Merry Christmas, Splat
Written and Illustrated by Rob Scotton

The third hilarious story about Splat the Cat, the irresistible character from Rob Scotton, bestselling creator of Russell the Sheep Splat the cat can't wait for Christmas and is SURE he's been good enough for Santa to bring him all the presents on his Christmas list. But just in case Santa needs reminding of what an exceptionally good cat he is, Splat makes himself EXTRA helpful around the house. It's tiring work being helpful, but when Splat goes to bed on Christmas Eve he's kept awake by a worrying thought...Just how good do you need to be for Santa to visit? A charming Christmas story perfect for any eager child awaiting Santa's arrival.

"Habits grow with practice, from cobwebs into cables." -- Denis Waitley

"Habits grow with practice, from cobwebs into cables." -- Denis Waitley

You’ve got content from your keynotes and trainings. You know you could reach more people and make more money if you turned your intellectual capital into an online course — or maybe even an online academy. But how do you do that quickly, easily and inexpensively? Doesn’t it take an instructional designer and tech expert? Aren’t those folks hard to find and expensive? Plus, how do you sell the course?

Is it possible to do all this oneself without lots of frustration? YES! Brian will show you how he did it with his speaking and training business and how YOU can do it with yours. He’ll walk you through his website examples in real time so you can see how it all works. And by the way, Brian doubled his revenue thanks to his e-Learning programs!

With the cutbacks in travel, conference speakers, and in-house training, NOW is the time for you to take the next step to creating your own online learning center.
John Chambers, Chairman of Cisco Systems, said about e-Learning: “The next big killer application on the Internet is going to be education. Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make email usage look like a rounding error.”
In this webinar you will learn how to:
• turn your slides, books, and videos into fun and interactive training courses
• create interactive quizzes and learning games with easy-to-use software
• develop your own branded online learning center and charge for courses
• make money from anywhere!
In this one-hour webinar, we’ll share with you the essential tools of creating your own e-Learning programs.
If there is ever a webinar you absolutely cannot miss, it is this one. So mark Dec 21 in your calendar. Because it will be that day that you look back on as the day in your business when your sales, profits, and income grew — without your having to get on a plane! See you there!

Register or order the CD or MP3 recording. Note: people who register for the teleseminar will get the MP3 recording of the session for free. Also, everyone who registers for the webinar session or orders the recording will get a link to the recorded video of the online webinar.

The Jolly Christmas Postman (The Jolly Postman) (Hardback)
By Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Illustrated by Janet Ahlberg

It's Christmas Eve and the Jolly Postman is delivering greetings to various fairy-tale characters - there's a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called 'Beware' for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for hospitalized Humpty Dumpty and three more surprise envelopes containing letters, and cards.

A Genre Study of Letters With The Jolly Postman

Questions to ask before, during, and after reading

Activities

Language arts/Reading - Historical fiction

Library Letter Writing Unit Plan

You will read about, or have heard about, strategies to overcome public speaking nerves. In preparation for implementing those strategies in front of an audience, you can try them out in ordinary, non-threatening situations first.

For example, take note of how you conduct a conversation – with strangers in particular, for example a shop keeper, bus conductor, or a person to whom you are introduced at a party or function. The communication and confidence strategies you find yourself using naturally can be used in your public speaking.

And, conversely, if you want to improve the communication skills and the confidence, try practicing some of the strategies you have been gathering for public speaking, in those conversations.

Busting the Mehrabian myth
Can words really account for only 7 percent of the meaning of a spoken message? This short video animation puts 'Mehrabian's rule' under the magnifying glass and shows why it can't be true

The Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore, Illustrated by Mary Engelbreit

The full text of the familiar poem is illustrated in Engelbreit's crisply decorated style. A large trim size (11" x 11") allows each highly embellished spread to hold a plethora of detail. Engelbreit's visions of sugarplums translate to a busy-bright patchwork of checks, plaids, paisleys and chintzes in this oversize volume. From the opening stanza's view of the non-stirring mouse's hole (a cracked teacup is his bed, a potholder his doormat, and a paintbrush is his broom) and throughout the verses, the artist adds lots of elves and ornamentation. The cast of rambunctious elves accompany an exceptionally jolly St. Nick as he leaves assorted old-fashioned candies and toys inside a home decorated in a spectrum of Engelbreit's trademark patterns and prints. Santa is not pictured as "dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot"; he's wearing a checked coat with fur trim and what appear to be leather bowling shoes. He does twinkle a lot, though. Kids -and adult fans of the artist -will enjoy poring over the copious details.

Activities:

Make a mini-book of the poem

Christmas Compare and Contrast- "The Mouse Before Christmas" vs. "The Night Before Christmas."

"Night Before Christmas"- "Students will learn about story writing, authors purpose, and the history of some of our Christmas traditions."

Visions of Christmas

Thought Audio

This big, multidisciplinary lesson called "Night Before Christmas" is on Writing and Much More

Literacy Development Activities

Reading activity

"Twas the Night Before Christmas": Retelling through thinking maps

Christmas Stockings

Lesson suggestions

Word sheets and Fill the blank

Similes and Metaphors


"In relation to others, gratitude is good manners; in relation to ourselves, it is a habit of the heart and a spiritual discipline."
-- Daphne Rose Kingma


"In relation to others, gratitude is good manners; in relation to ourselves, it is a habit of the heart and a spiritual discipline."
-- Daphne Rose Kingma