Hello,everybody.Welcome to surf on a new Web site—SCIENCE NEWS FOR KIDS!

    Our goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids,accompanied by suggestions for hands on activities,books, articles,Web resources,and other useful materials.

    Our emphasis is on making the Web site attractive by offering kids opportunities to comment on and grade the subject matter,get ideas for science projects,and try out math puzzles.At the same time,we offer teachers creative ways of using science news in their classrooms.

    The Science News for Kids Web site,supported by several corporations and foundations,strengthens the usefulness of Science News in the middle－school classroom and offers entertaining reading and activities for students interested in science.

    A section of the Science News for Kids Web site is devoted to particular interests.At present,we have six such zones: a weekly brainteaser（难题）for those who enjoy solving and inventing puzzles (PuzzleZone),entertaining science－fiction composition exercises for those interested in writing (SciFiZone),and weekly science short description along with science project ideas and tips (ScienceFairZone).The GameZone contains a small selection of logic and memory games.The TeacherZone has materials,including question sheets related to the feature article of the week,so that teachers can bring science news topics to the classroom.The LabZone features a weekly hands on activity or science project idea.In the future,we might add additional zones,for example,for kids interested in robotics,the environment,computers,math,or veterinary（兽医的）medicine and animals.

    Contact us at editor@snkids.com.         Science News for Kids            1719 N Street,N.W.

    Washington,DC 20036                 Phone :202-785-2255             Fax: 202-659-0365

    Nearly 19 percent of teachers of color (有色人种教师) left their jobs after the 2014-2015 school year. Some left for personal reasons like taking care of their families. But 50 percent said they left because they were dissatisfied with their employment situation, such as poor working conditions, student discipline problems and large class sizes. Thus, taking immediate measures to improve it is our top priority.

    For years, researchers have proved the benefits of increasing the share of minority teachers in schools, especially as our public school system has turned to one that is made up mostly of minority students. Teachers of color, who are more likely than their white counterparts to choose to work in racially diverse (多种多样的) schools, offer particular benefits to their students. Graduation rates increase among minority students when they are taught by racially similar educators, research shows. They can also serve as positive role models, and their presence reduces the chance of racial discrimination at school.

    The Shanker Institute report suggests that the rate of minority teacher hiring is not the whole problem. The problem is what happens after these teachers enter the classroom. These teachers often work in high-poverty rural schools. They are more likely to have less-desirable working conditions.

    Diversity is a key component to equality and opportunity. Where there's a diverse teaching workforce, all kids thrive. So solutions must be found at once to turn this trend around. Firstly, schools should develop mentorship programs that support minority teachers once they are in the classroom. Secondly, more money should be spent in improving working conditions in these schools. Of course, school headmasters should also be evaluated on their ability to retain teachers of color.

    Are children becoming addicted to the Internet?

    Children are becoming addicted to the Internet and for many it is one drug that can't be beaten. Not all children, but an alarming number of them are being swept up in this age of digital information.

    Websites like Myspace, Youtube, and Facebook, are becoming so popular that many kids can't help but to be addicted to them just in order to fit. Why not become part of a society where you judged by how many friends on a friend list ? What has become of the world , when instead of calling your best friend on the phone you send them a message electronically and wait around for hours to see if they get on and read it ?Often on the web there just aren't enough adults setting kids straight and too many teenagers causing trouble .

    However, it is biased to claim all kids are addicted, or even that all kids who are addicted to the web are negatively affected by it. While the web can be a large waste pool of negative influence, it is also a wealth of positive knowledge, friendly social networking, and even gateways to future employment. Perhaps it isn't so important whether or not a child is addicted to the web and more important that parents know exactly what the kids are doing there.

    Many computers have optional parent controls that allow parents to block the children from entering certain types of sites, or even individual ones. Such programs are unfortunately not used enough by today's parents, who in many cases are caught up on computers themselves. All one needs to do is google search parental controls and you will be provided with any number of companies that can help with programs for tracing child activity and, if necessary, limit time spent on the Internet .

    Spider monkeys have long, thin arms with hook like hands that allow them to swing through the trees. They do not have opposable thumbs(对生拇指).

    The brown-headed spider monkey has a prehensile(缠绕性的)tail, which means it can grasp and can be used like a fifth leg to grab trees. During the day, the spider monkey searches for fruits, which make up the main part of its diet. They will also eat flowers, seeds, leaves, and small insects during the dry season when fruits aren't available. They spend most of the daylight hours climbing and swinging through the high branches of trees.

    The brown-headed spider monkey lives in a large community of about 20 to 100 male and female monkeys. They split into smaller groups for feeding. Females usually give birth to only a single baby each year or two. Young monkeys are carried on their mothers' stomachs until about 16 weeks old. Then they are strong enough to ride on their mothers' backs. All brown-headed spider monkey babies are born with a pink face and ears.

    Spider monkeys hug each other and wrap their tails around each other. They are very intelligent and have strong memories. They were named spider monkeys because they look like spiders as they hang upside down from their tails with arms and legs swinging. Their genus (属)name is Ateles, which means “imperfect”. This refers to the fact that they don't have thumbs.

    Hunting the brown-headed spider monkey is now barred in Ecuador, a country in northwestern South America, but humans have killed them for their meat for hundreds of years.

    The Boy Made It!

    One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn't have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.

    Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.

    He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter form the freezing wind and snow. If he didn't, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him.

    Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.

    By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn't lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could- he huddled(蜷缩) in his cave and slept.

    The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn't find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.

    Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls' survival show. Man vs. Wild. That's where he learned the tips that saved his life, In each episode(一期节目)of Man vs. Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.

    When Grylls heard about Nicholas' amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.

    Most animals on land are known to us, but many living things underwater are not. Now let's get to know some of them.

    Sea cucumber

    Sea cucumber are strange animals living at the bottom of the sea. They wear brown or pale green coats with many sticks up. When summer comes, they stay deep to sleep because they are afraid of heat. And when it is autumn, they move to shallow (浅的) water and get their food.

    Pike

    The pike is a kind of freshwater fish. They are good swimmers and like swimming near boats, waiting to be fed. They have sharp teeth to catch fishes. When they are young, they live in groups. However, when they grow up, they prefer to live alone.

    Cuttlefish

    A cuttlefish can swim quite fast, so it is also called rocket (火箭) fish. It has eight arms and two feelers on its head, just around its mouth. It ejects ink (喷墨) when it is in danger. Its meat is delicious, and it is often the first choice for many people.

    Octopus

    An octopus has long arms, with which to catch food and protect itself. When it is sleeping, one or two of its arms are still on duty, keeping moving. Once it feels something dangerous, it can wake up at once to take action.