The Beacon

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The Beacon

Issue 2, Volume 9

Teachable Moments By: Michael Southworth, M.Ed

with these ideas the more your children will like these moments. COOKING Fractions can be hard for some children to grasp. One of the best ways to teach fractions at home can be through cooking and baking. A great way to get your children in the kitchen is to ask them to help you bake cookies or cake. Have the children read the recipe and do the measuring of the ingredients. For more complexity ask questions like, “how many fourths are in ¾ of a cup?” or “how many fourths make 1 cup?” You’ll be surprised how many learning moments there can be in cooking as well as the quality family time you’ll spend together cooking, eating, and laughing. What is a teachable moment? It’s the time when a parent or guardian sees an opportunity to teach a life skill or lesson. These times can be planned or at the spur of the moment. Teachable moments can be very powerful! Some Children have a hard time connecting classroom skills to life skills. A teachable moment gives a child the opportunity to use skills learned in the classroom in a “real world” situation. . There are teachable moments that happen all throughout the day. The teachable moments that I’m going to suggests are moments that are planned. The more creative you can be Copyright © 2011 Peel, Inc.

September 2011

IN THIS ISSUE: ACA Guidelines............................ 2 Safety Tips..................................... 3 City of San Antonio Customer Service.......................... 3 Congrats to our New Board of Directors......................... 3 Fellow Residents of Rivermist........ 3 August Yard of the Month Winners........................................ 4 Garden Center Coupon................ 4

WASHING This activity can be for the small children that are learning their numbers and colors. Take a basket of clean clothes, after they have been washed and ask for some help. When folding the clothes ask you little one to “hand you 3 socks.” For a little more thinking ask for 2 blue socks and 3 white socks. You can even get creative and ask them to pick up the socks with their right or left hand. The folding my not be the neatest or the quickest, but have taught you child some valuable skills that will excel them through the lower grades. (Continued on Page 2) The Beacon - September 2011

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The Beacon Teachable Moments- (Cont. from Cover) SHOPPING Money is a hard concept to teach, but as you know children LOVE money. Shopping is a great way to teach money. My suggestion is to buy a play set of money from an educational supply store for these lessons. Real money can be very dirty. For the small children name recognition is the first thing they need to learn. A good strategy would be to have a few coins lying around the house. Throughout the day pick up a coin and ask them for the name of the coin. Once you think they have this concept teach the numerical value. For example, when they say the name, ask how much it’s worth. For the elementary children let them take their play money to the store and count out coins for the price of some products. Once they have this concept learned, hand them two products and ask them the total cost. Another idea is to ask them to take a calculator and keep track of the money you are spending. For the high school and middle school kids ask them to compare products. For example, when buying Salsa one may be cheaper but you get more value for the money on the more expensive one because it has more salsa. They need to learn that price is not everything. They need to be critical shoppers. The key is value for money. Sometimes adults get tricked. Marketing companies work really hard to trick consumer to buy their product. If things are on sale for 10%, ask how much money they are saving. When out at a restaurant have the children help you work out the tip. These are small things that will help your children become better at real life mathematics.

ACA Guidelines

Approved June 28, 2011 REPAINTING HOME THE SAME Cabot-Semi Transparent Finish (Oil Stain) COLOR-ACA approved. Member does a. Frontier CS643 b. New Cedar CS663 NOT need to submit ACA application. RESTAINING FENCE THE SAME COLOR (and no other changes to the fence such as changing fenceline)-ACA approved. Member does NOT need to submit ACA application.

Cabot-Solid Color Finish (Acrylic Decking Stain)=Frontier CS543 Cabot-Semi-Solid Finish (Decking Stain) a. Frontier CS543 b. New Cedar CS563

CLEAR COATING A FENCE-ACA Minwax-Water-Based Wood Stain approved. Member does NOT need to a. English Oak (no ID# listed) submit ACA application. Minwax-Gel Stain If member chooses fence stain from ACA a. Honey Maple (no ID# listed) approved list of fence stain colors, member does NOT need to submit ACA application. Minwax-Wood Finish a. Natural (no ID# listed) ACA APPROVED STAIN PRODUCTS b. Golden Oak (no ID# listed) BEHR-Exterior Wood Stains—Semi Transparent Stains = Cedar Naturaltone REGARDING LOT/PLAT SURVEYS DP-533 For applications where member is only BEHR- Premium Weatherproofing Wood painting house or staining the fence NO Lot/ Plat survey is required. Finish a. Pre-mixed Colors=Natural NO. 500 and Natural Cedar NO. 501 b. Custom Colors= Natural Sequoia WP545 and Golden Honey WP-546 Olympic-Semi Transparent Stains a. Cedar Naturaltone 716 b. Sierra 700

If member does not have copy of their Lot/ Plat survey, SA Engineering did surveys for most of Rivermist when neighborhood 1st built so member can contact them at 210561-0808 to see if they still have copy on file and then purchase a copy. (Their address is 12703 Spectrum Dr, San Antonio, TX 78249)

Cabot-SPF Deck & Fence Finish=Natural MULTIPLE IMPROVEMENTS can be (no ID# listed) combined on one application Cabot-Clear Solution If member needs to submit multiple a. Natural (no ID# listed) applications please submit them in the b. Cedar (no ID# listed) same business week if possible-the HOA is Cabot-Deck Stain=Chestnut Brown CS507 charged a $25 fee for each application but Cabot-Solid Color Finish is only charged once for all applications that a. P RO . V. T. So l i d C o l o r Ac r y l i c come in the same business week. Stain=Frontier CS643

Michael Southworth M.Ed. owns a tutoring company and offers free tutoring for students that need help in any subject. Please contact him at Education_Coach@ yahoo.com 2

The Beacon - September 2011

Copyright © 2011 Peel, Inc

Safety Tips

Here are a few safety tips that we hope will help keep you safe and our neighborhood crime free. PERSONAL SAFETY TIPS FOR HOME AND NEIGHBORHOOD • Don’t allow strangers into your home, even if they are hurt or say they need help. Keep the door locked and call the police for them. • Don’t advertise that you live alone. • Don’t be afraid to call law enforcement to investigate suspicious circumstances, unusual people, or strange noises. It’s better to be safe than sorry. • Keep outdoor lights on at night. • If you arrive home and your door is open or things appear to be out of place, don’t go in. Leave and call 911. • Be a visibly nosy neighbor. Let anyone walking the neighborhood or sitting in a parked car see you watching them. • Make a note of car license plates and if anyone behaves suspiciously or stays in their car for an unusually lengthy period, call the police. • Tell close neighbors that you trust if you plan to be away or expect any deliveries. • If you are going away, cancel newspapers and put a hold on your mail deliveries or have a neighbor collect any mail or packages from the doorstep.

• Having a dog is a HUGE deterrent. Ironically burglars are far more likely to avoid a house with a small dog than a big one – small dogs tend to be nervous and less easy to trick into calming down. They’re less trustful and bark louder and longer. • Take a walk around your home to figure out where the weakest link in your security might be – like leaving a window open in a secluded spot. • Be wary of who you allow into your home and how much information you give about your belongings and schedule (If an HOA board member comes by they will have identification and you can call AMS to find out if there is a scheduled community outreach going on). • Avoid creating temptation. Don’t leave things like lawn mowers and bikes unattended outside; lock them up. • Don’t hide a key outside. Home burglary crooks know all those “secret” places. San Antonio Police Dept. Contact Information: For emergencies CALL 911! For Non-Emergency, call (210) 207-7273

The Beacon Congrats to our new Board of Directors President - Charles Hasberry Vice President - Debora Estes 2nd Vice President - Rudy Cervera Secretary - Mary Jane Scarsdale Treasurer - Michael Southworth

Fellow Residents of Rivermist,

The new Rivermist Board just reviewed and approved plans for a new swingset for the park and it should be installed in the next six weeks. It will have two standard belt swings on one side and two baby/ toddler bucket swings on the other sidewe hope everyone will bring their children down and enjoy it!!! We are also installing two new benches in the playground area.

We have had a slight increase in vandalism lately so please report anything suspicious to the police.

City of San Antonio Customer Service 3-1-1 is an easy-to-remember telephone number that connects citizens with specially-trained customer service representatives ready to help you with your City service requests -- potholes, stray animals, downed street signs, trash collection or other City requests. Just dial 3-1-1 or call 207-6000. For TTY users, please contact Texas Relay by dialing 711 or dial the Texas Relay number: 1-800-RELAY TX (735-2989) to contact our 311 call center. Copyright © 2011 Peel, Inc.

Customer satisfaction is important. 311 provides access to customer service assistance 7:00am to 11:00pm Monday through Sunday, including all holidays. 311 is the City’s “customer first” answer to handling your non-emergency calls and requests for services quickly, effectively and professionally. 911 receives millions of calls. Most are emergencies, many are not. 311 can reduce the number of non-emergency calls to 911 and allows emergency personnel to focus on more

critical, urgent calls. When you dial 311, a customer service representative will answer your call. You’ll be asked for detailed information regarding your request. This information is immediately sent to the appropriate City department for action. 311 customer service representatives understand the importance of providing quality customer service the first time you call.

The Beacon - September 2011

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The Beacon

Congratulations August Yard of the Month Winners

The Wells at 8406 Pearl Lagoon (Go Jeff and Barbara!!)

The Williams at 10718 Rivera Cove

The Boyds at 10927 Falling Water

20% OFF The Garden Center

The Garden Center is offering a special discount to Rivermist residents throughout the month of September. Rivermist residents will receive 20% off of their purchases all month long, every visit. This is an excellent opportunity to save money while sprucing up your yard for the Fall. As the heat dissipates, we will be able to reclaim our grass and flowers. Happy planting!! The Garden Center 10682 Bandera Road • San Antonio, TX 78250 (210) 647-7900 4

The Beacon - September 2011

Copyright © 2011 Peel, Inc