Here is a long list of websites with activities that encourage learning about adaptations developed by individual animals
http://bit.ly/b9ZDxU
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"No one can tell whether they are richer or poor by turning to their ledger. It is the heart that makes a person rich. One is rich according to what one is, not according to what one has." Henry Ward Beecher |
Internationally World Teachers' Day is celebrated on the first Friday in October.
Send an eCard to your teacher
Download the Poster for World Teachers' Day
Read an excerpt from the book: Heart of a Teacher
Access Resources for Teachers
Books about teaching
Videos about teaching
http://bit.ly/cAI3KH
Everyone needs a special reading nook where they can unwind and get really interested in a book. Kids need the same. It's hard to find a quiet place where a child isn't distracted by the television, computer games, iPods or gaming systems. A kids playhouse can be just the place for a child to escape to read.
As a parent, we need to encourage our children to read on a daily basis, but it's hard when there are so many things competing for your child's attention. A kids playhouse can be set up to be a comfortable and quiet environment that encourages quality reading time. It might be so inviting, that your child will actually choose to go to the playhouse to read without a battle. How many parents would love to be in that situation?
Here are several tips to make an outdoor play house into a reading nook that your child will want to go to for their reading pleasure:
1. Make it inviting. Place comfortable furniture in the playhouse like bean bag chairs or a comfortable rocking chair to sit in to read. Round it out with a favorite blanket and pillow and it would be hard for any child to resist coming to read in the playhouse. If you're very ambitious, consider putting a window seat in the playhouse that has a soft cushion and perhaps a curtain that can be drawn around the window seat for privacy. How cool would that private area be for getting away to read? Don't forget to have their favorite snacks on hand!
2. Have good lighting. It's important to have good lighting when your child reads. This could be via electric or battery powered lights or it could just mean that the playhouse has bright, natural lighting. Battery operated lighting can be an added "fun" factor because it's like camping and totally different from what their used to in the main house.
3. Encourage even more reading. To encourage even more reading, have additional books in the playhouse so that once a child is done with one book, they can easily pick up another and begin to read that book too. There are some great recommended reading lists available at the library or online that help parents or young readers choose age appropriate books. Or take your child to the library to have them pick out their own books. Make a rule to have the books stay in the playhouse so that the playhouse is considered the designated reading area.
4. Remove distractions. It may be obvious but if the children's playhouse will be used as a private reading space, you need to remove toys, electronics or other items that may potentially distract your child. Check the kids play house periodically to remove distractions that may have made their way into the playhouse.
Following these tips will make both your life easier and your child's life happier. You and your child will feel good when it's time to fill out your child's reading time log with extra minutes or even extra hours. You may want to pass the secret of your kids playhouse reading nook idea on to other parents too!
Sharon Marsh, Ph.D., is a consultant in the food industry. She is a kids playhouse enthusiast. If you would like to know more about a kids playhouse please check out http://www.kidsplayhouseblog.com for more information.
The quality of rest we achieve has a direct effect on our level of energy.
SLEEP IS an elemental part of life. The average human being sleeps 6 to 8 hours a night, almost 50 hours a week, and more than 2,600 hours a year—about 182,000 hours during one’s life. That means, on average, that we spend almost 21 years of our lives asleep. The duration of our sleep and the quality of rest we achieve has a direct effect on our level of energy and our effectiveness during our waking hours. Without concentrated and reinvigorating durations of sleep, the quality of the remainder of our life—work, relationships, and other activities—can suffer dramatically.
Good sleep should be in rhythm with your daily life, but also with the universe. When your physiological and biological rhythms are in sync with nature’s—the movement of the earth, sun, moon, and stars; the cycle of the seasons, and the pull and push of the ocean tide—sleep becomes effortless. This type of naturally induced sleep produces an internal state of euphoria that’s both health promoting and rejuvenating.
Your body is the best pharmacy in the world. It makes natural healing substances that protect you from various illnesses. This pharmacy is strengthened when your body is in balance. Exercise, sleep, proper diet, and maintaining biological rhythms are all interconnected and dependent upon each other.
One of the best-kept secrets for restful, rejuvenating sleep is the quality of your experiences during the day. When you live each moment completely and fully appreciate the world around you, you do not accumulate stress; therefore, dynamic daily activity directly benefits the quality of your sleep.
Stress is the most frequent cause of disturbed sleep. Whenever you perceive physical or psychological threats or whenever you believe that your needs aren’t being met, you activate the stress response: Your blood pressure rises, your heart beats faster, your platelets get stickier, and you pump out stress hormones from your adrenal glands. Over time, these stress changes—in addition to causing restless sleep—can lead to hypertension, heart disease, and immune deficiencies.
The secret to good sleep is dynamic activity during the day, and the secret of dynamic activity is deep, restful sleep at night. The two go hand in hand. When this equilibrium is achieved, good sleep is effortless.
The most important fact about sleep is this: You cannot force yourself to sleep. You cannot command your body to sleep. You cannot will your body to sleep. It’s not possible to make yourself go to sleep in the same way you can make yourself run, exercise, read, or do any other voluntary activity.
Since insomnia is a very common problem, many people try to force themselves to sleep at one time or another. Sleep is a natural process, and “trying” will have no positive effect. In fact, it will probably aggravate the insomnia because the harder you try and less successful you are, the more frustrated you’ll feel. Trying is not the way in which nature functions.
It’s important to note that perhaps the single most important tip with respect to improving the quality of your sleep and rest is not to get uptight about things as you take steps to ensure that sleep becomes a natural and effortless aspect of the rhythm of your life.
Photo by Lance Anderson on Unsplash
A renowned physician and author, Deepak Chopra is undoubtedly one of the most lucid and inspired philosophers of our time. Visit: www.Chopra.com
This article by Deepak Chopra was published at You can Heal Your Life
One of the ways you can market your product or service is through public speaking.
For instance, you'll often see financial seminars advertised in your local newspaper. The ads invite you to come for a lunch or evening seminar ... typically just an hour or two ... on a topic like estate planning, retirement planning, or mutual fund investing.
The seminar, sponsored by a local brokerage, financial planner, or other financial services firm, is free.
So how do they make money? By converting some of the attendees into paid clients for whom they manage money, prepare estate plans, or provide other financial services.
This "give a free talk" strategy can work in many fields and venues.
Read more => http://bit.ly/d2jc1f
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." – Colin Powell
In the Night Kitchen
Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Sendak's hero Mickey falls through the dark into the Night Kitchen where three fat bakers are making the morning cake. So begins an intoxicating dream fantasy, described by the artist himself as 'a fantasy ten feet deep in reality'.
I'm not sure why it was banned, but possibly for nudity. The little boy, Mickey, is naked for part of the book, just as many little children are at that age!
The Pivotal Network Newsletter went out yesterday. We looked at meetings and marriages, impromptu speaking and The Welcome Man. There were items for kids and their teachers and there were books ... and oh lots more!
You can read it at http://bit.ly/4VGGgR
When did we start speaking in sets of capital letters? Lane Greene looks into the rise of the acronym and its sibling the initialism ...
From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Autumn 2010
Perhaps the perfect modern movie is the cult classic “Office Space”. The anti-hero, Peter, begins his working day with a dressing-down from a droning boss about forgetting to put the cover-sheets on his TPS reports. We never find out what a TPS report is. Nor do we have to; the name alone tells us all we need to know about the life seeping out of Peter’s days, three capital letters at a time.
Acronyms have become so prevalent that they suffer what anything does when coined without end: devaluation. “Oh, my God” still packs quite a punch in the right circumstances. “OMG”, by contrast, is barely effective as a plaything any more.
Read more ...http://bit.ly/bp558z
