If you have been studying art with the children, you will have almost certainly looked at Monet!

I thought this site was very interesting. A Voyage through Monet is an interactive tour through Monet's paintings.



I thought it was a great overview and the small things they asked you to do kept it interesting.

If you have enjoyed watching any of the University of Nottingham's periodic table videos then you may be interested to know they are running a poster competition.

The closing date for enteries is 1st December and you can email your submission.

They are looking for Periodic Table Posters in the style of an old movie poster - but everything else is up to you.

And the prize? A 'gold' watch they made in one of the videos.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I realize that I don't have a lot of Thanksgiving ideas on the site (sorry!!)

But I do have this very nice idea from Michelle Jones for a Thanksgiving Tree.

I can't take credit for it! But it would be a lovely thing to do over Thanksgiving.

And don't forget about Think bracelets too. Perhaps you could adapt it to say 'thanks' instead.

We had a clear out this month (yikes! we needed one!) and found some old printouts that we got distracted with.

Most popular were the Marble Mice from the Toymaker - we had to go print off several new copies!

It is a simple little toy, but fun to make and play with. Try a Marble Mice race down a plank of wood!

If you haven't come across the Toymaker before - then do go and check out the other toys. There is lots there that even older children will enjoy a foray into.

I know I am always going on about animations! But my children love to see their creations come to life.

This one is slightly different. You get actors and and a set to perform your movie.

MakeMovies say they are aimed at over 13 year olds only - so you probably need to supervise younger children.

You have to sign up for an account - it is free to make and watch your movie - but you have to pay to publish it anywhere, like your Facebook account.

But it really is like writing a script and recording your own movie and fun to have a play with even if you don't publish anywhere.

Not really a 'make' but something we enjoyed playing with!

Wordle is a a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide.

You type in some text - a poem maybe, or a story - and it creates a beautiful cloud picture, with words appearing larger the more they are used. Here is a picture of the words on Homeschooling-ideas home page :



Neah eh! I think it would be good for putting in stories the children have written (a good way to point out the overuse of the words 'and' and 'said'!). How about making a poster of frequently mispelled words to hang in your bathroom? Here are some other ideas from the forum :

• I use them for jumbled sentences where students have to unjumble the words in the correct order. With younger learners they run up to the board and touch each word as they say it aloud in the correct order. With these learners I copy and paste each word that appears more than once as it is too difficult for them to understand that they have to touch the big words more than once (and in the correct order). With older learners they know the bigger words are used more than once.


• Have students make a Wordle out of the characters from a novel, adding a characteristic for each one. Eg. ScoutFinchCurious, BooRadleyMysterious (Leaving out the space between words keeps them together in the Wordle.)


• I plan on using it w/ my 3rd graders to highlight key vocabulary words in a unit. For example, I created a wordle on democracy. I'm envisioning introducing the Wordle to the students. Then at the end of the study having the students create their own Wordle based on some aspect of the topic that really intrigued them


• Have Art students keep a Wordle journal for a week or longer, capturing keywords that reflect the essence of their day. These can be printed and then may become a background collage for an extended piece of work. Or how about an origami sculpture or other 3-d structure?


• History teachers might create a 'Who am I'? cloud with keywords that point towards key figures in the period they are studying. If several of these were posted around the room the students could go on a treasure hunt for identities - perhaps with a close sheet that they must fill in - matching the Wordles to the 10 characters whose brief biogs they have in hand.

I am sure you have your own ideas ! Best of luck.

I really love it when someone else comes up with great ideas I can use. And it is even better if they agree to write me a page about it!

Science teacher John Kreiger kindly wrote me a page about smelting metals. This is a great science project idea - although not for the faint hearted. It would work really well with any plans you may have for making a kiln for firing pottery.

Do check out John's blog. He has got some great science projects and ideas such as how to dissect a chicken leg.

I managed to get a couple new lesson plans up for the Smorgasbord Curriculum this month.

The one we really had fun with was the photography week. We decided to shoot enough photographs to make a photo calendar for 2011 (shhh.. it is a gift for family members). Even though it rained all week I was very impressed with what the children managed once they got into the swing of things.

Some of our Photographs




We have had recieved our printed calendars in the post now, and are jolly pleased with them. A very worthwhile week that I would recommend trying.

I am a bit late with this one. (Sorry - I meant to remind you last month!). But there is still time to join in the fun.

Junior Nanowrimo is on during the whole of November. The idea is that the children write a 'novel' (or story) during the month - and there is lots of support and sharing of ideas on the forum.

I couldn't pursuade my two to sign up last year - I couldn't stop them this time!! They have both set word goals - and typing away to achieve them!

The good news is that every child that achieves their word goals get a 'winners badge' - and this winners badge entitles them to a free printed paperback 'proof copy' of their book (this seems to apply even if you are outside of the US).

So - if you were thinking about doing my write a book week then November would seem a great time to do it!

• Hold Your Ground. I loved this one. Build a structure with the available blocks to shield the King and his guards from incoming projectiles. Keep the men alive long enough to advance to the next day.

• Magic Pen - A drawing puzzle game similar to Crayon Physics. Draw shapes and add hinges to make your ball collect flags..

• Perfect Balance. Stack the shapes so that they stay on the screen.

• Gem Grab. Move objects around the screen and try to guide the gem to the exit in each room.

The Three Rs!

Resources, Read-Alouds, and Recommendations

I have put together a list of our favourite Christmas books for you to enjoy - along with a short review.

Do you have a favourite christmas story? Do let me know!

Agony Aunt!

A Helping Hand!

I had lots of questions this month about a wide range of problems. I have answered as best I can - but do chip in if you can add something.