January 18, 2013

ANTON WEEKLY – ALL ANTON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS - JANUARY 18, 201326A

250 Valentine’s Lane, Old Brookville, NY 11545 516.621.2420 greenvaleschool.org

Green Vale Students Don’t Follow the Crowd.They Lead the Way.Green Vale middle school students have a distinct advantage. Without a high school presence, students achieve better academically, have improved self-esteem and greater confidence. Here they serve as role models, leading the way.

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CAMPS & SCHOOLS

BY DR. RAYMOND J. HUNTINGTON

If your household is like most,there are many day-to-day du-ties that must be completed.

While tasks like laundry and doingdishes may seem tedious for chil-dren, research conducted by theUniversity of Minnesota’s Collegeof Education and Human Develop-ment shows that “involving chil-dren in household tasks at an earlyage can have a positive impact laterin life.”Without a doubt, chores foster agood attitude about working hardand being responsible and havemany other important benefits.Here are several suggestions tohelp your child build valuableskills while contributing around thehouse:Picking up clutter - Make timeeach day for your child to pick uphis or her bedroom or around thehouse. Try setting a timer and chal-lenging your child to see howmuch he or she can accomplish infive or 10 minutes. Learning to un-derstand how long different taskstake will help your child becomebetter at budgeting his or her time -

for homework as well as timedtests and assignments at school.Cooking - Helping in the kitchenis an excellent way to put mathconcepts into action, includingfractions (using measuring cupsand spoons, for example), addition(when counting ingredients, meas-uring and more), multiplication(when doubling a recipe), andtelling time and temperature. Olderchildren can learn about chemistryfrom the changes that foods under-go during the cooking process.Preparing menus and grocerylists - Planning your family’sweekly menu and making an ac-companying grocery list requiresmany different skills. Childrenmust think ahead about what theywant to eat, other commitmentseach evening (such as soccer prac-tice or club meetings), and what in-gredients they will need to cookthe meal. Planning and managing aproject - dinner in this case - areskills they will use again andagain.Organizing - As any busy par-ent knows, there is much to keeptrack of in a household. Ask your

older child to help organize thepantry, a closet or another area ofthe home, developing a reliable or-ganizational system. You couldalso put your child in charge ofcollecting and sorting the mailevery day, maintaining the familycalendar or filing papers, bills andother important documents in thefamily filing cabinet. Organization-al chores emphasize the impor-tance of having a designated placefor everything. Students who areorganized are more likely to avoidmisplacing their homework and be-ing tardy and later will better un-derstand how to manage multi-stepassignments and projects.Cleaning - Cleaning the kitchenor bathroom can be a science ex-periment waiting to happen. Useall-natural cleaning products, suchas vinegar, baking soda and lemonjuice and do some research withyour child on how they work andhow they differ from chemicalcleaning products. Find recipes forhomemade cleaners online.Feeding pets - Caring for andfeeding the family pet teaches yourchild about commitment, being re-

lied upon and keeping to a sched-ule. It also reinforces the lessonthat your child’s actions have con-sequences. Have your child devel-op a chart to keep track of feed-ings, or take things further andbring him or her along to veteri-nary appointments so he or she canlearn about your animal’s health.Age-appropriate chores teach re-sponsibility, work ethic, organizationand time management - and theyeven help children build self-esteemas they gain the satisfaction of seeingtasks through to completion. Chorescan also reinforce school skills suchas math, reading, critical thinkingand more. With all of these benefits,assigning chores takes on new mean-ing. Not only will you gain extrahands around the house, your childwill be learning and growing as aperson and student. Dr. Raymond J. Huntington andEileen Huntington are co-foundersof Huntington Learning Center,which has been helping childrensucceed in school for more than 30years. For more information aboutHuntington, call 1-800 CANLEARN.

Using Chores To Teach School and Study Skills

ANTON WEEKLY – ALL ANTON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS - JANUARY 18, 2013 27A

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CAMPS & SCHOOLS

Helping Childen BeatThe Winter Blues

BY ALAN KRAWITZ

Colder weather, shortenedamounts of sunlight andeven school-related stres-

sors such as homework or difficultsubjects can all trigger those in-evitable winter blues in children. But, many children’s expertsagree that regardless of the specificcause of a child’s blues or downmoods; activities, exercise and in-creased exposure to sunlight canhelp lift any kid’s spirits. “When we are talking about win-ter blues for children (or adults forthat matter) we are really talkingabout Seasonal Affective Disorderor SAD,” says Dr. Renee Clauselle,founder of Family and Child Psy-chology in Franklin Square. SAD, also known as winter de-pression is a mood disorder inwhich people who have normalmental health throughout most ofthe year experience seasonal de-pression, partly due to diminishedexposure to sunlight. Clauselle says that in addition totreatments such as light therapy,staying active is key. “The morewe move, and exercise the moreserotonin is produced in the brainwhich helps beat blue moods,” shesays. She adds that while it may betempting to play video games allday when it is too cold outside, itis far wiser to trade that play timein for gym time at the basketballcourt, an indoor playground, in-door swimming lessons, skiing,sledding, dance classes or a varietyof other activities that are basedaround motion. Being social is yet another wayto keep a kid’s spirits soaring.“When we get together withfriends, we tend to laugh more andexperience more pleasure. Now isthe time to fill up the calendar withplay dates,” Clauselle says. In addition, Clauselle says thatdoing projects and creating goalstogether is also a great way to getin some family time and feel pro-ductive. Some of those projects in-clude baking, painting, crafts suchas knitting, crochet and sewing. Linda Crispi, director of theChildren’s Center at FarmingdaleState University of New York,agrees that activities are crucial tocombating the blues. “Take a walk- look for animalprints in the snow. Go bird watch-ing,” advises Crispi. Other activities Crispi suggestsinclude a family game night, artsand crafts nights or creating rock

gardens with spring bulbs, whichcan be grown. Libraries can also be a greatsource of free programs for kids,says Elena Jannello, children’s li-brarian at Farmingdale Public Li-brary. “We really pack our schedulewith all kinds of events, so there’sbasically always something goingon here on any given day,” she says. According to Jannello, the li-brary offers a wide variety of freeprograms from entertainment andeducation to crafts and specialtheme nights. Moreover, Crispi says that evenproper nutrition can help play apart in warding off a child’s blues.“…Limit the amount of foods withcarbohydrates and fat. Encouragehealthy eating and maintainhealthy energy levels,” Crispi says.She also advises preparing funfruit smoothies or winter fruit sal-ads. “Create a snowman face withrice cakes, cream cheese, raisinsand carrots,” she adds. Finally, although most cases ofthe blues are easily remedied viaincreased activity and sunlight,Crispi advises monitoring chil-dren’s behavior for signs of moreextreme symptoms such as prob-lems with eating, sleeping toomuch, extreme moodiness, notwanting to play with friends orother atypical behaviors.“If any of these behaviors arepresent, you may want to talk withyour child’s doctor. Depression inchildren can be difficult to under-stand and diagnose but it can betreated,” she says.

Although colder weather meanschildren will spend much moretime indoors, there is still theopportunity for physical activitysuch as a game of basketball in awarm gym.


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ANTON WEEKLY – ALL ANTON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS - JANUARY 18, 201330A

Tuesday, January 29, 20139:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.Open Classrooms and Information SessionPre-nursery through Grade 12

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40 West Nicholai Street

Hicksville, NY 11801

(516) 931—2211

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CAMPS & SCHOOLSStudy Finds That Online Activity Can Influence College Admissions

Students applying to collegesshould be very careful aboutwhat they post about them-

selves online on social networkingsites. A recent study shows that anincreasing number of college ad-mission officers are checking on-line sites and the information theyare discovering is impacting theiradmission decisions.Results from Kaplan Test Prep’s2012 survey of college admissionsofficers show that schools are in-creasingly discovering informationon Facebook and Google that neg-atively impact applicants’ accept-ance chances. While the percent-age of admissions officers whotook to Google (27 percent) andchecked Facebook (26 percent) aspart of the applicant review processincreased slightly (20 percent forGoogle and 26 percent for Face-book in 2011) from last year, thepercentage that said they discov-ered something that negatively im-pacted an applicant’s chances ofgetting into the school nearlytripled – from 12 percent last yearto 35 percent this year. Offensescited included essay plagiarism,vulgarities in blogs, alcohol con-

sumption in photos, things thatmade them “wonder,” and “illegalactivities.” In 2008, when Kaplanbegan tracking this trend, only onein 10 admissions officers reportedchecking applicants’ social net-working pages.

“Social media used to basicallymean Facebook. But the underlyingtrend we see is the increase in use ofGoogle, which taps into a social me-dia landscape that’s proliferated toinclude Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest,Instagram, blogging and other plat-forms -- and teens today are usingall of these channels,” said Jeff Ol-son, vice president of Data Science,Kaplan Test Prep. “Additionally,we’re seeing a growing culturalubiquity in social media use, plus ageneration that’s grown up with avery fluid sense of privacy norms. Inthe face of all these trends, the risein discovery of digital dirty laundryis inevitable.” Olson noted, “With regard to col-lege admissions, the traditional ap-plication — the essays, the lettersof recommendation — representthe polished version of an appli-cant, while often what’s found on-line is a rawer version of that ap-plicant. Schools are philosophical-ly divided on whether an appli-cant’s digital trail is fair game, andthe majority of admissions officersdo not look beyond the submittedapplication, but our advice to stu-dents is to think first, Tweet later.”

Kaplan’s survey also found thatonly 15 percent of colleges cur-rently have rules regarding thechecking of applicants’ Facebookor social networking pages – a per-centage that has remained fairlyconsistent over the past few years.Of schools that do have a policy,69 percent said the policy prohibit-ed admissions officers from visit-ing applicants’ pages – still leavingthe vast majority of admissions of-ficers with the flexibility to act attheir own discretion. Students can learn more abouthow to better safeguard their digi-tal footprints at www.kaptest.com/socialmediatips. Far more common than the useof social media to evaluate appli-cants is its use in recruiting poten-tial students. Kaplan Test Prep’ssurvey found that 87 percent ofcolleges use Facebook for this pur-pose (up from 82 percent two yearsago); 73 percent use YouTube (upfrom 56 percent); and 76 percentuse Twitter (up from 52 percent).College admissions officers havenot, however, embraced GooglePlus – only 9 percent are using it torecruit prospective students.

While something posted onlinemay seem funny to a teenager, itwill be no laughing matter if thatpost leads to the student beingturned down for admission to acollege.

ANTON WEEKLY – ALL ANTON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS - JANUARY 18, 2013

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January 18, 2013