What I learned in Greece and Other Places

First, I want our friends on the East Coast to know that our thoughts and prayers are with them.  I cannot imagine how hard it must be to have your life turned completely upside down.

We were flying back from Rome on Saturday through Philadelphia. I think we made it out on one of the last planes. It was a bumpy ride but we made it home to Dallas....tired but safe.

I wanted to share with you all my experiences of the last two weeks.  We had a wonderful time practicing for retirement. We traveled to Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey. Surprisingly I met a retired teacher friend in Dubrovnik as we were walking around the city walls.  She was practicing for retirement, too.

I put all my pictures in a Smilebox. My daughter said I needed a Smilebox intervention. I am now limited to sending them only one a week.  I offered to pay anyone in my family $10 to watch this one.

Actually it is really quite good, if I do say so myself.  Be sure to turn on the sound on your computer.  I have lovely music to accompany the pictures. The world is a beautiful place if only me had the time and money to see it all!!! Right now I have no money and I don't think I could make another transatlantic flight if I had to.

This slideshow generated with Smilebox

Next time.....
I'll have something more educational for you.

Check out How to Use and Free Activities

While I am away cruising

I am leaving you some home work.

On most of my posts I invite you to visit the website

 www.creativeteaching.com 

to check out the products they offer

like these Cootie Catchers for Halloween.

(Look for these at your local teacher store, too.)

But there is lots more on the website.

Click on the box that says

HOW TO USE.

(Use the clink below and see one of the ideas.

Don't forget to come back to this page.)

http://www.creativeteaching.com/ctp/i/t/htu/23-One-More-Game.pdf
This game is really fun, but there are 
lots of other ideas in this section.

Are you back?
Now click on the section that says FREE ACTIVITIES.
(If you click the link below it will take you to one 
of the free activities. Be sure to come back!) 

http://www.creativeteaching.com/ctp/freeactivities/2399-EB-all-about-me.pdf
This is a great All About Me activity.
Copy it and use it right now.

While I am gone have fun
clicking and copying.

Practicing Retirement

For the next two weeks I will be practicing retirement.

Last Sunday we left for a two week cruise. 

After a long flight from Dallas 
we arrived in Venice.

We boarded our ship and 
began our cruise to several Greek islands.

 Next week, we end up in Rome.

Then another long flight home. 

This is the island of Corfu, Greece.

While there we will be learning to cook a classic 

Greek dinner....then eating it!

So much to see and so little time. 

We will spend some time on the Isle of Capri.

I wonder if we will see Cary Grant?

If you don't know who he is, you are too young!

You should check out the DVD of

An Affair to Remember.

Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr....

I don't know whether they were in Italy or Greece
or maybe along the coast of France....

but it really doesn't matter.

It is a wonderful love story.

Warning....Have tissues close at hand.

How to make a Step Book

Here is another of my favorites 

from

Read, Write, and Publish.

This is how to make a step-book.

Step-books are great for recording life cycles.

Butterflies and frogs are easy to do if you use 

CTP mini bulletin board called Life Cycles.

All the pictures are there.

Another use is for teaching ordinal words: 

first, next, then, and last.

I made this book to go with the reader,

Tess Builds a Snowman.

The pages inside show the order

in which the snowman is built.

This is the Five Little Monkeys book that I posted a few weeks ago.

It is good for teaching counting forward and backwards.

This is an "All About Me" book.

It is great for getting to know the kids in your class.

In our class, everyone is "thumb-body " special.

You can also use a step-book to sequence the events in a story.

This is from the reader

Who Will Help".

You will find that no one is willing to help with the work.

But, everyone is willing to help with the eating.

Does that sound familiar?

Take a giant step and make 

a step-book with your class.

How to make a Pop-Up book

Oldies but Goodies

Some books never get so old that they don't have great ideas.

READ! WRITE! PUBLISH!

is one of those oldies. 

If you want ideas for pop-up books, step books, flip books,

and many more you can find the instructions here.

Here is how to make a pop-up book.

When I saw the new 6" robot cut -outs I immediately thought 

they would perfect for a pop-up.

All I needed was a poem to go with the cut-out.

You can "Google" anything and find just what you need.

I found the perfect poem for my book.

My Robot's Misbehaving

My robot's misbehaving.

It won't do as I say.
It will not dust the furniture
or put my toys away.

My robot never helps me

with homework or my chores.
It doesn't do my laundry
and neglects to clean my floors.

It claims it can't cook dinner.

It never makes my bed.

No matter what I ask of it,

it simply shakes its head.

My robot must be broken.

I'll need to get another.

Until that day, I have to say,

I'm glad I have my mother.

…Kenn Nesbitt

Here is another "Google" find.

Snowflakes
are one of nature's most fragile things
but just look what they can do
when they stick together.

(For the answer....
up pops a 
snowman.)







Take a look at all of the cut-outs in the on-line catalog at
www.creativeteaching.com .
Quick search for cut-outs.  
You will find plenty!

Google a poem and make your own pop-up book.

Puppets at the Dollar Store

Any thing on a stick can become a puppet.

You don't have to spend a lot of money on puppets.

My personal favorites are made from 
things that I picked up at the Dollar Store.

Add some hair and wiggly eyes to a fly-swatter 

and you have Felicia Fly-Swatter.

She is very fancy. She has a cute bow in her hair. 

She even has a hyphenated last name!

Kids can use her to find 
colors, numbers, letters, etc. in the room.

Felicia comes with rules.  
Make sure you determine the rules first.
You cannot swat your friend no matter
 how many letters or numbers or colors he has on him.

This is Dusty.

He has wiggly eyes and a pom pom nose.

You can find all kinds and colors of feather dusters 

at the Dollar Store.

Give Dusty to one of the kids and have him 

dust off a good book for you to read to the class.

This is my favorite.

Of course, the little girl is my favorite,

 but I like the puppet too.

It is a toilet brush with wiggly eyes and a pom pom nose.

Get it out when it is clean up time.

Sing along....

Clean up time.

Clean up time.

Everyone helps at clean up time.

This is a garden glove.

It is stuffed with batting.
The base is a spatula. That holds the glove in place when you move it around.
At the base of the spatula is a rubber band
 to hold the glove on. 
Add a bandana for a little extra fun.

I really like this puppet. 

You can use it to give someone a "High 5" 

for doing something special.

Or you can give someone a pat on the back.

Or you can wave hello or goodbye.

Or you can just take all the puppets and play with them.

Have fun at the Dollar Store.

Puppets are everywhere.

Pick up some wiggly eyes and a glue gun.

Then all you have to do is use your imagination!

Monkeys In the Classroom

Have you found yourself back in school

with a class full of monkeys?

Here are some of Melanie's ideas for 

decorating with monkeys.

But now it is time to bring those 

crazy monkeys to life in your classroom.

  Dr. Jean's Five Little Monkeys Reader and Lap Book

The Five Little Monkeys reader by Dr. Jean 
is a great springboard for lots of lessons.

Decorate a magnetic board.  

Put magnets on the backs of five monkeys.

Have kids remove the monkeys as they sing the song.

You can make a puppet from

a green sock for an alligator.

Have the alligator snap a monkey right out of the tree.

Make a step book of the story.

This book is made from a strip of monkey border

from which I cut individual monkeys.

Kids can sing the song as they read the book.

Use a tongue depressor for the monkey puppets.

The book can be used to teach counting backwards.

When the monkey puppet is facing forward 

the kids count forward.

2-3-4-5-6-7-8

Turn the monkey around and the kids

 pick up the number counting backwards. 

7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Go slowly for the little kids but the older kids love 

to see how fast they can switch gears.

It is fun to watch their brains work 

when they have to switch back and forth.

Monkeys come in all sizes....6" cut outs.

The largest monkeys are 10" cut outs.

This is a step book using the small 1" monkey cut outs.

Everyone in your class can make a book!

Missed Me, Missed Me,

Not you gotta kiss me!

If you want to make the book
email me your address and I will send you
a copy of the words so you can just 
cut and glue them on the book.
tommie.netzer@creativeteaching.com