Wednesday, October 25, 2006 · Page 17 Maplewood Tiger Tales There is a lot going on in Maplewood's classrooms. Here's a peek at what's happening in the grade 3 classes and in the STEPS program. In Mr. Archer's Grade 3 room the students are exploring sorting and data management in math class. They are working on writing their first story of the year in language arts. In Mrs. Blencoe's class, the students are learning patterning in math. They are also learning about how to effectively use adjectives in their writing. Both Grade 3 classes took a trip to Hillman Marsh on Wednesday, Oct. 18. They learned about several types of native plants. They also found out about the many different ways that seeds travel. The students in Mrs. Bauer's STEPS program showed off their knowledge of weather by creating "tornadoes in a bottle". They used water bottles, a special connector and coloured water to demonstrate the movement of a tornado. They are obviously off to a great start to the school year. by Grace Teskey Students in Mrs. Bauer's class are learning about weather. Here, a student observes "tornadoes in a bottle" that they made in class. Do you know what your children are doing online? (NC)--Kids are spending more time online than ever before. Hanging out at a friend's place after school has taken on a new meanng, with the wide-spread se of Internet based comunication such as email, nstant message and chat ooms. AOL Canada and Leger arketing recently spoke ith parents and kids etween the ages of eight nd 12 about what they like o do online. The list was ong but familiar, including: laying and downloading ames, visiting entertaining eb sites, chatting on an nstant messenger service, atching movies and TV hows, sending email and oing homework. · Nearly a third (31 per ent) of the kids surveyed pend one to two hours nline every day. Another even per cent spend more han three hours online. · The majority of parents urveyed (54 per cent) say heir child spends more time n the Internet now than last ear. In addition, nearly half f the kids surveyed (42 per ent) say they'd like to pend more time online. With so many areas and ubjects to explore online, etting ground rules and uidelines for your kids round Internet use in your ome is important. Setting oundaries about who your ids can communicate with nline, what sites they are nd are not allowed to visit re all important in making sure our kids remain safe in the online and real world. AOL Canada's KOL Internet service is designed for use by kids, offering parental controls as an easy to use and helpful tool you can use to manage your children's activities online and make sure they are balancing online with outdoor fun. More online safety tips for parents and kids are available online at: www.aolforkids.ca/ onlinesafety