chocolate is a problem because dark chocolate uses more cocoa beans than regular chocolate. Before you panic, there’s multiple solutions for this problem.

A solution has been realized and Latin America can help. Since Latin America is a good habitat for growing cocoa beans, countries have been helping out by starting to produce chocolate, too. Brazil is the leading pro-ducer of chocolate growing in Latin America, but Ecuador is slowing rising to the top. Also, chocolate producers have been adding in extra ingredients like berries, nuts, caramel, and cookies, which lowers the amount of choco-late in each product. So don’t worry too much about the precious treat going extinct. Keep enjoying your chocolate while it still lasts!

What do you do for the Holidays? Do you celebrate Christ-mas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or another holiday? Do you listen to music, open gifts, or decorate a tree? There are many ways to cele-brate the Holidays; these are called traditions. All families have their own traditions. They can be as simple as drinking hot chocolate, or as complex as a delicious Holiday dinner. In Germany, families hide a pickle in their tree. This might sound silly, but I am sure some people in Germany might think your tradi-tions are silly. Some people don’t celebrate Christmas; instead, they celebrate Hanuk-kah, which is a Jewish holiday. There are eight days of Hanukkah, and each day they light a candle on a menorah. You also might celebrate Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is a week-long African holiday. As you can see, there are many different traditions! What are your traditions?

Do you love winter? Do you love staying in hotels? If you said “yes” to either one or both of these questions then you might want to stay in a snow

but it would be exciting to see such a unique place. Snow hotels have to be rebuilt every year because we all know that snow and ice eventually melt. There are several places all over the world where you can book at stay at a snow hotel. These hotels may include ice restaurants, chapels, saunas, and hot tubs. If you choose to stay in one, be prepared to sleep on beds made of ice and snow, but don’t worry you will stay warm with furs, blankets, and sleeping bags. The average temperature in a snow hotel is below zero Celsius, which is sometimes warm-er than the outside temperature. As you can imagine, these hotels are really expensive to stay at; they range from $300 to $3,000 U.S. dollars per night. Would you ever consider visiting a hotel made of ice?

Getting Ready For ChristmasBy Brooklyn B.

Holiday TraditionsBy Samantha McConnon

Where Has All the Chocolate Gone? By Lola Yun

Snow Hotels By Sabrina Rudoni

Articles provided by Sacred Heart Academy Elementary Students

Holiday Traditions Around The World By Ella McGahey

Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 6

Great Job To All Who Entered The Contest This Year!

Maia Jane Myers3rd Grade - Morey Montessori

Maia Jane Myers2nd Grade - Farwell Elementary

Maia Jane Myers2nd Grade - Sacred Heart

Not Pictured - Jordyn - 3rd Grade - Morey Montessori

Daelyn Gross & Olivia Good 4th Grade - Nikkari Elementary

Harlee Lucas & Gracie Gurd 1st Grade - Larson Elementary

Kayla J Omans & Miranda Strong5th Grade - Nikkari Elementary

Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 7

Coloring CornerHappy

HolidaysTo You!Write about one of the

traditions that yourfamily celebrates this

holiday season.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 8

Fun With Fractions!Color In The Correct Answer!

58

78

24

38

25

23

14

35

34

59

12

13

79

45

24

46

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Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 9

Kids of today get a series of shots to protect them from get-ting whooping cough, but some kids will still get it. Babieswho have not had all their series of shots are at risk forwhooping cough. This is a very serious illness for a baby,and also affects adults ages 60 and older.

Whooping cough, which is also called pertussis (pur-tus-is)is a bacterial infection of the respiratory system. This in-cludes your lungs and breathing tubes. Whooping cough gotits name from kids coughing a lot and in between coughs,they make a “whoop” sound when they try to take a breath.

In 1906, two French scientists discovered the pertussisbacteria and this became the first step to creating a vaccineto prevent this disease. Thousands of children used to get itbecause it spreads very quickly. Pertussis bacteria can livein the saliva in mouths and in the mucus in noses. It isspread by people coughing or sneezing and releasing tinydroplets in the air that other people breathe in. Colds arecaught this way also.

The symptoms of whooping cough are similar to a cold but,unlike the cold, whooping cough sticks around and the coughgets stronger and more severe. If the doctor thinks that achild might have whooping cough, they may take a sample ofthe mucus in the back of their nose. This can be tested in alab to see if there’s any bacteria in it. They may also order achest X-ray and blood tests.

A child who has whooping cough will need to rest, drinkplenty of fluids and eat healthy food. Also, the doctor will pre-scribe antibiotics to help fight the infection from the bacteria.This will guard from spreading the illness to others. Regularcheck-ups with the doctor will make sure that the breathingand coughing are improving.

Whooping cough can be avoided by getting the pertussis vac-cine called the DTaP. The shot prevents two other illnesses —diphtheria and tetanus in addition to pertussis.

Today, kids are usually given five doses of it. The first three shotsare given while a child is a baby. Another is given when a child is

a toddler and the fifth one is given between ages 4 to 6. And now,doctors want to give another shot when children are around 11 or12 to make sure he or she is still protected.

Washing your hands often and staying away from people whohave a bad cough may help you avoid getting the disease.

What Is Whooping Cough?

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Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 10

Reindeer!The reindeer is a medium sized member of the Cervodae (deer)

family. Reindeer came to North America in the early 1900s fromSiberia and Norway. Recently, they have been raised on farms inCanada and the United States.

Some of the benefits of raising reindeer include the following:They can be raised on the same farm as other deer and livestock.Reindeer are low maintenance, easy handling and relatively dis-ease free animals. They do well in areas that have cold wintersand marginal land. Costs for handling facilities and equipment areoften lower. But a really unique part of raising reindeer is the de-mand for them in commercials, parades and other promotionalevents. They can be trained to pull sleighs and can be ridden.Reindeer can also generate products such as meat, milk, robes,hides and the antlers they shed.

Reindeer are about 4 feet tall at the shoulder and 6 feet long.The adult females weigh about 162-187 pounds while the malesare 200-220 pounds on the average. Unlike most other types ofdeer, both bulls (males) and cows (females) have antlers. Eventhe calves (babies) produce antlers. The antlers are shed eachyear and regrow. Sometimes the antlers are called “racks.” Rein-

deer have very widehooves which helpsthem move throughsnow and tundra, abroad muzzle (nose),and thick brown fur.Their thick fur traps airwhich insulates the rein-deer from the cold andhelp the reindeer float inwater. They are strongswimmers and runners.

Calves are born be-tween May and Juneand grow quickly. Theyare around 14 poundswhen they are born.

They can stand and walk within minutes of their birth. They arealso born with teeth so they can start eating right away. Calves do,however, drink milk from their mothers.

The reindeer are herbivores (plant eaters) and they spend muchof the day eating. Reindeer travel in herds in the wild. They gen-erally roam on pasture grounds in a farm setting.

Reindeer are also associated with Santa Claus! Santa’s sleighis said to be pulled by flying reindeer! These were first named inthe 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, where they are calledDasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder andBlixem. Dunder was later changed to Donder and in other writtenworks changed to Donner, and Blixem was later changed toBlitzen.

COLORME!

Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 11

While the cold of a Michigan winter makes many of us want to stay cozy in-doors, there are two great sports to enjoy outdoors this winter, skiing andsnowboarding. These popular sports can be done at the many ski resorts allover Michigan and are a perfect way to exercise while having fun.

Skiing is a winter sport that involves moving over the snow with the use ofskis, which are longboards attached to thefeet. In addition to skis,skiers use poles to keeptheir balance, ski boots tofasten the skis to theirfeet, and ski bindings tosecure the ski boots to theskis.

It’s important to staywarm, so ski pants, a coatand ski gloves help to re-sist wind and water.Some of the newer fabricsfor cold weather give youthe warmth without all thebulk. Ski helmets protectheads from injury, and skigoggles protect eyes fromwind and the glare of sun-light on the snow coveredtrails and slopes.

Snowboarding is a sportthat evolved from skate-boarding and surfing, onlyit’s done on the snow.

Snowboarders need a snowboard, boots, bindings and a helmet, plus all thewarm weather gear like gloves, snowboard pants and a coat.

Getting properly fit for this equipment is very important for keeping youcomfortable and safe. Even if you don’t have your own set of ski or snow-boarding equipment, you can rent everything from the ski resort you visit.This is a good way of trying out the sport before purchasing your own set,and deciding what works best for you.

If you haven’t tried skiing or snowboarding before, sign up for a lesson andlearn the basics from a certified instructor. It’s fun to take a lesson with a sib-ling or a friend. When you first begin, you start out on a beginner’s slope, orbunny slope, which is a short hill with a gentle incline. You’ll learn how tostop, turn and make correctchoices such as which trail or hillis right for you, and how to watchout for others and avoid collisions.

In addition to being fun, bothsports offer a great cardio vascu-lar workout which is good for yourheart, strengthens your musclesand improves flexibility.

Michigan winters can some-times seem long, but they can re-ally be fun if you have an outdoorsport you can enjoy with your fam-ily and friends. So look for the skiresort nearest your home andgive it a try.

Enjoy Skiing AndSnowboardingThis Winter!

COLORME!

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Kids’ World News • 1-877-570-3340 • www.kidsworldnews.org December 2015, Page 12

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