For most of my 20 years as a teacher, summer vacation was my time to relax. So why was I standing in the schoolyard of an unfamiliar school, wearing myself out for a summer teaching job? The extra paychecks were nice, but I lacked the energy of my younger colleagues. Like Stella. She was in her early twenties, and made keeping up with the kids look effortless. She reminded me of myself, back when I was a bright-eyed student teacher at Ramona Elementary…

    I'd never forget my first day. I was too full of energy. Nervous energy. My supervising teacher was watching, and I wanted to make a good impression. I asked my third graders to take out their crayons for the day's lesson. All of them obeyed. Except one. A girl with two long, dark braids(辫子). Everyone called her Estrellita, or “little star.” Why was she unprepared for class? I demanded to know.

    “My sister has my crayons,” she said.

    “You should each have your own crayons,” I told her. “That's no excuse.”

    “There are 10 children in my family,” Estrellita said quietly, her big brown eyes never leaving my face. “We have to take turns.”

    I was taken aback. I'd completely misjudged the situation. All day Estrellita's words played on my mind. The next morning I bought a pack of crayons to leave on Estrellita's desk. She was so happy! That experience taught me an important lesson. Every student had a unique set of challenges—it was my mission to help my students overcome them. That mission used to energize(激励 )me.

    Rest was almost over. Stella turned to me and we started chatting. “How long have you been teaching?” she asked. I told her I'd started twenty years before, at Ramona Elementary.

    “I went to school there twenty years ago!” Stella said. I looked at her again, this time really seeing her. Those big brown eyes. That long, dark hair...

    “Did you use to have two long braids?” I said. “We called you Estrellita… ”

    Stella shouted. “ You ! You gave me the crayons!”

She'd become a teacher. To help students like I did. Even doing something that small mattered.

    That summer, I threw myself into teaching with a renewed sense of purpose. Estrellita had taught me a lesson once again.

    Britain's pub landlords (酒吧店主) are looking with a worried eye to the UK Chancellor's budget for fear that the annual tax gathering round will strike another blow to a traditional industry already reeling (蹒跚). Thousands of pubs have closed since the financial crash in 2007.

    The Plough, which was once a coaching house for travelers, has been serving Britain's famous warm beer since the days of Shakespeare. Now it is under threat too. "Yeah. So many pubs have been closed over the last few years even in this area," said Derek O'Neil, the manager of The Plough Pub.

    Many reasons are the cause—a ban on smoking in public, severe laws against drinking and driving and high taxes have all combined to kill off nearly 10,000 pubs in the last seven years, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. With the closures, pubs are being redeveloped. Many have turned into supermarkets, where the beer is sometimes cheaper.

      Britain's pubs continue to play an important part in the UK economy, selling thousands of different beers and employing more than a million people. The reality, though, is pubs are suffering something of a hangover (遗留物). In the last 15 years the amount of beer sold in pubs has fallen by eight million barrels to just under 36 million a year. Pub landlords want tax breaks (税务减免).

    "People have less money in their pockets, so they can't go out and spend it and habits are changing—so much alcohol is nowadays drunk at home," said Brigid Simmonds, Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association. "Yeah, I miss the pubs where there's a lot of character, especially 30 years ago. You know there was great fun in them."

While pubs are still much loved, they're discovering that love isn't enough to survive 21st century economics.

    In the past five years, Instagram has taken off faster than anyone would have ever expected. It has become more than just a social media platform; it has become a community. With this community of over 800 million people, there are two distinct sides when it comes to diet culture and weight-loss programs. These two sides are body positivity and body manipulation(操纵）

    I have run a food and lifestyle blog/Instagram for over two years, and I have experienced both of these sides shown through Instagram. I have followed accounts (账户) that have been about strictly counting their calories, and have looked at other people carefully for their food habits

    On the other side of this, the only accounts that I'll follow now are people who support intuitive eating, never calorie counting, and make sure to remind people that their weight is the least interesting thing. They try to remind people that food is fuel, rather than something that will make them lose or gain weight. This side of

    Instagram is what helps people suffering from eating disorders, rather than fueling them.

    The rise of Instagram also led to the rise of what we called" Instagram models. These people have a lot of fans and a very pleasant page on Instagram. Basically, this isn't a bad thing. Humans are attracted to attractive people. Where this does go wrong is when weight-loss programs, weight-loss products, and other people supporting different types of diets get in touch with these people and offer them pay to get their message across.

    We also run into issues with how the public thinks of and admires these people for only their bodies. Not only is it bad for the self-respect of the people viewing the account, but also for the mental health of the person running the Instagram account.

    The people that promote these products are usually attractive, with what we would consider "the perfect body and the products are almost always diet related in some way, which makes consumers believe that in order to reach this ideal body they must use this product.

    How do young children learn to have good values? How can parents teach their children about the importance of kindness and patience? At a time more and more parents worry about the violent images (暴力形象) their children see on TV and on the Internet. So many parents are turning to fairy tales. They want to teach their children how to behave in society by this way.

    It is believed that fairy tales have a great influence on children because they describe the two sides of good and evil (邪恶) very clearly. When children hear the tales, they learn to care about others' feelings. In each tale, they can see that there are many different kinds of people in the world and that we all have a choice about what kind of person we want to be. We can choose to do good actions, rather than bad ones, in our lives.

    What kind of values can children learn from fairy tales? In The Princess and the Pea, a poorly dressed girl says she is a princess. Few people believe her, so she is given a difficult test. When she passes the test, we learn that her dream comes true because she stays true to herself. In the Little Mermaid (《小美人鱼》), the mermaid, who lives under the sea, wishes to be with the humans on land. Through her experiences, we learn about the importance of living with and accepting other cultures.

    Teaching values is probably the main reason for encouraging children to read fairy tales. These tales can teach children lessons about human relationships that have been accepted around the world for many centuries. This might be the reason why they have been around for so long and will not disappear any time soon.

Earth Day Photo Contest

    A picture is worth a thousand words! Enter the TFK photo contest and show us: Why is Earth Day important to our planet?

    To enter the contest online, visit timeforkids.com and get details below.

    TIME

    ●The contest begins on January 9, 2017.

    ●The contest ends on April 20, 2017.

    INSTRUCTIONS

    ●An original and previously unpublished photograph that answers the Earth Day question "Why is Earth Day important to our planet?" and that was photographed by the entrant (参赛者) between June 1, 2016, and April 20, 2017.

    ●A brief description describing the picture: what is happening, where the photo was taken, the date the photo was taken and why the entrant chose to enter this image.

    ●Entrant's first name only; entrant's e-mail address; and parent's, teacher's or guardian's e-mail address. Limit one work per person. Sponsors are not responsible for lost, late, or incomplete entries, or entries not received for any reason. Works belong to sponsors, and none will be acknowledged (承认) or returned.

    ●By entering, the entrant ensures that the work is first made and has not been published in any medium or won an award.

    ELIGIBILITY

    Open to the elementary school students at age 8-13 at the time of entry in the USA.

    WINNERS' LIST AND PRIZES

    Judges will select 10 semifinalists (半决赛选手) from whom one grand prize winner and nine finalists will be chosen. The grand prize winner will receive a digital camera—approximate retail (零售) value: $300. The photograph entry of the grand prize winner will be published in the April 22 Earth Day issue of TIME For Kids. The photograph entries of all semifinalists will be published in the gallery of timeforkids.com. Winners will be informed by e-mail, and must respond within five days.

    Imagine a school where self-awareness is celebrated, students are encouraged to solve maths problems by writing on the walls and applying learned lessons to real life is more important than homework. These are a few of the concepts that makes Space of Mind School unique.

    Located in a home built in 1896 in Florida, US, the program serves students in grades 2 through 12 and will accept kindergarten students next year. It also offers an after-school program for students who attend traditional schools, as well as evening programs for adults and educators and weekend events for families.

    There is a different atmosphere from that of a traditional school building. Tables and brightly colored walls are white boards. In the science room, students are studying climate changes at a weather station, while in the music room, a student is solving an equation (等式) with his academic coach while he connects music theory and maths.

    The daily schedule at the school also stands out. "We don't assign boring or exhausting homework." said Space of Mind founder and CEO Ali Kaufman. "Instead of homework, we ask that they go home and take a video of themselves applying a lesson they learned or cooking a meal for their family that they learned how to make at school."

    For lunch, instead of traditional cafeteria dishes such as pizza, the school offers organic meals made out of products from local gardens and farms. "Our students also run a business at the Delray Beach Green Market on Saturdays so they can understand sustainable living practices and how to run a business," Kafman said.

    " We are also the first school program in Florida to start and end each day with 15 minutes of meditation (冥想)," Kaufman said. "The positive results we have been seeing in the students from meditation are amazing. We are really about infusing social, emotional and creative skills with academic and life skills."