Taryn Smith has become the first female to solo the Atlantic Ocean. She completed her amazing voyage from La Gomera, African continent, to Antigua,a distance of 3000 miles in 46 days, 3 hours and 37 minutes. Taryn had never rowed or been in a row boat before she learned of the World's Toughest Row but decided she wanted to give it a try. She practiced a couple of years before setting off this past December. She averaged 10-12 hours of rowing each day. Taryn dealt with rough waters, storms and loneliness. Although she saw a shark, a marlin was more threatening, striking her row boat and making holes in the hull. Fatigue  got her down. She said a group of dolphins befriended her and lifted her spirits. She documented her journey each day. She also had communication and spoke with her parents almost each day. Her "row" boat had a sleeping berth and she stocked the boat with enough food to last about 80 days. She listened to Harry Potter books on her headphones. Taryn hopes what she accomplished inspires young people, especially girls, to participate in sports and do things, big. Congratulations to Taryn!

Photograph from Sunnyskies

Have you ever climbed a tree? Alex Honnold loves to climb, especially free solo. That means he doesn't use ANY safety gear or ropes. He only applies chalk to his hands and uses his hands to climb. A few years ago, he became the first to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Last week, Honnold became the first to free solo the 101 skyscraper in Taiwan. It is the 11th highest building in the world.Standing 1667 ft, it took about 1 1/2 hours to successfully reach its summit. Usually, Honnold climbs rocks and this was the first attempt(carried live on Netflix) to climb a building made of metal and glass.

Photograph from NBC News(Getty Images)

Dejaycion(DJ )Moses, a 6th grader, from Honolulu, has been named the Kindest Kid in America. The award was given to DJ for his compassion, leadership and acts of kindness to others. His principal said that DJ seems to just know who needs a special friend .He is a role model on being kind to others. The school asked students to give examples of kindness and name someone in the school that displays such behavior. DJ was named the most and he was nominated to the Kindness Kid in America organization. DJ was surprised at his award saying that he was very surprised and just tries to be kind to everyone. What is something you can do today to show kindness to someone else?

Do you ever reach for a back scratcher when you have an itch you just can't reach? Veronika is a Swiss Brown cow and she was observed using her broom to do the same thing! Scientists say it is very rare to see animals other than chimpanzees using a tool to scratch an itch. Veronika ,who lives with her owners in Austria, is the first cow to be documented to do this. Veronika also uses different parts of the broom depending on where she is hoping to achieve her goal.

Photograph from Goodnewsnetwork

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Special thanks to EducationWorld for letting me use this image of my "alter ego" as Mrs. "Waffenschmidt!

About Gail:

I retired from teaching after 33 1/2 years in the classroom. Of that time, I taught Grade 6 Social Studies teacher for 31 1/2 years.I earned my BA in early secondary education with a concentration in social studies from SUNY Oneonta, New York, and my MST in social studies education from Binghamton University in New York. In 1988, I was awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Classroom Teacher of the Year Award from the New York State Council for the Social Studies. Additionally, in 1988, I was also awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award by the National Council for the Social Studies. I am the author of 8 books for teachers and over 35 books for children(Purple Turtle Series by Aadarsh Publishing and Odd History Series by Red Chair Press).

My work has appeared in most children's publications including:
Highlights for Children,News-O-Matic,Appleseed,,Scholastic's Super Science,,Scholastic's Science World,Jack and Jill,National Geographic World, Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Faces, Muse Magazine,Contact Kids, US Kids,Action Magazine(Scholastic),Girls' Life,Boys' Life,American Girl, Instructor,Creative Classroom,Middle Years,Time for Kids,Scholastic News,Scholastic News Zone, Time for Kids , Ask Magazine, Dig,Calliope, Cobblestone, FACES, Studies Weekly, Glo Adventurer, and more.






Mail Gail:
Gail Hennessey

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