Volunteer Day
What better way is there to enjoy your own hobbies while helping others at the same time? Come to Volunteer Day and choose an activity you'd like to join for the day. See below for a schedule of events on Volunteer Day.
Volunteer Day Schedule:
7:30 a. m. :Meet at the Community Centre for juice and bagels.
8:00-8:30 a. m. : Choose which activity you'd like to help with for the day.
8:30 a. m. : Board the bus to your activity site.
9:00 a. m. -3:30 p. m. : Work as a volunteer.
3:30 p. m. : Board the bus that will take you back to the Community Centre.
See below for a list of volunteer opportunities for Volunteer Day so you can begin thinking about which activity you might want to join.
A list of volunteer activities:
Paint houses: Happy Homes is a local organization that provides home painting. For elderly or physically disabled people who cannot do repairs to their homes, Happy Homes provides volunteer painters to repaint old houses.
Plant flowers: Help plant flowers and bushes in city parks, help lay paths at Cave Springs Park, or help pick up rubbish around the river banks.
Read to children: Love and Learning is an organization that provides volunteers to help children with learning disabilities. Read books out loud to groups of children four to six years old, or read one-on-one with struggling readers seven to eight years old.
Play with animals: Lovely Friends is an organization that visits local animal shelters and provides volunteers to spend time with the animals while their cages are being cleaned.
If you take interest in it, please call 0195242 for more information.
Sharon Holland and her husband, Jer, are travelling around the world and saving money at the same time-by swapping (交换) houses with strangers to keep the bills low. They only have to pay for their flights, meaning they save hundreds of pounds on their holidays each year.
The couple's occupation (职业) allows them to enjoy long periods of school holidays. Both work as school Deputy Principals, which allows them to take their children, Cian, 23, Miah, 13, and Faye, 11, abroad up to four times per year. On average, they pay £1, 250 per year for flights.
Sharon, from Cork, Ireland, has exchanged her home with a stranger 40 times in the last 13 years and says she's never looked back. She said, "I couldn't imagine travelling any other way now. Swapping our Irish Georgian farmhouse for another house abroad is amazing. There are home-style houses, modern city apartments and beautiful architectural period houses too. Every holiday is different and staying in someone else's house makes our experience more rewarding and enjoyable. We are able to meet more locals and understand the culture more than we would if we were to stay at a hotel. We bring our laptops during the summer weeks as we are both responsible for timetabling and school planning but this can be done at a distance. "
Sharon has visited various cities in America, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, the UK and their home country of Ireland. "But our favourite place is Italy. We have been lucky enough to visit there six times. Over the years, every experience has been great-from taking in the architecture to the food. We have made some wonderful happy memories for less," adds she.
Physical education, or gym class, isn't required for all high school students. In some schools, it isn't offered for some different reasons. But should high school students have physical education? The answer is certainly "yes".
Today many people don't do sports. But as is known to all, doing sports is very important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.
High school isn't that easy. Many students are under a lot of stress. Stress can be harmful to a student's studies and life. Doing sports can help them deal with stress better, helping them live a happier life at school.
The American Heart Association says that 10 million kids and teens suffer from obesity (肥胖症). Teens should get 60 minutes of physical activity per day to control their weight and to help their bones get stronger. The increase in activities that don't get teens to move around, such as video games and computer activities, means many teens don't get their required exercise. Physical education classes act as a public health measure to encourage activity and help teens have healthy weights.
Inactivity (不活跃) increases teens' risk of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 percent of health-care spending goes toward treating medical conditions that can be hindered by lifestyle changes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
According to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activity each week improved their academic (学业的) performance. Students from programs with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.
Race walking (竞走) shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely leading to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.
Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport's rules require that a race walker's knees stay straight through most of the leg swing (摆动P and one foot remain in contact with the ground at all times. It's this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.
Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says. Race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories (卡路里) per hour, which is almost twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1, 000 or more calories per hour.
However, race walking doesn't do as much harm to the body as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1. 4 times their body weight with each step.
As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner's knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport's strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult (咨询) a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.
The old residents (居民) in care homes in London are being given hens to look after to stop them feeling lonely.
The project was dreamed up by a local charity (慈善组织) to reduce loneliness and improve old people's wellbeing. It is also being used to help patients suffering dementia, a serious illness of the mind. Staff in care homes have reported a reduction in the use of medicine where hens are in use.
Among those taking part in the project is 80-year-old Ruth Xavier. She said: "I used to keep hens when I was younger and had to prepare their breakfast each morning before I went to school. I like the project a lot. I am down there in my wheelchair in the morning letting the hens out and down there again at night to see they've gone to bed. It's good to have a different focus. People have been bringing their children in to see the hens and residents come and sit outside to watch them. I'm enjoying the creative activities, and it feels great to have done something useful. "
There are now 700 old people looking after hens in 20 care homes in the North East, and the charity has been given financial support to roll it out countrywide.
Wendy Wilson, extra care manager at 60 Penfold Street, one of the first to embark on the project, said:" Residents really welcome the idea of the project and the creative sessions. We are looking forward to the benefits and fun the project can bring to people here. "
Lynn Lewis, director of Notting Hill Pathways, said:" We are happy to be taking part in the project. It will really help connect our residents through a shared interest and creative activities. "
School doesn't have to be a prison. Whether you find school difficult, boring or just stressful, you can learn to make school easier and bring a lot more fun.
Try a team sport. Some schools offer team sports that allow you to make friends with your fellow students. Soccer, track and field, basketball and football, can all make school have a little more fun. If you don't want to play sports, consider joining in the games and cheering for your team with your friends.
One of the most stressful parts of school can be making sure you have everything you're supposed to have. Where's your English homework? Where's that math assignment? Is your pencil sharp? The less you have to worry about these little things, the more you'll be able to focus and enjoy school. Be prepared for class and everything will be easier.
Take it easy on your teachers. Teachers are like students: some are great; some are less than great. But teachers are in charge of the classroom. So even if you're feeling frustrated or bored in class, you should be nice to your teachers.
Ask for help if you are having trouble with homework. Make it easy. Ask for help at school by joining an after-class study group, if your school has one. Ask your teacher if you can stay 10-15 minutes after school to ask a few questions about your homework, if you're embarrassed to ask during class. It's always better to ask after class.
A. Stay organized.
B. Manage your time better.
C. Here are some ways to help you.
D. So you can choose one of them to take up.
E. Try to find kids you can talk to and play with.
F. As a result, they will possibly be friendly back to you.
G. If you're struggling in school, don't try to take it all on by yourself.
It was a classic night. The noisy Mexico City1 calmed down. The main stadium of Olympic track and field competition was enveloped (笼罩) in the2. After he finished taking photos of the marathon winners3the victory, Greenspan, a world-famous news producer, found the stadium4. He was about to5when he suddenly saw a man with his right leg spotted with the blood ran into the stadium. This man ran lamely (跛脚地) out of breath，but he didn't stop. After he ran along the track for a6 and got to the finish line, he7 on the ground.
Greenspan guessed this was a marathon athlete. Out of8, he went over and ask why the athlete managed to run to the finish line with such9.
The young man, called Kowari from Tanzania, replied in a10voice, "That my country sent me here from over 20, 000 kilometers is not to let me get off the track in the competition, but to make me11the game. Though I've 12all other runners，I have a sacred (神圣的)goal like them. The audience won't 13 me, but my motherland is watching me from behind…"Tears welled up in Greenspan's eyes. Soon, he spread the most14scene in the history of the Olympic Games to every corner of the world.
Life should have a dream of reaching the peak. It is not whether we can reach the top but whether we've made the greatest15that counts. To reach the goal in the mind is also a success.
Deng Yaping, who was a well-known table tennis player, was born in 1973, in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. She started playing table tennis at the age of 5 and(show) her great gift. Four years later, she won her provincial junior championship. At the age of 13, she won her first (nation) championship and beat many other competitors in all kinds of matches infollowing years. She had won 18 championships by the time she retired (退役) from sports at the age of 24. Deng Yaping is regarded as one of the greatest (player) in the history of sport.
However, (compare) with other athletes, she made more efforts(achieve) her dream. At first, Deng Yaping(refuse) by the Henan Provincial Team just because she wasn't tall enough. Her path to success was filled with many other difficulties, none of stopped her. She practised even(hard) and finally made it to the top. Her great determination has inspired thousands of people. Now, she has become a living legend in the sports fieldhome and abroad.
