Papa Please Get The Moon For Me - Eric Carle

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

Don Knotts is my favorite comedic actor and this is a delightful way to spend Halloween with caramel apples, popcorn balls and candy corn of course.

Winter's Tale

Source: walmart.com via Dena on Pinterest

No, not the Shakespearean play, but the story of Winter the dolphin.  Winter is the real life dolphin in the new movie The Dolphin's Tale.  Read more about why you should go to this movie suitable for the whole family on The Texas Homesteader.

To find out more about the real Winter and her trainer read this article on Tampabay.com.  There is a an abundance of information on this special multimedia page as well.

Art and Music Appreciation

I recently ran across this site that has a set of paintings in a slideshow with the music of a particular artist.  For instance, this set contains the works of Van Gogh with the music of Bach.  They are well done and particularly nice to watch if your are studying either of these artists. The only problem is they are hosted by some mice that I find particularly annoying.  Fortunately you can skip their intro, but they reappear at the end with links to short biography of the artists.  Sadly there wasn't one with Monet or Ravel who we are currently studying.  But you'll want to check them all out!

Lullabies of the World

 Lullabies of the world  by Metronome Films is a collection of animated films based on lullabies of different nations. I'm really not sure if this is even for sale anywhere as I can't seem to find it for sale, but I'm in LOVE with the clips I'm seeing on Youtube.  My children only very, very rarely request lullabies at this point in their lives, but I would love this just for me.  It reminds me of when my daughter was a toddler (she is now 11) and we got the the Baby Bach DVD.  We watched it all the way through and at the end my husband turned to me and said, "that was so relaxing I'd watch it everyday."  Hee...hee!!  I feel the same way about these videos.  Beautiful, intriguing animations and lovely songs combine to create very enjoyable viewing that both children and parents will like.

There are several on Youtube; French, Yiddish, Greek, Indian are a few I saw.  The link I provided above takes you to several more too.  The videos I've embedded here were posted by the creators of the film.  The Turkish Lullaby is my favorite, but I love the portrayal of weary parents in the beginning of the Chukchi Lullaby.

Gerald McBoing-Boing

Dr. Suess' birthday this week is the perfect excuse for me to share one of my favorite animated shorts, Gerald McBoing-Boing.  This story written by Theodore Geisel is one of my favorites because of the animation style.  I love the Mid Century style of the UPA Cartoons from the 50's and 60's.


If you enjoy this too search for "UPA Cartoon" on youtube for more (Jot the Dot was a UPA Cartoon). 

To The Moon!

In 1969 at the age of 4 I was one of a billion people watch the moon landing on television. My memory of that is of sitting in the early morning hours on the floor watching the tv screen. Not much else. But I'm still proud to have experienced such a momentous occasion.

In today's world, where space travel, personal communicators and computers that fit in your pocket have become commonplace, it can be difficult to teach your children the importance of this event. But I've come across some free resources to help.

The National Archives has placed several films on Youtube! I loved it in school when we had a film and now you can recreate that feeling in your own home! Seriously, if you're close to my age you'll find these quite nostalgic. These films also offer glimpses of presidents at the time and their speeches. Here is a list of some about the moon landing.


The Eagle Has Landed - Through television, motion picture and still photography, this film provides an "eye-witness" perspective of the Apollo 11 mission that put a human on the moon.


The John Glenn Story 1963 - A film biography of Astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. A salute to an American hero. I particularly like the pictures of New Concord, Ohio in this video. Small town America as it used to be! As a past Theatre teacher, I did cringe a bit at the prepared line readings! If this gets to you, just skip to the halfway point where more specific information is given about his space flight.


America in Space: The First Decade 1968 - A look at America's first decade chasing the stars.


Assignment Shoot the Moon 1967 - How did unmanned spacecrafts get a man on the moon? Find out in this historic video from 1967.


Within This Decade: America in Space 1969 - This film traces the principal accomplishments of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in aeronautics and space research from 1959 until the eve of the first lunar landing in 1969.


Debrief Apollo 8 1969 - This film portrays the story of man's first journey in orbit around the Moon with comments on the significance of the Apollo 8 flight by several prominent Americans.

Bayeux Tapestry

For those who may be studying the Middle Ages as we are this year you may want to show your children this YouTube video. If you do, make the image full screen because, unfortunately, people who leave comments on YouTube don't always make those comments family friendly. But in full screen mode (done by clicking on the icon at the lower right of the image that looks like a rectangle within a rectangle) you can watch the video without your children seeing indecent comments. I thought this video was fun, educational and helped to reinforce the main points of the Battle of Hastings.