Final Class

End of an era, for me at least.

We had our last teaching co-op this week. Because Little Girl will be in the same school with the others next year, we will not be back at c0-op, so it was my last one.

One of my co-teachers, Anne, is a whiz at cookie and cake decoration. She brought cookies and her decorating materials, and we decorated to our heart's content. She showed us the techniques for outlining and flooding, and how to make royal icing and use the colors. It was fun, and they got to take pictures of their creations, then eat them.

This is one activity i'm going to miss. Having them ask for a recipe, as i tell them we don't need a recipe, or have to be slaves to it, and ask them how they want it. Then, watching them taste what they have done, and enjoy it.

It also challenged me, as they would ask for things i had never done before, so i would come home, learn to do it, and go teach them.

It's been a good run.


In honor of National Humor Month:

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Boudreaux is walking down the road when he's approached by his friend, Thibodeaux, who is carrying a very long bamboo fishing pole, and a yardstick. They stop and talk awhile, when Thibodeaux stands the pole straight up in the air, and attempts to reach the very top with the yardstick.
Seeing it won't work, ole Boudreaux yanks the pole from Thibodeaux's hands , lays it on the sidewalk and measures it. "There you go; it's 12 feet long", says Boudreaux .
Thibodeaux, upset and very irritated, grabs the yardstick and yells to Boudreaux ," You fool!! I don't want to know how long it is!! I want to know how high it is!"


Today is

Blame Someone Else Day

Chiang Mai Songkran -- Thailand (Thai New Year / Water Festival, through the 15th)

Feast of Rotten Endings -- because some stories just don't end well

Festival of Libertas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Jupiter Victor and Jupiter Libertas)

Huguenot Day -- France

International Special Librarians' Day

National Day -- Chad

National Peach Cobbler Day

Poshui Jie -- Jinghong, China (Water Splashing Festival)

Scrabble Day

Songkran Festival -- Burma; Laos; Singapore; Sri Lanka; (new year festival, celebrated when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries)

Squashing of Moonhopper Day -- Fairy Calendar

Takayama Spring Festival -- Takayama City, Japan (through tomorrow)

Thank Your School Librarian Day

Thomas Jefferson Day

U.S. Elephant Day


Birthdays Today:

Jonathan Brandis, 1976
Rick Schroder, 1970
Garry Kasparov, 1963
Max Weinberg, 1951
Al Green, 1946
Tony Dow, 1945
Lowell George, 1945
Jack Casady, 1944
Lyle Waggoner, 1935
Don Adams, 1926
Howard Keel, 1919
Eudora Welty, 1909
Samuel Beckett, 1906
Butch Cassidy, 1866
F.W. Woolworth, 1852
Thomas Jefferson, 1743
Guy Fawkes, 1570


Today in History:

The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt with the capture of Louis IX of France, 1250
Henry IV of France signs the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion and political rights to Huguenots (French Protestants), 1598
John Dryden, age 36, becomes the first English Poet Laureate, 1668
George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland, 1742
The first elephant seen in the Western Hemisphere arrives from India, 1796
The British Parliament grants religious freedom to Roman Catholics, 1829
Hungary becomes a republic, 1849
The first US Pony Express run is completed, 1860
George Westinghouse patents a steam powered brake, 1869
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded, 1870
J.C. (James Cash) Penney opens his first store, 1902
British troops fire on unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India, killing at least 379 and wounding over 1,200 more, 1919
Helen Hamilton becomes the first woman US Civil Service Commissioner, 1920
Lord Clydesdale makes the first flight over Mt. Everest, 1933
The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of his birth, in Washington, D.C., 1943
Van Cliburn becomes the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 1958
Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field, 1963
An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon, 1970
The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan, 1972
Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the United States' first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1, 1974
Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999, 1987