Happy Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween to all who enjoy this day!

Make sure you watch out for little trick or treaters tonight. Drive slower, enjoy the different costumes, and don’t eat too much candy!

Today is also my sister-in-law’s birthday so Happy Birthday Nancy!!

Back of the Book Blurb #82 Challenge

From Sioux's Page, Sioux offers this challenge.

She posts a picture and you need to imagine it as a graphic for a book. You choose the genre and book title, and then write a blurb that might appear on the back of the book.

The blurb should be 150 words or less (not including the title). The genre is wide-open.

Each blogger should include their blurb on their own blog, and link back to this post. Have fun with it. Go to the other posts and comment on the other blurbs.  You can do fancy techy things with the photo.

(Join in if you dare...! It sounds like fun! I think this would be a lot of fun to do with students especially since they would be expected to write 150 words or less!)

The Magic Zoo

Stryder loved to go to different hospitals and make children smile. His favorite place was to go in the children’s cancer wards because they believed in magic.

He would lay out his magic paper and begin drawing. Soon, the children would start gathering and watching. Some would even ask questions or talk about what they were seeing. Before long, as the children watched, the animals would come alive. They would work their magic on the children and before long the children would be smiling and even laughing. The best part is that only the children would see the animals come alive. None of the nurses knew what was going on but they were just glad to see the children so happy.

After a couple of hours, the animals would return to the paper and Stryder would roll up his magic paper and move on to another hospital in another city. (150 words)

Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 10/27/17

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Career Kids -  Helps students create their first resume (L: H; SA:C )

Resume Generator – “Preparing secondary students for the workplace is integral. Use Resume Generator to teach students the importance of written communication. In addition to real-world application, this tool can be used in connection with literature to develop deeper connections with characters.This online tool guides students through the creation of a resume. Saving capability allows them to return to their work and make revisions. Written and audio tips throughout the tool guide students as they complete each section of the resume.”

Performing Arts – “journey through the world of performing arts and watch the world’s greatest performers come to life in 360º.

Phet – “interactive simulations for science and math” (L: G; SA:M, S)

Crayola for Educators – lesson plans, creative activities, and professional resources (L: G; SA:A)

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Dyeing Yarn with Black Walnuts

A couple of weeks ago, we went camping in Cherokee, NC. Right next to our site was a Black Walnut tree and the nuts were dropping all around. My husband talked me into collecting some and bringing them home so I could try dyeing some yarn with them. I filled a bag with them because I didn’t know how many I would need.

Then I went online to see if other people had done this. I found Practical Primitive and FiberArtsy. After looking at what they did, I thought I would also write about what I did.

1.     The main thing I did was wear disposable rubber gloves. Everything I read about talks about how these things stain everything so I was very careful!

2.     I put the walnuts on my back steps and cracked them with the hammer.

3.     Then I put everything in a paper bag until I was ready to work with them. I was going to dye another day but then couldn’t resist so they didn’t stay in the bag long.

4.     I soaked my yarn in water with vinegar and soap. It soaked for about an hour while I made the dyebath.

5.     I put the nuts and hulls in cheesecloth and tied off the ends.

6.     I put the cheesecloth ball in my enamel dye pot and covered it with water.

7.     I covered the pot and brought the water to a boil.

8.     Then I let it simmer for an hour on low heat.

9.     At the end of the hour, I used a wooden spoon (that I only use for dyeing yarn) and pulled the cheesecloth bag out of the water and threw it away.

10.  Next I got the wet yarn and squeezed the excess water out of each skein.

11.  I gently lowered the yarn in the dyebath and simmered it on low for another hour.

12.  After the hour, I took the pot outside and let it cool.

13.  Once cool, I rinsed the yarn out to remove any excess dye.

14.  Then I hung up the yarn to dry.

15.  I poured the left-over dye in containers for later use.

Things I learned:

·      I really liked the lovely brown color that the yarn is now.

·      It was easy to do and would do this again when I need brown yarn.

·      I don’t think I needed as many black walnuts as I used. I had 15 and I probably could have used about 6. That is something I would like to experiment with next time to see if the color varies with less nuts.

Have you ever dyed with black walnuts or any other nuts? Please share.

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