Paper Cutting by Beatrice Coron

I've always been fascinated by paper cutting. My first recollection of paper cutting was when I cut paper Valentines in elementary school. Needless to say, I cut the heart in half by mistake. I was broken hearted (no pun intended!) Since then, I've found paper cut art work in boutiques and little shops around the area and had a special one from China given to me as a gift by a para who worked in my class and knew my love of art. It's so delicate that it felt like cotton in my hand. 

This is a TED video featuring Beatrice Coron, who creates intricate worlds, cities and countries, heavens and more. Striding onstage in a glorious cape cut from Tyvek, she describes her creative process and the way her stories develop from snips and slices. This video is fascinating as she describes her artistic process and how she weaves stories of history, science and more into her artwork. 

Thanksgiving Word Art Poster

THANKSGIVING WORD ART POSTER

Download this FREE poster and display it in your classroom. 

Make copies for your students and have them use the words on the poster 

to write Thanksgiving stories and poems. 

Create a Thanksgiving Word Wall using the words on the poster.

More ideas included!

Have fun!

STATUE OF LIBERTY EARTH CAM

UPDATE!

WOW!

What an amazing experience to be able to view all different camera angles of this great statue. I love the view of NYC harbor both during the day and at night. In the lower left hand corner, you'll see little controls that enable you to zoom in or out and change to a panoramic view! TOTALLY AWESOME!!

Lady Liberty is 125 years old! Her birthday was celebrated by bringing the great lady into the high tech era. There are webcams on her torch that let viewers gaze out at New York Harbor and read the tablet in her hands or see visitors on the grounds of the island below in real time.


The five cameras, that are installed on her torch, are on 24 hours, seven days a week,  and were donated to the National Park Service by EarthCam, a New Jersey company that manages webcams around the world.
Friday's ceremony was marked by a water flotilla, actress Sigourney Weaver reading Lazarus' poem and a naturalization ceremony for 125 candidates for citizenship representing more than 40 countries. The live Earth Cam is on now! Watch from across the harbor or from her cams! Huge military ships and tankers! Cruise ships! The NYC traffic in the harbor is amazing both day and night!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Get your dancing shoes on! 

The Pink Glove Dance began at a hospital in Oregon and spread like wildfire! Love these videos!

PINK GLOVE DANCE!
Almost 13 1/2 million hits on this site!!

AND THE SEQUEL

PINK GLOVE SEQUEL

Hospitals and Survivors from Everywhere!
See if you spot a town or city near you!

Teacher Resources

I've saved soooooo many great teaching sites that I thought I'd share them.  The baby you see here is an endangered species. Sure would love to have those LONG legs! 

ZooBorns Baby Animals from Zoos and Aquariums Around the World

Click on the link to find out what this gorgeous baby is. 

Smithsonian National Zoo

When I was little, I always thought that an artist painted the big cats’ faces. The beauty of their coloring takes my breath away. This cheetah is a perfect example of nature’s artwork.

I did an endangered animal project two years ago with my kids. Everyone had their own laptop and they had to research an animal of their choosing. My project made the news! Kids dressed up in lab coats, role playing as researchers! Taking notes furiously about what they were observing and learning! Focused, focused, focused! They all walked around school that week dressed in their lab attire with name tags like Dr. So and So. 

 The Smithsonian National Zoo site is where kids can watch live cams of animals. 

We watched a baby kiwi hatch one day. The kids were on the edges of their seats the entire time. Comments were… “Why is it taking so long for the baby kiwi to hatch?”

I said.. Well if you were in the center of a block of cement and wanted to get out, would it be easy?”  

We waited and waited and waited. You could have heard a pin drop! The struggle was astounding. A little beak.. Rest time! Then POP! The little bird emerged and CHEERS filled my classroom AND THE HALL!  The kids didn’t want to leave my room to go to their next class!  The other teachers weren’t happy. Hey! Isn’t that what learning is all about??

 Kahn's Academy

This is an incredible resource. A library of over 2,600 videos! Scroll down and look at all the videos.  Salman Kahn created this site as a whim and it’s gone viral. He’s appeared on television and talk shows. I can guarantee that you’ll spend a LOT of time, watching his lessons! Math, Science, History, Art and more.  High school teachers take note! TONS of subjects! Developmental Math too! Great videos for kids to review their facts and much more.

Need something new to do with your students this Halloween? Teacher2Teacher is offering a variety of FREE Halloween activities!  Check out the October 13th posting on this great site!
                                                                   Teacher2Teacher

                                                                   

Wise Owl Factory Incredible Offers!

Check out Wise Owl Factory. It's an amazing site created by a dear friend. Carolyn never ceases to amaze me! She graciously offers free lessons and worksheets constantly. Her site is all encompassing and provides invaluable networking sites, educations links and much more. This is one site you have to see!

                                                    Wise Owl Factory

AUTUMN IN CONNECTICUT

Autumn leaves are just beginning to turn color in southern Connecticut! This is a time of year that all Nutmeggers love! The most colorful of all, is the sugar maple tree that is a showy brilliant red. This magnificent tree produces the finest and most delicious maple syrup that is sought after by people from all over the world. Whenever our German friends visit, we take them to a sugar shack house so they can buy REAL maple syrup to take home. Walking around the woods through the tunnels of leaves, with the delicious scent of the maple syrup boiling in the sugar shack, is an experience one never forgets.

The Bartlett family came to the U.S in the early 1700's and settled in Guilford, Connecticut. The family has been involved in the forestry industry since then. They take great pride in their land and have turned part of the beautiful historic Bartlett home into a B&B. They also make delicious maple syrup

                            The Bed & Breakfast at The Bartlett Farm | Experience a Slice of History

Making maple syrup is all dependent on the weather. It starts in early February and ends in late March in Connecticut. In order for the trees' sap to run, the temperatures must be at freezing or below at night and the days have to be warm and sunny. When the conditions aren't perfect, the sap won't run.

Early in the season the sap is light amber and as time goes on, to the end of March, it darkens. Both are different in taste and people buy it according to what they like. Once the temperatures rise to above freezing at night, the sap stops running and the season is over.

Sugar houses are open during the season when the sap is being collected in buckets that hang from the trees. Once collected it's boiled down. Teachers take kids on field trips to the sugar houses so they can view the process of turning the nectar of the maples into the syrup they drip on their pancakes and French toast. They can even buy jugs of the warm syrup to take home! Some sugar houses even give lessons of how to make it!
Check out some of them at Visit Connecticut Sugarhouses- Maple Syrup information for Connecticut
I'll be at the farms this weekend and can't wait to experience this truly New England activity!

Innovative Connections Rocks!

Innovative Connections

Innovative Connections is ROCKING!  Check out the MANY Halloween activities that are available on this newest blog! Bookmark it and be sure to check back frequently for new and creative lessons!