Edutainment

Looking to get away, and let go of the stress caused by life? Then try the newly updated Edutainment page. Here you will find games that challenge the mind, teach typing skills, math skills, patterns, and some games designed to just blow off a little steam (or fill the slow part of your day).

Here are some of the games that you'll find.

Longitude & Latitude Rap

How many times have you tried to teach the difference between latitude and longitude, only to leave your students with a look of utter confusion? I have something that may work. I can't guarantee that will work for every classroom. Some of your kids may just look at you like you're crazy, but they'll appreciate the fact that you obviously trying to reach them.

I created a little freestyle rap, and my kids created the dance to go along. ( I know! I know! I'm a nerd... thus the web sites... The key is not to try to be cool, just be yourself. Your kids will understand. At least it will brighten their day.)
Here goes:

"Longitude/Latitude Rap"

To find your spot on the globe
Some coordinates you have to know

To get these numbers that you see
There's a little dance so listen to me

Slide your feet side to side
On the latitude line we ride

Move yourself up and down
The longitude line is what we found

To find your spot on the globe
Some coordinates you have to know

To get these numbers that you see
There's a little dance so listen to me

Slide your feet side to side
On the latitude line we ride

Move yourself up and down
The longitude line is what we found

To find your spot on the globe
Some coordinates you have to know
Longitude and Latitude there you go

(Have your kids stand up as they mimic you. They'll start to laugh, but eventually they'll realize that it's better than taking notes.)

If your kids think the rap is dumb, then you can challenge them to create a better one.
Please let me know if they come up with one that you like better. I'll be happy to post it for others, and of course class and teacher will get credit.

-Enjoy

T Minon Janvier- A Cajun French New Year's Story

Le Petit Bon Homme Janvier, the little man of January, visits on New Year's Eve to leave a gift for little Cajun children to find once they wake New Year's Day. The gifts left, usually in the form of fruit and small bits of paper wrapped candy, are sometimes hidden around the house, in stockings left from Christmas, or in the shoes that the children place outside.

(The following articles by Jim Bradshaw appeared in The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette, LA on December 28 and December 31, 2004)

Santa didn’t begin to visit Cajun children until the late 1800’s. Before then, le petit bonhomme Janvier, sometimes called the Little January Stranger in English, delivered gifts at New Year’s. If the children were good during the year, he left them fruit and perhaps a bauble
or two. But if they had been bad, he turned trickster and left them ashes.

There were also some remote places in Louisiana’s bayou country where, until relatively recent times, Christmas was not celebrated until February. Some people may still remember that February 25 was called “Trapper’s Christmas.” The real Christmas fell in the middle of the trapping season, when the men of the trappers’ families were out in the marsh. So the families waited until after the trapping season to celebrate Christmas. That way, Papa
was home for the celebration, and so was the money he got for his pelts.
It made for a better celebration.