How Many Sex Offenders Live On Your Block?Written by Julie Joyce
For any parent, learning that a convicted sex offender lives on same block, can be a chilling discovery. The thought of it alone, can be disturbing. Most parents can't imagine that someone, who could be so potentially dangerous, may live somewhere on their block or along path their child takes to school. However, it is highly likely that there are registered sex offenders in your neighborhood.Beginning in mid 1990's legislative actions established guidelines for tracking convicted sex offenders and making such information available as part of a community notification effort. In 1994 Jacob Wetterling Act began requiring states to register individuals convicted of sex crimes against children. The "Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996" was enacted by Congress to provide for nationwide tracking of convicted sexual predators. "Megan's Law" (1996) further served to clarify public nature of information and authorized release of relevant information that is necessary to protect public. Together, these three key pieces of legislation have shaped structure of sexual registries, nationwide. Today, almost every state maintains a registry of sexual offenders, and makes this information easily accessible via internet. Some states may not allow online access. However, they will explain, online, procedure to follow to gain access to their registry. Currently there are approximately a half of a million registered sex offenders in United States. They live in cities and towns all across country. They are in "poor" and "affluent" neighborhoods. And they could be on your block. The twice-convicted pedophile who raped and murdered Megan (Megan's Law) Kanka lived across street from her home. Every parent should make it a priority to do a quick search to educate themselves about potential risk exposures thatmay be "dangerously" close. It is commonly said that, "What you don't know can hurt you." But more importantly, what you do know can save your life!
| | Successful Children's Birthday Party ActivitiesWritten by Stephanie Olsen
Successful Children's Birthday Party Activities~ lots of fun, cheap, creative and even bilingual! ~ by Stephanie Olsen Having now somewhat recovered from Emily's seventh birthday party, I thought I'd share a couple of more popular games and activities, used by a group of children between ages of 4 and 10. Bilingual Vocabulary Picture Bingo As a unilingual home schooling American in Europe, I've got a fairly singular set of conditions to work under when creating activities. This bingo game was a hit with lots of repeat requests. Materials needed: one square piece of construction or other sturdy paper and one Magic Marker for each child9 bingo chips such as buttons or M&Ms or bubble gum per childprepared list(s) of 18 objects to be called, plus a copy of each list cut up per word into 18 small cardsa large bowl/hat to pull words from when callingone translator for any other linguistically-challenged expatriatesMethod: Hand out papers, markers and bingo chips. I had kids spread out all over floor. Instruct children to make a 9 square grid; two horizontal lines and two bisecting vertical lines (you can show your sample bingo card or demonstrate on a child's blackboard). I actually used phrases "nine square grid", "horizontal lines" and "bisecting vertical": it exposes children to mathematical terms in a friendly environment and, because sounds very impressive, there's a true sense of accomplishment when kids complete task. Using your list of (let's say) animals, tell children to draw - in any square they wish - picture of EITHER an elephant OR a lion. Stress that card they are creating should be unique to make game more fun. If you are working on a second language, or just happen to be living in a foreign non-English-speaking country, repeat animal name in applicable language. Once first box is completed and using second pair of objects on your list, tell kids to draw - in any square - a picture of EITHER a snake or a monkey. This particular party having a jungle theme, it helped younger children for me to point out relevant wall decorations (very simple animal cut-outs I had made night before). When all cards are completed, explain that aim of game is to shout BINGO! whenever a child gets three markers in a row - in any direction. Here terms horizontal, vertical and diagonal can be used and understood without explanation as you draw lines on board. NOTE: when you start game, remember to call out words in both languages. After a couple of rounds, you can make it more interesting by calling them out in target language only - kids will automatically translate out loud thereby helping ones not sure of translation. We played until cards were full, so that everyone got to shout BINGO! several times - there were no prizes given out, just lots of "wow!"s and "again?!s" and "that's incredible!"s from an appreciative bingo caller.
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