Project HappyChild NEWS

1st April 2003

[for ongoing updates, see Latest Site News]

Hi there! We've had an extraordinary few weeks here - we'd expected things to be relatively quiet, not being able to update the Latest News page very much due to working on the new resource for Spellings, Sounds and Meanings, but we received over two thirds of a million visits over Feb/March (over 5 million "hits") - which is higher than ever before.

Thanks go to whoever publicised our Bricks and Mortar reading system on 18th/19th February! - traffic levels went off the graph and we had 22,000 visits (162,000 "hits") on a single *day* - it's times like this that we're very glad of Force 9's powerful servers keeping the whole site available even when things are awesomely busy.

Our thanks also to Randy Griggs in Portage, MI USA, for his e-mail about our free Maths worksheets, now added to the website Guestbook - and to Lori (Albany, Georgia) who wrote in about her daughter's success after just 4 weeks using our free reading system - e-mails like these make all the difference :)

SPELLINGS, SOUNDS AND MEANINGS: We've been inundated with mail over the last few weeks, primarily about the Sounds Database, needless to say! It's wonderful that this resource is so keenly anticipated but physically producing it is turning out to be an awesome amount of work :)

We've made significant progress with this area, with over 20,000 words now identified (about double what we expected!) and whilst this will make the whole resource very comprehensive, it also means we still have a fair amount of work ahead to subdivide the groups (all words have *finally* now been allocated to their basic main sound groups).

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114 further pages have been added, primarily Index pages for each individual Sound group as well as a comprehensive range of blank template pages to allow parents and teachers to make up their own worksheets - within identified sound groups - for individual children or classes, according to age and ability requirements, for writing practice, dictionary usage, use of words in sentences, wordsearch puzzles and making crossword clues.

We've also added a prototype "translation" page, after a number of requests from countries overseas, and it's planned to make the whole 20,000-word resource available (at 10 words per sheet) for easy translation into any other language. Formatted in a similar way to our free French resource, the worksheets will enable parents and teachers to write in the correct translation in their own language so that the sheets can be used for translation practice both to and from English. The dual advantage is that pronunciation is clarified by the word groupings themselves, because the whole resource will be arranged on the basis of where the stress falls when the word is spoken.

We're also liaising with Mario Becroft in New Zealand (who has kindly offered to do the programming work for this whole resource) with respect to colour-coding words (to indicate common usage, advanced, discontinued, slang or specialist/erudite) to make it easier for relevant words to be extracted to meet the needs of individual children - see the "classifications" page.

We have a lot of work ahead! - but the heavy-duty element is done now, and as soon as the new html templates are prepared to enable programming to go ahead, we'll be able to focus on ordering the remaining words into sub-groups to enable this whole resource to go on line as soon as possible.

The first of the 16 databases - AR sounds - is already done! - but its 465 free worksheets (and related 93 translation worksheets) can't be linked in until the programming for the whole resource is completed. The AR index page gives a better idea of how this all fits together (and represents just under 5% of the 10,000 free worksheets + 2000 translation worksheets that will be available in due course across the resource as a whole).

Please click here for access to all prototype pages as well as blank templates and worksheets which are *already* on line for poetry writing, mc lyrics, making crosswords, and lateral thinking.

EVENTS CALENDAR: Further to other developments during March (see further down this Newsletter) we've added USA events from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to our Events page - including "Up 'Til Dawn" (colleges and universities), "Promesa y Esperanza" radiothons, fishing tournaments, Fan Club Challenge (country music fans) and many more.

This year's Events Calendar has a breathtaking range of events taking place all over the world, and visitors are asked to book early for the celebrity events to avoid disappointment. If you're looking for the "adventure challenge" of a lifetime you'll find it on that page! - and many sponsorship arrangements where you raise funds for disadvantaged kids, will allow you to cover part or even all the cost of taking part.

Playgroups and toddler groups in the UK planning to enter this year's "Big Toddle" for Barnardo's, can get free events packs including activities, badges and an easy "how to" guide.

DIRECTORY CHARITIES: The Directory entry for Human Scale Education has been updated, with a new address, website link and telephone number. We've also added a new telephone number for Action for Sick Children, who we're waiting to hear back from about the free packs for Teddy Bears Picnics for this summer. We'll update the Latest News page when we have more information on this.

SYNDROMES LINKS: We've added a new organization to the Syndromes links index page, a Support Group for Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome (the symptoms of which are in some ways similar to Autism or Asperger's Syndrome). Detailed diagnostic criteria are provided along with guidelines for educational and support needs - click here for more info.

AWARD: We'd like to thank the International Association of Webmasters and Designers for the Golden Web Award 2003-2004, awarded to the Project HappyChild website "in recognition of creativity, integrity and excellence on the web".

FREE MATHS RESOURCES: Our thanks to Helen Joyce, Plus Editor, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge University (Cambridge, England, UK) and to Mrs. Jennifer Piggott, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, for identifying a wide range of specific resources on the 'Plus Maths' and NRICH websites, for links from our Maths pages.

The NRICH Online Maths Club provides free maths resources for children aged 5-19 with the Prime site catering for roughly 5-11 year olds. NRICH offers a huge range of resources including puzzles, investigations, games and practical maths activities, a search tree of hundreds of problems (all labelled by key stage) in the NRICH Archive, and "Monthly Six" problems (with the best school students' solutions published on the NRICH site each month).

The 'Plus Maths' site is a mathematics magazine offering articles, news, career profiles, student interviews and puzzles - topics are usually off-syllabus, but with mathematical content accessible to A level and possibly to some advanced GCSE students [see the Advanced page].

'Plus Maths' also provides resources for teachers to help them inspire an interest in mathematics :) One that's particularly likely to appeal is entitled "How Maths can make you rich and famous ('one million dollars is waiting to be won ....') which you can access via the rather-more-comprehensive introduction to 'Plus Maths' on our main Free Maths Resources page.

My personal thanks also to Liz Pumfrey at Cambridge University for her help in making the link changes easier to implement - our computer gave out completely on 18th March, followed four days later by the monitor (we're still managing with rather makeshift solutions till the transferred drives can be formatted) and her help and forbearance through all this has been much appreciated :)

SCHOOLS INTERCHANGE: Our thanks to Chris Nicole, Senior Web Assistant at Kingston Upon Hull City Council Internet Service, for updated link details for schools' resources and websites in Kingston Upon Hull, and to Nigel Boyes, Development Analyst at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, for forwarding details of their new website which includes the Stockton TRAIN [Teaching Resources and Information Network] with full listings of schools across the borough.

Links to schools' websites for both authorities can now be found on our Schools England A-M page.

ACCELERATED LEARNING - Michael Tipper's latest Feature article, "Exactly what *is* Accelerated Learning?", is now on line - a thought-provoking read! - and not quite what you might expect. To quote just a few words ... "In a gesture of intergalactic cooperation ..." - click here to read the rest.

SHIPPING CONTAINERS: We're continuing to receive enquiries from far-flung parts of the globe where emergency housing or school buildings are needed, for which old shipping containers can easily be used (see our Containers page). Soren Ludwig e-mailed us to clarify that Global Peace Containers can obtain old shipping containers for low prices (or sometimes have them donated free) as well as enabling the shipping companies to receive tax write-offs; if you have container/s to dispose of (or have an urgent need for a building framework for a school, house or clinic) please contact Soren direct through the link on our Containers page. Using containers for the structural foundations of a building can vastly reduce construction costs and Global Peace Containers can help with the practicalities in many ways. Companies or individuals wishing to fund the costs of container-school construction for a deprived community somewhere in the world would achieve a lasting monument but for a comparatively-minimal outlay ;) Contact Soren for more details.

Project HappyChild SHOP: Still on a maritime theme, one of our advertisers, the "Dolphin Man" (whose free worksheets are so consistently popular with visitors!) has set up "Pay Pal" facilities on his site to allow schools and home-educated children to buy graphics for project work (stunning pictures of dolphins and much more, for printing full-colour on A4, for only Ł2.50 each). See the shop page for links to the photos and the free worksheets.

Our thanks to Tony (the "Dolphin Man") incidentally for the many lists he's sent in for our Keywords for Learning area - we have quite a lot of new building to do here whenever the pagebuilding schedule allows. Further lists from visitors are always much appreciated :)

IRAQ: This Newsletter would not of course be complete without some mention of the current conflict in Iraq, aiming to remove its more dangerous weaponry and the tyranny under which its people live.

In the midst of this crisis, the Kurdistan Children's Fund is struggling to cope with the increasing need for their services - they have already moved their children from the homes and orphanages and have set up 6 camps in different areas of Suleimaniy and Kirkuk but they are in critical need of more funding.

In 1991, after the Iraq/Kurdish uprising, thousands of children died from the lack of food, water, medicine and shelter simply because no one was equipped for a disaster on this scale - also because funds were not readily available to prevent this tragedy.

The Kurdistan Children's Fund is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of such a disaster and urgently needs your support for the Kurdish children in Northern Iraq - we're informed that overseas relief supplies are being targeted to other areas and that thousands of children in Iraqi Kurdistan are now at risk. Please help if you can - click here for more details.

And finally ... my apologies that no Newsletter was issued in March 2003. My father died this month, and was buried at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. During his lifetime he supported St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which helps kids with serious illnesses and which has treated over 19,000 children from the USA and 60 other countries worldwide. Anyone who remembers him is welcome to contribute to St. Jude's (memorial John William Hales) via the form here.

St. Jude's operating costs are over $800,000 a *day*, most of which is covered by public contributions. There's an ongoing expansion plan (costing $1 billion) which includes increasing the hospital's International Outreach Program - to help financially, see the Events Calendar page or Ways to Help. More about the hospital can be found in their magazine, "Promise".

ALSAC (the fund-raising arm of St. Jude's) was founded by the entertainer Danny Thomas in 1957 with 100 leaders of his Arab-speaking heritage - "Thomas asked them to embrace St. Jude as a way of repaying America for the opportunities given to them and their families." Click here for the extraordinary story of Danny Thomas and his prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus - the patron saint of "hopeless causes".

Best regards,

Penny.

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