I am a teacher at Southern Regional HS in Manahawkin, NJ and we are researching endangered species of New Jersey. The students were given a project to research one endangered species and determine the causes of its endangerment, impact of the endangerment and possible solutions to the endangerment. The students will then create a campaign, and all of the students will vote to decide which species will be selected as the species most deserving of attention. It was a project inspired by a colleague and fellow classmate in a graduate IT course at Stockton College of NJ. My students and I am very happy to be a part of this project. Thank You!
Tag Archives: 55-64
Today in Class
Today we are getting ready to start Romeo and Juliet, so we will be discussing relationships–what makes them and what breaks them. What is a healthy relationship. We will read and rank some relationship scenarios and share our opinions in small and large groups.
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When I was 29
Reading about what children will be doing when they are 29 – made me think that when I was 29 we were just looking at new fangled calculators and kit computers that you had to make yourself. What a difference!
Happy blogging everyone!
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homeward bound
On my way home from London after a meeting…..met up with some old and dear friends …….looking forward to getting home but wanted to take part I n this exciting venture………best wishes to you all
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When I was 29
Reading about what children will be doing when they are 29 – made me think that when I was 29 we were just looking at new fangled calculators and kit computers that you had to make yourself. What a difference!
Happy blogging everyone!
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A Lot to be Grateful For
There are some days when you realise that you have a lot to be grateful for. Today is one of those days. On Sunday I was ill and slept nearly all day, eating nothing. When I got up on Monday I felt so much better and wanted to catch up on everything I had missed. Now I’ll be honest. In recent weeks I’ve been a bit of a misery guts and that has affected those around me too. Sometimes it takes one simple thing to shock you out of your self-pity and make you look around you and be glad. So, here are the things I feel glad about:
I have good health
I have enough money to survive
I have two beautiful daughters whom I adore and who adore me back
I have two amazing grandsons who are the light of my life
I have a husband who would do anything for me and tells me every day that he loves me
I have a father who, although quite old, is in reasonable health and who I can spend time with whenever I like
I have a lovely home with everything I need
I’ve had a rewarding job and seen many generations of lovely children grow up into brilliant adults
I live in a country where I can be free to speak my mind
I have coped with any difficulties that have been thrown at me though happily there haven’t been too many
The sun is shining
I think we need to remind ourselves every day just how lucky we are – not just on a day which comes round once every 4 years.
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Art
Today I am covering the Year 5/6 class for Art. We have been looking at a book called The Tin Forest in Literacy and today we will be painitng, using pastells and charcole to create a wall display for the classroom.
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A day in the life
Currently sipping my morning coffee. In a short while, I will have breakfast in between stroking my kitty cat. Then, it is off to work at a job that just got an extension on its contract! Yes, when I got up yesterday, I was unsure I would need to get up early today, now I know 
I will spend the day working on training materials, trying to figure out why our CLE is is not doing what we want and generally trying to stay out of trouble.
Oh, and set up for a whale watching adventure for the weekend.
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My G-Baby Visits Topsham
My five month old granddaughter is visiting this week and just happens to be with me for the 29th of February 2012! So to celebrate this one off day that only comes every four years, we went to Topsham in Devon. We walked along the pier by the River Exe, down The Strand, along The Goat Walk, up past the RSPB Bird Hides and back into town and landed up right smack dab in the middle of Route 2 for the most delicious cheeseburger you ever et! It was a fab day and Grand baby, Molly, and doglets, Dido n Daisy, plus GrandMummy Me, and Little Molly’s Mummy all had a great time and the Sun was shining on us all day!
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Making a difference
I’ve been at work, helping to create better opportunities and outcomes for children and young people where I live.
It’s also my nephew’s birthday. He’s celebrating his 6th… Which makes him old enough to be at University!!! Happy birthday, Chris.
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Life’s a game of give and take
The words of the song are true – “Life’s a game of give and take”. And today, February 29, is the day we take back to make the Earth’s journeys around the sun fit in properly with the 365-day year of the Gregorian calendar.
Now this isn’t an argument against striving for perfection, and it’s not an excuse for slackness, but it helps if we think of life’s “rules” as somewhat loose fitting. It can give us a creative edge. I’m writing this as I enjoy some food with my colleague Gerald Haigh (@geraldhaigh1) in King’s Cross before going on to the House of Commons for a presentation of Microsoft’s latest technology offerings for schools.
So it’s a good time to reflect with another laid-back veteran about life and time and the need to keep a wide perspective. If our lives get a little chaotic people think that we might have “gone off the rails”. I don’t want to worry you, but there are no rails.
In the days before desktop publishing and the digital revolution, production journalists (subeditors) used to have to count or estimate the number of words in a story to work out the space it would occupy on a page. It was called “casting off”.
A ‘standard’ typesize, for example, would give us roughly 30 words to an inch for a ‘regular’ column size on a page. Pages and whole editions were based on these sorts of estimates.
Working in centimetres? Just convert lengths by the assumption that an inch is 2.5 centimetres. If ever the words break the boundaries you just make the appropriate deletions.
So whole business enterprises, including highly successful ones, can be based on estimates? Yes.
So back to the give and take. Our Gregorian calendar, which was given to us by Pope Gregory XIII, meanns that today, February 29, 2012, is the day we snatch back to take up the slack of our estimated calendar. Our planet, Earth, takes approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to complete one orbit of the Sun. So the 365-day calendar constructed all those years ago is out by six hours, so that if we didn’t slot in an extra day, February 29, every four years, we’d seen go wrong – over 50 years that would be 12 days.
Yes, it’s good to be correct, tidy and precise, but hey, we’re human and we have to keep things in perspective. Get the big ideas right and you can always nip and tuck at the edges for a comfy fit.
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today I will….
About to go to get changed so I can partake in a 90 minute bike ride on this lovely warm sunny day here in County Durham
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A Lot to be Grateful For
There are some days when you realise that you have a lot to be grateful for. Today is one of those days. On Sunday I was ill and slept nearly all day, eating nothing. When I got up on Monday I felt so much better and wanted to catch up on everything I had missed. Now I’ll be honest. In recent weeks I’ve been a bit of a misery guts and that has affected those around me too. Sometimes it takes one simple thing to shock you out of your self-pity and make you look around you and be glad. So, here are the things I feel glad about:
I have good health
I have enough money to survive
I have two beautiful daughters whom I adore and who adore me back
I have two amazing grandsons who are the light of my life
I have a husband who would do anything for me and tells me every day that he loves me
I have a father who, although quite old, is in reasonable health and who I can spend time with whenever I like
I have a lovely home with everything I need
I’ve had a rewarding job and seen many generations of lovely children grow up into brilliant adults
I live in a country where I can be free to speak my mind
I have coped with any difficulties that have been thrown at me though happily there haven’t been too many
The sun is shining
I think we need to remind ourselves every day just how lucky we are – not just on a day which comes round once every 4 years.
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When I was 29
Reading about what children will be doing when they are 29 – made me think that when I was 29 we were just looking at new fangled calculators and kit computers that you had to make yourself. What a difference!
Happy blogging everyone!
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The power of sharing
Following a great set of IT / Google Apps presentations at Berkhamsted school yesterday I am sat at my computer in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, UK sending emails to teachers to share with them some of the things I learnt yesterday and also information on TPACK from educationalists in the USA and ISTE’s SIGIS on their conference topics for debates. I find the more you reach out to share ideas, resources and experiences the more you get back in return. Also if you are looking for free resources for Science and Maths please check out the new service at Gooru for Teachers & Students. Congratulations to everyone involved today around the world….
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Photograph not on Look North
My first try of getting one of my photographs on Look North tonight failed. Oh well.
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Gamestar Mechanics
Just introduced Gamestar Mechanics which introduces game programming to a very mixed ability Year 7 class. Once they’d mastered access it took about 15 minutes before everyone became immersed in the Quests that make up the initial learning part of the program. I was pleasantly surprised how many had already registered and moved on to the game development stage: homework through choice rather than force!
Everyone starting from scratch seemed to make roughly similar progress. A great start to their introduction to programming.
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Special 2012 Day
Hi All, I just wanted to post here on this 29th day of February 2012 and feel part of something special for the day. Blogging from SE England near Margate. The sun is out and I’m just online helping a friend order some computer memory modules. Have a lovely day everyone!! Jack T.
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A day of memories and mixed emotion
It is 15:50 hours on the 29th of February 2012 and already I have received farewell emails from 4 of my soon-to-be former colleagues who have opted for the Irish public service early retirement scheme. They will have had 141 years of primary school teaching experience between them. It is difficult nowadays, to imagine the bare bones appearance of classrooms 40 years. No maps to speak of, a record player and if you were lucky a reel to reel tape recorder which was shared by the entire school. The nuns in the girls’ school had a 16mm projector which they used for fund raising – no videos or YouTube back then. Art and Crafts was been introduced but it was difficult to use paint and jars of water on the old slopping desks. Some teachers just left the new curriculum to the “young ones” and never embraced the change. Of course nibbed pens and ink wells were still in use but a court case soon put an end to them in the late 70s. Corporal Punishment was stiil in use and you were viewed as soft by the staff and pupils if you did not use it. I was a member of the Irish branch of STOPP – I think it stood for the Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment. The department of education banned it in 1982. One teacher I know of, retired early when the ban was eventually passed into law in the mid 90s.
Together they would have gone through various sensory modalities of teaching and learning such as the nylon board with sandpaper backed paper figurines, using a shared slide projector and filmstrips and manhandling an awkward 28 inch black and white television from classroom to classroom. In my first school’s case the TV was confined to senior classes due to its weight and an insurmountable flight of stairs.
For many of my colleagues in their late 50s and early 60s the digital classroom was an unnecessary imposition on an already overburdened curriculum.
I, on the otherhand, am trying to get back to work after a 6 months absence due to back trouble. Bring on the interactive whiteboards, online activities, eTwinning, Skyping and of course digitally assisted creativity. There is life in the old dog yet!
Good luck and best wishes to everyone in the public service who availed of the early retirement option today. You served your country well. Let’s hope there is enough in the kitty to meet all your dreams.
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Happy Birthday
I am celebrating a good friends Birthday. Happy Birthday Carol (she is only 14 in leap year Brithdays, but 55 in annual years. Have a special Birthday today.
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Windy morning of the year
Leap year? ya, and I couldn’t leap and jog this morning. It is one of those cold and windy days in this time of the year when you can” go out in the morning and enjoy a good walk and feel intoxicated with the fresh morning air. Again, there is black smoke in the hills as slash n burn season begins and forest fires start somewhere or other…What is so special about leap year, anyway? Apart from being a disappointing wait for some one who is born on that day?
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A Special Day
I am going to a wedding today for a couple who wanted to get married on LEAP day! Perhaps the thought of a gift every four years appealed!!!! Or, more likely, the couple just wanted to do something a little “extra” in terms of a special day. Whatever, congratulation and best wishes.
Personally, I will be retired by next leap day and hope for some very positive changes in our world by that time 
Love and peace everyone.
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Preparing for World Book Day
Preparing for World Book Day tomorrow…did you know there’s World Book Day App for teens featuring exclusive new stories by six authors? It’s worth having a look at the World Book Day website as well for book-related games and a whole range of ideas for schools to use. This ‘Blog the Leap Year’ is a fantastic idea – as is anything that encourages people to read, write…and simply ‘connect’.
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A Great Time of Year.
It seems appropriate that I blog today about my program called LEEP – short for Lodgers’ Elearning Extension Program- on LEAP day. It is for Gifted and Talented students at Berwick Lodge Primary School, who need little bit of extension in the classroom.
Today has been the first day for Grade 3s in the program. The students were using our new MacBook Pros and for the first time used ComicLife. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to add photographs and taking balloons to explain what it means to be in LEEP (Lodgers’ Elearning Extension Program).
The Grade 6 students had another live radio show on The Berwick Lodge Student Hour, taking control of their own learning by creating the show with scripts, playlists and riffs as well as managing the technology by working at the control panels.
It’s a great time of year – new programs, excited students and beautiful weather as the summer turns to autumn.
So I hope everyone has a great LEAP day!
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What I Learned About Leap Year
I am a fourth grade teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today my students and I watched a BrainPOP movie about Leap Year. I thought I knew about Leap Year but I learned something new today. Did you know that years that end in 00 and are not divisible by 400 do not contain February 29th? I was amazed by this fact and had never heard it before watching the movie with my students. So on this February 29th, I am proud to say I am definitely a life-long learner. Happy Leap Year everyone!
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My Day…
It was a strange start to the morning with a regular school day changing quickly with heavy snow and causing early pick up for all students. However, I did manage to find eight new Leap Day caches in between other happenings, bringing my total finds to 608. I headed home after lunch to very slippy roads and crazy drivers. There has been no snow to speak of this year, so I think people have forgotten how to drive in the snow. The snow tapered off by late afternoon and I headed out for a Leap Day caching event in a local restaurant. Fun day all in all and I now wonder what tomorrow will bring.
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Back to work
Back at work after 2 months with an amazing group of educators from around New Zealand who are dedicated to providing Professional Learning to schools so that we can raise the achievement of our least well-served students – Maori, Pasifika, and students with special educational needs. The new PLD environment starts here, today. I’m up for the challenge!
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Leap Day-light Robbery
In order to compensate for the fact that we do not take exactly 365 days to go round the sun, 3 leap days have to be lost every 400 years. This is achieved by skipping leap days in century years where it is not divisible by 400, so 2000 did have a leap day, but 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not. Makes you feel sorry for people who will be born on leap days just before then, as they won’t have a birthday for 8 years…!
So I guess I’m using some of my leap day to write facts abouyt leap days!
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Mr. O’Donovan Retires
Our teacher remembers you when you were a very young teacher starting your first job teaching in Scoil Lorcain an all-boys school in Kilbarrack. At the time there were over two thousand children in the parish of Kilbarrack-Foxfield and almost one thousand of them attended Scoil Lorcain.At that time Kilbarrack Foxfield was a newly created suburb on the perimeter of the city. Newly arrived local boys were called “culchies” when they went back to visit their old friends in the city centre.
At that time It was normal for teachers to have up to forty five children in their classes at this time. You might wonder how they even fitted in the classroom but then the tables were much smaller with up to six pupils sitting around a two trapezoidal shaped tables. Recently a pupil in my class complained that she didn’t have enough space at her table. She had the space of three pupils back then. The forty five boys from Mr.O’Donovan’s first class are scattered around the world although some now visit Scoil Eoin as grandfathers of our current students.
As a young boy sitting in his primary school in Co.Cork Mr.O’Donovan could scarcely have imagine some of the new inventions that have been developed in recent years and have been introduced into the school since he started teaching..Items such as the spirit duplicator, reel to reel tape recorder and BBC commadore Computer have been superseded by later inventions.In this era of scanning and instant photocopying it is hard to imagine that once handouts were manually printed using a Gestetner.In recent years the advent of the Interactive whiteboard and the Internet were beyond the wildest dreams of Mr.O’Donovan when as a young boy he wrote stories fin his primary school about how he imagined the future.
Over the years hundreds of children have passed through your classes and benefited from your knowledge and expertise.You contributed in many ways to the life of the school sharing your expertise and knowledge of many aspects of the curriculum, Gaeilge, mathematics, computers and science.All of these activities and contributions had the stamp of a teacher who was totally dedicated to his work and had the admirable and conscientious sense of duty always putting the welfare of this students first.
He was the teacher who purchased organised and catalogued many of the books that are currently in the library. We hope that when he returns on a visit we’ll have it in the same condition as he has left it.
Mr.O’Donovan could turn his hand to many things training young footballers in Naomh Barrog, making movies, assisting in the garden club and even demonstrating his knitting skills to members of the Knitting club.
Today a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You are now free as a bird ready to fly away on many new adventures. We wish you good health and happiness in the years ahead and hope that you will have the opportunity to explore many new areas of the world.
Go n-eiri an bothar leat is an old Irish saying wishing you good luck on the road of life.
Míle buíochas Thanks a million.
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Work gets in the way of life….
Updating the diary, Planning the education input for a low carbon future project, looking forward to a conversation with my son at lunchtime as he prepares to buy his first flat, thinking about what to play tonight at an acoustic session.
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A Great Time of Year.
Today has been the first day for Grade 3s in the ICT extension program. The students were using our new MacBook Pros and for the first time used ComicLife. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to add photographs and with taking balloons to explain what it means to be in LEEP (Lodgers’ Elearning Extension Program). We had another live radio show on The Berwick Lodge Student Hour with students taking control of their own learning by creating the show with scripts, playlists and riffs as well as managing the technology by working at the control panels.
It’s a great time of year – new programs, excited students and beautiful weather as the summer turns to autumn.
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One More Day to Work
Every four years our companies get an extra day of work for free from us Salaried people. If you are hourly or paid every two weeks this does not affect you. But if you are salaried like many here in the US then you are giving your company a Free work day every four years. However, I do not regret it as I am so pleased to have a job that I really like doing. I have been Blessed with this work and the people I work with and for.
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Bath views
Viewing the horizon across Bath beyond Sham Castle.
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Lydgate Junior School, Sheffield
I’m a teacher at school and have given the class this great opportunity to leave a message for the world! I hope you read and enjoy!
(And, on a personal note, I hope Middlesbrough get promoted this year!)
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Memories of early computing experiences
Sitting here watching the BBC news item about a new computer the size of a credit card which pupils are expected to program themselves has made me think about my first experiences of programming. Sitting at a terminal a couple of miles away from the main frame computer and saving my very simple program onto paper tape was the start of my fascination with technology. I remember being so excited when our school got its first BBC Micro computer even though programs took ages to load via a tape recorder. Getting a very simple program I’d written myself to run gave me a great sense of achievement. I hope children and adults writing programs on the new Raspberry Pi in the future enjoy the experience and have as much fun learning about computers as I did in the early days of PCs.
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NHS
I am so pleased our NHS is free at the point of use. I have no idea how we would cope is we lived in the USA and had to pay for unaffordable insurance or treatment we could not afford.
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Preparing for World Book Day
Preparing for World Book Day tomorrow…did you know there’s World Book Day App for teens featuring exclusive new stories by six authors? It’s worth having a look at the World Book Day website as well for book-related games and a whole range of ideas for schools to use. This ‘Blog the Leap Year’ is a fantastic idea – as is anything that encourages people to read, write…and simply ‘connect’.
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A new day
Nearly 8 a.m. on March 1 here in eastern Australia. Heavy rains have been falling overnight with 50mm (2″) falling by 7 a.m. There’s talk of flooding in many areas, including around my area. A local school has closed for the day because the rural children have to travel along sometimes very slipper when wet roads.
As I look out of the window where I’m sitting, it is wet and windy. Our weather chart shows a massive band of cloud over a large area of eastern Australia so more rain will come. It makes me wonder if the sports field across the road will flood for the fourth time in two years. This is the pattern when the La Nina pattern hits the South Pacific. When EL Nino takes hold, we risk drought. Until this last two years’ La Nina, drought was a major problem now dams are overflowing, rivers are rising and the country waits the next El Nino.
One of my favourite Australian poems comes to mind when I see the extremes. Here is a four line extract of “My Country” by Dorothea MacKellar…
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
If you are interested in seeing the full text of the poem, here is a link…
http://www.lancescoular.com/my-country-by-dorothea-mackellar.html
In two years time, the poem will be 100 years old. It is an iconic description of Australia.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
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my life
■I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
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my life
■I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
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Love lost, love gained?
Wondering where my relationship with the love of my life is heading
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day at school
Helooo, I’m in an english lesson,its well cool because were on our phones and ipods!
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MY SON
My Son is getting married to his future husband tomorrow, i hope he has a wonderful life
xxx
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kiddies with Kyle
going to the playpark with my friend Kyle.
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on the road again…
Today, I spent 3 hours traveling to the mountains. It is a dreary, rainy day and we traveled through rain for the whole trip. Traffic was not too bad despite the weather. I was hoping it would be snowing when we arrived but it was just raining. It had snowed earlier and there is snow on all the trees. It looks so pretty. Now that I am here, I am snuggled under an afghan on my couch reading my email. I am enjoying the winter view outside while I stay cozy inside. Hmmm…. maybe a cup of tea is in order while I watch the early news on TV.
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Good enough?
I have spent today working with a range of educators, teachers, support assistants, therapists, adult carers. We have been working on the strategies to develop when working with learners with very complex and challenging barriers to mainstream educational offerings. Too hard? Not enough time? Not a priority in a busy class? I ask you all….is what you delivered in your last lesson and/or school day good enough for your own child? If yes, great…if not why not? If your teaching is not of the quality that you would like your own children to experience then how can it be good enough for the children of others?
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A new day
Nearly 8 a.m. on March 1 here in eastern Australia. Heavy rains have been falling overnight with 50mm (2″) falling by 7 a.m. There’s talk of flooding in many areas, including around my area. A local school has closed for the day because the rural children have to travel along sometimes very slipper when wet roads.
As I look out of the window where I’m sitting, it is wet and windy. Our weather chart shows a massive band of cloud over a large area of eastern Australia so more rain will come. It makes me wonder if the sports field across the road will flood for the fourth time in two years. This is the pattern when the La Nina pattern hits the South Pacific. When EL Nino takes hold, we risk drought. Until this last two years’ La Nina, drought was a major problem now dams are overflowing, rivers are rising and the country waits the next El Nino.
One of my favourite Australian poems comes to mind when I see the extremes. Here is a four line extract of “My Country” by Dorothea MacKellar…
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
If you are interested in seeing the full text of the poem, here is a link…
http://www.lancescoular.com/my-country-by-dorothea-mackellar.html
In two years time, the poem will be 100 years old. It is an iconic description of Australia.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
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Convection Currents Lab
Today, my classes observed convection currents using colored ice cubes. A cube was placed in a beaker of warm fresh water (200mL), then another cube placed in a beaker of warm salt water (10 mL salt and 200 mL fresh water). Students enjoyed watching the convecting meltwater go to the bottom of the beaker then to top, coloring all the water in the beaker. The colored meltwater did not convect in the saltwater since it was too dense and stayed on top. Then, they had to report on their observations. A good day of science. SCIENCE RULES!
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A gift of a day
Today felt like a gift, a ‘free’ day. Free from the routine of worrying about work (or the lack of it). Free from wondering who I am these days. Free to be me.
Today, on my free day, I walked to the village to post my cancer screening test. I walked the dog up into the woods with my friend and nenighbour. I bathed the dog after he rolled in fox dung or something equally unpleasant.
Lunch was French carrot salad with sliced fennel and apple, farmhouse cheddar, walnuts, pea shoots and cherry tomatoes.
I wrote some copperplate to send to my calligraphy mentor.
I planted some horseradish, artichokes and rhubarb, and made some more paper pots for growing seeds.
Maybe I can have some more days like this?
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A new day
Nearly 8 a.m. on March 1 here in eastern Australia. Heavy rains have been falling overnight with 50mm (2″) falling by 7 a.m. There’s talk of flooding in many areas, including around my area. A local school has closed for the day because the rural children have to travel along sometimes very slipper when wet roads.
As I look out of the window where I’m sitting, it is wet and windy. Our weather chart shows a massive band of cloud over a large area of eastern Australia so more rain will come. It makes me wonder if the sports field across the road will flood for the fourth time in two years. This is the pattern when the La Nina pattern hits the South Pacific. When EL Nino takes hold, we risk drought. Until this last two years’ La Nina, drought was a major problem now dams are overflowing, rivers are rising and the country waits the next El Nino.
One of my favourite Australian poems comes to mind when I see the extremes. Here is a four line extract of “My Country” by Dorothea MacKellar…
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
If you are interested in seeing the full text of the poem, here is a link…
http://www.lancescoular.com/my-country-by-dorothea-mackellar.html
In two years time, the poem will be 100 years old. It is an iconic description of Australia.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
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Hello from Montana
Spending one extra day with my husband of 44 years. There are not enough days with him.
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A Leap of Faith on Leap Day
On this bonus day of my life I have made a time-capsule tin to bury in the garden. I will dig it up in 4 years time and see what happened now, and what has happened in between. Then I shall bury a new one! Why don’t you bury a time-capsule tin too.
http://lorely-writingfromtheedge.blogspot.com/2012/02/today-is-29th-february.html
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Retirement!
I filed for my retirement pension. Yea me! Being an old codger has its benefits. Now all you young uns can pay taxes to support ME.
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Senior Teacher
Appointed 22 Digital Leaders from Year 6. Excellent presentations from each and every one of them. Children can be so inspiring. This is why I still do the job. Teaching – the best job in the world.
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Photograph not on Look North
My first try of getting one of my photographs on Look North tonight failed. Oh well.
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Thank you…
Today I am giving thanks that I have made it to a year past my cancer diagnosis. I am well!
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14th birthday
Today is my 14th birthday. I have to work as well. I want to wish all Leapers a Happy Birthday. There are only 5 million of us out of 7 billon
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My First Blog
I think this is going to be a fairly normal day but I am so very happy to be here for an extra day in 2012.
I hope you all have a great extra day in your life. Be grateful.
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monkeys
today in my lesson no one done there homework so we all have detention lol funny if you ask me its unfair because it wont let me on it
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My First Blog
I think this is going to be a fairly normal day but I am so very happy to be here for an extra day in 2012.
I hope you all have a great extra day in your life. Be grateful.
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Windy morning of the year
Leap year? ya, and I couldn’t leap and jog this morning. It is one of those cold and windy days in this time of the year when you can” go out in the morning and enjoy a good walk and feel intoxicated with the fresh morning air. Again, there is black smoke in the hills as slash n burn season begins and forest fires start somewhere or other…What is so special about leap year, anyway? Apart from being a disappointing wait for some one who is born on that day?
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Happy Birthday
I am celebrating a good friends Birthday. Happy Birthday Carol (she is only 14 in leap year Birthdays, but 55 in annual years. Have a special Birthday today.
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Just another Ordinary Day.
Just another ordinary day. But what a blessing that is!
Another day of life. Another day of not knowing what is to be.
Another day of getting my 6 Yr old Granddaughter Ellen ready for school.
Having our breakfast together, saying our prayers together. Having our little conversations. Doing her hair & getting her ready to go off to her school.
And then picking her up at the bus this afternoon. But it will be a little different, today it is going to rain! That means coming home in boots with umbrellas & that alone can be a fun event. Then we will have a snack & play & talk of her day until her Mom gets home from work & they go home.
I Thank God for Ordinary Days. Days that I get to spend time with my little namesake & maybe someday when she is older & I am gone she will look back on with love & remembrance, that I may have impacted her little life with no expectations & to love her just as she is.
I know I look back with love on my Nana & Papa with love & those memories that I remember so vividly are not ones with holidays or extraordinary events, they are the everyday, mundane, just another average day.
So for myself, my little Ellen, my daughters & to you all, I wish you a multitude of Ordinary Days!
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When I was 29
Reading about what children will be doing when they are 29 – made me think that when I was 29 we were just looking at new fangled calculators and kit computers that you had to make yourself. What a difference!
Happy blogging everyone!
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Reading Instructions
Instructions can be ridiculous such as the wording on a hot pie from a burger restuarant “Warning this product is hot when heated”. How silly is that?! There is also an element of thinking we all know better and don’t need to be told anything. Surely nothing can be that difficult that we need to fully read the pre-amble? WRONG!!
Today, I have totally misunderstood the instructions on this blog and have just posted something that doesn’t make sense! Must be something to do with age and being very tired. I was looking for a link to the latest post on my blog. That is not the point of this project. It really does help, whatever age you are, to read instructions carefully before doing anything.
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Leap Day
Off to work for another day with my gorgeous Year 1/2s. Have a good day everyone. x
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Have a great day – see you in 4 years
Hi there. I am working my notice, having been told my contract will not be renewed. Heck, this is life, and this is the 2pth Feb, 2012. My first one was in 1952 when I was 2 years old.
Now that I’m a wee bit older, but sometimes, I think, not so very much wiser (Who is?), I appreciate being on this wonderful planet, despite everythibng that we are doing to make it worse – a lot are trying to make it better, so there is always hope for the future. Let’s join hands digitally today to pledge to making this world of ours a better place for everyone. God bless you all. Hope to meet you sometime. If I don’t, go to my website at r.fielding.com
Take care
Rob Fielding
Glasgow and Al Ain, UAE
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Leapt Lee
Worked with some great kids, doctor’s appointment, dinner on the run then astronomy viewing night- Saturn was beautiful! Happy Leap Day everyone!!
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Leap year heat wave for me!
Swimming to keep cool, sunning to get a tan, shopping to indulge!!
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Heading for the top
Pastoral care with some VI Formers. Lots of sympathy for their view. Ho w do we move forward for all concerned with no-one losing face
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A Great Time of Year.
It seems appropriate that I blog today about my program called LEEP – short for Lodgers’ Elearning Extension Program- on LEAP day. It is for Gifted and Talented students at Berwick Lodge Primary School, who need little bit of extension in the classroom.
Today has been the first day for Grade 3s in the program. The students were using our new MacBook Pros and for the first time used ComicLife. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to add photographs and taking balloons to explain what it means to be in LEEP (Lodgers’ Elearning Extension Program).
The Grade 6 students had another live radio show on The Berwick Lodge Student Hour, taking control of their own learning by creating the show with scripts, playlists and riffs as well as managing the technology by working at the control panels.
It’s a great time of year – new programs, excited students and beautiful weather as the summer turns to autumn.
So I hope everyone has a great LEAP day!
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technology
I am writing about the type of technology I use in my life. I have a very ordinary mobile phone, it is a samsung with very few features but it suits my purpose, I can text and talk on it. At home we have a flat screen tv with HD, a computer with wireless connection and copier,scanner printer. I am not really in to technology, I leave that to my son and my granddaughters and invariably get left behind. I don’t care.
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Lack of coffee
I am sitting in a hot dry classroom helping 2 7 year olds blog for the first time and I can’t get a cup of coffee – oh a gallant knight has come along and read my blog and offered to fetch a cup – life is taking on a rosier hue.
I wish the rest of you all happiness but I am afraid this is not my thing.
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When I’m 29
Today in Year 4 we are writing about what we want to aspire to when we are 29. As I have already reached and passed that milestone my new aspirations are to retire early and travel the world.YEAR 4 HLTA
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Reading Instructions
Instructions can be ridiculous such as the wording on a hot pie from a burger restuarant “Warning this product is hot when heated”. How silly is that?! There is also an element of thinking we all know better and don’t need to be told anything. Surely nothing can be that difficult that we need to fully read the pre-amble? WRONG!!
Today, I have totally misunderstood the instructions on this blog and have just posted something that doesn’t make sense! Must be something to do with age and being very tired. I was looking for a link to the latest post on my blog. That is not the point of this project. It really does help, whatever age you are, to read instructions carefully before doing anything.
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Taking a Chance – 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups Week #32
Halfway through a well deserved week off work. Hoping to take my camera to photograph Spring flowers for my next blog post.
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Just one more day
February 29th
A day at home while the car is getting that little bump fixed.
My morning walk – no dolphins in the river today.
The day before rubbish collection so time filling the bin with prunings.
Must make a start on marking essays but all those posts on Google+ are far more interesting.
Answer a few emails.
Mark essays…
Have lunch.
Mark more essays.
Nanny nap
Shower.
More emails.
Call from my mother – she found her neighbour dead in her bed.
Email from mother offering to pay for a joy flight over Perth if I go with her.
Deal done.
Distracted by this blog
More emails.
Will I get back to marking or watch a movie later ?
We will have to see…
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My favourite day of the week
Wednesday mornings mean pottery class. I love pottery. I love the feel of squishy clay under my fingers and seeing my ideas turned into reality as I work, sometimes more successfully than others! The anticipation of seeing how a new glaze worked out is immense, and the excitement of utter success is shared by us all, as is the disappointment when something doesn’t work out. I enjoy the chatter and laughter as we friends talk about our lives and families and what we’re making at the time, and the sudden spontaneous hush as we’re all suddenly engrossed in our work. Sometimes the unexpected happens, like the fox that walked into the garden, groomed itself for a while then came to examine what we were doing through the glass doors, and accepted a dish of cat food. The class teacher’s three-legged rescue cat visits too, to make sure that we are all working hard in HIS studio, and his fur decorates many a piece of unfired clay! We know he owns the whole place really, and he gets his just admiration and stroking. If I couldn’t have this morning of creativity and friendship I would be bereft and my life would lose a bit of its meaning. Thank you Rose, for letting me join your circle of friendship and clay.
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Something New
Today I am going to try and get a photograph on Look North TV when they do the weather forecast. I have never tried before so wish me luck!
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Something New
Today I am going to try and get a photograph on Look North TV when they do the weather forecast. I have never tried before so wish me luck!
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Once very four years
http://wp.me/pMKim-1ac
Thinking about adding a second hundred word chapter to the above; working; having acupuncture for a trapped nerve; booking a holiday!
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Wednesday is my new Friday!
SInce becoming part time last September; Wednesday’s have become my new Friday’s. Busy day today though and my lunchtime tutorial group will be set another school ‘blogging’ challenge. I’m ending the day in Alnwick talking to a room full of other headteachers about school to school support.
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Dogon dreams
I’ll be working in the finance office of a large NHS hospital and when I come home it will be back to my writing desk.
For Feb29t.net I written a short piece as part of a weekly 100 word challenge. The prompt this week is ‘a leap of faith’ to celebrate February 29th. My 100 word story can be found here.
http://lucidgypsy.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-32/
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an extra day
why can’t the 29th feb be a holiday / it would only be once every 4 years / got work to-day / difficult / trying to please people / then, this evening, a rehearsal for a musical: anything goes …
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Claires Court Blogs the Day
In a community of 1000 children, 200 staff, and many willing parents and family friends, the aim is to ‘celebrate the 29 February’ by joining this Blog and becoming members of the biggest collaborative community in the world. Just for One day. 29 February 2012.
That’s awesome!
Claires Court Schools are situated in Maidenhead, Berkshire; 3 sites, pupils aged 3 to 18, from Nursery to 6th Form, boys and girls. Find out more about us here – www.clairescourt.com
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Talking about Blogging with Teachers
Today I am talking to a group of secondary/high school teachers about why they should be Blogging with their students, and how to get started. I teach Middle School students, and the sooner they know the skills of blogging, linking, embedding, tagging, sharing, etc. the better they will be able to embrace the styles of writing required for communicating in the 21st century.
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An Extra Day
An extra day this year, not a long time you may think but how many times would we have liked an extra 24 hours. I can think of two occassions. One extra day with my dad and my mum. A time I can never have. Make this gift of a day count. Do something special, tell the special people in your life just how special they are.
Make Feb 29th count.
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Walking again
Today I went to the Physio and for the first time since I broke my ankle in 3 places back in November walked backwards without a crutch
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Leap Year Birthday Greeting
I am writing this post to wish my baby brother in New York a very Happy Birthday. Love Geraldine XXX
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birthday
Today I will be celebrating my 14th birthday although
I was born in 1956.
Many Happy returns to everyone else celebrating their
birthday today.
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Blogging Inspiration
Last week I led an ICT training at my school. I wanted to use this opportunity to show the power of blogging and hope to inspire our staff to put that toe in the water and give it a try! I am already blogging with my Year 4 class and our lunchime blogclub, their enthusiasm and ideas wonderful to experience. Now I can feel a buzz in the staff room, I keep picking up vibes…I hear things like “Feb 29th…what are you going to put on your blog?” in conversations. Today I spent some time after school with KS1 staff, they are keen and all ready for the big blog tomorrow. World Book Day has helped to provide a theme for to inspire writing on the blog, I am really looking forward to some great books reviews!
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8+ hours after my first post to Feb29th.net
February 29 is the first full day in around five months I haven’t any work to do on DVDs and CDs I make for schools and community groups. It’s a time to catch up on some writing.
After a very brief post just after midnight my time, the first post to Feb29th.net I think, I thought I would add the two stories I had mentioned before I start my normal routine of commenting on school/class/child blogs for the day. They were completed just before my midnight post.
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Story 1 was written for the UK based “100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups”
100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups – Wk#32 – Prompt: …Take a leap of faith… – 100 words – “Against All Odds”
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Born premature, so small, every breath was a struggle. Walking took longer, cerebral palsy the doctors had explained.
As she grew, school was sometimes made hard by staring eyes blind to what was inside. In sport, she always tried but never won other than the hearts of many.
As an adult, she turned to writing. Success followed success.
Interviewer, “You were never afraid to take a leap of faith?”
Faith replied, “With my name, how could I not? I always knew those I loved would be there to help me if I fell.”
Her autobiography, “Faith, a Leap of Me.”
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This is a link to my post…
http://rossmannell.com/2012/02/28/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-wk32-prompt-take-a-leap-of-faith-100-words-against-all-odds/
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Story 2 was written for the US based “Saturday Centus”
Saturday Centus Wk 95 – Prompt: “The chair dominated the small room.” in 106 words – “Gangy”
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The family had gathered, grandfather in a large chair. The chair dominated the small room.
Once strong, grandfather was frail, worn by years of toil and care. He saw his youngest grandson, just three.
“Come to your grandad,” he smiled with his hands held out.
The child approached, eyes bright for one he loved, not able to say granddad, “Gangy.”
Grandad sat his grandson on his lap, “How’s my big man?”
“Good, Gangy” he replied.
Grandad slipped a sweet to the boy, “Don’t tell mummy.”
“Hanks,” replied the grandson with a smile.
Gangy now long gone, the memory remains, the child grown to tell the tale.
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This is the link to my post…
http://rossmannell.com/2012/02/28/saturday-centus-wk-95-prompt-the-chair-dominated-the-small-room-in-106-words-gangy/
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One of my daily joys comes from writing, whether it is one of my unpublished short stories and novels, entries for one of the above or comments for students ranging from 4 to 18. I haven’t attempted to quantify the average number of words I write in a day but the emphasis is always on being supportive and positive in what is written.
To sum up the philosophy of my time on line, I go back to one of the shortest entries to Saturday Centus where we were required to write our autobiography in just 6 words…
Seeking ways to make a difference.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
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Busy morning… chill out afternoon
My day will begin with a visit to the Doctor for an ECG. Never been for one before but I am sure I will be fine. Doctor says its part of the check up. Later I will catch up on some paperwork, emails and accounts. I will take an hour or two to read some articles for my Post Grad work, probably on the Sociology assignment. It’s about state and society and the education system.. Then I will work on preparing a lesson plan for Thursday which is half started. I will prepare lunch because by 1.30 p.m. my husband will come home from work and will have some well earned down time in the afternoon. Its Wednesday and he always has a half day on Wednesday. But what I am looking forward to is going to the cinema to see ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ . That my day…I will have a busy morning with relaxing afternoon and entertaining evening…Happy 29th February 2012
Mary (County Kildare)
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My Real Birthday
At last, I’ve made it to the grand old age of 14 Birthdays (56 years) old.
Celebrating a birthday on the 29th has always been joyful for me. I always get special birthday greetings and even more special presents, just to make up for the three years in between when I don’t get any.
Being a member of some web forums, I’ve even received some of those Dear [Insert Name] type automated messages for the first time.
My best friend at school was also born on the 29th, so if you read this Nigel,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY old chum.
So what am I doing tomorrow ? (it’s 4 hours away for me still), well I’m taking all my workmates out for a slap up lunch and then dining out with in-laws in the evening.
So on this special day, I’d like to wish everyone celebrating their birthday or perhaps their wedding anniversary today, all the Joy and Happiness love and family can bring you.
Regards to everyone else
Chas
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Gardening
I live in France. Last year I collected seeds from mij terrace plants. Some of the plants are new to me and will put them in pots and hope that some beautiful plants will appear in a few months. Furthermore I have to trim some vinyard wine plants. It starting to get warm so they should be trimmed before it is starting to grow.
And I play word feud with my son who lives in Singapore but is travelling all over the Far East and this moment he sent me his word from Japan. I like to play with other people from other countries. That would be fun.
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Tell your mother you love her
On 29th Feb I’ll be remembering my wonderful mother, Margaret Hastie (nee Findlay), who passed away on Feb 29th 1988. Everyone who has a mother still with them – remember to tell her how much you love her & value her, because one day it’s too late to do that, and that’s something you’ll always regret for a Looooooooong time.
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Sadness
I’m thinking why the humans do not want (new) rules implemented. Rules that would ensure a better world. Rules of corporate governance in politics, for example. And I feel sad. Because no-one here will express this idea.
Louis Lagae, Belgium.
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