We Day Inspires Us to Spark a Positive Change

I have been attending We Day for the past four years, and every year I feel We Day inspires me to do more to help others. My daughter has been accompanying me for the past few years. She loves the shows and the inspiring speeches at We Day, and was excited for weeks before we went and also after the event. I love seeing the passion and excitement of We Day where everyone like-minded gathers to show that we can all spark a change and make a difference everyday to better someone else's life. Thinking of WE is so much satisfying than thinking of ME. We love how We Day empowers people to make a difference, and think about others. 

Our Journey to the Alaskan Wilderness with Disneynature's Bears

Disneynature's Bears Blu-ray Combo Pack, which released on August 12th takes the whole family on an epic journey to the Alaskan wilderness. We enjoyed watching this heartwarming, spectacular film that showcases a year in the life of a bear family, as two young cubs are taught life's most important lessons. My family and I enjoy watching Disneynature movies, as they give insight into the life of wild animals and allow us to see the world in a different perspective.

TOMS for Kids and The One for One Movement

My children like the look and feel of the lightweight, comfortable pair of TOMS classic shoes. They both enjoy wearing these shoes for long periods of time. These classic shoes go well with all types of clothing and would be wonderful to wear for any occasion in spring and summer. I like how these shoes look on my children, and the ease of putting it on. 

Hunger Relief Efforts By Kellogg

We live in a world where one in eight people face food insecurity each day, so Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has made October 16th to be World Food Day to bring worldwide awareness to the fight against hunger.

Pair A Rafiki Friend Chain With A Me To We Card And Give Back Twice This Holiday

Me to We launches Track Your Impact greeting cards, which is available exclusively online at www.metowe.com and at Indigo Books & Music Inc. and Chapters locations in the Greater Toronto Area; it will be available in 78 locations Canada wide by the end of this month. This new line of socially conscious greeting cards makes a positive impact on the world by giving a gift, such as clean water, seeds for farming or school supplies to communities and families in need overseas. 

Recap of We Day in Toronto

Craig and Marc Kielburger co-founded the international charity and educational partner, Free The Children in 1995. The organization works in rural communities of eight countries providing a holistic and sustainable development model that improves education, health care, agriculture, food security, clean water and alternative income programs.

Win a copy of the EPIC movie and Learn How To Be Green at Home

Epic will be on blu-ray and DVD on August 20th. There is lots to learn from this movie for both children and adults. These five simple steps inspired by the movie will help us toward becoming "epically green" in our homes.

Summer Reading Adventures with DK Readers

I have always found DK Readers to be very useful in encouraging and teaching my children to read in English. I like that the DK Readers have stunning photographs and illustrations, which make the context in the books interesting. We enjoy the engaging, age appropriate stories and information found in these books. The DK Readers are separated into five different levels that enable children to progress in their reading skills. 

Energy Efficiency Importance Rises 116 Percent

3000 commercial, industrial and institutional facilities decision makers from 10 different countries worldwide were part of Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator Survey. Johnson Controls is the global leader in delivering solutions that increase energy efficiency in buildings. The 2013 results shows energy efficiency interest has increased 116% globally since 2010, as many believe that it is a good investment for the company. I believe this is true, as even we as a family have done many things to make energy efficient decisions, and always set goals and think of new ways to reduce our energy use. 

Watching The Skies As It Is Almost Time For Us To Fly

My husband is a space enthusiast and love talking about stars, space shuttles, airplanes, and even about aliens (star wars) :) His enthusiasm towards these have obviously rubbed off to our children, so they were excited to watch flights landing and taking off for a long time.

Check out this video we took of the Airbus A380 Super Jumbo landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. We will be travelling in this big bird soon :)

Hilton HHonors Knows the Importance of a Well Travelled Teacher

I am glad to be part of the Hilton HHonors loyalty program for many years, as we can earn perks by staying at any of the ten Hilton Worldwide’s distinct hotel brands. This loyalty program as a part of Hilton Worldwide’s Travel with Purpose has put together a grant program, in partnership with the Institute of International Education (IIE). This program celebrates cultures and the power of travel that builds stronger communities.

Through this Teacher Treks Travel Grant Competition, 15 teachers will get to travel and experience first-hand the subjects they teach, enrich their curriculum, benefit the school, and inspire students to explore the world. Hilton HHonors has announced 30 finalists from 20 different states chosen by K-12 teachers and education experts after going through the applicants’ entries. We can vote for our favourite finalist until April 30^th and win 1 of 10 Hilton HHonors $250 Gift Cards.

There is a Drastic Need For Empathy In All of Us

Poverty is a sad reality.  This truth makes my heart break because I can't eliminate it as an individual.  I think it is possible at least in some level if all the governments in the world collaborate and help each other without any expectations to get anything back in return.  We all know that this problem of poverty impacts billions of people around the world.  There are many people living under the poverty line even in developed North American countries because of circumstances.

Exposing our children to know this truth at a young age is important so they learn to appreciate the things they have and sometimes take for granted; it is also a good reminder for us as well.  TIFF Kids Film Festival from April 9th to 21st will have films and features such as Children of Kabul that I think we should take our children to watch.  

By the colour of our skin...

Do people treat others differently just because of the colour of the skin?  Does racial prejudice exist in the 21st century when we see intermarriages, immigration and rapid globalization through information technology and the Internet?  

Interactive Musical Storybook and Newspaper App for children

This new interactive musical storybook app Mibblio for iPad will be enjoyed by children as they learn to read, sing, learn and play music all at the same time.  

TIFF Kids International Film Festival 2013

This year will be the 16th annual TIFF Kids International Film Festival.  TIFF Kids 2013 features 117 films, 29 Features and 88 Shorts that represents 40 countries. 

There will be films like A Turtle’s Tale 2: Sammy’s Escape From Paradise (Belgium), Believe (UK), Buta (Azerbaijani), Cinnamon (Mexico), Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge (USA), Miffy the Movie (The Netherlands), Once in a Lullaby (USA), Rafiki (Norway), The Pee-Wee 3D: The Winter, That Changed My Life (Canada) and Waves (India) just to name a few.

The 13 short film programs will run between 50-90 minutes that cover a myriad of subjects and themes for children and youth aged 3 to 13.  Some of the titles are The Adventures of Pim & Pom: Safari, To Give a Present, Jungle Beat: Tiny Bubbles, Her Rain, Room on the Broom, My little Chicken, The Red Carpet, Children of Kabul and more.

Highlights of special events

• This year at the TIFF Kids Award ceremony will be on April 21st at 3:15pm.  There will be two brand new annual awards in the categories Best Live-Action Film and Best Animated Short Film. These two awards will be in addition to the TIFF Kids Jury Awards, TIFF Kids Audience Choice Awards, the Jump Cuts Awards and TVO Kids Choice Awards. 
• The festival lights up screens and imaginations with the best of children’s cinema from around the world. 
• Dino Dan-The Adventures of Trek will be on April 13th at 12:30pm. The premiere will be followed by Q&A with the Trek and Director. 
• The Monkey Bunch Live at TIFF Kids on April 14th at 3:30pm will have kids dancing, rushing the stage and going bananas. This will also end an educational message about the environment. 
• Wild Kratts: Rattlesnake Crystal on April 14th at 10:30am and April 21st at 11:15am. 

• The Festivals opening night film will be The Legend of Sarila (La legende de Sarila) is the first 3D Canadian animated feature.  This adventure is inspired by various Inuit legends and features the voice of Oscar-winning Christopher Plummer.  This film explores the themes of friendship, hope, perseverance and self acceptance.  Before the screening on April 12th at 5:30pm there will be free pizza, snow cones and lots of fun activities.

• We are excited that for the first time ever, Sesame Street will be coming to TIFF Bell Lightbox. During the weekend of April 20-21 there will be fun activities and a chance to meet and greet Sesame Street mascots. 

• This year’s closing night film on April 20th is the German film Famous Five 2 (Funf Freunde 2), which is an adaptation of the Enid Blyton classic.  This is the sequel to last year’s TIFF Kids Audience Award winner Famous Five.  

Hope you guys will be able to take your children and family to enjoy these fabulous events as well as check out the digiPlaySpace.

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PressReader App to read newspapers from all over the world

The feature where we can zoom in

If you enjoy reading global news from newspapers published in other countries, then this PressReader app will benefit you.  

List of different newspapers from different countries and language

There are over 2300 newspaper from 96 countries in 54 languages on PressReader that we can access on our favourite mobile device.  This app is perfect for travellers, parents and everyone who is interested in staying up-to-date with current news.  I like this eco-friendly method of reading newspapers without blotting our fingers with newspaper ink :) 

Colourful and clear

There are great choices and content in the app that enhances the user's reading experience as we can benefit from its...

• Horizontal reading steam.
• Flip pages like when we are reading like reading real newspapers.
• setup an automatic subscriptions to our favourite titles so we get the latest current newspapers.
• Sorting the publication by country, language, favourites or the ones that were recently ordered.
• Panning and zooming articles and photos and viewing it in stunning clarity.
• Listening to publications using on-demand audio.
• Sharing articles by email, Twitter and Facebook.
• and many other features.

This app has been nominated for the Best App Ever Award for iOS.  They have many subscription packages, check out the site for more details.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

We Day: Be the change

Give the Canadian penny that appeared in 1853, a powerful farewell before it goes out of circulation. Students and schools were given penny bags on We Day to collect $25 in pennies, which will provide a permanent source of clean water to one person in developing countries. From November 1st to December 21st, then again in Spring 2013 RBC branches across Canada will collect these penny filled bags making it easy for us to collect the pennies without counting or rolling.  All we have to do is fill up the bags and drop it off at any RBC branch.

Free the Children is an international organization started by Marc and Craig Kielburger. This organization empowers youth to remove barriers that prevent them from begin active local and global citizens. This program educates, engages and empowers youth in North America and UK. 
   

We Day brings big issues to the forefront and changes the value system of everyone, especially the youth as they become leaders. There are over 1.7 million young people from 45 countries involved in this initiative to make a positive change at home and abroad. In the 2011/2012 school year youth raised $6 million for local and global causes.  They invested more than 1.7 million hours of time volunteering. 

I support this type of active awareness and education, and believe it is important for our children to be involved in these positive changes. I attended the We Day event at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto and was able to meet celebrities and activists such as Martin Sheen, Nelly Furtado and Jacob from Hedley. We listened and saw speakers and performers such as Molly Burke, Romeo A. Dallaire, Robin Wiszowaty, Shawn Desman, Spencer West, The Tenors, Tyler Shaw, Al Gore, Jake Zeldin, Jennifer Hudson, Jesse Giddings, Justice Murray Sinclair and Justin Trudeau.

We Day will be held in 8 Canadian cities this school year; Toronto (Sep 28), Vancouver (Oct 18), Alberta (Oct 24), Manitoba (Oct 30), Waterloo Region (Nov 14), Montreal (Nov 20) and National We day in Ottawa (Apr 29).  

The generous sponsors RBC and TELUS make We Day completely free for students and educators.  TELUS has a Phones for Good campaign where they will give $25 (up to $650,000) from the sale of every TELUS Samsung Galaxy SIII and Samsung Ace Q to Free the Children.

They also have an Earn your way to We Day campaign. TELUS gives $1 (up to $100,000) to Free the Children for every submission from the youth across Canada when they tell what they are doing to make a difference in their community.

Youth between 13 and 17 can submit their video on how they would partner with a local charity to make a positive change in their community and win $20,000 to put their idea into action.

MuchMusic will air highlights on November 11th at 7pm EST and CTV will air on November 24th at 7pm EST.  

The international projects such as "Adopt a village" done by Free the Children is a holistic, sustainable model that helps children and their families from the cycle of poverty.  To make an investment in these communities, this project helps develop five of these important parts of the infrastructure.  

1. Education: They make a valuable social investment by concentrating on providing traditional curriculum, healthy homes and business skills.  
2. Clean water and sanitation by providing localized clean water sources and facilities to reduce waterborne diseases.  This source helps the young children that trek to collect water for their families to attend school.
3. Health: providing medical supplies for health clinics and workshops so the community can treat illness quickly. They provide community gardens and tree planting.  Sports equipment to encourage physical fitness.
4. Alternative income and livelihood by skill training, financial business training and microcredit loans to help families start small business.
5. Agriculture and food security provides nutrition programs that give children nutritious food, crop diversification, agricultural training, irrigation and watershed development.  

When there is rapid growth in technology it is sad to see that some parts of the world there are people without the essential of life: WATER.  Things we can do to help.

• Get a penny bag from Free the Children or RBC branch and start collecting.
• Visit the online water initiative and donate.
• Purchase a $10 Me to We Artisan handmade unique Rafiki made by Maasai moms in Kenya, which will provide one person access to clean water for a year.

Help Canada use the penny for a good cause that will change the lives of so many people and communities.  The penny is used to make wishes come true, so lets make the wishes of 100,000 people come true.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First